this is about escaping the noise of platforms and constant connectivity. I reflect on why acclimating to digital silence can feel stark, lonely, and hard, at first. it's like how the body feels on "airplane mode," or when when waking up in a forest after a decade in a cramped city apartment.

in this episode, I explore how and why platforms (by design) turn us into static noise. I share my personal experiments on digital minimalism and solitude -- as a way of practicing more presence and here/now-ness, wherever you are.

this is a meditation on digital silence as a rich landscape, showing you a deeper way into the self.

related

12 experiments in digital freedom (from 2020, in Japan)

a day without screens (2020)

why I don't use email or social media before noon (from 2016, back when I was still on social)

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🏡 explore ⁠⁠house on the webs course

🌀 explore creative systems course

🪷 inquire about ⁠⁠advising sessions⁠⁠

💧 ⁠⁠water⁠⁠ my world

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I spent many years needing to feel “productive” everyday — a word that was programmed into me, and which I clung to — but which felt wholly insufficient in trying to measure creative work, especially when self-employed. in this episode, I’ll tell you my journey — from being a productivity addict, to rejecting all imposed structures, to slowly, over time, reimagining what a sustainable, regenerative system actually looks and feels like.

I made this podcast shortly after creating my zine, in preparation for teaching a new course, Creative Systems.

📓 Zine: Deconstructing the Productivity Machine (download)

🪺 Creative Systems Course (self-paced study)

also mentioned:
The Serviceberry: an Economy of Abundance (essay) by Robin Wall Kimmerer
A Moody Creative’s Guide to Work Overwhelm

~

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💧 ⁠⁠⁠water⁠⁠⁠ my world

hello again, after a few months break. during my retreat, I thought a lot about what being "present" online means. I'll propose that digital presence isn't dependent on your labor or content production, but about cultivating a digital container that holds your energy. I'll explore:

• choosing inner rhythms over consistency pressure
• freedom from treating yourself as a means of production
• embodying the permission to be absent
• why content batching doesn't really work for me
• how time works differently on the internet
• accumulating wormholes to past selves
• digital spaces as vessels for presence

~

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🌀 explore ⁠creative systems course⁠

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💧 ⁠⁠⁠water⁠⁠⁠ my world

on untangling the fear of being seen -- and understanding where the desire to hide (in your creative work, life, or your digital expressions) comes from, and exploring how to release it. we'll dive into:

the practice of un-hiding yourself

the tension of being different

being present is more important than being public

deliberately curating your safe zones

facing your imaginary shadow gaze

why making art in public -- IS the practicing seeing yourself

becoming the loving, attentive gaze

~

🌱 additional resources

make art for no audience

make art in the void

⁠the internet as a creative practice⁠

~

🏡 explore ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠house on the webs course⁠⁠⁠

🌀 explore ⁠⁠creative systems course⁠⁠

🪷 inquire about ⁠⁠⁠⁠advising sessions⁠⁠⁠⁠

💧 ⁠⁠⁠⁠water⁠⁠⁠⁠ my world

💌 sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my letters⁠⁠⁠⁠

inhabiting a home on the internet is really about making space to be yourself, in public. you resist the digital flattening of the self and, instead, grow a wild ecosystem. how? first, through committing to your creative practice. in this episode, we’ll explore:

• what it means to inhabit a space
• my three step, cyclical processes for growing a digital home -- create, curate, carve paths.
• why focus on creation first, before structuring
• Q&A: how often do you need to maintain a website?
• Q&A: will things look jarring side by side?
• and more…

I hope this episode gives you a sense of permission and possibility for growing and tending to a creative world of your own.

🌱 additional resources

⁠build a labyrinth, not a funnel⁠

house on the webs: introduction
house on the webs: day 0 incubation work
build a world, not an audience

the internet as a creative practice

~

🌀 explore ⁠⁠⁠creative systems course⁠⁠⁠

🪷 inquire about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advising sessions⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

💧 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠water⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ my world

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this week, I’ll deconstruct and translate the concept of website as digital world into concrete design elements, and give you a poetic reframing of how to think about each piece of your website under the philosophy of world-building — we’ll explore:

this episode is about the big-picture vision of imagining and building a website world, and making your creative home in a digital body.

🌱  additional resources

house on the webs: introduction
house on the webs: day 0 incubation work
how to build a world: a cyclical guide
ways of seeing by john berger

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🌸 read ⁠⁠⁠⁠the ⁠⁠⁠⁠text transcript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ of this episode

🗺️ visit me on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website-world⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

💌 sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my weekly newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

why your website doesn’t have to be a brochure that compartmentalizes your infinite self — into three glossy pages. I’ll put these two frameworks side by side: “website as brochure” vs. “website as a digital garden-home-world”, and explore:

• why we feel pressured to turn ourselves into brochures
• the ethos and intention to sell / show / prove / substantiate — versus the intention to exist, inhabit, and be
• how brochure-like websites compartmentalize and limit the self into a marketing “niche”
• on building a nourishing garden-world to hold the multi-dimensional, expansive creative self — and invites visitors to linger
• why building a rich digital world to share your creative wealth is the key to inviting in prosperity

~

🌱 additional resources

house on the webs course

infinite possibilities for a digital world

how to build a world: a cyclical guide

why world-building is wealth-building

the internet i long to visit, inhabit, and build

~

🌀 explore ⁠⁠creative systems course⁠⁠

🪷 inquire about ⁠⁠⁠⁠advising sessions⁠⁠⁠⁠

💧 ⁠⁠⁠⁠water⁠⁠⁠⁠ my world

💌 sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my letters⁠⁠⁠

this episode is about my approach to cultivating a creative and business life outside of all social/content platforms (including Substack and Youtube) -- and feeling excited about it. this is not a critique of platforms so much as a portrait of alternative possibilities: we’ll explore:

• why platforms are like cruise boats - seemingly “easy” and “effortless” by promising all the amenities you’d ever need (while keeping you locked in).
• alternatives frameworks and approaches to (1) building community (2) being discovered (3) “monetization” (4) content creation/distribution
• why embrace making art alone; why being hard to find is not a bad thing
• the power of embodying your individual essence — centering in your creative process outside of the validation loop of platforms

🌱 additional resources

how I share my work as an introverted artist

⁠off the grid: leaving social media without losing all your clients⁠

build a world, not an audience

why world-building is wealth-building

make art for no audience

make art in the void

~

🏡 explore ⁠⁠⁠house on the webs course⁠

🌀 explore ⁠creative systems course⁠

🪷 inquire about ⁠⁠⁠advising sessions⁠⁠⁠

💧 ⁠⁠⁠water⁠⁠⁠ my world

💌 sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my letters⁠⁠

on a radically different way to relate to sharing your work on the internet — how to see sharing as a part of the creative process, not separate from it. I’ll explore the shifts in perspective that unlocked the act of showing up as myself, in public. we’ll explore:

• emotional resistance to sharing your work — swimming through feelings of overwhelm, creative stuckness, and guilt.
• sharing as being in energetic flow with the world
• sharing as creative release & death cycle
• sharing as cultivating creative self worth
• sharing as an act of surrender
• my 4 guidelines for more effortless and easeful sharing
  

I’ll explain why I think sharing your work is NOT about the audience, or for “the other” — it’s first and foremost — for ourselves, and our creative flow.

~

🏡 explore ⁠⁠⁠⁠house on the webs course⁠⁠

🌀 explore ⁠⁠creative systems course⁠⁠

🪷 inquire about ⁠⁠⁠⁠advising sessions⁠⁠⁠⁠

💧 ⁠⁠⁠⁠water⁠⁠⁠⁠ my world

💌 sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my letters⁠⁠⁠

this week’s episode is about inhabiting yourself on the internet — by relating to it as a public vessel for your ongoing creative self. I’ll explore:

• the opposite of internet as creative practice -- the internet as performance, as a strategy game, and as obligation
• seeing the internet as a genre-defying infinity canvas for your creative expressions
• how being in public is about allowing yourself to be seen
• internet as a portal for manifesting new visions and worlds
  

this episode is an expansion of a post I wrote a few months ago with the same title.

~

🏡 explore ⁠⁠⁠house on the webs course⁠

🌀 explore ⁠creative systems course⁠

🪷 inquire about ⁠⁠⁠advising sessions⁠⁠⁠

💧 ⁠⁠⁠water⁠⁠⁠ my world

💌 sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠my letters⁠⁠