AMA with AMA: Answering YOUR questions!

Productivity + The hottest Kula Cloth® EVER.

Hello Kula Diaries friends — it’s that time of week again where you get to ask me ANYTHING! It’s very hard for me to believe that I’ve been answering your questions for 52 weeks in a row now… I’m so grateful for your participation in this ‘experiment’ — and I have had so much fun being creative in the process of answering a very wide range of questions. Over the past year, I’ve answered everything from relationship questions… to questions about trees… to questions about ice cream. I’ve enjoyed all of it, and I genuinely hope you have enjoyed it too!

This week contains a special giveaway Kula — which you will get to see in the 2nd question. I had a lot of fun making it, and I am looking forward to sending it to its brand new home… it is definitely one of a kind and what I would absolutely consider an heirloom Kula Cloth - ha!

Ok, let’s get to this week’s questions … thank you again for being here!

Dear AMA,

It sounds like you’ve had an evolving relationship with productivity. With your current mindset, do you ever feel not productive? For example, it sounds like even when you take breaks, dance, go for long walks - it seems like you are framing that as productive rest or recharge. Is productive the wrong label for this conservation... maybe meaningful works better?

Many years ago, I attended a seminar that included some ‘productivity’ focused talks. One of the speakers showed her personal technique of ‘blocking out time’ for income-producing activity. She was completely obsessed with maximizing the time that she spent doing these activities — and, in fact, nearly every moment of her life was devoted to trying to make money.

I remember coming home from that seminar… looking at my life… and feeling a nagging sense of guilt about how I liked to spend my time. I looked at all of the hiking and mountaineering that I was doing… the fun I enjoyed having with my husband… the time I liked playing my violin for pure enjoyment… and I gasped in horror at the unbelievable amount of non-income producing activity that I was engaging in. THE HORROR OF IT!! I thought things to myself like, “No wonder I’m such a failure… it’s because I’m having too much fun in my life.”

Me, on a backpacking trip in Idaho with one of my first Kula prototypes!

Luckily, I forgot everything I learned in that seminar… because it was on a backpacking trip — you know, one of those things that I did for fun and not money — where the idea for Kula Cloth flowed to me from the universe. I often think back to that seminar and wonder if the idea for Kula would have ever arrived if I had been sitting in my office… day in and day out… trying hard to maximize every second of my day as ‘income producing’. I don’t really have to wonder… because I know the answer: The idea for the most abundant thing in my entire life came to me when I was out in nature, feeling abundant. From a place of sitting in my office and trying to ‘work hard’ — I simply would not have had access to that idea.

When I was a kid, my dad used to say, “Put your shoulder to the wheel! Stop skylarking!”. In other words: Life is not fair, and the only way that you can get things is by working hard and not having fun. Very sadly, I took this to heart for a lot of my life — and I denied myself the access to the things that I wanted to do, because I wrongly believed that they were preventing me ‘achieving’ the life of my dreams. Little did I know… that I was the one preventing myself from allowing my life to unfold in the way that I wanted it to… because I was pushing it off into a distant future… things that I would get once I had ‘earned’ it and once I ‘deserved’ it.

When I first stated Kula Cloth, I used to think that ‘being productive’ meant getting a lot of things done in as little time as possible… and maximizing every second so that I could be successful. ‘Being lazy’ was strictly forbidden — and many things, like meditation… or doing literally nothing… or doing things that didn’t have to do with work… were often seen as a ‘waste of time’. Productivity is something that I see entirely differently now. I absolutely do not use different colored highlighters to block off my day into ‘income producing segments’. Instead, I intentionally choose to do the things that make me feel the best and place me in alignment with the best feeling version of who I am — because I know and trust that those things are also on the same frequency as the things that I want to allow into my life experience: abundance, love, fun, adventure, joy and peace. If I find myself in a place of fear or lack or worry… absolutely nothing that I do or produce while existing in that state of mind will result in anything that matches the feeling of the life that I want to create. And, if you think about, guess what? It makes sense. Imagine being in a frantic state of worry or fear and lack — it causes you to panic and freak out and do things that might get some results… but not the results that you are often looking for. Why? Because from that place, you are unintentionally saying, “I’ll feel better once XYZ happens.” Lack creates more lack — it sucks, but it’s true. Instead, I try to approach these moments by focusing my intention on how I feel… and THEN taking action or making a decision. If I feel really good and in alignment with myself… I know that I can trust my actions that are inspired from that place of feeling good.

One of my more ‘unproductive’ trips - ha!

So, what does ‘productivity’ look like for me these days? Well, I would hardly call it productivity… and a better question might be, “What do you prioritize in your day?” Each day, my priority is this: how I feel. This does not always mean that I feel good, because some days I do not feel good — however, my overall priority is always to do things that align me with the energy of the things that I want to create in my life. So, what do I want to create?

• A feeling of ease, relaxation and peace

• Fun and adventure

• A sense of calm and stillness

• A sense of relief about where I am

• Time and space to do the things that are most important to me

• Time and space to spend time with my husband

• Security and comfort in my home

• The ability to build an office for Kula Cloth

• An abundantly successful business that cultivates more good in the world

• Time and space to work on creative projects that feel inspiring to me.

• A healthy body and an overall sense of well being

The way to realize these things in my life is not through trying hard or being busy or getting more done or doing more things or getting more money. The way to realize these things in my life is to find a sense of wholeness exactly where I am right now — without needing anything to change. And so, the things that I prioritize right now in my day are:

• Meditation — every. single. day.

• Dancing

• Working on creative things (like my watches or other art projects)

• Playing music

• Making fun Kulas

• Doing things that feel easy and enjoyable

• Baking delicious things

• Riding my motorcycle

• Going for walks

• Spending time outside

Does this mean that I don’t do ‘other’ things? Of course not. I do many things that I do not particularly enjoy. I still clean the toilet. I still do ‘boring’ things and normal tasks that simply must be done — but, overwhelmingly, I prioritize the things that I know are more in alignment with the frequency of love and abundance.

A few weeks ago, I had one of those days where I was not feeling well (for a few reasons), and I absolutely should have just pulled the plug on working. Absolutely nothing that I was doing was helpful — I was just spinning my wheels and simultaneously also spinning myself into a very unhealthy and negative space. I knew better than to do anything in that place, but I tried to ‘push through’ — and it just didn’t work for me. It’s counterintuitive for me to give myself permission to say ‘no’ to working… because everything that I ever learned about work was that if I wasn’t putting my shoulder to the wheel, I was doing it wrong. But do you know what? It didn’t help — and, in fact, it made things worse (not surprisingly).

It’s tough to re-write your own story of productivity. It’s sometimes tough to give ourselves a break. Sometimes I feel like I have to be a super human, because I’m the founder of a company. I haven’t taken a sick day EVER… in the history of Kula Cloth… and there are absolutely many days when I should have decidedly taken a sick day. I have pushed through when I shouldn’t have pushed through so many times, and it has never worked out for me.

I’m working on being kinder to myself, and realizing that just because you are the founder of a company, it doesn’t mean that you have special abilities or powers. In fact, as the founder of a company, it could easily be argued that you need more of a break in order to maintain a high level of abundant and buoyant energy that helps propel the company in a forward direction. It never surprises me to see other founders struggling — because it’s tough sometimes… and because we often feel the weight of not only our own expectations, but the expectations and needs of everybody else that depends on us. It’s oppressive sometimes — and no amount of worrying or being afraid is going to make it any easier or better.

One of my more fun, recent hobbies - making upcycled ‘watches’!

And so, this is why the most productive thing that I will do today is to simply sit and be still. It is in that place, when I remember who I am — and the truth of the stillness that exists within my heart at all times. It is from that place that I can show up and see the goodness that exists in everything and everybody. When I feel overwhelmed, I can give myself permission to let go of the e-mails and the figuring-it-out… and do something that feels fun… or maybe just a tiny bit better. These days, I’ll make silly Kulas when my brain simply won’t work anymore. It reminds me why I started this business — because I genuinely love it. I genuinely love making Kula Cloths and watching people take them out on their adventures. I genuinely love knowing that when people don’t have to overthink their hygiene, that they are also able to have a more connected experience in the wilderness. That makes me so unbelievably happy. I love working with my husband and I love going to our small office every day and watching the company grow and stretch and adjust and unfold. I love trusting that if I just focus on feeling good, that the answers will come to me — and that I will be open to all that life is showing me in each and every moment. I love knowing that I can trust the feeling of who I am… and that my own internal compass is always guiding me towards more of what I want to create.

I do ‘work’ a lot — but it’s different now. I don’t spin my wheels much, and I’m getting better and better and ‘pulling back’ when I feel like I’m starting to work from a place that isn’t connected to joy or love. How I feel is more important than what I’m doing. If I feel amazing? Then I’ll jump in with both feet and allow the universe to work with me. If I’m feeling fearful or worried? It might be time to back off a little bit — but this time, without the guilt of feeling like I’m falling behind or letting anybody down. I don’t ‘block off’ my days into productive chunks of time where I’m focused on making money — in fact, I don’t usually think about that at all. But, what I’ve realized is that… without trying… I have been spending most of my time on income producing activity… but maybe not quite in the way that I was taught in that seminar many years ago. What is income? Well, really, it’s just gain … and what have I gained? I’ve gained peace… and love… and joy… and a feeling of abundance… and clarity… and fun… and creativity… and inspiration… and connection… and none of those things are attached to anything outside of me. None of them are attached to using different colored highlighters on an overly-fanatical day planner system. None of them are attached to breaking my life into chunks of time and giving myself ‘permission’ to have fun when and if I get done my work. These are things that are a part of me — a part of each of us — when we can let go of the trying and allow ourselves to truly feel the infinite good that lives in each moment of life. It begs the question: What can possibly be more productive than that?

Dear AMA,

Can you please make the Kula Cloth hotter?

This question was accompanied by this link (which you simply MUST view in order to understand the answer to this question). It is hilarious in ways that I can’t possibly describe… you just have to see it for yourself.

Ok, so I tried to make Kula Cloth hotter… and this is how far I got:

Quick historical note — I was unfamiliar with the Kula of Papua New Guinea, so I did a little bit of research. AI did not get this information entirely accurate. Kula in Papua New Guinea is not a thing, but rather, a form of ceremonial gift exchange. You can read all about it at this link.

At this point I decided to see if we could talk this problem out…

And so… naturally… I had to make one. I present to all of you, Eternal Ember:

To be AUTOMATICALLY ENTERED to win this one of a kind HEIRLOOM Kula Cloth that has a retail value of $7,000,000,000, just leave a comment below and tell me something random and fun about you. I’ll use a random number generator to select a winner sometime this week.

Again, as always, thank you ALL FOR BEING HERE. It means so much to me, and I’m so grateful for your ideas… support… and creativity.

Have a beautiful week. I’m wishing you all so much love!