2022: Space of Identities & Perspectives

This active reflection spins over the evolution of my last year of perspectives in work, the flux and flaws of my ongoing personal development and: my experiments in collective scenes and individual valleys. Everything that I’ve been working on in 2022 – with myself, family, friends, community and passengers – is rooted in the intention to know myself a bit better. And these are the stories where I let my identities regenerate themselves and expand.

Steps & beliefs in webs of realities

The web3 innovative ecosystem is the place where I have started my year and where 2022 has ended. My role and contribution in Aragon DAO community as Design Research Lead marked my first steps of the year as they extended from summer 2021. The Web3 adoption challenge, despite the skepticism and the need of adjustments, is a magnet to my skillset and set of values. Over the last 5 years, by holding space in digital communities, I keep learning deeper about the lights and shadows of remote contributions, about the opportunities to support the shift towards ‘community-owned-networks’ and the need of governance capabilities.

In summer 2022, with the DeepWork collective, I facilitated and designed workshops for a DAO Incubator project. We supported the team innovation processes and the impact of three DAOs in Celo ecosystem. The call of organisational design is becoming increasingly relevant in the web3 space.

But this year for me, the closest step to turn my belief and years in web3 into a tangible context, has been the educational web3 project for a community of students in a school of my hometown, Lecce. The same one where I was student 25 years ago.

The focus of my intention will be on supporting strategic research for governance and web3, ecosystem strategy and team innovation processes.

Mantras from Portugal solo experience

In May, I have travelled by myself – it was a self-coaching experience. Every day, with the number of micro decisions to take and the flow of emotions that come from random encounters, events are hints to an ongoing personal development.

Portugal, with the two weeks between Lisboa and Oporto, gave me landscapes to experiment work remotely and refresh my energy through serendipity. The personal exploration was to experiment, partially, my life in Berlin in… Lisboa and Oporto. I worked remotely, during the day time and then, open the floor for exploration and connection with the surroundings, learning my emotions and body. The opportunity to know more about Fernando Pessoa was telling.

I kept with me a small journal where I wrote every day, at times, twice or three times to document everything. I wanted to know more about myself alone. Three mantras came out of the journalling experience:

1 – Follow. Do not chase.

2 – Faith in your self, soul. Keep the shadows, ditch the ghosts.

3 – Honour the good times as much as the bad times they come from the same roots.

The importance of community experience

In Berlin, the practice of sharing time and effort differently, continues with the presence and observations in communities. At SuperCoop again, the full year of 2022, one Thursday per month for three hours was the rhythm with the exchange, of time and active presence, to support the movement evolving.

A new space. A meaningful space to focus and work has become part of my Berlin puzzle. At CoopSpace I joined a community where the atmosphere is cozy, people are inspirational and open to listen, experiment. There is a governance circle based approach, where initiatives come from the bottom. I shared knowledge about DAO thanks to a simple brainstorm format.

In the summer, I have joined multiple festivals of music and culture, few of them self-organised like Kiezburn. This has inspired to reflect on the impact of festival subcultures on community and city life.

The creative space to nurture and share new perspectives about myself

The integration of music episodes is part of my flow. Every season, I create a mixtape based on a concept and perception inside me and around me. This is how Vagabond on soundcloud speaks about my authenticity of ideas selecting songs, free from any preconceived guidelines. The creative spin involves my body too. I have started in November to learn headstand and to consolidate and thinking of walking headstand. The space for creativity is a dynamic personal work to be true to myself and to others. One way to look forward is painting a canvas every year.

This year I wanted to connect my passion for writing, my exploration of identities, from Pessoa to a mask of V for Vendetta and the other way around. So I did it, my canvas is in my room. But I have a final message and learning: be mindful how to take ownership and responsibilities of identities and perspectives, how to apply them for a collective impact in society. This is an extended invite to everybody to interpret your own canvas of life, to remind ourselves to practice how to look forward with a cascade of peace and positive energy for the next seasons.