Design The Life You Love , A Step By Step Guide To Create A Meaningful Future – A Book By Ayşe Birsel
Visiting my 71 year old mother in Istanbul is like living the lifestyle of fashion magazines. She takes us to the luxury restaurants, advises us on the reliable and the healthiest brands. I often hear her talking about workshops and books featured in TV programmes. She provides a fresh perspective for me since I am not a TV viewer. This time I came across something that looked like an exercise book. It is written by Ayşe Birsel. She is an award winning, New York based designer. She designs products for world known brands such as Hewlett Packard, Toyota, Johnson & Johnson. She is also known with her ‘Design The Life You Love’ workshops on which her book is based. I think her tools are valuable, so I am sharing few of them with you.
Design by turning limitations into opportunities
Design Your Life Through Playful Creativity
Our wishes and our needs often contradict each other. It is through creativity that we can look after our needs as well as achieve our wishes, according to Ayşe Birsel. For example I want to enjoy life, I also need to earn money. As I choose an enjoyable work I achieve both.
The process of design requires us to undo what is existing – looking at it from a different perspective, a bit like the reframing I discussed in my previous post. Reassembling the pieces in a new way and expressing the new is, in a nutshell, how design works.
She suggests we start by drawing in order to activate our creative powers. The subject or the quality of the drawing has no relevance, just draw what attracts you on a piece of paper using whatever pen or colour is available.
The idea I like best is turning the limitations of your life into opportunities.
Think about a limitation in your life. I know you may feel stuck with your way of thinking about personal limitations. I assure you this is not the only way to look at it.
I know a young women whose husband is having doubts about their marriage but is unable to make a decision to move away or to stay. She is very sad to see him in pain since she loves him from her heart. Despite her sadness she was able to realise that his lack of commitment has helped her to individuate, to focus on who she is and what she wants from her life. This is a great opportunity when you are still young. With this new understanding she decided to start her own business and travel more which she was not able to do as a couple.
How can you turn your limitation into an opportunity? Please let me know in the comments below.
Çizim için Derya Albayrak’a teşekkürlerimle.
