It all boils down to...

Over the years, I’ve read widely on finding inner peace and your true inner self, chakras, simple and minimalist living, the benefits of meditation, the purpose of life by different authors such as, Thich Naht Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, Rick Warren, Dominic Loreau, Joshua Becker, Ryan Nicodemus, Joshua Fields Millburn and so on. In all of these books, I believe there is a single golden thread that runs through them.

And that thread is LOVE.

It is my contention that we can read all we want about this and that, but if they don’t point towards or include LOVE, it is meaningless, hollow and, at worst, insincere!

I studied graphic design in Portland, Oregon, USA, from 1986-1990 and, during my third year, I did my internship with one of Portland’s best design studios at that time, called Rickabaugh Design run by principals Heidi and Robin Rickabaugh (they had a huge influence in my life) and their two incredibly talented designers Don Rood and Paul Mort.

Sadly, Heidi and Robin have passed on while Don and Paul now run a very successful design and branding firm called The Felthat (www.felthat.com). Robin passed away in 1996 or 1997 and Heidi in 2015. While Heidi was alive, she would make yearly visits to an ashram in India. Yes, she was very spiritual and you could feel calmness and gentleness all about her.

On her way to India, she would stop by Singapore and stay with my family for a couple nights before making her way to India. During one of her visits, she told that before Robin died, he said he had finally found the essence of design. Robin was a perfectionist in every sense of the word, intelligent, caring, generous to a fault, read widely and was always searching for that elusive ingredient to create “perfect” design.

So when Heidi told me that Robin’s essence was LOVE, at first, it sounded corny but as time went on, I came to realise that it’s not only true but it made perfect sense!

I’ve now come to realise how crucial it is to have LOVE, not just in design, but in everything we do. Things will take on a new meaning and direction – one filled with passion, creativity, interest, inspiration, consideration, care, sincerity and originality.

Once LOVE becomes inherent in all we do, we are ready to share and spread it widely.

Let’s start inspiring and spreading goodness through the power of words!