Last week after finishing my reflection & studio notes I thought ~ what if I wrote these notes at the beginning of the week as my done list and then lived into it? It entertained me for a while but, no. I did not do that.
My studio notes do not use AI, I write them. Therefore I invite you to accept and enjoy the flaws and colloquial use of my words, grammar or other things you may see as errors.
I’m curious that my notes last week seemed to encompass more than work. I’d made a mental note only work. But when I reflect on the week different aspects of my life plus the greater geo-political come to mind they shape me & my week.
Like Monday was a day! globally
– Gaza & Palestine will the ceasefire hold?
– in the US the dismantling of democracy continues with number 47, so much to be concerned about.
The World Economic Forum published there Risk Report just in time for Davos. I’ve not had a deep dive yet. Top 3 risks:
- Extreme weather events (Environmental)
- Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse (Env)
- Critical change to Earth systems (Env)
In Ireland shenanigans around the formation of our new government, with independents trying to be in government and opposition! Testing our working democracy but also proving it’s alive. It does raise issues of public voice and political education, this is something I think about.
My macbook did not start first thing Monday morning. The black screen of technology death. Having to sort that out and finding alternatives to work off has been a scuppering of time & headspace.
It did mean on Tuesday after dropping it to Dublin I got to enjoy this beautiful sunset with my eldest son who came with me for company.
The impact of human made climate change was large in Ireland this week with one of the biggest storms ever, storm Éowyn. On bluesky, people joking about the wind finally uniting Ireland. The graphic of the whole country in red is a pretty significant one as normally Northern Ireland is omitted and in the UK Ireland is omitted. The wind does not see human boundaries.
The impact of the storm in our place was severe wind and gust and no electricity Friday 3am approx till about 2pm. I knew we’d loose electricity so I’d shopped, cooked and worked a double-day Thursday to meet deadlines.
It seems my reflection of the week needs to manoeuvre through other lenses. I had written about experimenting with my daily drawings, not being on meta products for the week and trying to eat more plant based, deleted them and then all 👆🏻of that got written.
Life is an entanglement, we are not solo beings, my work and experiences are intertwined. My day to day experiences are enmeshed. That messiness is all in, I’m all in. It’s how I live.
Are you still with me? What’s your experience of this?
Poet Nikita Gill shared this on Bluesky earlier in the week, an antidote for the heart.
Reasons to Live Through the Apocalypse
The practice of reflection yields so much, but week 4. I’m asking what is really useful? Even the word useful implies a quantity of productiveness that seems to undermine my own values. Letting life be without analysis has its own virtue, but yielding insight and making visible the work… there is plenty. The complexity is what I seem to be untangling. Do I need to?
Giving due course to the isobaric pressure Ireland is under again with storm Herminia, I continue to be overly influenced by the weather. I’m Irish it’s in our DNA to be talking weather.
Tipping fluidity, the process, grounding the work, following practice, skill, delivery, balancing complexity curiosity and punctuation of done being better then perfect. Then what of time that unwarranted trap of clock and minutes, uncoupled from the rhythm of the year. In the Ireland we look towards Imboc, Brigids day the first of February, our Spring. I noticed it in our Alders (Fearnóg) and Hazels , this week catkins on both and buds forming on the Coll (Hazel), the joy of it steels me.
Studio Notes
- the frustration of my design target brain getting fixated on one solution I had to work harder to see around corners, my research also looked at other GHG and net zero type learning and knowledge transfer devices and games. This was useful. Base on feedback from last years training I’m happy where I have landed the first module the second one needs some further clarification and I’m looking forward to prototyping my applied learning pieces next week
- a kick off did not go ahead Tuesday as paper work was not completed, introducing risk to project deadlines for an EU team piece of work, outside of my control, it allowed me to flex & deal with my laptop
- one piece of work just went on hold due to my issues with tech and needing to sort them, I had been hopping to complete that work
- a co-developed tender with another SME just got a no.
Insights
- sometimes you have to embrace the fixation before you can see around the corner
- Design process – trusting the process gets me there, giving myself over to the not knowing allows me to travel through the all of it ~ develop the enquiry, research, wildcards and distill the requirement to design. In this situation a prototype to test which is exactly where it needs to be
- really understanding what you are hiring a piece of work to do simplifies everything
- tenders take a long time to do & in my experience to date, deliver no value to my business. They are a time suck of the worst kind. Even tenders I was successful in last year have delivered no actual work or revenue. So another rejection just steels me away from them.
- I see things in very particular or peculiar ways it’s my unique world view, people seek that out. Sometimes that is coaching other times consultancy. If there is reciprocity in the relationship all good, if not what’s the balance there?
- flexing meeting and availability with people might be adding more complexity rather than reducing it, where I’m trying to accommodate others I might just need to make it easier, simpler, keep it more simple
- people are not all curious some just want to talk and tell their story, there is a generosity in them sharing it, I’m grateful for that.
- my discipline of reflection is undisciplined, something I’m willing to explore further to find my writing rhythm
Recommendations
- To the stewards of trees, thanks a blog post from my lovely friend Mags on a tree walk in Cavan, sculpting fallen trees. It maybe extra relevant after the storms.
- Seeding the Future a film by
Dónal Ó Céilleachair, which I collaborated on, if you’ve not seen it go watch it. I’m the one speaking about oaks. I’ll share the deeper story about it soon.
Questions for you
- Did you read to the end? Any feedback on what you read here or insights from your own week?
Roisin Markham 
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