Dearest Meaning Maker,

Welcome to our very first Muse-Letter! The Muse-Letter is The Cohere Collective’s new weekly missive, designed to support you as you cultivate Coherence and make meaning. Each week, we’ll bring you a curated collection of reflections, inspirations, and activities to help you explore life through a Coherent lens.

This Week’s Theme: Muse

To begin our Muse-Letter journey, it only feels right to start with the Muse itself.

What does it mean to be inspired? Is the Muse an otherworldly presence sent to stir our creativity, or something deep within each of us, waiting to be called forth?

This week, we’re exploring the First Pillar of Coherence: Self. How does the Muse connect us to our whole-est, most creative, most inspired selves? Have you ever felt “struck” by the Muse? What did that feel like? Have you ever been someone else’s Muse?

I hope you enjoy this first Muse-Letter, and every one that follows, as we experiment, reflect, and play our way toward greater Coherence. Here’s to our weekly dose of meaning, wonder, and connection!

Smack,

Reese

FIRST LIGHT | an inspiration

“I am my own Muse. The subject I know best. The subject I want to know better.”

— Oroma Elewa

This week’s song is *The Louvre* by Lorde

Perhaps the Muse has always been with us.

From Lauren Chavez, moonbodyspirit on Instagram

RISING SUN | an essay

Welcome to The Muse-Letter: Your Weekly Dose of Meaning

Dearest Meaning Makers, thank you for being here! I’m so excited to share the very first Muse-Letter and to begin this journey with you.

My hope is that the Muse-Letter offers us a more intentional rhythm for exploring Coherence, both as a practice and as the foundation of everything we do at The Cohere Collective. Each week, we’ll dive into a different aspect of Coherence through new lenses and expressive levels.

The Pillars of Coherence and the Coherence Matrix were designed to expand and contract, moving inward to the atomic and outward to the cosmic, with you as the liminal space between being and becoming.

While we can’t explore every nuance within each Cycle’s theme or every connection across the Pillars, my hope is that the Muse-Letter helps us engage more deeply and consistently with the ideas that move us.

Keep reading for more details and what you can expect from the Muse-Letter!

The Tree of Self

Inspired by Art Therapy, use craft supplies to create, or just sketch out, a Tree of Self. In your design, include a branch for each activity in your life that impacts you a great deal (work, relationships, hobbies, passions, self-care practices, etc). Then design leaves for each branch using each one to describe a quality that this activity helps you learn or embrace. As you write down qualities, try to release self-judgement if possible and write down as many facets of yourself that relate to this activity.

Once you have created your leaves, move down to your trunk and write down your favorite qualities from the leaves above. Which qualities are you proud to hold? Then move down to the roots. What qualities are at the core of who you are? What connects you to this life, this journey?

If any thoughts come up while creating your tree, incorporate them into your art or write them down! This exercise is for you to enjoy and use however you feel it will best serve you!

Journal Prompts:

Consider your “Trunk” qualities; why are these the qualities you feel proud to have? Are these qualities you developed or feel you were born with? Are these qualities you are praised for externally? Are these qualities you internally validate yourself for having?
What qualities do I feel resistant to hold? Why do these make you uncomfortable? Is this discomfort a product of negative self-talk, internalized socialization and environment, or perhaps something you would like to work on?
What qualities are so intrinsic to who you are you feel you wouldn’t be you without them? Is this true? How do these qualities relate to innate worthiness?
Which qualities do not appear on my tree? Are there any I wish were there? If so, why? Are there qualities that perhaps used to be, but aren’t anymore? If so, why?

GOLDEN HOUR | a podcast