Clarity First
A notebook about how we work, and learn and love and live.

“We don’t need to add more depression, more discouragement, or more anger to what’s already here.” 

“Times are difficult globally; awakening is no longer a luxury or an ideal. It’s becoming critical. We don’t need to add more depression, more discouragement, or more anger to what’s already here. It’s becoming essential that we learn how to relate sanely with difficult times. The earth seems to be beseeching us to connect with joy and discover our innermost essence. This is the best way that we can benefit others.” – Pema Chödrön

How to stop negative thoughts forever

“You can’t. The end.
Your brain makes thoughts. That’s what it does. And some of those thoughts will always be negative because your grey matter lives by the motto of “better safe than sorry… But your thoughts don’t immediately control your actions. You get to decide.”
Article: This Is How To Use Mindfulness To Make Better Decisions

Americans divide most sharply over what brings them together.

The writings of a late Harvard political scientist anticipated America’s political and intellectual battles – and point to the country we may become.
Article: Samuel Huntington, a Prophet for the Trump Era

An experiment in a post-capitalist world is being built, gradually, in a converted spa in Barcelona.

What are the conditions for the transition to a post-capitalist mode of organization, one that that values both social and economic life? (And what is it about Spain that nurtures such collective-centric initiatives?)
Article: New Report Shines Light on Groundbreaking Catalan Cooperative

Seeing globalism as a part of a living eco-system

Local cultures connect us to memories. These stories of place provide a means of recognizing difference, and finding understanding.
Article: The Local Corporation

Finding new perspectives to solve new problems

Sometimes a different perspective is the only nudge you need. Here’s a cool tool that helps discover new perspectives.
Article: The Reframing Matrix

Build the skill of brevity.

Too many of us write e-mails that are obtuse, unfocused and way too long. So, they aren’t understood, or even read. Here’s some simple ways to write e-mails that work.
Article: Escaping E-mail Hell

Playlist

Xenia Rubinos has a smokey, soulful voice. She writes songs that blur the lines between past and future, and she is a master band leader. Check her out with this recent touring band. It’s a four-piece, built around her thrillingly flexible voice. In one corner there is a tight as hell drummer, hitting a full kit right on time. In another, there’s a bass player, and in the other is another bass player, who also plays samples of her voice, and keyboards. Rejoice. This is where music goes in the hands of a brilliant artist. Here she is performing her very sweet and very groovy strut, Lonely Lover.

Images of the week

Last week Pantone named their color of the year, Ultra Violet. They cited Prince, Bowie, and Hendrix for having “brought shades of Ultra Violet to the forefront of western pop culture as personal expressions of individuality.”

I love great art/commerce mashups. I love great ads that use great directors and great music. But this isn’t a mashup. This is appropriation. Naming Prince, Bowie, and Hendrix while trying to justify the obsolescence that is planned into a concept like “this years’s” anything, is vapid at best.

William Glackens, The Purple Dress, 1908-1910

The good news is that Pantone’s Pantone is promoting purple! push inspired the folks at the Smithsonian American Art Museum to comb their collection for art that might have inspired Prince, Bowie and Hendrix. They posted nine.

Werner Drewes, Contrasting Harmony

The larger of the two image in the header is titled Café, by William H. Johnson, 1939-1940. The smaller is Purple Passion, by Nicholas Krushenick, 1961
Article: Pantone Ultra Violet Inspiration

What’s Clarity First?

If you’re new to Clarity First, it’s the weekly newsletter by Mitch Anthony, and Clarity, the consultancy that helps mission-driven companies use their brand – their purpose, values, and stories – as powerful tools for transformation. Learn more.

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