Love & Work
A notebook about how we work, learn, love and live.
In this week's lede story Anne-Laure Le Cunff refers to liminality, "a state that can be applied to a person standing at the threshold between their previous way and a new way of structuring their identity, their time, or their community." I find comfort in being reminded that we are all in a state of liminality.
Happy Friday.
Personal Development
"When the future is uncertain, we may struggle to define what exactly our purpose is."
Anne-Laure Le Cunff
"Having a strong sense of purpose in life has been linked to many psychological benefits, such as higher levels of well-being, life satisfaction, self-acceptance, self-esteem, sense of control, and optimism. Conversely, lack of purpose is associated with depression and self-derogation.
"Purpose seems to be a net positive in and of itself. But when the future is uncertain, we may struggle to define what exactly our purpose is. When unfruitful, this search for purpose can lead to existential distress, which the Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl called “noögenic neurosis” — also known as purpose anxiety." - Anne-Laure Le Cunff
Article: Purpose Anxiety: The Fear of Not Knowing Your Purpose in Life
Design
Using the principles of good soil health to define regenerative design practice
"Intro to Permaculture course structure" by PermaCultured is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Eric Benson teaches graphic design and is a partner at Re-nourish, a nonprofit organization that "provides online tools and advocates for awareness and action for sustainable systems thinking in the visual communication design community." He has been considering how we might learn from nature to inform our design thinking. He's outlined five principles of regenerative design:
- Maximize inclusion throughout the process and ensure diverse ideas and perspectives are considered
- Integrate Life-Centered Systems Thinking into the design process to follow nature’s model of creating and locating the best solution(s) to the root cause of a problem
- Create with communities and cultures that are intended to benefit
- Make Earth a stakeholder in the project. Remove negative impacts and maximize positive impacts
- Do not expose our ecosystems and humanity to health risks from the design process or solution
He invites comment.
Article: Redefining Regenerative Design
How We Live, Community
A utopian community on the Erie Canal that made their own American dream
 Image via Courtesy of the Ohio History Connection, Columbus, Ohio.
"Quaint, rural, and hardworking, Zoar, Ohio, is the kind of place that wasn’t supposed to thrive in America.
"The citizens of Zoar came to this country as religious dissenters in the early 19th century. In unorthodox fashion, they formed a communal society where all wealth was combined: men and women alike pooled their labor, their wealth, and their belongings for the benefit of the whole.
"The community thrived. In a nation dedicated to individualism, Zoar’s citizens built a first-of-its-kind economic system, and persevered for three generations, becoming one of the longest-lasting communal societies in U.S. history. That Zoar was allowed to succeed, and was even admired for its efforts, serves as a reminder that America has often celebrated differences that fly in the face of mainstream beliefs." - Kathleen M. Fernandez
Article: The Communal, Sometimes Celibate, 19th-Century Ohio Town That Thrived for Three Generations
Social Messaging, Persuasion
Can the most popular sport on the planet inspire us to save the planet?
“Footballers can reach people that politicians and scientists normally can’t” - Morten Thorsby.
Photo via We Play Green
“'There are several things that make football the best tool to engage the masses for climate and environmental action work,' says 26-year-old Norwegian midfielder Morten Thorsby. 'It is a universal game. It transcends geographical, social, cultural, and religious boundaries. Secondly, it is both the most played and followed sport in the entire world, actively engaging over five billion people. And thirdly, professional football players are the world’s most influential people.'
"For those not acquainted with Thorsby, he plies his trade with plucky underdogs Union Berlin, who have exceeded all expectations in Germany’s top league this season. Thorsby has his sights firmly set on other goals than the title, though.
"In 2020 he founded We Play Green, one of the first sport movements working to mobilise the global football family in acting for the green transition. To support his grand proposition, Thorsby references a 2020 study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which found that footballers wield more influence than politicians and most other celebrities.
“'Many players want to make a difference but may not know how. That’s why we’ve created the We Play Green player program: to help players become climate and environmental leaders. By building a network of like-minded players, and connecting them with the right campaigns and projects, we can make a real impact.'” - Daniel Flendt Dreesen
Article: Can Football Kick Off a Climate Revolution?
Learning, AI, Psychedelics
The Microdose asked OpenAI's chatbot for its insights on psychedelic therapy.
The Microdose is an independent journalism newsletter supported by the U.C. Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics. Each week they ask an expert five questions about the evolving field. This week they asked ChatGPT five questions "about psychedelics to see what kind of information it might provide to would-be searchers. To probe its strengths and weaknesses, we asked ChatGPT a variety of questions. In general, the chatbot provided cogent, comprehensive summaries of issues in psychedelics. In most of its answers, ChatGPT also included caveats about safety and legality and encouraged consulting medical professionals before using psychedelics."
"...But the chatbot’s most interesting replies were its insights into its own potential role in the future of psychedelics, and its replies to what we might think of as uniquely human experiences, including mysticism and poetry." - jane c. hu
Article: Can AIs Provide Psychedelic Therapy? 5 Questions for Chatbot ChatGPT
Related Article: MINDCURE Announces Partnership with Speak Ai to Enhance iSTRYM, the Company's Psychedelic Digital Therapeutics Technology Platform
Branding, Customer Experience
How one hotel lives up to its brand promise to support community while serving the planet with soul
Photograph by Teresa Bergen
Just before the holidays last year, Teresa Bergen visited the SCP hotel in Richmond, OR. The initials stand for Soul Community Planet and she "was astounded at how diligently the brand works up to that promise."
On the night of her arrival she found herself a performer in a reader's theater staging of The Christmas Carol in the lobby. Provisions Market, the hotel’s café, features a lot of locally produced products, and hosts local book groups and a knitting club. SCP works with local social service agencies to employ people with diverse abilities, and the hotel's restaurant has chosen to go vegan until it can find sources of ethically produced meat.
General manager general manager Tobias Colvin promises that “the brand is always the same. We’re always trying to go for soul, community, planet.” Bergen says that if this brand promise sounds good to you, "you’re in luck. The chain is expanding. Right now, it owns properties in Oregon, Colorado, California, Hawaii and Costa Rica. SCP doesn’t build anything. Instead, they buy and revive."
Article: SCP Redmond is a Hotel That’s Integrated Into the Community
How We Work
The world's largest test of a shorter workweek reveals less burn out, less stress and more job satisfaction.
 "Waitress" by wickenden is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
"A trial of a four-day workweek in Britain, billed as the world’s largest, has found that an overwhelming majority of the 61 companies that participated from June to December will keep going with the shorter hours and that most employees were less stressed and had better work-life balance.
"That was all while companies reported revenue largely stayed the same during the trial period last year and even grew compared with the same six months a year earlier, according to findings released this week." - Courtney Bournell
Article: 4-day Workweek Trial: Shorter Hours, Happier Employees
One-liners
Article: Giving Affection Comes with Heart Health Benefits
Article: Houston Just Covered Part of its Highway With a Massive Park
Article: Remote Work Is Costing Manhattan More Than $12 Billion a Year
Article: Rolling Stones Recording With Paul McCartney — and Ringo?
Article: New Research Illuminates How the Human Brain Creates its Own Psychedelic Drugs
Playlist
Video: Jorge Drexler - Asilo Feat. Mon Laferte
This winter I met a new friend, Greenough Nowakoski, while nordic skiing at Prospect Mountain. She started reading this letter and this week shared one of her own discoveries with me. "I have to introduce you to Jorge Drexler, in case you had not discovered him, and her... Mon Laferte because she was on the first Youtube video I found."
Video: Mon Laferte: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
Greengough, you're right. Jorge is an inspiring artist, and I will get back to him. But right now I can't take my eyes off of Mon Laferte. The producers of Tiny Desk had this to say about her (home) concert:
"The 10-piece small orchestra is a combination of Mexican folkloric music and European chamber music, mixing the ukulele-like jarana, an oboe, a tuba, and the violins often used in mariachi. The arrangements are the perfect vehicle for Laferte’s impassioned combination of blues and ranchera vocals.
"There is much to appreciate in Laferte’s celebration of the spiritual (the church setting) and the passions of everyday life (her torch singing). In fact, I can’t think of many other vocalists who would be able to pull this off with as much grace, style and artistic vision as Mon Laferte does."
Mitch the editor continues in his a new role as Mitch the DJ.
Another playlist of music that is quiet and chill
This winter I find myself drawn to music that soothes. Could it be in response to the crazy-ass times we live in? This is the fifth post in my new weekly series of mix-tapes, Big Sounds from a Small Planet.
Mix-Tape: Easy now, No. 2
Image of the Week
The Image of the Week is from a photo essay called Cholitas Skaters, by Celia D. Luna.
"Throughout history, Indigenous Bolivian women have had an uphill battle. They have faced obstacles for being both female and of color, and they've also had to fight hard for the preservation of their culture. As recently as 20 years ago, cholitas—an originally derogatory name for Quechua and Aymara women who sport traditional bowler hats, big colorful skirts, and long braids—were facing ostracism in societies that champion white, Catholic, and European values.
"The tide has begun to turn towards the young Bolivian women who proudly integrate their ancestry into their daily lives while excelling in their personal endeavors. Peru-born, Miami-based photographer Celia D. Luna was inspired by their stories and set to shine a light on them with her series Cholitas Bravas.
"After spotlighting Indigenous female rock climbers and wrestlers, the photographer was drawn to a group of female skaters in the city of Cochabamba. They became part of a new project within the Cholitas Bravas series: Cholitas Skaters. 'I was fascinated that they practiced an extreme sport that is usually dominated by men,' Luna tells My Modern Met. 'Not only did they excel at skating but they also embraced their culture by skating while wearing their traditional clothes. They're so proud of their ancestors and heritage, something that I also value very much. It was a combination of culture, beauty and defiance that I just had to capture.'" - Regina Sienra
Article: Bolivian ‘Cholitas’ Fly on Their Skateboards in Empowering Portrait Series
What's Love & Work?
Love & Work is the weekly newsletter by me, Mitch Anthony. I help people use their brand - their purpose, values, and stories - as a pedagogy and toolbox for transformation.
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