Casa Klotz
Gasp! German photographer Roland Halbe has taken these photographs of Casa Klotz, a rural beach house in Chile by architect Mathias Klotz.
2023 Intentions
My birthday and the new year coincide which always results in a reflection tornado. Here goes:
MY 2023 INTENTIONS:
– More firsts!
– Embrace softness.
– Be open to love.
– Believe in (my) magic.
– Dream bigger.
– Keep asking: “What if it was easy?”
– Listen to my inner whispers.
– More speaking up, setting boundaries, lovingly.
– Recognize openings and moments of ease.
– Pay attention to when I am happy. Repeat those moments and dial them up to 11!
– Notice when the universe is cheering me on.
– No assumptions. (Ask more questions.)
– Keep building things that make the world better in 100 years.
– Gently notice when I am not fully present. Redirect.
– When my body contracts and my heart wants to close, breathe, stay open, lean in with curiosity.
– Live with a sense of giving not taking: Regularly ask: Would I miss ____ if it was gone? What am I doing to help ____ exist and thrive?
– Don’t push the river. Don’t try to hold it back. Flow.
– Embrace and trust standing on collaborative shoulders.
– Seek out rooms filled with gentle strangers.
– Be brave. (Growth happens on the edge of discomfort.)
– Notice and celebrate what’s working.
– See beauty in everything.
– Never withhold love.
– Dance with the universe.
WHAT TO REMEMBER:
– Everything is alive.
– The universe is friendly.
– Time is an illusion.
– Energy is visible.
– Fear is absence of love.
– I am exactly where I need to be.
– We are put on earth to love.
– Clarity is your friend. Interpret mixed signals as a no.
– A belief is a thought you keep thinking. (You can change it.)
– Love, joy and peace are deep and pure states of being. (Notice them!)
– Another world is possible.
– We are here to transform, not win.
– It takes courage to be kind and have a positive outlook in life.
– Money is energy.
– Dreamers shift norm and possibility.
– My humanity is caught up with your humanity.
– Safety is the presence of connection.
– Vulnerability is a door to deeper connection.
– Everything is figureoutable.
– Love starts with me.
– Trust breeds magic.
– Our life is our way home.
Happy my (Jan 2) birthday to you. And happy 2023! Thank you for visiting this little internet garden of mine.
Map Art
Ed Fairburn draws detailed human portraits emerging out of maps. Stunning!
Link Pack
Bowie is a fascinating human. Thank you Steve for the recommending I let this movie-documentary-or-whatever-one-should-call-it wash over me.
– CreativeMornings/NYC is starting out the new year with a bang: Maria Popova, force behind The Marginalian, formerly Brain Pickings is speaking on January 13th, at 8:30am ET, at the beautiful Ethical Society on the Upper West Side. Sign up for in person or the Livestream It’s free!
– “Love is a breeze. The work we are doing is that we are opening our sails.”
– “When you love someone, the best thing you can offer that person is your presence.” The Four Buddhist Mantras for Turning Fear into Love
– How to be a writer on a marketing team without sounding like a jerk (via Chris)
– Cool! Hotamet is a super stylish and environmentally friendly helmet made out of leftover Scallop shells.
– “1. Most problems get smaller with a good night’s sleep.” Thank you David and Claire.
– ooh.directory: “A collection of 951 blogs about every topic.” Found this via Kai’s Dense Discovery newsletter. I am right there with him, I’m here for the renaissance of personal blogging!
– My friend Marcus recommended I watch Toni Erdmann. What an incredibly unusual and surprising movie. (Can’t remember the last time I watched a movie in German.)
– “What we’re seeing is the transition of power from institutions to individuals, but it’s going to be messy and it’s going to take at least a generation.” Don’t Rely on Credibility Stamps
– The Making of Modern Ukraine: A Free Online Course from Yale University, Featuring 23 Lectures
– I gifted my kids one of these Birds Aren’t Real Hoodies, it was a big hit!
– How were the first fonts made? Who invented italics? When did we figure out how to print in color? Typographic Firsts!
– Made me look and smile: Hands-Free Bicycle
– I Might Meet a Dog Today. Made me smile.
– This egg candle made me giggle.
– Design Event Guide for 2023. And then of course, every month, there are free CreativeMornings events happening all over the world. Is your city on the map? If not, start a chapter.
– It’s the end of the year. Time for some reflection and to sport this Unicorn Tattly.
22 Nuggets of Wisdom from Cory Muscara
1. Finding your true self is an act of love. Expressing it is an act of rebellion.
2. A sign of growth is having more tolerance for discomfort. But it’s also having less tolerance for bullshit.
3. Who you are is not your fault, but it is your responsibility.
4. Desires that rise in agitation are more aligned with your ego. Desires that arise in stillness are more aligned with your soul.
5. Procrastination is the refusal or inability to be with difficult emotions.
6. The moment before letting to is often when we grip the hardest.
7. You don’t find your ground by looking for stability. You find your ground by relaxing into stability.
8. What you hate most in others is usually what you hate most in yourself.
9. The biggest life hack is becoming your own best friend. Everything is easier when you do.
10. The more comfortable you become in your own skin, the less you need to manufacture the world around you for comfort.
11. An interesting thing happens when you start to like yourself. You no longer need all the things you thought you need to be happy.
12. If you don’t train your mind to appreciate what is good, you’ll continue to look for something better in the future, even when things are great.
13. The belief that there is some future moment more worth our presence than the one we’re in right now is why we miss our lives.
14. There is no set of conditions that leads to lasting happiness. Lasting happiness doesn’t come from conditions, but from learning to flow with conditions.
15. We often need to get out of alignment with the rest of the world to get back into alignment with ourselves.
16. Real confidence looks like humility. You no longer need to advertise your value because it comes from a place that does not require the validation of others.
17. Negative thoughts will not manifest a negative life. But unconscious negative thoughts will.
18. Bullying yourself into enlightenment does not work. You must befriend yourself to transcend yourself.
19. There are 3 layers to a moment: Your experience, your awareness of the experience and your story about the experience. Be mindful of the story.
20. Your mind doesn’t wander. It moves toward what it finds most interesting. To improve focus, become curious about what’s in front of you.
21. Life continues whether you pay attention to it or not. I think it’s why the passage of time is so scary.
22. High pain tolerance is a double-edged sword. It’s key for self-control but can cause us to override the pain of being out of alignment.
Safety Is A Presence Of Connection
“Safety is not a question of a lack of threat. Safety is the presence of connection.”
– Gabor Maté
Gasp! This Modular Space!
I gasped seeing these images of a smartly designed living/working space. It was designed by Italian designer Guglielmo Poletti for his own studio in Milan.
Our Connection With other People
“Our connection with other people is only as solid and deep as our connection to ourselves. In order for me to be connected to you, I have to know who I am. I have to be connected to myself. And I think what we end up doing is we end up desperately searching for connection with other people, when we have no idea who we are!”
– Brené Brown
I Am Here For You
“The most precious gift you can give to the one you love is your true presence. So the first mantra is very simple: “Dear one, I am here for you.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
Ludovico Einaudi (The Royal Albert Hall Concert 2010)
I have clearly fallen down a Ludovico Einaudi rabbit hole and I am loving it. This 2010 Royal Albert Hall Concert is an absolute dream. I recommend listening with headphones!
See Enough and Write It Down
“See enough and write it down, I tell myself. And then some morning, when the world seems drained of wonder, some day when I’m going through the motions of doing what I am supposed to do… On that bankrupt morning, I will simply open my notebook and there it will all be, a forgotten account with accumulated interest. Paid passage back to the world out there. It all comes back. Remember what it is to be me.”
– Joan Didion
The Light
“The light constantly changes, and that alters the atmosphere and beauty of things every minute.”
– Claude Monet
Kait Dunton
This piece took my breath away. Thank you for sharing your gift Kait Dunton.
Mushroom Santa
How the Psychedelic Amanita Muscaria Mushroom May Have Inspired the Santa Legend of Lapland
Try Not To Resist
“Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”
– Rumi
Link Pack
The Lion King: Tiny Desk Concert
– The Birds Aren’t Real Merch is putting a smile on my face. My kids are loving the plain black hoodie.
– Very honest and personal interview over on Time Sensitive with yours truly. (Thank you for the kind feedback so many of you have sent!)
– What a cool gift: Create Your Own Reel Viewer
– AI generated art is absolutely wild in every way (via Chris)
– You Need a (Creative) Manifesto
– Cyclo Knitter: A Bicycle-Based Machine That Knits a Scarf in Five Minutes
– This poop bag pouch looks smartly designed. Want. Purchased and loving it.
– I think this is unique stripe-y rainbow scarf falls into the category of what my friend Annie would call ‘Dopamine Dressing’. (aka colorful dressing)
– Plant Guide: Popular Plants from A to Z care difficulty
– I would say a Fringe Garland falls into the same category as my love for confetti.
– The Bantu philosophy of “ubuntu” focuses on the power of community
– The Four Buddhist Mantras for Turning Fear into Love
– “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
– Hey Austin, I wish I could go see the Field of Light installation. Maybe you can go?
– What a stunning house. Wow.
– These pants with all of the pockets made me giggle.
– Great gift ideas for art lovers: Colossal’s Favorite Art Books of 2022
– Tattly make for perfect stocking stuffers. The Tattly Gift Guide can help you find the right designs.
– CreativeMornings gathers kind-hearted, creatively minded humans all over the world. Is there a chapter in your town? If not, put your city on the map and start one, or attend our virtual events called FieldTrips.
Brian Eno on Taking Breaks
“One of the reasons I have to take distinct breaks when I work is to allow the momentum of a particular direction to run down, so that another one can establish itself.”
– Brian Eno
(Via Jocelyn)
Gradient Glass
These beautiful glasses are made for drinking but destined for display. Well done Lateral Objects.
It’s Ok To Feel Things
I think this needs to hang above my desk at Friends Work Here.