Sacred portrayal by @luciadami — bringing the unseen into the seen.
This artwork landed in my inbox just as I was writing about one of the things that I find hardest to articulate: my energy, how I work, what it feels like to work with me.
Words like "consultant" and "coach" are just vessels. They don't tell you who I am to you.
So I'm letting other people's words do the translating.
In digging into my stories for today's essay, I remembered to connect how @bellafreud , the great-granddaughter of the founder of psychoanalysis compared my aura to Tinkerbell's in a column for the Sunday Times Style many moos ago. Meanwhile, my clients say the work feels "like therapy."
Isn't that something?
I've been thinking about what that means. About energy. About psychological safety. About the space I hold. About how sometimes we need other people's words to help describe how it feels to be/work/do good things together.
You'll find the full essay on brand work that feels like therapy (and the audio podcast) in the link in bio.
Also I'm opening a handful of consulting spots starting March 1st. DM or comment ENERGY if you're interested and I'll share a link so we can hop on a call.
My latest episode of Out of the Clouds features Saskia Wheeler, aka @neuro.aesthetics , an amazing strategist and researcher working at the intersection of neuroscience and design. We met serendipitously in Berlin last September, weeks only after I'd discovered the field of neuroaesthetics, while writing an essay touching on the topic. I LOVED having this conversation with Saskia. We talk about neuroarchitecture and design, how we are wired for beauty, and how creativity is increasingly recognised as the fifth pillar of health and wellbeing, alongside exercise, sleep, nutrition and social connection. We also talk about cognitive load and clutter, how to create psychological safety, biophilic design and much more.
Listen to Out of the Clouds wherever you listen to your podcast. And yes, link in bio of course. Enjoy!
After a long weekend of writing, and teaching, and sending out emails until late, the words of my friend @Meldishell who was a recent guest on the Metta Interview podcast resonate that much more deeply.
What does work-life balance mean to you?
Maybe you heard this from me before, but I love a closet sale. I started hosting them occasionally in 2016, in Paris, because first, I was amassing too many clothes at the time, second I had a giant apartment next to the Louvre, but also I had precious pieces to offload from my late mother that I didn't know what to do with.
"Just" donating them didn't feel quite right. And no one ever thought I’d be her size: she was an unhappy 00, and at my smallest I hovered between US 4 and 6. That gap between our bodies said a lot about how we each coped with life.
Over the past couple of years, I've invited select friends to open up their closets, and bring out their unworn or underloved items, so that they can be rehomed. Clearing does feel good. As Katia Dayan, of Post Growth Fashion, said to me on Out of the Clouds not too long ago:
"We underestimate the amount of work that goes into managing too much. Clutter creates negative emotions — one of them is anxiety, the other is a feeling of inadequacy, that you never have time to sort it out, that you always feel guilty about the stuff that isn't there. Buying may bring you immediate pleasure, but then the excess — the physical material excess — is what requires work. And creates stress."
Clearing feels delicate, tactical and important. But it does bring a sense of joy, release, and a little cash.
If you're in the vicinity and would like to come and shop my closet next week, you'll find the RSVP (necessary) in the link below.
/e/itvTcUnfRk2lonhP2F0V?c=CqlJfwNW
PS. My interview with Katia is well worth a listen. You'll find the link in the first comment.
Every Sunday, I share a digest. This curation includes upcoming events (for Le Trente in particular) links that include articles, videos, the occasional podcasts, sometimes books and videos, is something that keeps me honest about my own information diet. It's pretty good, but you know, if I write about it, I need to re-read, finish, ruthlessly cut what doesn't deserved to be shared.
The digest is meant to be easy to ingest, quick, easy but also nutritiously sound. If this sounds like it's for you, head over to TheMettaView.com to subscribe, or don't do anything, and get the cliff notes here on Mondays.
I almost forgot! I also share hot opportunities like an free upcoming webinar with the superb @pauletteperhach for the essayists and aspiring writers among you. Head over to this link to find out more: /how-to-turn-your-ideas-and-journals-into-nationally-published-essays-anne
Enjoy!
Brand new episode out tomorrow with my brilliant and dear friend @meldishell .
Her question: where am I in all of this?
If you've ever lost yourself in your work, this one's for you. 💫
Subscribe to The Mettā Interview wherever you listen.
Readiness is a myth.
There is something more instinctive behind action and momentum than most of us understand. It may look different for each person, but underneath, readiness is not a mental instruction that we follow. We can say we are ready and still find ourselves unable to make the desired moves.
Movement comes from a feeling. A recognition that gets felt through the body. When this is felt, it’s like we’ve flipped a switch. The penny drops. The a-ha. Not just cognitive events, not just understanding. Really, we feel our way through life. The felt sense of recognition is the signal. Learn to trust it.
Send this to someone who’s been waiting to feel ready.
Every week (bar holidays of course), I am sharing a Sunday Digest within the Metta View. Offering a curated selection of articles, podcasts, books, mindfulness practices is actually what got me writing a newsletter in the first place, back in September 2020. The reason for the date was that September is when my first website went live. Much has changed in the past 6 years, but what hasn't is my drive to read, listen, learn, discover and share the juiciest stuff with those on my email list. Weekly, I also pen a short(ish) opener. Last Sunday, I revealed the process of consciously uncoupling myself from Big Tech. The fact that I'm sharing this here proves I still have a way to go, but I'm also giving you a shortlist of the options I'm moving to instead. It's not for the faint of heart, but if you, like me, never meant to leave a handful of tech titans in charge of most of our communication infrastructure, choosing a constellation of smaller products instead could be not just appealing, but an act of values in practice.
You'll find the digest on TheMettaView.com, link in bio of course.
From digits to digital, that's how my latest conversation on Out of the Clouds start with my wonderful guest, Caitlin Krause.
Not only did we meet almost three years ago to the day, in Vancouver, but Caitlin my first return guest on Out of the Clouds. And I have to say, out of all the people I’ve ever met — and I don’t think I am exaggerating — I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting someone with such a strong multidisciplinary approach as her.
If you heard the first interview, you may already know about her incredible creative brightness. Caitlin is a globally recognised experience designer, author of six books, and keynote speaker who bridges contemplative, timeless wisdom with cutting-edge modern technology.
She founded her interactive consultancy MindWise® in 2015 and teaches digital wellbeing and mindful technology at Stanford and the University of Oregon. In our conversation, we discuss her latest book, Digital Wellbeing: Empowering Connection with Wonder and Imagination in the Age of AI, and her mission to help people align intention with attention, overcome isolation, and imbue more creativity in our lives and enhance a sense of whole-life thriving.
A couple of things feel particularly sticky for me about this conversation. I am deeply curious about the possibilities still laying ahead of us when it comes to the use of spatial computing to create more connection in the world — I have some ideas of my own, a vision perhaps for how I will use it. I was also touched by how much I feel the role of Caitlin as a guide, showing us the way forward, at this intersection between digital technology and human life. She is so present, so deeply creative — she holds an MFA and she is a poet, in case you did not know — and she brings her own embodied wisdom alongside a curious, open-hearted and open-minded approach to how to use technology for human thriving.
t’s a wide-ranging exchange where we lean on language and poetry and invitations to explore possibilities, leaving to to feel like we have a deeply affirming opportunity to think about what it means to thrive, what it means to be human, and what role we want technology to play in all of it. Happy listening!
New episode is out with @lucia.dami , artist, tarot reader and creator of The Light in the Dark Oracle (coming out very soon!). If you are new to Lucia's work, you could say that her mission is to explore and empower the divine feminine, not as an abstract concept, but as a lived relationship with the internal world, the unseen realms, emotion, feeling, and spirit. Lucia's practice weaves together visual art, divination, and archetype work, with a particular interest in the symbols and myths that speak to the subconscious: the language beneath language. Among many things, she creates wonderful commissions and avatars (and yes, I had mine done too, and how I love it). In this conversation, we explore Lucia's story and also one of the many questions that feels alive for her at the moment:
How do I stop hiding my creative and spiritual voice?
We explore this, and much more, on the podcast. Link is of course, in bio! Happy listening
@postgrowthfashion ’s Katia Vladimirova Dayan explains how she uses @Substack to democratise and make research on degrowth and post growth fashion consumption more readily available. Get the full podcast link in bio, OutoftheClouds.com ☁️
