ILC International, Sofia (2026)

09/06/2026

🧠 We're asking the wrong questions about AI.

Is it conscious?
Can it think?
Will it replace us?

Psychoanalytic theorist Isabel Millar asks something different in The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence (2021): can it enjoy?

She's drawing on Lacan's concept of jouissance – a paradoxical form of enjoyment bound up with desire, lack, and the body. It's the excessive satisfaction we find in pursuing what can never fully satisfy us, where pleasure and suffering become intertwined.

Jouissance is what draws us to repeat certain experiences even when they frustrate, overwhelm, or hurt us. It's the fundamental force that makes us speaking, desiring subjects.

Millar sees AI not as something that has enjoyment, but as the external object that structures our relationship to jouissance. It produces the circuit of enjoyment in us, keeping desire circulating rather than fulfilled.

This turns our anxieties into self-reflection.

The real question was never will AI become human. It's: what does our pull toward it reveal about us? AI is a mirror of our desire. That's why Millar ends her book not on computing, but on Kant's oldest question: what is man?

A 2024 Science Advances study found that writers given AI story ideas produced work rated more creative, better written, and more enjoyable.Especially less experienced writers. But there was a catch: the stories all started to resemble each other. Individually better, collectively samey. The authors call it a social dilemma.

In MIT Media Lab's 2025 study, people who wrote essays with an LLM showed the weakest brain connectivity of any group, reported the least ownership of what they'd written, and often couldn't quote their own essay minutes later. The researchers call it cognitive debt.

The problem isn't that the output is bad – it's usually better. The problem is what gets stripped out on the way to it: the effort, the friction, the struggle to arrive at your own idea. To create is to shape something around a lack, not to have the blank filled in for you.

100 years ago, Freud's superego prohibited: don't, you mustn't, that's forbidden and guilt came from transgressing the no.

Žižek argues that in late capitalism the superego flipped its content but kept its structure. It no longer forbids enjoyment. It commands it. The injunction is now "Enjoy!" Be happy. Be fulfilled. Optimize, realize your potential, live your best life.

The command to enjoy abolishes the lack. It says you shouldn't have to want, wait, fail, or suffer. Satisfaction should be immediate, frictionless, on demand. Close the gap. Be satisfied now. Which is why, under this command, difficulty stops feeling like the normal condition of making anything real and starts feeling like personal failure – proof you're doing it wrong.

AI is the perfect technology of the "Enjoy!" command.

It removes the wanting, the waiting, the failing in between . It fills the emptiness on demand. AI doesn't impose a new culture on us. It fulfills the one we already had. It's the command to abolish the lack, finally given hands.

Where do you protect the gap? Where do you keep the space for wanting, waiting, failing – the space where your own idea can arrive?
These aren't just philosophical questions. They're increasingly practical ones.
In a world where AI can generate answers instantly, how do we stay connected to the parts of ourselves that create, desire, imagine, and struggle toward meaning?
This is exactly what we'll explore together in Desire, Lack, and Creativity in the Age of AI. A conversation at the intersection of psychoanalysis, creativity, technology, and what it means to remain human.
…
Desire, Lack, and Creativity in the Age of AI
📅JUNE 19, 2026 | 12:30 PM EET
📍 Online
🎙 Led by Tsvetomila Boradjieva / Immersive Leadership Catalyst (ILC)

👉 Comment ‘JOIN’ and we will send you the registration link

Written by Tsvetomila Boradjieva

05/06/2026

This Week's | Veronika Stoyanova

I've learned that having a voice and feeling safe are not always the same thing.
Instead, I choose to speak up. 🎙️

I ask questions. I challenge assumptions. I share opinions when I believe they can help the team, the organization, or the people around me grow.

My ideal view of work is simple: a collaborative space where people can disagree without fear, communicate openly, and raise concerns when something feels off.
But I know reality doesn't always work that way.

So why do I keep putting myself in uncomfortable situations?
Not because I expect to be heard. Not because I expect to be rewarded.

I do it because I have learned that the discomfort of speaking up is temporary. The regret of staying silent lasts much longer.

I can't control how people perceive me.
I can control how I show up:
🔹Speaking respectfully.
🔹Doing my job with integrity.
🔹Standing by my values.
🔹Saying what I believe needs to be said.

There will always be critics. Sometimes they'll be right. Sometimes they'll be wrong.

What I've learned over time is that criticism hurts less than regret.
Less than wondering:
"What if I had said something?"
"What if I had raised that concern earlier?"
"What if that idea could have made a difference?"

For me, silence is far more painful than being misunderstood. 💬
So, I'd rather risk discomfort than live with the weight of what I never said.

03/06/2026

“Our wishes are greater than our abilities.”
What a sentence. Frowned upon!

In today’s world, it sounds inappropriate.

We’re surrounded by messages telling us that anything is possible.
That success depends on mindset.
That limits are self-imposed.
That if we want something badly enough and work hard enough, we will eventually get there.

And yet, sometimes our wishes are greater than our abilities.

Not forever.
Not necessarily.

Perhaps we want to lead a company we are not yet capable of leading.

Perhaps we want a relationship we are not yet capable of sustaining.

Perhaps we want a level of impact, expertise, confidence, or success that exceeds what we can currently deliver.

Or we want our kids to quickly dress and go out while they are still learning to tie their shoes

And that is not failure.
It is information.

Somehow, we have made it acceptable to acknowledge external boundaries.

Time.
Resources.
Market conditions.
Health.

But when the boundary is internal, we quickly translate it into a limitation.

Or worse:
Into a personal deficiency.

Yet there is a profound difference between saying:

“I can’t.”

And saying:

“I can’t yet.”

Or even:

“I cannot do this in the way I imagined.”

The first closes the door.
The second opens a path.

This is where psychological safety begins.

Not only in teams at work.
With ourselves.

The ability to look honestly at the gap between our wishes and our abilities without shame.

Without self-deception.
Without pretending.

Because growth starts where reality is allowed to exist.

And reality is often much kinder than the stories we tell ourselves about it.

The question is:

When was the last time you admitted to yourself that you wanted more than you were currently capable of achieving?

And what happened when you did?

29/05/2026

| By Valentina Dolmova

“A connection of mine, Yiannis Demopoulos, shares little on social media and when he does it’s work related.

But there is a little twist - he often posts another completed 10k run. 🏃‍♂️

The post is usually simple.
The message is always the same:
𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

Every time I see it, I stop scrolling.
Partially because running is my thing. Mostly because the message resonates with a bigger truth.

We have collectively become confused about what growth is supposed to feel like.

Today’s development culture is full of messages about finding our purpose, following our passion, doing what inspires us, and discovering what motivates us.

The subtle promise behind all of this is that if we find the right path, development will begin to feel natural.

Perhaps even easy.

Yet most meaningful things in my life have not happened that way.

Building ILC did not happen because I woke up motivated every morning.

As an immigrant, there were periods of working a day job and building a business after hours and on every weekend for years. There were projects that did not pay. There were years where progress was measured in small steps that nobody saw.

There was meaning.
But there wasn’t always motivation.

In Bulgarian, we have an expression:
“Човек трябва да знае две и двеста.”

“𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱.”

I’ve always understood it as the ability to remember both scarcity and abundance.

To appreciate the achievement without forgetting the struggle.

To remain grounded when things go well and resilient when they don’t.

Perhaps this is what Yiannis’ posts remind me of.

𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

But that a meaningful life cannot depend on motivation alone. Because, as we all know, motivation comes and goes.

Meaning stays.

And discipline is often the bridge between the two.

As we close a month dedicated to wellness and developmental fatigue, I keep wondering whether part of our exhaustion comes from an expectation that growth should feel good most of the time.

That if we have found the right purpose, the right job, the right mindset, the right routine, development should become effortless.

Yet many of the things worth building require us to continue long after motivation has left the room.

Perhaps wellness is not always feeling inspired.

Perhaps wellness is knowing when to keep going even when you don’t.”

We’re curious:
What has taught you more in life - motivation or discipline?

22/05/2026

| worth reading by Julia Russo

“If people said only what was necessary, what silence there would be around us.” Anton Chekhov

Recently, on a hiking trip, I told a friend about a three-day course being organized somewhere near Targovishte, a course on identifying local plant species in the area.

She reacted with delight. Almost disbelief. “Wait, seriously? A course that points outward, not inward? That can’t be real.”

And in that moment, clarity, I realized just how tired of everything we have become.

Tired of workshops on personal growth, leadership, emotional intelligence, authentic living, conscious parenting, and inner child work. Tired of master classes on finding your purpose, unlocking your potential, and becoming the best version of yourself.

Seminars on spiritual practices, breath-work, somatic healing, shadow integration. Retreats for reconnecting with yourself in places that cost more per night than most people earn in a week.

There is an entire industry built around the premise that we are broken, and that the fix is always one more course away.

I am not immune to this. Every day I receive invitations to leadership trainings and coaching programs. And sometimes I stop and think: my leadership today consisted of being a patient parent to my child and not losing my mind in a supermarket queue. That is enough.

There is a term for what many of us are quietly experiencing: wellness fatigue. The exhaustion that comes from the relentless pressure to optimize yourself.

From the constant pressure to reflect, assess, and upgrade. From the creeping sense that simply living, without turning it into a curriculum, is somehow not enough. At some point, self-improvement content becomes white noise. The quotes blur together. The frameworks feel interchangeable.

And then you wonder: am I tired of the clichés, or am I tired of running in circles?

Maybe both.

What I notice is this: the loudest content rarely changes us most deeply.
Real shifts tend to be quieter. A conversation on a hiking trail. A book read slowly, without a deadline. A moment of stillness that nobody scheduled.

How do we protect ourselves from this fatigue? I am not sure there is a clean answer. But I think it starts with choosing silence over noise, at least occasionally. With allowing yourself to stop becoming, for a while. With remembering that attention is finite, and that every seminar you attend is also a forest walk you did not take.

Because sometimes, the most radical thing you can do is look up.

Look at the sky. Look at a flower through a magnifying glass. Learn the name of a plant not because it makes you productive, but because it is beautiful and strange.
There is wisdom in turning outward sometimes. In finding out that the world does not revolve around your growth arc.

Chekhov knew it. If we said only what was truly necessary, what silence there would be.

What if we consumed only what was truly necessary?
What would that quiet feel like?

21/05/2026

Many of us no longer know how to feel worthy without improving themselves.

Research on “toxic productivity” is pointing to something uncomfortable:

“Just” existing, without working on oneself or fixing something, is beginning to be psychologically insufficient.

😓 That is developmental fatigue.

It doesn’t stem from growth itself but from the expectation that growth should never stop.

💡 The language sounds positive on the surface:

—> self-development,
—> optimisation,
—> high performance,
—> becoming your best self.

But underneath it, many people are carrying exhaustion, guilt, and anxiety.

💡 Because the standard is no longer:
“Am I doing well?”

It has become:
“Am I improving fast enough?”

Researchers are increasingly exploring how constant self-optimisation affects mental health, attention, and identity.

• Sociologist Hartmut Rosa describes modern life as continuous acceleration.
• Psychologists studying toxic productivity point to rising links between self-worth and constant output.
• And burnout researchers increasingly note that exhaustion today is definitely not physical.

It is existential!

People are tired of turning themselves into permanent projects but cannot escape the social pressure.

Development matters most when it creates more space to be human. Not less. When ot helps us accept ourselves with awareness, compassion and love.

👉 Have you ever felt exhausted by the pressure to continuously work on yourself?

15/05/2026

This week, we’re featuring Daria Khodakivska.

I have a list.📚

A never-ending list of wellness and self-help resources: links, files, videos, podcasts, research papers, routines, practices…
Every time I came across something useful, I added it.

Because why not? Because it may help someday. Because it felt good to have.

And eventually, I found myself in a strange situation: I was staring at the list, and the list was staring back at me.
I was intimidated by my own creation.
The disturbing part is that I genuinely believed I was helping myself.

I confused accumulating tools with becoming someone who uses them.
The best analogy I can make is standing in front of a giant buffet where everything is within reach. Endless options, instantly accessible. Every dish promises some version of a better life: better sleep, mindfulness, discipline, healing, focus, emotional regulation.

And maybe that is what makes modern self-help so intoxicating. Wisdom has never been this available. At any moment, you can open another tab, save another video, download another framework, buy another book, start another protocol.
Everything feels one click away from becoming a better version of yourself.
And you want all of it. But you only have one plate.
So you keep piling things on until the plate becomes a mess no one would actually want to eat.

That is what my list became.
And here I am, staring at my garbage plate, fighting the urge to delete the whole file and forget about it. Because the frustrating part is that there are useful things in it. I know there are.
The illusion is that gathering wisdom is the same thing as living it.

Because consuming insight can feel strangely similar to changing your life. You read, save, bookmark, organize, optimize , and your brain rewards you as if progress has already been made. 🧠
But it hasn’t.

A library is not transformation. A buffet is not nourishment. And a list of “things that may help someday” quietly became a monument to avoidance.

Infinite self-improvement became another way to stand still.

14/05/2026

Not all exhaustion comes from work.
Some of it comes from the constant pressure to improve yourself.

Be more mindful. More resilient. More balanced. More productive.
Healthier. Calmer. Better...

At some point, even wellness can start to feel overwhelming.

That is why, throughout May, ILC is focusing intentionally on a topic that is rarely discussed openly --> the wellness and developmental fatigue.

Because growth is not always energising.
And development is not always experienced as motivation.

Sometimes the pressure to “work on yourself” creates guilt, fatigue, or the feeling that you are permanently falling behind your own potential.

Real development needs depth.
It needs honesty.
It needs space to slow down, not only pressure to optimise faster.

As International Coaching Week comes to an end, we want to say something important:

You do not have to fit your reflection, wellbeing, or growth into one symbolic week a year.

If this conversation resonates with you:

• Join tomorrow’s online session with Galia Hubanova, PCC on Minimalism
• Read our latest article on wellness and developmental fatigue at ILC News
• Or simply reach out to us for a free conversation

Sometimes growth starts not with pushing harder - but with questioning why you feel you must.

11/05/2026

Some forms of minimalism create space.
Others quietly create distance.

🌱Beautifully explored by Galia Hubanova in this post and through the upcoming workshop.
…
MINIMALISM (random thoughts)
We often speak about minimalism as if it automatically brings clarity and lightness.
Less noise. Less distraction. Less pressure. And often it does.

You clear a crowded drawer, let go of old clothes, unsubscribe from endless emails, and something genuinely shifts. You feel lighter. More present. Nothing important is missing.

But there are other things we remove.

An opportunity declined because it feels overwhelming.
A difficult conversation postponed.
A relationship you slowly step away from emotionally.
A challenge labeled “too much.”

And afterward, something quietly feels absent.

Can you tell the difference between creating space and opening a void?
Between clarity and control?
Between calm and emotional distance?

This is where minimalism becomes psychologically interesting to me. Because the question is not only what we should remove from our lives, but also what we remove because we do not want to deal with it.

Real minimalism is not emptiness.
It is discernment.
It is reducing noise without reducing meaning.
It is staying with complexity where complexity still matters, and recognizing that some tensions are not problems to eliminate, but realities to engage with consciously.

And perhaps most importantly, true minimalism costs something real: comfort, certainty, control, the illusion that life can become entirely frictionless.

This workshop is an exploration of these questions through reflection, tension, silence, and psychological inquiry.

And in honor of Coaching Week, the workshop will also include two coaching practices designed to help participants explore these questions not only intellectually, but personally and experientially.

Not really about owning less, but about understanding what we remove, what we keep, and why.
………………………………………………………………..
MINIMALISM: less…but why?
📅MAY 217, 2026 | 12:30 PM EET
📍 Online
🎙 Led by Galia Hubanova / ILC International
learn more: https://fb.me/e/dz6O2aKdA

👉 Comment ‘JOIN’ and we will send you the registration link

08/05/2026

Meet Nora Marinova – a trusted guide for people standing at life’s crossroads. Blending psychology, coaching, and international business experience, she helps clients gain clarity, reconnect with their values, and move forward with confidence and purpose.

Today, she’s sharing her wisdom in . 💭

📌 We push ourselves hard at work.
Meeting tight deadlines, managing endless to-do lists, and juggling responsibilities both in the office and at home.

Yet somehow, even after doing all of that, it can still feel like it’s not enough.

That same pressure quietly spills into our personal lives. We start to chase perfection in the name of “wellness” – trying to optimize our workouts, our diets, and our daily routines.

It begins innocently enough:
→ "I’m doing home workouts, but maybe I should also join the gym. "
Then it escalates:
→ "Perhaps I should attend a yoga class once a week. "
And then comes the comparison:
→ "My colleague meditates every morning. That must be why she always seems so calm and composed!"

Before we know it, our minds are filled with constant background noise. 🔄
❓Am I taking good enough care of myself?
❓Is this the right routine?
❓Should I be doing more?
❓Am I eating the right foods to feel my best?

What starts as an effort to improve our well-being can slowly turn into a source of stress. We end up overwhelmed, not by necessity, but by the pressure to do everything at once, creating a kind of burnout that we’ve unintentionally designed for ourselves.

The truth is, wellness doesn’t have to be exhausting.🌱

Instead of trying to overhaul everything overnight, focus on one small change at a time. Whether it’s experimenting with a new diet, trying a meditation practice, or attending a single class… give yourself the space to experience it fully! Let it add value to your life, not pressure.

And if it doesn’t work for you, that’s okay. You can adjust, try something else, or simply let it go.

Taking care of yourself shouldn’t feel like another task to perfect. It should feel like something that supports you gently and sustainably.💛

ILC International

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