“When ‘i’ is replaced with ‘we’, illness becomes wellness.”
— Malcolm X
On Tuesday evening, one of my best friends, who runs a beautiful home-based business, sent me a text. My heart ached when I read it. At the same time, her words stirred up a gust of desire in me to do more of what I can do. After all, all we can do is what we can do and do it to the best of our ability. For me, that is to keep using my words and this platform to inspire joy, light and love. With my friend’s approval, I’d like to share what she said with you:
“At first, yesterday when I realised I couldn’t continue my business, I was feeling funny, but I didn’t know what it was. I do now: (What I realised was) I have no choice but to stop doing something I love, that makes people happy. My meaningful work, this ‘house’ I have built with my own hands is collapsing with me in it and is now without roof. I think a lot of creative and meaningful businesses might be feeling the same. Businesses with souls are being hit, and I think they’ll have a lot to say.”
In an earlier newsletter, I talked about starting a weekly curation of local lifestyle and F&B brands/businesses I personally love for their heart and soul, and the awesome things they’re selling, of course. It’s my way of contributing to the wellness of our creative community and economy. At the same time, I know I’m going to enjoy sending you shopping and dining (in) recommendations that would brighten up your day or deliver happiness to someone you miss.
THE MOON
3:05pm. The words
have stopped coming.
I put my pen down.
It makes itself
comfortable in the groove
between two pages of my
notebook, one of them,
the left, left blank,
and the other, the right,
with the right words —
not mine (they belong to
Natsume Sōseki).
“Tsuki ga kirei desu ne.”*
The Moon Bookstore and Café has been one of my favourite places to go to write and to be in the company of great writers, well, the spirit of great writers. One day, we will land on The Moon again where we might read, write over an oat latte, do yoga and get a tarot card reading. Until then, I shall be content and grateful for their e-store, which sends out orders on Tuesdays and Fridays for now.
Photo: THE MOON
ESSE THE LABEL
4:55pm. The thunderstorm has calmed down.
I potter about the house languidly, perusing
my things, getting acquainted with them anew.
Quite a few of them I’ve forgotten existed.
I pick up random objects, hold each one in
my hands and ask myself: “Does it still spark joy?”
ESSE, founded by Alicia Tsi (I met her when she was working with Club 21 in a previous life), is a sustainable clothing line and an invitation for us to look inward, to be mindful of what we choose to introduce into our wardrobes, our lives. Shop the new capsule collection, launching first week of May, or Send someone you miss a postcard.
Photo, left: AUDE GIRAUD/ASK A FRENCH
MATTER PRINTS
7:47am. After meditation.
Looking for something to read,
words that soothe, someone who
understands, something that
matters. Then I found the
lighthouse. I found Woolf.
“For now she need not think of anybody. She could be herself, by herself. And that was what now she often felt the need of — to think; well not even to think. To be silent; to be alone …and this self having shed its attachments was free for the strangest adventures.”
Matter Prints is a purpose-driven brand that believes in products with story and soul. Every piece is a celebration of heritage and craft, a nod to provenance and process, and a conversation about the choices we make that starts with “why”, “where” and “who”. There is no room for the frivolous. It’s time to choose better. Shop their summer sale , which has been brought forward in light of the current situation, and their open letter to the Matter Tribe is worth a read, too.
Photo: MATTER PRINTS