Moonly Review 🌑 New Beginnings
Be careful what you wish for.
Happy New Moon!
This cycle is particularly awesome for new beginnings, which is perfect as I have a few of them aligning right now.
New Journal
This New Moon I'm starting a new journal. This is always a special moment, as my journal is pretty much a command centre of my life, compiling not only my ongoing story, but also ideas, intentions, artwork, emotional processing, and a log.
I always give a title to each of my journals (the last one was called "Connecting the Dots"), but it's the first time that I have created a designated space on one of the first pages to conduct a retrospective, giving me a perfect opportunity to review what happened and ground myself before beginning the next chapter.
Did I manage to connect the dots?
It certainly feels like it, although a few aspects are still not entirely clear to me. I guess I'm just going to have to wait and experience as the connections are gradually unfolding. And that's okay. I've been learning to be patient, and I feel like I'm finally getting better at it.
One of the dots that has been the most cloudy for the past years is "financial freedom". A part of me is tired of the constant ups and downs of "figuring it out", but the truth is that I do love being my own boss and having the opportunity to grab ideas and turn them into tangible change for people that I work with. Experiences such as The Year of Practice are really special.
With that in mind though, a part of me feels a drive to connect more with the real (as opposed to digital) world and shift a big chunk of my work to the analogue realm. The best part of it, is that I have been mastering using a journal for many years, so I do have all the tools I need. Perhaps this is why I have been feeling a growing pull towards creating another iteration of the Minimalist Journaling System course.
It somehow feels like this is the iteration that I need to ship, in order to understand the role of JournalSmarter in our business. Perhaps it's all about helping screen-tired creatives to stay focused by journaling on paper? Perhaps it has always been about The Minimalist Journaling System?
I even have a new idea for a name that I really vibe with. As much as I like the "MJS", it has proven to be totally unpronounceable, and even people who completed the MJS course couldn't say it out loud in the conversation...
New Skill
I can trace the rekindling of the journaling spark to the Habit Coaching Certification that I'm taking at the moment. Funny enough, when having to choose ONE thing to specialise in for the course, there were only two ideas that I really resonated with:
Help community builders to nurture their networks by sending one message.
Help screen-tired creatives to stay focused by journaling one sentence.
The coaching course focuses on chat coaching with the momentum method: starting with a tiny habit and building up in iterative cycles, which is pretty much what we have been doing in our courses. While it's nothing new, it feels helpful to be restricted to the "I help statement" format. I'll start with the journaling for now, and who knows, I might add the other one later.
FYI: I'll be looking for "practice clients" soon, so if you'd like to get some free chat coaching from me so I can practice in exchange for a testimonial, then let me know.
New Practice
For the second quarter of the Year of Practice, I've picked "grounding" or "connection with the land". I'm such a super airy person (and so is Silvia), so I really need to work on the quadrant directly opposite to maintain balance. A friend of mine, who is into crystals, suggested that I should keep a huge volcanic rock with me.
I've started with the tiny habit of walking barefoot around the garden right after I wake up, and it's been already doing wonders. The truth is, just like with exercise, the more I ground myself, the more I want to stay grounded. And I can still fly in the air. In fact, it's who I am.
I've recorded a podcast episode about it (although it's more of a voice note), if you'd like to listen to my (hopefully) soothing voice.
New Explorations: Crypto & DeFi
I've been more drawn to the world of Crypto and DeFi recently. My first instinct was to fall into the rabbit-hole and binge research everything, but fortunately I took a long walk in a forest and grounded myself.
Uff... That was close. 🌳
The truth is, I don't want to spend countless hours researching and then keep checking the performance of various coins obsessively. And I don't really have much to invest anyway.
Therefore I'll have to proxy my sense-making to other people and look for some easy wins. For now I started mining *Pi* which is effortless and who knows, maybe will bring some wealth in the future (read this note for more info). I've also reached out to a few people with some n00b questions, and asking for their opinions. I'm also very aware of the investing mental model from Warren Buffet:
“be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
So, while it totally makes sense for me that Crypto and DeFi is the not-so-distant future of exchange, I'm going to patiently explore it, and gradually build my assets over time.
And today I've joined Seeds, which looks, oh, so wonderful.
Here's a deep dive deck explaining how Seeds Ecosystem works, which I will need to take some time to properly digest.
New Goodies for our Patrons
Silvia and I went to a forest, thought about taking a photo, and instead ended up recording a deep dive video, which now lives on our Patreon as a proud first post.
We don't really have a solid strategy yet for growing our Patreon account (we linked it to our various projects, but bring it up here and there but that's it for now), and last week the needle counting our supporters haven't moved. Fingers crossed for this week (wink, wink).
The good news is that we have 3 wonderful people on board (thank you!), which means a lot, and it brings us close to our first goal.
While I can't help but think that Patreon is something we should have launched 3 years ago, I'm also okay with it. Slow and steady wins the race. But I'm not racing anywhere anyway. How about:
Slow and steady enjoys the journey.
Sounds way better 🐢.
Sending good vibes your way along with wishes of happy New Beginnings, wherever you see them 💜
Michal
ps. Since you're here, I'll share with you an intention I wrote in the first page of my new journal:
Let's make it real before I reach the final page.
🌲🌲🌲