Hi, I’m Mari.
A bit about me...
I find immense joy in meaning and integrity. I find meaning in the moments, and accumulate a sense of integrity through values-aligned action and playful experimentation. Momentum is built in the accumulation of joy and experiential wisdom.
Listen to my conversation with Monika Bravo here.
To me, momentum is accountability reframed. Rather than the sticks and carrots of accountability (the extrinsic reward of punishments and rewards, which ultimately decrease motivation), I prefer the intrinsic reward of feeling good, and the joy it brings me to (try to) spread that goodness wherever I go.
I think of momentum-building like learning to swing. At first it’s not necessarily fun, and can even be frustrating. But over time we get to experience, little by little, the pleasure of the back-and-forth, noticing the pauses at either end, feeling the rush of movement. Or maybe you’re not into swinging.
It’s also like building a snowman. You can’t build a large snowball by picking up snow and chucking it where you want the snowman to be. You make a small snowball and carefully roll it along the ground, packing it down, shaping it, continuing to add snow until it’s just the right size. And maybe you don’t like metaphors… in which case I’m probably not your gal.
To get more of a sense of me, check out my personal micro-philosophy below or the blog bites. I write from personal experience. I love to learn, but information on its own doesn’t do it for me. I love to synthesize what I learn into knowledge, and then form an experiment to apply what I’ve learned and observe how it impacts my life. Only then is it truly learned— what I’d call wisdom.
Sense-making. This is the “what?" and it takes all of our senses to make sense, to know, even if incompletely, what we’re dealing with. It doesn’t always make sense how we “know” things, but understanding is vital.
Meaning-making. This is the “so what?” and it’s incredibly subjective, what each “what” means to us as individuals. But if we don’t know what something means to us, we’re less likely to have agency and options to make choices we feel good about.
Choice-making. Once we know what and why, we can ask, “now what?” Making a choice happens internally but influences how you exist. It conveys and energetic, determines how you spend your time and resources, informs who (and what, including content) you spend time with.
My micro-philosophy
breathe. insights are light the out-breath (“oh, I get it!”), inspiration is the in-breath (like a gasp — “oh, I could…”). once i know what i can do…
enact. do that experiment, the one that will inform me about what the insight means to me, how it impacts me, what it informs for me.
play. let myself relax a little; it’s not all existential. allow time for the imagination to be sparked and let it guide toward the next elegant action. that spaciousness and creativity will overflow into other areas of my life, making me more grounded and effective.
spark. we all have one. it’s what makes us unique, even as we’re part of a greater whole.
juice. it’s that yummy feeling when you’re in flow, or sparring with worthy opponent, or deep into dialogos. it’s got energy, and we easily lean in for more, follow its lead.
crunch. this is the thing you don’t want to do but you think would probably be good for you. this is shadow work. developing healthier habits. having challenging conversations. this is the obstacle course of your life. the challenge that you might scrunch your nose against, but part of you is leaning in anyway.