Where Beauty Meets Intention

Reflections from Vienna on design, mindfulness, and leading with care

Since long before art school, and business training, design and creativity have been my passions, core to my way of living, a space where visual beauty meets intention, and form and meaning are woven together.

I never realised at the time that my interest in bringing mindfulness to business and coaching was intrinsically linked to this same way of seeing. A quiet attention to how things are formed, felt, and lived, not just what they deliver.

Returning to Vienna this month gently brought that understanding into focus.

Walking the city, and standing once again with the stunning Vienna Secession, I was reminded how powerful design can be when it reflects what we truly value.

Born from courage, questioning, and a deep commitment to creative freedom, the historical Secession Movement speaks to the belief that art and life belong together.

Joseph Maria Olbrich’s “temple of art,” the magical laurel dome with its thousands of golden leaves, and the words “to each era its art, to art its freedom” all express renewal, integrity, and the shaping power of intention made visible. Vienna Secessionists, an association of progressive artists, including painters like Gustav Klimt and architects like Josef Hoffmann.

At the time, the Secession and its journal Ver Sacrum (Latin for “Sacred Spring”) were criticised as impractical, indulgent, even irrelevant. In many ways, this mirrors how compassion and mindfulness have often been viewed in business.

Mindfulness involves intention, attention and attitude, yet its practice often asks us to hold apparent contradictions! Often spoken in softly sounding words, too flakey and idealistic, or not serious enough for the world of business.

Talking about “acceptance alongside change” words like “non-striving”, “less effort” or “unfurling” can sound counter-intuitive, even impractical, within traditional business goal oriented thinking. And yet, much like the ideas that once unsettled Vienna, staying with these paradoxes can give rise to something steadier. More thoughtful ways of leading and working where wellbeing and resilience have room and permission to breathe. (more Paradoxes of Mindfulness)

The same truth surfaces: we are human before we are productive. We are emotional beings, shaped not only by our losses and achievements, but by our environments, our bodies, and our less conscious ways of meeting one another (a smile, a glance, a feeling or intuition).

When this is forgotten, work can become brittle and strained; when it is remembered, something more humane and quietly sustainable begins to emerge and take shape.

As Vienna’s design innovations once shocked critics as too modern or too different, today they are timeless, forward-thinking, and brave. Entrepreneurial in spirit!

Art, time to travel brings light and refuels my passion for life and my work. It’s reminds me of my roots and thoughtful design like compassionate, mindful language and leading (influencing) others, is never neutral. 

How we use our voice, design and language to shape to our lives, spaces workplaces and culture matters.

Language is woven into our daily habits, our self-talk, and the messages we receive in news, advertising, our social feeds and from the people in our lives. It shapes our personal culture. Without mindful awareness and space to step out with compassionate self-care, we may be unconsciously sleepwalking along consuming habits that make us ill not well.

When art, design, compassion, and mindful awareness are woven into how we work and lead, we don’t lose rigour, we gain depth. And from that depth, something truly sustainable can truly grow.

Timeless design and mindful compassion can powerfully shape our culture, affecting how safe we feel, how creative we become, and how fully we can show up. 

Maybe this is why this way of seeing always sits at the heart of my being and elementas -a gentle commitment to compassion, clarity, and leading with care.

Architecture, art-filled streets, golden leaves overhead, unhurried off-beat café stops, and moments of quiet connection. Vienna is city that invites true wellness. Wellness of mind, body, emotions and spirit.

Walking, wandering, and noticing feels like a reminder that wellbeing is often built step by step. I’m fairly sure I’ll be getting my steps in! I would definitely recommend Vienna to enjoy another art-charged, soul-nourishing, super-wellness wander.

Lou (elementas founder)

images (c) Lou Booth

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