Have you ever wondered what makes someone cool? Maybe one benefit among all the chaos of a worldwide pandemic and shutdown is that it can help shift perceptions regarding how we define things, specifically the definition of “cool.” What seems out of date is the, “cool clique” being comprised of people who made you feel “less than” about using your own unique voice and gifts. What is cool is being aligned with the idea that we should be building bridges in our community by celebrating others. We have the opportunity every minute of every day for our mind to lead us in a direction of good or evil. If you need to be cool or need to align yourself with people you are trying to define as cool, you aren’t present, you aren’t relaxed, you aren’t engaged and you aren’t connected to the human heart. This means you probably aren’t going to leave the people you are with feeling strong in mind and spirit.

Stores treating you poorly because of the amount of money you spent, or companies making you feel bad about yourself because you weren’t up to their marketing directors “coolameter” seems foolish and anything but innovative. Making people feel like they can conquer the world when they walk away from you, this is cool. In this lifetime you get to choose who you are and what you dream about, and the very nature of you taking the time to define your dream, makes you way cooler than the guy that isn’t. Hard work is cool. Discipline is cool and in my book believing in the underdog is cool because there is nothing more fun than watching a person prevail despite their circumstances.  

This is why I love encouraging women to create companies and become entrepreneurs. We are the underdog. Even with recent progress, companies founded by women received only 2.3% of capital invested by VC firms. Only 1.7% of female entrepreneurs reach 1 million dollars in sales. So what is cool in my book is getting women to believe in themselves and each other and change this pattern. 

Recently I watched someone treat another person poorly because they didn’t think they were “someone important” I watched as they ignored them in conversation and I realized how antiquated the person looked and how completely out of alignment they were with joy. This behavior seemed behind the times and I couldn’t help but think how very uncool they looked. I thought to myself, imagine what you could do with all that energy if you didn’t waste it trying to maneuver yourself up a ladder that leads to a place with no promise. 

What is exciting to me is that we can now  surround ourselves with products and companies whose energy feels like light. We get to make the choice which products we buy and who we support. We can immerse ourselves in people and places that love the human spirit and we get to know what the person who made the product or company believes in, what they value. I’m not saying we all need to think alike, that’s not cool either, in fact one of the coolest things I have seen is people with different points of view teaming together to bring about change because they share the same hope in a person’s ultimate destination, but have a dramatically different idea of how to achieve it. The beauty is the common goal of wanting all humans to succeed. I want those I am aligned with to believe all of us have value, not because of how we look, or how much money we have, or who our parents are, but because we demonstrate energy, enthusiasm and effort in what we do and what we believe others can do. 

Who wants to waste their time around people who believe “the pie is only available to those they deem pie worthy.” It is much more fun to be around people that embrace the idea that there is enough pie for all of us. People who believe in enlarging the pie that it is available for anyone who wants to come to the table and order it. The “anything is possible pie people” these are the cool ones. So when you are wondering if you are cool, ask yourself these kind of questions. Do you encourage others? Do you have a dream? Do you work hard with discipline and purpose and treat each day as a gift from God? Are you thankful? Are you hopeful? If you are working on these things you are definitely the definition of cool. 

Check out our Summer Surf Capsule release with neon Erica Skirts and Cece Tops along with our fabortive Bret Top. Plus so many new Cecilia tops in pink diamond glow, camargue plaid, and neon nile! 

We are so excited to be heading to AUSTIN, this Wednesday, April 28th. Come by for a picnic, shopping and refreshments on the front lawn of the Hotel Magdelena from 3-8 PM. 

Check out the new Sloan Dress in ocean sequin, white sand sequin and canary sequin! It will stop people in their tracks!

Quote of the week: "In this lifetime you get to choose who you are and what you dream about, and the very nature of you taking the time to define your dream, makes you way cooler than the guy that isn’t."

Podcast of the week: Design Matter with Debbie Millman