Featured Stories
Curated Collection #134
Chosen stories from experienced writers for avid readers

Dear Readers and Writers,
We are sorry for not being able to post a daily curated list for over a month. Our editorial team had a significant backlog in our publishing queue.
They finally managed to reduce it to a manageable size with extra efforts from additional volunteer editors. We have to juggle daily.
However, ILLUMINATION Amplifier posted selected stories from our curated collections to create daily visibility of well-written and informative stories. Here is the recent one to delight our readers and writers.
Our publications support all levels of writers, from the most accomplished to beginners, to create collaboration and synergy on this platform. Beginners gradually improve their skills by learning from the experience of accomplished writers.
We don’t censor content as long as stories meet Medium rules.
Our rules are stated in the following policies.
Sample Collections for New Readers
Here are the links to the recent collections for those who missed them:
Sample collections posted by ILLUMINATION main.
Curated Collection #132, Curated Collection #131, Curated Collection #130, Curated Collection #129, Curated Collection #128, Curated Collection #133
Sample collections posted by ILLUMINATION-Curator.
ILLUMINATION Reading Club, Curated Book Chapters of Illumination #01, Outstanding Stories — Volume 86, Outstanding Stories — Volume 87, Outstanding Stories — Volume 88, Outstanding Stories — Volume 89, Outstanding Stories — Volume 90, Outstanding Stories — Volume 91.
Sample collections posted by ILLUMINATION Amplifier.
Hand-Picked Articles #174, Hand-Picked Articles #175, Hand-Picked Articles #176, Hand-Picked Articles #177, Hand-Picked Articles #178, Hand-Picked Articles #179, Hand-Picked Articles #180, Hand-Picked Articles #181, Hand-Picked Articles #182, Hand-Picked Articles #183, Hand-Picked Articles #184, Hand-Picked Articles #185, Hand-Picked Articles #186, Hand-Picked Articles #187, Hand-Picked Articles #188, Hand-Picked Articles #189, Hand-Picked Articles #190, Hand-Picked Articles #191, Hand-Picked Articles #192, Hand-Picked Articles #193, Hand-Picked Articles #194, Hand-Picked Articles #199, Hand-Picked Articles #200, Hand-Picked Articles #202
We believe you will enjoy this collection full of interesting and informative stories.
New Writer Communication
Based on feedback from readers, we added new writer introductions and writing-related articles to the end of the collection. This post serves both readers and writers as a communication tool. The critical requirement for new writers is to review Master Copy: Onboarding New Writers.
Readers might search for their favorite writer by pressing the Ctr+F key in the keyword or search tool in the browser.
Illumination Integrated Publications include ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Technology Hits, SYNERGY, Readers Hope, Illumination on YouTube, Illumination Gaming, ILLUMINATION’s Blog, and the personal publication of our chief editor EUPHORIA.
Featured Stories from ILLUMINATION Today
Today, we curated engaging stories that cover a range of topics from the thousands of submissions (posted by 16K+ writers) published on Illumination to make your reading experience enjoyable. You might find some interesting stories in this collection.

Here’s How to Manage 6 Triggering or Aggravating Factors for Metabolic/ Mental Health Disorders Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Normalized Scams We’re (Mostly) Not Even Aware of Anymore Tim Denning
Deepen Your Spiritual Practice by Transcending Language David Gerken
7 Phrases That Rob You of Your Power and Make You Mentally Weak Ayodeji Awosika
Disclosure and Resolution Program Dr. ADAM TABRIZ
Absent Dad: A Father’s Day Tear Arlo Hennings, Ph.D.
Do You Think Veganism Is Good? Dr. Preeti Singh
Survival Depends on Community Resilience Dr John Frederick Rose
A Glimpse at Family Engagement in Education Dr. Deborah M. Vereen-Family Engagement Influencer
One Amazingly Simple Way to Tell Your Ex Is a Narcissist Melissa Kalt, MD
Reading the Bible in a Year Has Not Been Conducive to Spiritual Growth Cathy Chapman, PhD
Establishing Utopian America Qadir Abdus-Sabur, Ph.D.
5 Steps to Effective Decision Making in the Face of Analysis Paralysis Dr. Cort Dorn-Medeiros
A Distant Train Horn Changed My Perspective Douglas Giles, PhD
Invitation: 3+ Day Free Online Writing Bootcamp Hosted by Sinem Günel ILLUMINATION
A Warm Invitation to Join Illumination Gaming Publication on Medium Aiden (Illumination Gaming)
Outdated Thinking Examples That Hold America Back (According to My European Husband) Anastasia Frugaard
Two Dangerous Ingredients You Eat Daily Which Risks Your Health Ange Dim
Elon Musk’s Leaked Diary Entry: Xavier Hates and Disowns Me — but Twitter Will Kneel before Me Adam James
How Writers and Bloggers Transition to Become Published Authors ILLUMINATION-Curator
Publication Anxiety Alan Simpson
The Internet Discourse Surrounding Depp v. Heard Has Been Re-Traumatizing Victims Since Day One Alexandria Roswick
The Oldest “Ism” of Our Time May Surprise You Ali Hall
Could We Rely on Inflation to Defeat the Inflation Nightmare This Time? Allan Johnson
Gust America Zed⚡
What Do You Teach Your Children? Annelise Lords
Why Men Love Hourglass-Shaped Women, According to Science Annie Wegner
The 5 Most Brutal Truths About Life We Should All Know Before Becoming Adults Antonis Iliakis
Writing Software: How I Saved $165 By Using Obsidian Instead Of Roam Aravind Murthy
California’s Screamin’ (For Water) Arthur Keith
5 Tips For Guaranteed LinkedIn Growth Biliz Maharjan
Lead and Manage in Business and Life Bill Abbate
The Final Word On Crypto Bob Pepe
Bill Gates again criticizes the crypto space and says NFTs are based on “the theory of the biggest… Bogdan Mtn
Sexual Anorexia — Yeah, It’s a Thing Bridget Stella Ruxton Wilson
What Happens When You Can’t Write Anymore? Caitlin Jill Anders
Mental Health Check. Carel Kolchinski
How to Stop Procrastinating: Tips to Get Stuff Done Carla Paton
3 Existential “Antidepressants” That Changed My Life Chris Wojcik
Why Does God Punish Human Beings So Much? Christina Sponias
CO2-Capturing Clothing, the Future of Fashion? Claudia Caraulan
My Girlfriend Wants To Leave Me Because I Refuse To Have Sex With Her Clement Brian
Divorce Doesn’t Change Someone Colleen Sheehy Orme
Why we are unlikely to solve the climate change and energy crisis Cortney Knorr
What Does Inclusion Look Like From an Ally Perspective? Craig Hellier
Passive Income From Crypto. The Harsh Truth. Crypto Auto
This Might Be the Reason Why You’re Not Going Viral Daniel Mesa
Innocence Daniel Millington
4 Truths Serial Entrepreneurs Wish They Had Known Earlier Daniel Olatunde
One Thing Writers Do That Could Sabotage Their Success Dawn Bevier
Two Encounters With African Camel Spiders — Huge, Scary, and Fast Deborah Camp
The Worst Year to be Alive in Human History [What Happened In 536AD?] Delilah Brass
Some Pro Tips to Succeed 9 Times Faster As a Budding Writer Desiree Driesenaar
The January 6th Senate Hearings Diane Gillespie
Management Lessons in the pyramids? Divya Yerraguntla
6 Undeniable Traits that Make Berlin Incredibly Attractive for Writers and Artists Dominika Vasova
Being an Empath, Is it a Blessing or a Curse? Donna Maltz
Is Authenticity Impossible? Dustin Arand
CBD Found to be Effective as a Broad Spectrum Antibiotic Ed Ergenzinger
Don’t Be a Buzzard on A Gut Cart Elaine Hilides
How to Know When the Job Opportunity Isn’t Right for You Elizaveta Semenova
My Medium Formula to Success Ella Heart
One Word Understood by Speakers of Any Language in The World Elvira Yuzbay
Insecurities Emily Forman
Improve Your Creativity in 20 Minutes NOW Using Only A4 Paper! Fahri Karakas
Why I Find Perfection in Imperfection Dr Mehmet Yildiz
From my perspective: happiness looks like — Day 9 of the Writing Challenge Fatima
Was This aScam From a Food Delivery Service? Floyd Mori
Keep it Genuine with Frank La Natra of The Battle Bunnies NFT Food Fight Studios
3 Stories I Never Thought Could Exceed 10 Fans Francesco Carrubba
The 4 Toltecs Principles That Will Lead You to a Much Easier Life Gaby Spadaro
5 Ways Writing Every Day Can Make You a Better Person Gary Buzzard
What Are the Best Ways You Can Get Out of Debt and Crush It? Gary Kerkow
‘Chi’ — That Which Gives Life Gary Nelson
Make Videos of Your Medium Stories for More Engagement Glenn Stok
Humanity´s Tipping Point Is Here — Ready To Embrace What Is Emerging? Gregory Reece-Smith
Toxic Friends Envy Your Success For These 3 Reasons Growth Lodge
20 Things You Need to Know if You Want to Succeed on Medium Hakima T A N T R I K A
20 Things You Need to Know if You Want to Succeed on Medium
These tips have worked for me
medium.com
Fake, Flake, Flatter, and Follow Harry Hogg
Flowers for His Queen Ilis Trudie Palmer
‘Read for Read’ Club | List 105 Indigo
Did you hear about the 5 Areas of Responsibility for Managers? Iris B. Stehn
Up, Up and Awaaay! Jacinta Palmer
How To Successfully Deal With the Crazy Thinking That Comes Even After You Stop Drinking James Boylan
All The Best Writers Have Left Medium James Ssekamatte
6 Small but Impactful Ways to Improve your Interpersonal Relationships Jason D Cooper
Next Month’s Appearance of a 100-Mile Wide Comet Means It’s Time to Get Those Telescopes Out and… Jason Morton
Amazing Article Repurposing Secrets: The Best First 3 Steps Jeff the Content Profit Coach
Amazing Article Repurposing Secrets: The Best First 3 Steps
Plus 3 pro tips just for you…
medium.com
6 Ways To Stop Overthinking and Start Doing Jelena Kollmann
$431,775/month as a blogger? Jenn Leach
On Writing Jennifer Pierce
How Can Your Budget Survive a Recession? Jennifer Smith
How Years of “Printing Money” Has Come Back to Bite Jennifer Thompson
How to Love Your Job (Even If Everyone Says You Can’t) Jessica Rabel
How To Make French Friends in France Josie Timberlake
I Had an Existential Crisis — Triggered by Justin Bieber This Time. Kalyni
The World As We Know It Is Going Under and I Want To Stop It Katherine Myrestad
I Asked for a Sign and You Wouldn’t Believe What Happened Kathryn Eriksen
One Simple Way to Save Money That 99% of People Don’t Realize Khadejah
What Zombies Can Teach You About DEMOCRACY Kimberlee Jakobe
Has Writing Been Your Best Friend, Worst Enemy Or A Mixture Of Both? KL Simmons
The Fine Art of Self Compassion Kristin Austin
3 Astronaut Hacks For Healthy Eating That Will Benefit Your 9–5 Life Too kristin schuhknecht
Here’s a Quick Way To Solve the Problem of Not Being Able To Write an Article Krupesh Raikar
Remember, It’s Medium, Not High Kunal Mehra
My First $1,000 + Article on NewsBreak Felt Great! Kurt Dillon
The Road Less Traveled Larry Nowicki
The Uvalde Texas School Police Chief Is A Coward Lawson Wallace
Why the Sudden Death of Black Athletes is a Concern and How it Increases RBTS in the Black… Le Voir N. Lewis
How You Can Improve Your Memory With These Simple Steps Lisa Richards
Freedom-versary Liza Carver
Freedom-versary
Celebrating the anniversary of the day you claimed freedom from marriage.
medium.com
4 Tips for Buying a House in France as a Foreigner Lorraine Posthuma
If You Liked “The Martian,” You Have To Read “Hail Mary Project” M. Elizabeth Blair
What People Get Wrong About Egg Donation Mar Riney
How Bud Light Got The Royal Treatment Mark Armstrong
Family, Slavery, and Reconciliation Mark Suroviec, M. Ed.
Start Your Book Club in 5 Simple Steps Marta Henriques
A Beautiful Book That Changed My Life Mats Larsson
Tell me how you react; I will tell you which destiny you deserved Maximus
Both Worlds Michael Holford
Vices And Triggers Michael Patanella
Spilling the Tea — What are Celebrity Blind Items Michelle Richardson
People Should Keep Their Saviour Complex in Check Midori by the Sea
5 Things You Should Never Say To Someone With An Eating Disorder Misha Malik
I wish I had Gone Self-Employed 40 Years Ago for Three Reasons. Dr Mehmet Yildiz
4 Ways That Porn Makes You Hard (To Love) Mona Lazar
How an Evil Mind Showed a Flicker of Kindness Mukundarajan V N
Become a Master Writer With 15 Powerful Writing Tips Nikos Kafritsas
3 Writers I Would Love to Meet Noah Nelson
Jesus got me flagged on Facebook Noel Holston
Rasletinden, Starting from Valdresflye Øivind H. Solheim
How to Easily Convert Your Old Medium Articles into New Writing Samples Olivia Reed
Understanding How Pollution is Hurting Our World Ordinary Dude
It’s Getting Hot out so Please, Check Your Backseat. Pam Winter
Alcohol Problems Progress, But Not Always in a Predictable Way Paul Goodman
Are You A Winner With Big Dreams? Pius Adejumobi
This Is The Best Way To Remove Your Earwax, According To Science Prince Verma
The Bus Stop Pritika Rao
6 Best Strategies to Make Money With Amazon KPD Richard Appiah
Truth exists (Part XI) Riva Kajangu
Trading FOREX Will Bankrupt You Mentally And Financially Rob Hourmont
Top 10 Ways Gratitude Makes Your Life Better Roshana Ariel
Balancing All Scales — One Minute Poetry Roxanne Barbour
I Wish I Wanted to Work a 9–5 Traditional Job Sara Burdick
How You Say Matters As Much As What You Say Sejal Chauhan
HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF FUTUREPROOF Shahrukh Abbas
On Dodging the Bullets of Anger and Fear (a poem) Shashi Sastry
An unexpected astral projection Shawn Jr
The Number One Obstacle to Success We All Fall Prey to Shea Hulse
The TV of the Mind: Sheri Jacobs
Procrastination Got You In Its Grip? Find Out How to Break Free Sheronda Lofton
Monsters Die In The Light Stacey Lynn Klug
Why You’re Not Thinking Clearly Sobaan Saeed
Healthcare Heroes are Under More Stress and Strain T.S. Stamos
Supply Chain and Excess Stock Terry Day
What Happens When You Publish on Medium Every Day for a Year Tom C
Try My 5–5–5 Formula Brooke Ramey Nelson
Something I Learned About Wait-Staff in My Restaurants Which Is Indispensable Knowledge. Uvebruce
5 tips for getting high-quality sleep vegxcodes
Federal Compassionate Release During COVID-19 Pandemic (the GOOD, the BAD, the UGLY) Wayne Boatwright
Why it is Worth Practicing Time Management Zain
Samples from ILLUMINATION Amplifier
Thank you for reading these great stories. We look forward to your feedback.
Welcome New Writers Joining Us Today
Chris Narvaez, Eric Teplitz, Claudiu Baciu, inDriver Tech, Nikki, callie.
Let’s also give a warm welcome to recently joined writers. Some of them have already posted their first articles. Let’s support their content!
Kawika Pegram, Ion Georgian Andrei, Dung Claire Tran, Ellen McRae, Gareth Willey, EduWriter, Pradnya Munghate, H. B. Clark, Liv Space, Candice Zakariya, Aamir, Visuals of My Visceral, Manali Jarząbkiewicz, Katelyn Wiltse, Goodhead Justice, Somaditya Roy, Ayushi Jain, Marsya Irdina, Husna Goomy, Keith Kelley, Bhashwati, Ikraseker, Manisha Dhalani, Fred Achoru, Pen Magnet, BetweenYouAndMe, Daniel Sullivan, Barry Silverstein, Salsam, Poornima Verghese-Ram, Guled Abdullah, Rachael Shaw, Dais Bergmann, Tristan Tell, Jabe Nobru, Etya Vaserman Krichmar, Balin Kruse-Williams, Gabi, Jenny Alexander, stecrin, Karen E Brewer, Leena Maria, Aleksandra Kunitskaia, Paul, Karen Vizzard, John Eastern, Avery, Etya Vaserman Krichmar, Jayden Levitt, Kezia Calvert, Stephen Legler, Stelvio, Bits and bots, Nikyee Clough, Andrew Sarkis, Viola Sator, Ryder Garett, Ana Paula Picasso, Nilotpal Sinha PhD, Tasmin Wing, Lenora Brennan, Ana Isabel Casado, Christian Park, Antonio Blago, Berke sefer, Kelvin, Misha Kelly, Camilo Vasquez, Michael Huffman, Sven Vandenberghe, Joe Nelkins, Venkatesh Tripathi, Wendy Mba, Jay Peterman, Ian Tenney, Saba Khuba, Madeleine McDonald, Alexis Kirke, Danielle Benvenuto, Melissa the Health Coach, Sophie Lorf, Jasmeet Singh, Marlene EarningMakers, Tamanna Mohanty, Celine Lai, Jamie Gartner, Fatima, Andrea Storm, Nilachal, Vaibhav Barak, Shayan Kabir, David Stockar, Michael DeFranceschi, Merideth Cohrs, Aaron Taylor, ankita raghuvanshi, Larry Slawson, Ayub Youssef, Winter C., Matija Zagoranski, Mani Goel, John McGinniss, Maria Schlosser, Henya Drescher, Sargis Adikyan, Matija Zagoranski, Mani Goel, LA Vidson, LeAnnette Goodwin, Kelley Murphy, Chris Davidson, Andreas Wagner, Showy Shaw, Calista C., Jordy Schuck, Lauren Beller, Zach Graves, Zena Carlota, Ginger Bangs, Raghviberianand, Scalable Solutions, Carl Wright, Julia Konrad, Tomas Horejsi, Robert Morrow, Irene Louise, Valerie Delzer, Stefania Nedelcu, Ajith Balakrishnan Nair, Julius Saikauskas, Jéssica De Almeida, TheTibor, Wellness Hub, Nicole Skotz.
We remind all writers to review the updated photo handling policy as we still have problems.
Some writers couldn’t see publications in their profiles, so we added them again. We hope all writers can see them now. Sometimes glitches happen beyond our control. Sorry for the inconvenience!
We are sorry for the publishing delays. Some of our editors are unwell, and the ones on duty are doing their best to clear the backlog.
Onboarding Pack for New Writers
Thank you for joining our journey. We look forward to your interesting stories. Please review the attached onboarding pack before submitting your stories, as it includes helpful information to get you started quickly.
If you submit quality stories with captioned and copyright-free images, our editors can publish them faster. As a quick reminder, please particularly review the photo handling policy attached in the pack.
Dr Mehmet Yildiz, our chief editor, and owner of Illumination Integration Publications will send you an invitation to our Slack workspace via the email you registered in the application form.
Slack is tool safer than social media as editors moderate it. For more info about our publications, you may check Illumination Blog.
Joining Slack is optional and free for all members. Please contact Dr. Yildiz directly on Slack if you cannot see publications. Slack workspace has excellent benefits for writers. Currently, 12,800+ writers are members of Slack and collaborating in this moderated workspace.
Some applicants forgot to add their Medium ID when applying. Therefore, we couldn’t give them writer access.
If you see this message, please re-apply with a link to your Medium account or a link to one of your stories so that we can find you. Just your name is not enough, as multiple people have the same name.
Introducing your background in a story like the ones in this collection can help you gain more visibility. Readers enjoy reading writer bios to learn more about their background.
You may also check out great stories in our featured collection from the last three days. We believe you might find valuable and enjoyable pieces in the new and previous collections.
Writing Challenges and Prompts for Contributors
Our prolific contributors might consider joining these writing challenges to find new readers and increase their reading times.
100 Day Challenge For New Writers
1,000 Short Posts in 100 Days
Invitation To A Writing Challenge
Participating in these challenges might increase the chance of becoming a top writer in three months. Dr. Yildiz provided guidance on this opportunity.
How to Become a Top Writer in Three Months on Medium
What I Learned by Reviewing 100+ Viral Articles in 2021
How to Write Content Guaranteed to Get Views and Reads
Update on Featuring Contributors of ILLUMINATION
Collaboration and cross-pollination is our goal to bring writers and readers to one place. We are a diverse and inclusive reading and writing community on Medium. Our publications support 15,500 writers.
We offer additional support to our writers via Illumination Slack Workspace, where writers safely communicate and share story links. Currently, our Slack group has 12,800+ members.
In addition, ILLUMINATION editors feature our writers and their content in the story and interview format.
Featured Writers
We recently featured the following writers. We will continue this initiative.
Meet Rob Hourmont on Medium: A top writer in health and fitness topics and a new editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications on Medium. Rob Hourmont
Meet Sobaan Saeed: A writer and a new editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications on Medium. Sobaan Saeed
Meet Dr. Gabriella Kőrösi on Medium: Biography and an introduction to her book Darkness and Light Lady Dr. Gabriella Korosi
Meet Melinda Blau: A published author of 15 books and a prolific writer on Medium Melinda Blau
Meet Don Martin: A businessman and a writer on Medium Don Martin
Let’s explore the stories of these writers and support them.
Interviews with Writers
Dr Mehmet Yildiz, our chief editor, also interviews published authors and many writers contributing to our publications. You might check out interviewed writers in this collection.
Links to Curated Collections
You may also check our curated collections posted by ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curator, and ILLUMINATION Amplifier.
You might check out the previous collections by ILLUMINATION Amplifier at this link. ILLUMINATION editors keep featured collections in a single post titled Meta Collection of Featured Stories.
Using various approaches and tools, our editors enjoy amplifying our writers’ informative, engaging, and exciting content.
Here are the previous collections of Illumination-Curated.
ILLUMINATION-Curator posted two outstanding collections from our publication Illumination-Curated for experienced writers.
We are grateful for the support of our volunteer editors investing their precious time to make our writers and readers happy.
Sample Collections by ILLUMINATION
Curated Collection #115, Curated Collection #113, Curated Collection #110, Curated Collection #107, Curated Collection #106, Curated Collection #105
Illumination Reading Club
ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications created a reading club. All Medium members are invited. If you are not a writer for our publications yet, you may request via this weblink. We will be delighted to include you in this club.
Essential Guides for All Contributors
Helpful Resources for New Writers
Starter Kit for Writers of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications
Improving the Quality of Writing Using an Editorial Checklist
Science-Based Therapeutic Value of Expressive Writing for Mental Health
The Joy of Selling 1,000+ Books In A Month With Minimal Investment
7 Tips for Freelance Writers Dealing with Chronic Stress Effectively
What I Learned After Publishing 1,010 And Reading 100,000 Stories
Editors Who Publish These Stories
These volunteer editors review and publish the stories in these collections. They are from various time zones donating their time to clear the publication queue daily.
Meet Dr Mehmet Yildiz — Dr Mehmet Yildiz Chief Editor and Owner
Invitation to New Writers
To join our vibrant publications, please send a request via this link. We will help you gain visibility and succeed as a writer on Medium. Please mention the publication name with your Medium account ID in the request. If you are new to Medium, you can join via this link. Readers can read thousands of stories, and writers can monetize self-published content.