Creative Bulletin n.288

Yes, I did it: I ordered a francesinha, the famous dish from Porto 😂 It's a sandwich filled with various kinds of meat and ham, topped with cheese, an egg, and a sauce made from tomato and beer.

Joining me on this adventure was Fabrizio (he and his girlfriend Elisa reached out to me through the bulletin) and, to tell the whole truth, we were only half brave because we ordered the half portion.

In the end, we even regretted it: we liked it so much we mopped up every last drop!

Give and receive. I decided to try the francesinha because, with everything Porto has given me these past weeks, it felt right to honor the city by eating its signature dish.

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of Hellinger, the founder of family constellations, and he puts a strong emphasis on the relationship between giving and receiving: the two must always balance each other. It applies to every kind of relationship—romantic, friendships, with your city, your country, your company.

So I’ve been reflecting on how much I give, to whom, in what way, and how much I’ve received, from whom and how, and whether I’ve given more or received more—and, if so, how to rebalance.

I'm bringing that same reflection into the e-learning platform I'm designing. As I map out the features, I keep asking myself how it can truly serve all of you who have supported Sefirot over the years, and all those who will come in the future—how it can support your creative growth just as much as you’ve supported ours.

And that’s a whole different way of designing ❤️

🌈 Creative takeaway: changing the structure of how we act also changes the impact

Sometimes we focus on things we think are important but that don’t really make a meaningful difference. We rarely stop to ask who and what actually benefit from our actions, what kind of evolution they can bring.

It’s like spending days worrying about choosing the right color for the sofa, instead of using that energy to move it under the window, so the light can shine perfectly on the book of the person lying on it. That way, anyone who reads on that sofa will love it dearly—and the sofa will love the person who placed it there with such care.

With ❤️,
Matteo

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