Meet you in the other paradigm

Greetings!

 

I want to provide a nudge on what it feels like to “be the change”. Not because I have a lock on how it works. But because I am committed to sharing what I find out when I see evidence of an economy working in service of life, and I have recently noticed a few more pieces of the puzzle.

 

In some way they’re pretty ordinary pieces. But we have a tendency to miss the basics if we’re anxiously striving for the unknown. There is hand-wringing. Complaining. Crippling distress. So when I see pieces that feel straightforward, I shine light on them.

 

That’s what I’ll do in this newsletter, with a focus on media.

 

And I’ll also share a few fun bits and bobs that might serve the collective cause.

 

We are the messengers

It’s a cliché to point out that we need to create a new, better system instead of trying to fix a broken one. Yet we still hear the guidance, “We need to meet people where they are.”

 

To which I say, “Actually, no. We need to meet people where we need to be, which is in a new paradigm.”

 

What does that mean for ordinary folks like you and me? It means leaning into stuff that works. Energizing it. Helping it be fully birthed while the other stuff composts itself. Not out of self-sacrifice – the new system should work better, should serve us better than the old one. No hair shirts thank you very much. (Hair: itchy. Itchy: bad.)

 

Most of the media industry does not work in service of life. It is funded by advertising which works in service of selling stuff. Even if I like what I am reading, the incentive structures are designed to get me to buy stuff as a result of experiencing the content I like so well. We are the product, as it were. This is not a major newsflash (speaking of the media...) but it is a major problem. I explored this in more depth in my Google Matereality assessment. What I am getting at here is that we don’t have to stay stuck in this madness.

 

But we need to find things out!
We like to read and share! What to do?!

 

Well... This is why some of us use platforms that don’t use advertising. There is a whole big beautifully interconnected world that doesn’t have any of those weird pop-up ad monstrosities telling you to try this one trick to lose belly fat. A world where no one told the writer what they could and couldn’t say, where no one pre-selected what you would and wouldn’t see, where anyone can write deep and well-researched material on anything.

 

Of course this world also comes with a lot of crap and clickbait, too. That isn't unique to advertising-funded media.

 

But that’s where we, the All-Powerful Reader come in. That’s where we get to redesign the system by experiencing it from the paradigm we want. That’s where, instead of being the product, we are the messengers who signal what we want from this world.

 

Where is this world? How can I experience it?

What on Earth are you talking about, Lorraine?

 

Why... Medium, of course. You know, that kooky little platform I’ve been linking you to since 2016? The one where there are no ads. That has a nice clean layout. With topics ranging from ethics to erotica, syntropy to spelling bees, geometry to geopolitics. There really is something for pretty much everyone. Even ESG folks...

 

Yeah, well I checked it out but there was a lot of crap.

 

This is where we need to be the change. To that effect, I just published an article with six very easy tips to make the reading experience on Medium awesome: Medium As Messenger – How to show up in an emergent system versus complaining about it and making it worse. I wouldn’t be telling you this if I didn’t think it was true based on my own lived experience. Remember, I’m that gal who moved to a cheaper apartment so I could park months of my life to do unfunded Matereality assessments on global companies. Getrichquick is not my middle name (actually, Lorraine is but that’s another story). I really think Medium can be the change – or at least, be a meaningful part of it.

 

The thing is, to have high quality content, readers need to signal what they experience as high quality. I am a reader there and I have been doing some very specific things to make it valuable – even quite enjoyable. That’s why I pulled together this article.

 

If you sort of believe me and think I produce high quality stuff and all that, but you are not into clicking around a lot right now, follow this link to subscribe to my Medium articles – you’ll get an email every time I publish there (about twice a week). You can also follow this link if you want to become a member. For about $US5 / month you gain access to every writer on the platform, so when you click on writers that I reference in my constant quest to serve up meaningful content on the trail towards industrial healing, you’ll have access to all their work, too.

 

But I hope you will do more than sign up: I hope you will step into the paradigm of media that functions the way an emergent, dynamic, interconnected, reader-centric media platform can be. This article goes into much more depth about how, and why I think this a good idea. I include specific, easy things we readers can do. The platform is still taking shape which is exciting because we get to shape it – being messengers, not products. But if we don’t shape it, we’ll probably end up where we’re headed. No thanks. Let’s be the change on this one. It’s very doable.

 

(By the way, all my articles are still available for free through this table of contents; but that misses the interconnected value of Medium. It serves as a makeshift gateway to the other paradigm – hopefully you walk all the way through.)

 

Other fun bits and bobs

If you want an excuse to like Medium, here is one fun bit you might enjoy – How To Be Ordinary and Do Extraordinary Things - A 4-step guide for ordinary people like us – which I just had accepted into Runner’s Life. It’s about how I ran more than five marathons in five days and hosted a dinner party at the finish. This probably sounds like an extraordinary feat, but it was amazingly doable even for the likes of ordinary me.

 

I share it because I sense we are in extraordinary times, where extraordinary things are being asked of many of us ordinary folk.

 

In response, reader Lizzie Leigh shared on LinkedIn:

 

“Well goodness — the results of taking steps 1 and 3 (I'm a habitual planner) have had an almost immediate effect!”

 

Another, Charlotte Hankin, wrote:

 

“Fabulous article. This spoke to something deep inside of me. In my life, I believe I have done a few extraordinary things (by my ordinary standards, anyway) and I think the biggest learning and resonance here is about inviting extraordinary in to our lives. Dream. Imagine. Possibilities.”

 

(Full transparency: I don't know these people; they said these nice things about the piece, publicly, on other people’s timelines.)

 

And here’s another fun bob, well more of a Robert really: I enjoyed this virtual interview and Q&A with Robert Rubinstein of TBLI last week. We talked about my time in the ESG sausage factory for all those years and what I’m up to now, with more details on what I mean by an economy that works in service of life. If you don’t relish a whole hour of me prattling on, this three-minute highlight reel gives a snapshot of Matereality. Anyone questioning their sanity in the sustainability industry might appreciate this chat – or not. Your comments are most welcomed.

 

Matereality Ms. Classes in April – you in?

I’m planning another workshop to explore Matereality, in late April (tentatively April 20 and 21, with a spread across time zones, TBC). Building on the Mistressclasses of late 2022, we might be ready for the Ms stage, definitely not Master as there can be no master of Matereality I don’t think.

 

This time I’ll look at highlights of all the completed assessments so far – Google, TDBank, Danone, JBS, and Glencore. It will be in April so the phrase “assessments completed so far” will be an accurate use of verb tense, since JBS and Glencore are still in progress.

 

The best place to stay on top of workshop timing is in my weekly progress updates, Medium Shorts. I will also send out a newsletter (like this thing you’re reading right now) with workshop info as soon as it’s firmed up. And of course if you have any questions or feedback, I welcome your thoughts!

 

Okay. Thanks for meeting me over here. How do you like the emergent paradigm so far?

 

Yours in connectedness,

 

Lorraine 

 

 

This piece provides tips on how to be a great reader so you have more great stuff to read: Medium As The Messenger.

 
Read Medium Reader Tips
 

In Four guiding principles to assess if a company is serving life, I offer a simplified overview of Matereality.

 
Matereality principles

Every Friday I share an update on what I'm reading, writing and doing along the unmarked path towards industrial healing. If you'd like to stay more up-to-date or follow the breadcrumbs along the trail, follow + subscribe to my Medium channel.

 
Subscribe on Medium

In How to be ordinary and do extraordinary things I share the story of how I ran more than five marathons in five days and hosted a dinner party at the finish. It was amazingly doable even for the likes of ordinary me. I sense we are in extraordinary times, where extraordinary things are being asked of us ordinary folk. I hope this 4-point mini-handbook helps.

 
Ordinary --> Extraordinary

P.S. If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you’d like to subscribe, please visit my website to be added to my mailing list. I also have a tip-jar if you’d like to financially support my work.

 

P.P.S. I updated my website with links to all previous newsletters, here, since you had to dig in your email or know where the magic door was before. 

 

P.P.P.S. The banner art is a photo (by me) of Joni who doesn’t want to be left behind, whatever may await on the other side.

 

Share on social

Share on FacebookShare on X (Twitter)

To see my website, click here: