iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I keep forgetting I have bluesky. Maybe I shouldn't bother if it doesn't do much for me.

Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Anyone ever wear their past like a verdict? Let’s talk about shame, grace, and what it means to be given (or to give someone else) a second chance.

open.substack.com

What You Are Not Anymore

A reflection on shame, grace, and the second chance as sacred ground

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Every injury, every stretch, every scar carries a record of how you've lived. Colonization taught us to see the body as something to control, optimize, and exploit. thomastijerina.substack.com/p/the-body-a...

thomastijerina.substack.com

The Body as a Living Archive

I have learned to think of the body as a kind of memory.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Therapy helped me but empire also taught me to measure my worth by output. I don’t think I really want progress because I’d rather have peace. I don’t want to perform anymore. I now prefer belonging.

substack.com

Dr. Thomas Tijerina (@thotij)

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Sometimes transformation starts when something old falls apart. Sobriety has been that for me. It has basically been a quiet beginning I didn’t expect. #writing #booksky substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

The Fall That Becomes a Beginning

“Transformation more often happens not when something new begins, but when something old falls apart.”

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Capitalism teaches us that happiness grows with more. The body knows it grows through rhythm, rest, and relationship. This piece is about enough and what becomes possible when we stop trying to buy our way to wellness. #writingsky substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

The Economics of Enough

Capitalism teaches us that happiness grows with acquisition, but the nervous system knows better.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

In the process of condensing my manuscript. Meanwhile I am heading back to Youtube to release content from my original manuscript, one short video at a time. Take a look if healing and liberation under empire interests you. #Wellness #MentalHealth #AcademicSky

youtube.com

A lot of people are exhausted while doing everything right. #mentalhealth #wellness

YouTube video by Dr. Thomas Tijerina

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

The wellness industry sells escape. Most of us are longing for connection. In this essay, I write about collective care, the economics of enough, and what it means to build wellness that liberates rather than exhausts.

open.substack.com

All Flourishing Is Mutual

A Decolonial Approach to Wellness

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

The wellness industry tells us we’re tired because we’re not trying hard enough but many of us are exhausted because the systems around us are exhausting. When healing becomes a product, rest becomes performance, and calm gets sold back to us at a markup. I wrote about this here. #Wellness #Health

open.substack.com

The Wellness Industry: Colonialism in Disguise?

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Colonialism trained nervous systems. Fear, vigilance, silence, and muscular tension are learned adaptations to power. History lives in the body. To decolonize the bodymind is to teach the nervous system that safety is possible again. #writing substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

Colonialism and the Bodymind

If the brain learns through experience, then history lives in our nervous systems.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Some days I don’t want to run, lift, write, meditate, or teach. Some days I feel like I’m made of fatigue and grief. But discipline reminds me that movement is medicine, community is medicine, presence is medicine. Keep showing up gently.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Your ancestors didn’t survive colonization for you to numb yourself to death. Healing is not an aesthetic, it’s a responsibility. Every moment you choose presence over escape, you honor people who never had that choice.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Most people aren’t burned out. They’re spiritually underfed.They’ve been living on noise, distraction, and survival mode. I see it every day in the gym, the classroom, and the people I love. Slow down. Breathe. Your spirit is starving for something quieter than hustle culture.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Lifehack: Seriously, when you see a post in all caps, you can just assume it's stupid.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Positive psychology measures happiness.Liberation asks who has access to it. Without history and context, even the science of joy can mistake privilege for wellness. #writing #writer substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

The Roots of Positive Psychology

Psychology did not begin as the study of flourishing.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Progress belongs to those who begin, stumble, and begin again.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

500 days of sobriety flew by fast! Didn't expect that.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Truth! What they’re defending is racial hierarchy, not national borders.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Healing is not becoming a different person. It’s remembering who you were before the world colonized you.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Ever notice how happiness feels like work? Like something you have to earn? That’s because colonialism claimed our definitions of joy. Here’s me beginning to unpack that. #writing #writer #blog #substack

thomastijerina.substack.com

Colonialism and the Invention of Modern Happiness

When European philosophers of the Enlightenment began to speak of happiness, they turned it into proof of progress.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Your body will forgive you, but not forever.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Your body will humble you and slow you down if you don't learn to pace yourself. I'm still learning the hard way.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

If you’ve ever felt like your body was aging faster than your spirit… I’m writing a book for you.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

I call it “seasonal introspection disorder.”

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

It feels like community is just a group of tired people who keep showing up anyway.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

What a weird privilege, to be alive and this confused.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

I don’t care what anyone says, Taco Bell’s Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie is not as good as my abuelita’s homemade Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Writing about liberation while refreshing analytics. The duality of man.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Follow along if it’s your vibe. I mix sociology, philosophy, and personal reflection to look at how things like capitalism, colonization, and consumer culture shape our ideas of happiness and healing.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Am I tho only one who saw Indiana almost lose and have to come from behind to beat a terrible Penn State team?

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

This "All Her Fault" show on #Peacock has me stressing out about my little ones getting kidnapped and I don't even have any little ones.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

This has been my go to mid-day #meditation to recenter and regain some clarity. Always open to suggestions though if anyone has a practice that helps them. open.spotify.com/episode/7o9h...

open.spotify.com

⛰️ 10-Minute GROUNDING Meditation | Breathe, Connect, & Return to Your Still Center

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Just learned my “resting philosopher face” looks like mild contempt.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Everything collapses eventually. Some things deserve to.

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Dr. Thomas Tijerina @thotij.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

What song feels like a therapy session to you?

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