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"Everything you touch becomes beautiful!" my boss once said. And these words not only illuminated my day but also accompanied me for many years of my career. And when I get into "changing seasons" in life, remembering these words, I immediately know what I must do.

In the post "What is a good design?", I mentioned Alan Moore's book "DO/DESIGN Why Beauty is the Key to Everything."

What I liked most about it was the chapter where the author shares "Fourteen practices to create enduring beauty" and they sound like this:

1. Be curious about the world – to see, smell, and feel whether you are walking with your most beloved pet in nature, walking to a café, driving, or stopping at the church to let silence into yourself... According to Alan, he is fascinated by people – how they move, dress, and use technology. To be in the here and now. Since the subconscious mind is lagging - do not rush. Unexpectedly come to a 'aha' moment.

2. Increase your depth of field – there is a tendency in us to complicate everything and "feeling it out" can be a weighty filter towards the truth.

3. Develop an ability to adapt – adapt, that is, create, collaborate, communicate, and criticize. If we don't know the direction where we want to go, we'll never get there...

4. Observe – ask questions, look at things, break them down, and explore what successful ones do differently.

5. Go see – to connect with the people who inspire you, to meet in person, and since people like to talk about themselves, you can learn a lot by listening to them.

6. Understand language – by improving our language and deepening our knowledge, we can create better designs.

7. Be open – the point is to always be open to new ideas, new thinking, new devices, and technologies.

8. Work better together – the author’s mantra ‘people embrace what they create’ says a lot.

9. Start with optimism – start with a good intention for this world. Optimism will inspire your work.

10. Recognize no boundaries – the only question you need to ask yourself is why and can it be beautiful?

11. Surrender – sometimes at five in the morning the view from the window can become a great inspiration for a personal exhibition. Listen to intuition.

12. Only work with good people – don't work with people who don't see beauty and cut corners just to reduce costs.

13. Let go of fear – learn to let go of fear because you don't do the best or wise things when you're afraid.

14. Seek to create enduring beauty – we must create a more beautiful tomorrow.

I've read these insights many times and realized that the experiences of both the book's author and my vision coincide. As I read His thoughts, additional thoughts came to mind, so I'll share them.

"Be curious about the world" took me back to WOW memories, when I got on the bus and soon noticed a two-year-old boy. He was sitting in front of his dad. Looking through the window, constantly pointing his finger at something and repeating WOW. And WOW or WOOOOW was so special that I started looking in that direction. Everything was just WOW – passing cars, people walking down the street, a girl chasing a puppy, a market full of autumn goodies, and life, in general, running at a seemingly crazy speed.

The WOW of that day became a sunny and warm Sunday, a gigantic monkey smoking a cigar sitting on the roof of one house, people I met, Vietnamese style knitted hat from Sukne boutique, coffee with almond milk, M, who made a mindlessly delicious dinner, order of the day from my e-shop that was sent to America, even all the thoughts (both good, strange, and bad) that came to my mind, etc.

Practice "Develop an ability to adapt" – made me feel like I was good at it. Whether I lived in Italy, Malaysia, or China, or returned to Lithuania again after a decade of wanderings, I had to adapt to: the weather, food, people, and mentality of the country... Whether it's the Covid pandemic or the Ukrainian war, no matter how hard it is sometimes, I'm learning to adapt and not give up.

As for optimism, I remember from time to time the words of the designer Tim Brown, about the fact that designers need it a looot.

And at the 11th point, "Surrender", my thoughts went to Saint Lake, where the photo "We" was taken. Boat, wind, water, sun, clouds, and two clasped feathers. We made no plans. We just succumbed/devoted ourselves to nature and the intention to rest. A perfect shot was born, which already adorns more than one home.

Well, the 12th point suggesting working only with good people stopped me for a moment and the people I met over the past year began to spin in my head. Have you ever wondered about the fact, that the seven people around you most often can tell a lot about you as well?

Finally, you may not know the person at all, but what he writes can be so close to you that when reading, you get goosebumps. And this book can add to the list of books you want to kiss. It just must appear on your bookshelf as well (no matter if it is digital or physical), so that we can spread more beauty together.

P.S.

Lezione di vita: "You just keep moving forward and doing what you do and hope that it resonates with people. And if it doesn't, you just keep moving on until you find a project that does." (Octavia Spencer)

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