Mindful Matter
Always invert.
Carl Gustav Jacobi was a German mathematician in the early 1800s, famous for his study of elliptical integrals. As a professor, Jacobi was known to tell his students, “Man muss immer umkehren.” Roughly translated: "One must always invert.” (Finally, my college German class put to use!) Jacobi was guiding his students toward the idea that it’s easier to understand complex equations when you work backwards from a clear result. Inverting isn’t just practical in math, but also in life. With this month’s theme of Simplicity, I have been thinking of ways to simplify my life — my commitments, my material possessions, even the digital content I consume. I’m having a difficult time cutting things back. I just don’t know what to get rid of. Taking Jacobi's advice, I decided to invert the question. Instead of asking myself what I need to get rid of, I imagined what a more simplified life would look like. What was I doing? What was I wearing? What was I reading? How was I spending my time? The question went from, “What do I need to get rid of?” to, “What do I want to keep?” Start with the end in mind, Dave RadparvarCo-Founder, Holstee P.S. Speaking of starting with the end in mind, in our Digital Welcome Guide we challenge you to write your own eulogy and to imagine how you might be remembered in order to help ground you in the values you choose to live today. It’s a powerful exercise that I often return to. In case you are curious, here is my eulogy which I wrote and shared a couple years ago.
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What do you need?
In this bold art for May’s theme of Simplicity, artist Iancu Barbărasă challenges us to reflect on what we actually need versus what we simply want. As the creative type in the print suggests, our needs are often overshadowed by our wants — so much so that it can be hard to see what our needs actually are. But where do we begin to understand what it is that we actually need? In 1943, a 35-year-old psychologist named Abraham Maslow condensed his research into a now-famous diagram: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Image via The School of Life One of the reasons this diagram is so compelling is that it provides a simple and tangible answer for some of life’s biggest questions: What are we pursuing? And what do we need to achieve it? Over years of revisiting this diagram in relation to my life, I have come to appreciate that my place on the pyramid is constantly in flux as circumstance and priorities change. With our world at a meaningful turning point, it is a unique moment to revisit and distinguish what it is that we need right now. Reflecting on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs — what do you need right now? Dave RadparvarCo-Founder, Holstee P.S. We are such fans of Abraham Maslow that we created a tool and named it in his honor. Two years ago, we launched Maslow — a text-based chatbot for Holstee Members to easily access all member content, like the monthly Art, Guides, Discussion Questions, Quotes and more quickly and more easily from any phone. Give it a try!
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Making space for growth.
I was sitting on my balcony one recent morning, enjoying a cup of tea, when I looked over at our jasmine plant and realized that it hadn't yet flowered this season. The leaves had been reddish brown since the winter, but they hadn't fallen. I don’t have much of a green thumb, but something felt off. So last week I decided to prune the plant, carefully removing all the non-green leaves. The next day I came outside and there were already a dozen new sprouting leaves. The day after that, I glimpsed a handful of teeny-tiny flower buds. This whole time I was waiting for the jasmine plant to flower, I was wondering what more it needed — more fertilizer, more water, or perhaps more sun. Turns out, the only thing holding it back from growing was its past self. It made me wonder — how much of our growth relies on first trimming what no longer serves us? What do we need to release so that we can flourish in the next season? What if we were to prune all the preconceived notions of who we are? All the regrets of the past and the anxieties about the future. All the outside influences telling us who we should be. The pride, the ego, the baggage — snipping and letting these things fall away. What new season of life can we step into after we make space for our own growth? Dave RadparvarCo-Founder, Holstee P.S. Making space is something we explore every May with our members, diving into the art and science of Simplicity through our monthly kit, digital guide, curated resources, and now also with our online gatherings!
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Q&A with Iancu Barbărasă
This month’s art is by Romanian illustrator, Iancu Barbărasă. Now based full-time in London, Iancu creates art with an ideas-led approach. His work aims to inform, delight, and inspire people. He hopes his illustration serves a reminder that "We'll be much happier and our planet will be much better off when we want less and share some of what we have with those who really need it.” For a little more about Iancu, here's a short Q&A! Where is home for you? London, UK has been home for almost ten years now. I find its diversity very inspiring, even in spite of the recent political issues. I was born in Transylvania, Romania though, and it will always remain a special place for me. What is your definition of a successful life? Having a helpful, positive impact on people’s lives, starting with family, friends, colleagues and hopefully others as well. Describe your perfect day. Wake up, have breakfast, go out cycling for an hour or two, get back, shower, draw for two-three hours, quick lunch, draw or read for another couple of hours, cook dinner and enjoy the evening with my partner. How did you get into design? I’ve always liked drawing, but I'm a rational type, so I was considering architecture and design during high school. I chose design because of the wider range of projects – my university had a mixed curriculum, so I studied both product and graphic design, and some interior design as well. After graduating, I started working in advertising but I soon switched to branding, being much more interested in work that would last longer. I've been doing this for over fifteen years now. Recently I've started expanding into illustration and hand-lettering, thanks to a few of my personal projects that have drawn attention online. Where do you find inspiration? Reading a lot and being interested in a wide range of subjects. During a project, it comes first from answering the “why – what – who – how” questions: why are we doing this, what is the product or what are we trying to say, who is it for, and how should it feel. Besides that, I always try to “steal” ideas from seemingly unrelated fields, or from old masters. All work that seems original just has less obvious sources of inspiration. And of course, I follow favourite artists and designers online, but I do my best to keep their influence in check. What's your dream design project? Any project can be exciting if you’re working with great people. I'd love to work more with clients who care deeply about their impact on everyone and the environment. For example, Patagonia or the Certified B Corporation companies. Cycling or outdoors related would be just a bonus. Which designers or thinkers influence/inspire you? I greatly admire Christoph Niemann for his intelligence, kindness and versatility; Yvon Chouinard for proving that it is possible to have both a profitable and responsible business; Milton Glaser for explaining the importance of being able to create form, not just to find it; my grandad for teaching me to look at everything with a bit of imagination and a lot of goodwill. Plus I'm always learning from so many other amazing people, like Paula Scher, Michael Bierut, Katsuji Wakisaka, James Victore, Geoff McFetridge, Jean Jullien, Matt Blease, Austin Kleon, Jason Kottke, Alan Fletcher, Saul Steinberg, Herman Hesse, Tenzin Gyatso, and so on. What was the inspiration behind this design? I was searching for an impactful way to express the huge difference between what we want and what we actually need. Type size was a logical solution, but I also wanted to give it a sense of urgency and global scale. For some reason, the cover for Muse's Origin of Symmetry album came to my mind. So I tried to capture a similar uneasy atmosphere in my own design, but pushing everything to the extreme (tilted horizon, roughly hand-drawn type, long shadows etc.). At the moment, what is your favorite… Color: Red & Yellow (both better together than on their own). Food: Chestnut honey (it always reminds me of my grandparents). Song: OO by Robert Fonseca (love his latest album Yesun). Quote: “The great thing about drawing is that it forces you to pay attention, and attentiveness, in the Buddhist sense, is the one way we have to understand what is real.” —Milton Glaser
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If we are gonna heal, let it be glorious.
This week we are continuing to lean into uncertainty, as new questions arise and new inspiration finds us. We were most moved by author and activist Sonya Renee Taylor’s powerful call to dream and prepare for a new, more glorious world to come: “We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature. What we have been forced to leave behind we needed to leave behind. What is getting us through is what we will need to take forward, all the rest is up to us. DREAM. While [you] have so much time. DREAM of the life you want. DREAM of the world you desire to exist in. Look for the places in your new dreams that have parts of the old world and remove them. What is the dream then? From there we can add to the collective weaving of whatever it is that is next. If we are gonna heal, let it be glorious.” Take a moment to write down your dream — of the life you want and the world you want to exist in. What does your life in this new world look like? In what ways does this new world look different from the old world? Journal your response, privately and for free, at Reflection.app. To our collective, glorious healing, Dave RadparvarCo-Founder, Holstee
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Leaning into uncertainty.
“Times of great uncertainty serve as wake-up calls in our lives, inviting us to lean into whatever is awoken, curious and compassionate about what wants to emerge. We deepen trust as we explore moments we may have never imagined, with perspectives we never expected to hold. This is the birthplace of compassion, creativity, action, and transformation.”These wise words from our friends at Gratefulness.org struck a chord with me. The uncertainty, the loss, and the everyday challenges we are experiencing right now can shake our foundation. They can cause us to question our understanding of the world and our place in it.But the uncertainty around this pandemic can be re-tooled into an inquiry — a deep dive exploration into all aspects of our lives. If we lean into this reflection process and the daunting questions that come with it, this period might even be the start of a profound transformation.My question for you today is: How has the pandemic changed your perspective? What values and priorities will you have coming out of this experience that you didn't have before?Journal your response, privately and for free, at Reflection.app.Wishing you clarity and perspective through reflection, Dave RadparvarCo-Founder, Holstee
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We’re in this together, and we always have been.
Lately I’ve been sitting with the thought that every person I have ever met, every stranger I have ever walked by, my childhood neighbors, my favorite living authors, the sandwich maker in Sicily, every one of you reading this email — every human on this planet has been affected or will be affected in some way by the coronavirus. Never in my lifetime have I experienced something that has so quickly been experienced by everyone I know and don’t know at the same time. The thought is profound. And in this instance deeply sad, with so many people’s lives upended, uncertain, and touched by fear and tragedy. But this thought has also opened something inside of me. It has reminded me of how deeply connected we all are, and how much our existence depends on one another. One state or country cannot expect to stay safe while those outside their borders are still at risk. And in many cases, the food and essentials we depend on come from outside our communities, making us reliant on global supply chains for many of our needs. On a local level, we see how much our health, safety and comfort depends on one another. We are indebted to the healthcare workers on the front-lines keeping people alive, and to the people at the local grocery store keeping necessities accessible. We have created a world where everything from our economy to our health is deeply interconnected. It is impossible for one person, one family, or even one country to get through this alone. We can only get through this together. It is strange and ironic that in a time marked by social-distancing, our interconnectedness has become even more clear. I don’t know how these months will change us in the years to come. But I hope we can hold onto this understanding of our deep connection to one another and to the planet. Normally it’s easy to only see our differences — different countries, different religions, different languages, different politics, different preferences. The coronavirus is blind to these differences. The past few weeks have made it clearer than ever, we’re in this together, and we always have been. Dave RadparvarCo-Founder, Holstee
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There is fear, but there does not have to be hate.
With this month's theme of Wellness, we are constantly looking for ways to keep our balance amidst the uncertainty. A friend recently shared the poem Lockdown by Brother Richard Hendrick. It’s a beautiful and powerful message for what is currently unfolding around the world. We are re-sharing it below and have highlighted a few lines that we found particularly moving. We hope that reading it helps slow things down and brings a few moments of peace to your day, like it did for us. Wishing you health, comfort, and safety, Mike and Dave RadparvarCo-Founders, Holstee Lockdown Yes there is fear.Yes there is isolation.Yes there is panic buying.Yes there is sickness.Yes there is even death.But,They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noiseYou can hear the birds again.They say that after just a few weeks of quietThe sky is no longer thick with fumesBut blue and grey and clear.They say that in the streets of AssisiPeople are singing to each otheracross the empty squares,keeping their windows openso that those who are alonemay hear the sounds of family around them.They say that a hotel in the West of IrelandIs offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.Today a young woman I knowis busy spreading fliers with her numberthrough the neighbourhoodSo that the elders may have someone to call on.Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Templesare preparing to welcomeand shelter the homeless, the sick, the wearyAll over the world people are slowing down and reflectingAll over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new wayAll over the world people are waking up to a new realityTo how big we really are.To how little control we really have.To what really matters.To Love.So we pray and we remember thatYes there is fear.But there does not have to be hate.Yes there is isolation.But there does not have to be loneliness.Yes there is panic buying.But there does not have to be meanness.Yes there is sickness.But there does not have to be disease of the soul.Yes there is even death.But there can always be a rebirth of love.Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.Today, breathe.Listen, behind the factory noises of your panicThe birds are singing againThe sky is clearing,Spring is coming,And we are always encompassed by Love.Open the windows of your soulAnd though you may not be ableto touch across the empty square,Sing. Brother Richard HendrickMarch 13, 2020
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