On allowing energy to flow
If you’ve opened this on the day it’s hit inboxes, hip hip hooray! It means you’re reading it on my birthday!
I scheduled publication for Monday, 24 July while I’m out of office, having taken time off to treat myself to a mineral spa, delicious lunch, and maybe even cake! Okay, definitely cake!
This outing had been a birthday tradition for years, but the last time I observed it was 2019. Now, I'm bringing it back! It feels indulgent, but also necessary — a chance to reset and reimagine how I’d like to proceed for my next trip around the sun — where nothing is guaranteed, but anything is possible.
I’ll let you in on one of my wishes: in the most general sense, it is to live fearlessly, in all ways — being guided by my intuition, taking creative risks, being more generous, releasing judgement, being open to receiving, and embracing imperfections. No biggie, right?
With that intention of fearlessness front of mind, and following much thought, I have taken the leap, 15 issues in, to set up a paid subscription option for The Raptorial.
If you choose to remain a free subscriber, know that you are welcome and appreciated; it is truly an honour that you put aside time to read what I write. The lovely feedback I have received from some readers, via text, email, and in person, fills my heart with joy.
None of what you now see will be behind a pay wall, and any future tiered offerings will be in addition to, rather than a portion of, what is already here.
If you choose to upgrade to paid, you’ll have the ability to start Raptorial chat threads, which differ to comments on posts. You can access chats in the drop down list from the menu bar, or more intuitively, with the chat icon in the Substack app, available for both Android and iOS.
I have a few fun ideas in mind about what future offerings may look like, but right now, I am busy soaking up mineral waters and having my cake and eating it too!
Here's to the year ahead 💫
Creative inkscapades
The learning continues, slowly
Encouraged by the Emerging Writers’ Festival, my comic making obsession continues. Now, my thoughts have turned to printing, specifically, Risograph printing, which has highlighted gaps in my knowledge of digital image making (I’m pretty much a rookie save for a long love affair with Canva).
However, rather than delving deep into digital techniques by investing in hardware and software, I’m taking a hybrid approach: hand drawing and scanning images, which I then import into Inkscape, a free, open source vector graphics editor.
Thinking about the bare minimum I need to know to prepare an image for Risograph printing has allowed me to narrow my knowledge-seeking focus to:
image sizing
digital line art colouring
colour separating.
I scoured the internet for tutorials and found a lot of jargon-laden gibberish that was too hard to follow for various reasons: tutorials based on older versions of Inkscape, tutors assuming a lot of prior knowledge, and videos that didn’t deliver the promise of their catchy titles.
Eventually, I landed on Sweater Cat Designs, a YouTube channel with a comprehensive Inkscape ‘quick’ start guide (clocks in at 1 h 18min). It also has many videos on features and tools of the graphics editor that were unknown unknowns until I saw them named — trace bitmap mastery, anyone?
It will be a slow but satisfying hybrid digital art journey as I learn, play, and create.
Wellbeing
Workplace evolution
Health and wellbeing initiatives have come a long way at my workplace. We have a policy on psychosocial risk currently in review, there are counsellors available online and in offices rather than solely off site, and there have been meaningful facilitated sessions on establishing healthy habits, based on the PERMAH Wellbeing Model.
The model builds on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and was developed by positive psychology pioneer Martin Seligman.
PERMAH is an acronym for the six intrinsically motivating factors, or pillars, that contribute to a state of wellbeing:
Positive Emotion
Engagement
Relationships
Meaning
Accomplishment
Health
Conversely, the absence of some or all of these may be an indicator or predictor of psychological distress.
Refreshingly, the sessions were not focused on productivity or career aspirations, and they acknowledged that fulfilment of the six pillars of the PERMAH Wellbeing Model come largely from activities outside of work.
My takeaways, to flourish under each pillar of the PERMAH Wellbeing Model, were:
positive emotion: keep a gratitude journal, schedule activities that bring joy
engagement: be present, be inquisitive, find ways to be in flow
relationships: share good news; foster enjoyable, supportive and authentic connections
meaning: find your ‘why’
accomplishment: set small, achievable goals and integrate them in your schedule, and get with the program — SMART goals got SMART(ER), with the addition of Evaluate and Reward
health: eat well, move regularly, sleep deeply.
How do you cultivate wellbeing in each of these areas? For me, it’s journalling my gratitude, juggling a suite of creative projects, catching up with good friends, studying my craft, setting goals (I live my life one day in a #30DayChallenge at a time), and swimming.
Raptorial Writes
A monthly writing prompt
Set a timer for 10 minutes and write. Write a duel narrative with two main characters. Create a layered story by alternating points of view with a focus on revealing story through subtext and different perceptions of the same event.
I’d love to know how you go! Post your writing to Instagram using #RaptorialWrites, or feel free to share it in the comments here. Happy writing!
Raptorial Bites
A monthly short story book club
It’s my birthday, so naturally, I invited Zadie Smith to my party. Unfortunately, Zadie has a clash, but she’s offered a reading of one of her short stories that was published the day before my birthday, in 2018!
You can browse past Raptorial Bites and join conversations at any time — comments remain open on all threads and admittedly, I have some catching up to do!