FROM OUR FOUNDER
As any contemporary human suffering the blessing of life in the dystopian world we’ve lucked into, I was desperate for a functional toolset to progress my character development and understanding of the human experience.
I continually found myself wondering…
How can we function in the contemporary age being led by antiquated sets of principles? Can we not modernize the functional understanding of our existence for a well-intentioned collective human experience?
I realized quickly that we all need simplicity to drive our hope because we live in such an overcomplicated time. A lifelong interest in the arts, religions, and philosophies lead me to develop a system through a simplified combination of the most essential positive elements of all that I’ve perceived in my lifetime. Essentially, my goal for the project was to highlight the underlying principal humanistic concepts behind every piece of art and writing we’ve ever shared with each other in an efficient little nutshell.
In my attempt to redefine the success metrics of the daily human experience, I found myself in turn developing a functional system to aid my personal battle with a variety of mental health disorders. As someone who suffers from depression, anxiety, ADHD, and Imposter Syndrome as an artist, I, like many, needed a functional simplicity to drive myself forward through all the noise in my head and our world.
With time and effort (about 30 years of curiosity) I was able to melt down the human experience into a profoundly digestible couple words. As constant tangible mementos, I like to refer to my hands when assessing quite literally situation - counting the 10 words on my fingers, talking myself through a simplified version of all that’s ever truly required of me in just a few seconds.
Figure It Out.
You’re Okay.
Be Safe,
Have Fun,
Love.
These choice words are meant as a reminder to maintain a proper character by calming oneself through highlighting the baseline expectations and functions of living the human experience.
“Figure It Out” acknowledges the constant challenge of perception and reaction that is required of me.
“You’re Okay” signals the mind to relax, breathe, and calm the body to continue executing tasks, so long as there is no extensive danger or bodily harm at hand.
“Be Safe” acknowledges the continual dangers life presents as a result of the wide variety of user-error prevalent in our direct input as agents attempting to function collectively.
“Have Fun” is set as a reminder that amongst all the problem-solving and potential dangers, it is imperative to try to create sustained joy throughout all we do, since happiness isn’t a destination, but an injection of positive intention we have to actively choose.
“Love” is an additional reminder to then intentionally embrace the joy you’ve chosen to create and share with others.
Then, I quickly refer to my palms to signify the underlying persistent injection of both logic and morality into every thought I may have or action I may take.
Logic is simply reliable rationality and morality, ultimately, is simply devotion to mutual respect. Only through the enlightened understanding of these two concepts do we end up with a functional set of ethics that connects us all through our core humanity. Simply put : Ethics = Logic + Morality.
These twelve words carry me throughout my day thanks to a powerful revisioned simplicity of what life asks of me.
Furthermore, I found additional empowerment in the realization that life is just a pattern of perception & reaction, thus requiring a continual “balance of perspective” meaning, the flow of our lives depends on how we choose to react to all the good and bad that we are subjected to experience in our lifetimes. While we cannot control what happens to us, with mental fortitude, we can control the intensity of how things affect us through continually evolving perspective and patience. True personal enlightenment comes from a patient ownership of our spiritual equilibrium and reactions.
While developing the project, I feared my efforts becoming just another self help book on the shelves. I figured it logical to attempt to satisfy the Japanese concept of Ikigai for myself and combine my skills as a graphic designer and photographer into a project that can share my good intentions with society in a more stylistic and fun social manner. Interestingly enough, I repeatedly found that most apparel brands are inspired in concept but remain a single lifestyle notion and give little of tangible use to us as developing characters. I instead aimed to be different by producing a brand that functionally serves the people of the world - one they would be proud to wear due to its standout depth of intention and invaluable functionality. There is limitless collective power in rational, ethical ideas and the sharing of hope. I truly hope we all begin to realize this in my lifetime. While my primary wish is to contribute something functionally beneficial to the lives of others on an individual scale, ultimately, having a positive affect on the general consciousness of humanity is what we all desperately need. Let’s #figureitout together, time is wasting.
In Hope & Love,
- M