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Rowan Mangan

Writer. Mom. Wild Inventurer.

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My Bullet Journal friend

October 3, 2019 123 Comments

Embarrassing revelation: when I look at this grubby, scuffed little yellow notebook—my bullet journal—I feel a genuine affection. A warm, swelly sensation in my heart, such as one might feel for a dear friend, or humankind. It’s odd, yes, but also kind of cool. It makes me ponder the concept of inanimate friends, like the […]

Filed Under: Work inventures Tagged With: bujo, bullet journal, inanimate friends, productivity

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Ever suffer from burnout? 😵 We have, and we’ Ever suffer from burnout? 😵

We have, and we’re talking about it on this “Best of” episode of Bewildered!

Burnout often feels like repeatedly bobbing to the surface, grabbing a breath, and going back under—without ever getting enough oxygen on any given breath to actually sustain life.

In Bewildered terms of culture vs. nature, burnout is often the consequence of your nervous system being exposed for too long to the impact of a culture that doesn’t really fit it. It’s that point you reach where you feel like you just can’t go on.

To find out how to rescue yourself from burnout—and prevent it to begin with—be sure to tune in for the full conversation! 🛟

You can listen to Episode 105: Best of Bewildered: On Burnout and Reset, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
I usually avoid posting pics of my kid online, but I usually avoid posting pics of my kid online, but I couldn’t help bragging on this cute former blastocyst today. I’ve been clearing out some stuff because we’re moving, and I found this—the very first photo we have of Lila. 

On transfer day when we all came in visibly trembling with anxiety and hope, our angel of a doctor looked at this live image on the screen and just said, “Beauty, beauty, beauty.” Then he took this photo and got to work reuniting us. 

She will turn five in September. Yesterday she asked where her water bottle was and I told her it was probably on the kitchen table. She thrust a fist into the air and called, “Then the table is my DESTINY!”

Beauty, beauty, beauty. 

#ivf #ivfsuccess #fertilityjourney
“Down beneath the impossible pain of our history “Down beneath the impossible pain of our history
Beneath the unknown bones
Beneath the bedrock of the mystery
Beneath the sewage systems and the path train
Beneath the cobblestones and the water mains
Beneath the traffic of friendships and street deals
Beneath the screeching of kamikaze cab wheels
Beneath everything I can think of to think about
Beneath it all, beneath all get out
Beneath the good and the kind and the stupid and the cruel
There’s a fire just waiting for fuel
There’s a fire that’s just waiting for fuel.”

- @anidifranco
It’s my last night in New York before we vacate It’s my last night in New York before we vacate and move to a new HQ. If I wasn’t sure that we were doing the right thing, the past 36 hours sure have confirmed it. 

But I love this city like a maniac stalker and always will. I love all its smells and the sense of belonging in the streets that makes me both invisible and invincible. Love how I’m always on the brink of the next surprise smile from a stranger and meaningful dog encounter. Every walk is an adventure.

Until the next adventure, NYC. ❤️‍🩹
There’s nothing like real connection—face to f There’s nothing like real connection—face to face, heart to heart. 💛 Building connections in an isolating world is part of why we created the Pure Wild Self retreats. 

We come together each year in the Costa Rican jungle to remember what it feels like to be truly seen, supported, and part of something bigger. To wash off the culture and remember the sound of our deepest inner voice.🌿

Most of last year’s beautiful crew is coming back (yep, it’s that good) and there are literally only four spots left for the January + February 2026 retreats. 🌞 If you’re feeling the nudge, this is your moment. 

Come find your village. Link in the bio. 🌀💫

#PureWildSelf #RetreatWithUs #ImiloaInstitute #CostaRicaRetreat #SoulCommunity
All you fascists bound to lose #NOKINGS All you fascists bound to lose 
#NOKINGS
“We shall not cease from exploration And the end “We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.”

TS Eliot

@londolozi @boyd_varty @chloe.varty @northpridemale @bron_vartylaburn @themarthabeck
Ten years later, this feeling never gets old. #Alw Ten years later, this feeling never gets old. #AlwaysHeadedHome
The perfect paradox in the title of Amie McNee’s The perfect paradox in the title of Amie McNee’s beautiful book, We Need Your Art.  New episode of Bewildered out now! 🎧🎨🫶
You know the story that the culture tells us about You know the story that the culture tells us about art—that it’s only something to do if you have spare time, or it’s only for the idle rich? That’s not actually the culture’s agenda… 

We’re talking about what’s really going on with art in the culture on this episode of Bewildered, featuring our very special guests Amie McNee and James Winestock.

The culture’s real agenda is to get you to stay in the left hemisphere of your brain. 🧠

Why?

Because if you do, then you continue to give your life for cannon fodder and give your labor for billionaires—you aren’t questioning the status quo. 

And as soon as you get out your paintbrush or sit down at the piano, you open up a way of thinking that creates where there was nothing before—that creates everything from amazing art to solutions to climate change. And that’s revolutionary. 👊

To hear more about unlocking the true power of art and joining the creative revolution, tune in for the full episode and find out why making art might be the most important thing you do for yourself—and for the world. 

You can listen to Bewildered episode 102: We Need Your Art with Amie McNee and James Winestock, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
Hey there, Bewildered Cahoot! We have a very speci Hey there, Bewildered Cahoot! We have a very special episode for you today as we’re talking with our friends and fellow creative revolutionaries, Amie McNee and James Winestock. 🎨

Amie is a writer, author, and creativity coach whose new book, We Need Your Art, is out now.
Her goal with this book is to remind you that you are here on this earth to make things and to use your incredible brain to create—and that art isn’t just a hobby, but vitally important work.

As Amie describes her work, “I basically just bully people to make them create things.” (Spoiler alert: It worked for Martha!)

If you’ve ever doubted your artistic worth, this conversation will remind you: The world truly needs your art, now more than ever. Listen to the full episode and let Amie’s contagious passion help you take your art seriously—and help change the world. ✨

You can listen to Bewildered episode 102: We Need Your Art with Amie McNee and James Winestock, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧 

@inspiredtowrite
Did you know that true kindness is a superpower? ✊🌼

In this episode of Bewildered, we’re talking about the way that true kindness—starting with kindness towards ourselves—is actually a deeply subversive force in our culture.

Kindness has the power to disrupt systems of cruelty and division, and it’s a rebellion against the scarcity, everyone-in-it-for-himself mentality that’s pedaled so widely (never more than now in this culture).

So if you want to be a rebel against the culture of domination and extraction and overwhelming force, be a rebel first by being kind to yourself.

You can listen to Bewildered episode 101: Out-Kind the Culture, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
Do you want to be really subversive and really sti Do you want to be really subversive and really stick it to The Man? 👨🏻‍⚖️
(Especially The Man as he is currently configured in our culture…)

Here is how to do it:
Be kind. 🥰

Be kind to yourself, and you will naturally be kind elsewhere. Keep in mind: Kindness is not what the culture tells us it is—foolish, passive, naive—no. Kindness is immense power. ☀️

If we can learn to tap into it in a way that is accessible to us, it is so much more powerful than the forces of cruelty that want to keep us in our place.

Hope you’ll join us for this new episode of Bewildered: Out-Kind the Culture. 💗

You can listen to Bewildered episode 101: Out-Kind the Culture, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
What’s something you accept about yourself? 🤔 What’s something you accept about yourself? 🤔

In this episode of Bewildered, we’re talking about the idea of training your “human”—the body, mind, and personality you were given at birth but is separate from your Self—and one of the steps is accepting your human as it is.

Ro has accepted that her human will never be consistent through a year. She’ll have months of being really on top of things and months where the things are on top of her. There doesn’t seem to be any way around that. 🧐

Each mode her human goes into feels like the ultimate personality. Like, “Now I’m myself! And this is how it will continue for the rest of time.”

But she’s getting much better at understanding that it won’t last—it is what it is right now—and just letting that be, as one season gives way to another, knowing that they do come back around as well. 🛞

The culture fixates on permanency and consistency—“Be the same creature throughout the year and for always”—but that’s just not how many people’s humans work at all.

To find out more about observing, accepting, and training your human so you can cultivate more peace and joy, tune in for the full conversation! 🎙️

You can listen to Bewildered episode 100: How to Train Your Human, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
Do you ever just catch yourself doing something an Do you ever just catch yourself doing something and think, “I have such a funny human. Look at it. Look what it does.” 😅

That is what our episode today is about—what it is to function inside the human that we’re given when we’re born. 🐣

And learning:

🤔 how it works
👍 what it will do
👎 what it won’t do

And maybe training it to be the best human and have the most fun as a human that it can.

It’s all on a new episode of Bewildered called “How to Train Your Human.” Check it out, it’s pretty fun. 😀

You can listen to Bewildered episode 100: How to Train Your Human, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧
How do you know if you’re stuck in an algorithm How do you know if you’re stuck in an algorithm cycle? 🌀

Here’s how it works:

If something strikes you as interesting, the algorithm will instantly create the impression that everyone knows about this thing that you’ve just discovered—everyone’s talking about it, and everyone has the same concerns. 🗣️

Then what happens with that impression is that just by the force of the number of people, it makes it seem more credible and true. So even if I’ve only seen 30 people saying the same thing, my impression is that it’s probably about 75% of all people.

And if 75% of people believe something, there’s a very good chance it’s correct, right? That’s just what they call “Doing the math.” ➕➖✖️➗

And not only does it feel factually right, it feels morally right as well.

So how do we break out of this illusion of consensus and navigate through all the chaos and uncertainty? Find out on this episode of the Bewildered podcast! 🎙️

You can listen to Bewildered episode 99: War of the Worldviews, access the show notes, and find links to resources on our website at the link in our bio—or on your favorite podcasting app. 🎧

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