Having introduced the spheres of my life DREAM. MIND. BODY. BEAUTY. LOVE. HOME. WORK. PLAY. LIVE. today I am starting at the end. My Dristi is this:

I am Living Lightly so I can live an exceptional life and Illuminate magnificent change in my Universe through Design. Design is building bridges and creating a common language between fields of knowledge. Wisdom is the seamless union of rationality and compassion. There is no need to choose sides, we must use all the tools we have. It is up to us to choose to live brilliant lives and become our most delightful selves. That is all.

2011 has been a whirlwind of change, growth and discovery.

It is only accelerating. Living Lightly is Illuminating my World in ways I could not have imagined. I am connecting with Luminaries across the world, creating and discovering love, support and sublime new friendships. Though I have been exploring Living Lightly my whole life, the vision I painted before launching this little digital space could not have contained the serendipitous momentum that it has injected into my life. I am realising more with each moment that, LIVELIGHTLY, Luxurious Simplicity, my philosophy, my work as a designer, my relationships, all the spheres of my life, are more interconnected than I could have realised. That when I surrender to the flow, instead of resisting with all my might, in one sphere, blocked energy is released into the others. It is magic.

And yet it isn’t. For the most incredible realisation I have had since being swept up in Luxurious Simplicity, is that the philosophy underpinning my work and LIVELIGHTLY, is grounded.

LIVELIGHTLY is grounded.

LIVELIGHTLY could be categorised as the nexus of Design, Philosophy and Mindfulness Psychology. Grounded in academic theory. Concrete.

But these fields have been relegated to woowoo territory when it was philosophy that evolved into mathematics, religion, science, art, psychology and design. These fields of knowledge have been separated. Not only disconnected, they have become adversaries. Science opposes the Humanities. Quantitative trumps Qualitative. Academic data and facts override the dreamy woo of spiritual or emotional experience. The Left brain is superior to the Right. Masculine brawn, aggression and linear action supersedes feminine grace, nurturing and intuition.

You must not only choose a side, but label yourself within that side. I am a Buddhist Yogi Vegan. I am a Conservative Accountant. I am the 99%. I am the %1. I am rational. I am a Dreamer. I am concrete. I am airy fairy.

We specialise. We Categorise. We define.

We create language barriers. We fight about words and definitions where we could be in dialogue, conversation, flow, creating meaning, beauty and unity. One camp says ‘worship’ or ‘love’ (woo) where the other says ‘connection’ or ‘comprehension’ (rational). ‘Simple’ is my ideal. Elegant. Focused. Clear. Illuminated. Complexity distilled. Communicating with clarity. Sometimes the word ‘Simple’ is misinterpreted as ‘simplistic’, to mean naive or superficial. Language is a minefield and when we translate between people and fields, meaning is lost in the space between.

I think that these separate fields are simply means of understanding the Universe in order to live better lives. Philosophy, mathematics, religion, science, art and psychology are all methodologies for deriving knowledge from experience of nature. And underpinning them is the same simple iterative cycle.

Observe // Experiment // Reconcile

Design too is an iterative cycle. It is the next step. Turning knowledge into action.

For the first time in history, some of us are privileged enough to not be concerned with day-to-day survival, so instead of just living a better life, I feel it’s my responsibility to live an exceptional life, and to Illuminate magnificent change in my world. And I am going to use all of the tools, explore all of the fields my knowledge-greedy mind and spirit can handle, and through design, build bridges between the silos.

Because knowledge and life is a spectrum. True wisdom is the seamless fusion of rationality and compassion. Yin and Yang. Masculine and Feminine. Mind Body and Spirit. Once I remembered this everything else just flowed.

I think I believed I was SO woowoo, SO different, unable to communicate my vision because it was SO idealistic. I felt torn between my rational and compassionate selves. Between my right and left brain. Between intellect and spirituality. Science and philosophy. I believed that because I could not choose a side, because I communicated rational concepts with feminine beauty and love, my voice and skills were of no value. Until I discovered Design.

I’d love you to share the LIVELIGHTLY Love. Simply link to ilivelightly.com xo

I am a designer. I am a connector.

Design is the bridge. Design is communication. A way of creating a common language. It is valuable.

And through design I am creating the most beautiful life I can imagine. I am Living Lightly.

I would be delighted to Tweet you!

What language barriers have you come up against, in your work, relationships or self-discovery? Have you ever felt pigeon-holed or held back by a definition? How are you discovering interconnections in your life and knowledge? How are you building bridges through design? Are you an aspiring entrepreneur?

More Minxy Musings...

Edges. Lenses. Flow. Hello. Welcome to LIVELIGHTLY. LIVELIGHTLY Life Design. Dream.Design.Delight. Living Lightly. Design.