Issue 43, rebirth by Alex Elle

On regulating ourselves to truer paths. Art. Flowers. Rain

Hi friends,

There’s a whole lot of you who are new around here - thank you for subscribing!

I’ve been thinking a lot about about how we manifest/create our own reality. I don’t mean ‘manifesting’ as some kind of secret, magical power, but the daily choices we make that lead us down paths of our own design. There are always forks in the path, but most often we decide to keep walking the one we chose earlier on. It’s clearer, the decision has already been made, there’s less fear over that way.

I studied something called cybernetics, which is a study of self regulating systems – that includes machines, yes, but also humans.

A boat self-regulating its path to reach its destination - a cybernetic model

While a lot of personal narratives may look from the outside like that straight line down the middle - every single one of us has the capacity to course correct, self regulate, and even reevaluate the destination we had set out for ourselves.

Nate Postlethwait @nate_postlethwt

There aren’t enough words to explain what it’s like to have to walk away from what’s familiar because it’s hurting you, while trusting what’s next will offer relief. It’s lonely to lose your anchors. It’s brave to want more. On your hardest days, may your bravery, help you be.

---

rebirth

by Alex Elle, Neon Soul

There will be moment when
you will fully bloom and then
wilt, only to bloom again
if we can learn anything from
flowers it is that resilience is born
even when we feel like we are
dying.

---

It’s seductive, however, to want a decision that stays the right one forever, and be so fearful of change that you stay locked into your past decisions. Learning to self-regulate in new ways is what allows us to walk away from the familiar, towards what is truer version of us. My friend Lachrista, who runs the Guerrilla Feminist substack is doing her own self-regulation right now by exchanging letters on heartbreak, to process a breakup and choose a different path ahead.

Letters to a Broken Heart | Vol. 1

I myself am somewhere between taking an unfamiliar decision, and trying to summon up the courage to manifest a new reality. The in-between stage after you make a change, and before you’re over the hill, is the hardest; it needs escape velocity to leave the gravitational pull of fear - and you know what’s the opposite of fear?

Art. Flowers. Rain.

I went to an oil pastels workshop hosted by the artist Camilla Perkins with Partnership Editions. It felt like the easiest evening in a long time, as we were all transformed by childlike wonder, after three hours of uninterrupted play and creative exploration.

I also took an impromptu trip to The New Forest, heard some horses neighing and listened the melody of rain completely envelop all my worries in a giant misty hug. (Forest bathing is a thing.)

Let it all wash over you, and don’t forget to create.

If you want to sign up for a sketch-a-long I am planning, let me know in the comments below!

x

sana

---

As always, you can support this work by sharing this newsletter across your socials or forwarding to that one friend you know needs some inspiration.

If what you’re after is some more inspiration yourself, I recommend The Sample, a newsletter that curates a new type of newsletter to your inbox every time, or check out some books from my curated Bookshop.org list.