How fulfilled is your life? What knowing yourself can do for your success and contentment

To me, for example, success is to be able to do what, where and with whom I want for a living. Every day looks different. Just yesterday, for example, I had a conversation at home on my “work sofa” with a new customer, a really great woman, who brings a lot of good into the world. And she called to tell us how amazing, unique and incomparable she is finding our latest work and how excited she is to start a project with us, too. Really! Just like that.

After that, I had well-paid fun for two hours with a couple of very creative young filmmakers (did that sound dodgy or is that just me…?) for whom I was lucky enough to record a voice-over for a cinema advert, which is supposed to inspire more girls to take traditional male subjects at university. Talk about alignment with my values! Afterwards we went to our office in the middle of the old town, for a zoom call of our mastermind group in the matter of audience building with a lot of pleasant exchange and laughter. Last but not least, I had a yoga class with my local teacher, then taught one myself and in the evening, I cuddled first with my child, then with my guy. All of this in gorgeous summer weather, parts of it on the balcony and hopping onto the bike every now and then, enjoying my body.

And what is wealth?

For me, first of all, it has nothing to do with the infamous six or seven figures, at least not necessarily, or only that. For me, wealth is above all really just good health, both mental and physical. Or to record new songs or a mantra in the studio when I feel like it; expressing myself creatively. That I have time for family, friends or, in my special nerd case, yes, quite enough income to continue my education in yoga…probably forever.

Take last week: I spent five days in Ireland, in a grand ecology center within a Dominican convent, on the oceanfront and in the company of many inspirational women and my teacher, Nitya Mohan. We learned more about mantras and the healing effects of sound in yoga and about yoga for women. (More on this here soon!)

I’m often feeling rich recently, with an added sense of gratitude: for the incredible privilege in which I and most of us live in this country. For the people who surround me and with whom I am in creative, human exchange. My husband, my child, my fellow musicians and yoga students, teachers or friends. My biz and mastermind buddies, and our often fascinating clients with their ideas that make the world a little bit better. More and more often, I think:

“How fulfilled my life is…!” – Do you think so, too? If not: why not?

This isn’t meant to be a boast – it is rather supposed to inspire you to seek your own answers to these questions. After all, the definition of wealth and success, to me, is freedom. The freedom from constraints, suffering and heteronomy. From clocks, bullying and internal resignation. And the freedom to be or even to become who I really am, in this all-too-short time we get to spend on this currently so dangerously fragile blue orb. I want to get involved, in all my humanity, also for others and for our environment; stop pretending to be something I’m not just for a boss or a toxic family member or anyone else. And I’m finally on the way, and very happily so.

What has made it possible for me? Simply, and this is not a joke: my website. Almost exactly four years ago, I became self-employed for the third – and probably the last – time, in an act of liberation from great suffering. Already calling myself Bright Idea, at that time not yet with websites, but also already with services related to creative consulting, writing, yoga and communication. Half a year later, my homepage was finally finished, the first communal project with Hans.

I remember it like today.

We are walking through the hardware store, my phone rings. Unknown number from southern Germany. I pick it up, say, “Yeah ..?” – “I saw your website. I want one like that too! I don’t care what it costs!”

Let that sink in for a moment. Just imagine some complete stranger calling you, out of the blue, and saying the same thing to you (please replace “website” with the service or product you’re offering): “I want what you sell. I don’t care what it costs. What do I have to do?” The caller was Katharina Maier. She became our first customer – and the rest, as they say, is history.

What had I shown on this website? Again, quite simply: myself, in my essence. What I have to give, what makes me special. In my words – which I had to wrestle with (it is super hard to write about yourself, even for a trained writer like moi). And in pictures, colours and fonts, which I sometimes had to wrestle over with my husband Hans – of course he is the designer, but I had almost studied art back in the day. And of course I’m the copywriter, but Hans also studied journalism…in short: we both have a flair for the art and craft of the other, which greatly intensifies our process. And while this does not exactly simplify matters when it comes to our own stuff, our clients benefit from it very much.

And what about you?

Do your branding and website show you how you really are? In the copy, the graphics and structure? Are you communicating your values, your value and what is important to you? Do they work for you? If there is still room for improvement, but you already know exactly what you want, feel free to contact us at www.bright-idea.de.

And if this identity is not yet clear and tangible enough for you? If you have not found your place in the world yet? If you are still unclear deep inside who your external communication should address at all and with what? If your “I” is still superimposed by “you”: old expectations of others, unhealthy but persistent patterns that may have been necessary for your survival but which you just do not need any longer today? Then do not hesitate to contact me for a no-strings-attached quarter of an hour via Zoom or phone at www.katjabrunkhorst.com. And if we vibe, be sure: with methods taken from classical yoga – a process of elimination, not of addition – music and literature, we can quickly get a feel for your vision and mission. Your essence!

What both – branding and yoga-and-sound-based mentoring – have in common? To me, this is quite a lot – in contrast to the new YOGA AKTUELL magazine, whose editor, in his editorial, ridiculously blames “branding and design” for the terrible state our world is in (that his magazine is completely branded from A to Z, that there are models in fancy clothes in acrobatic poses on the cover and that the mag is full of ads does not seem to bother him…but that would be the subject of a new blog post).

It’s nothing to do with coincidence that our claim at Bright Idea is: REVEALING IDENTITIES.

It also applies to my personal page, because I come from the literature, where I spent a very long time mainly dealing with lyric poetry. A successful poem communicates before it is rationally understood…much like music. Why is that? It also works through sound, and due to the fact that nothing can be left out. Every comma, every letter is decisive. That’s the definition of good style, among other things. And today I still write songs, and lyrics to go with them. The copy for my clients? In turn, they benefit immensely from this lived-out creativity and my lively use of language. And that is not a sales spiel, but a fact. Own who you are and what sets you apart!

Just like in yoga: a process of elimination, not addition.

It gradually whittles away layers, patterns, and habits that hide your true self. And finally leaves only the essence, bright, clear and true. Good (!) design, last but not least, works in a similar way – especially if it does not come from the agency assembly line, if the designer fully supports the values of the client and if he or she has really learned his craft. And is possessed by true artistic talent as well as living his life, promoting his or her own creativity, which flows from the deep source of his or her deeply lived humanity.

So let me ask you again: what is success to you? What is wealth? What makes you uniquely you? Where do you want to go in this one, precious life? If you are looking for answers to these questions – or if you know them and want to express them appropriately – then let us hear from you. We love to meet new kindred souls, and look forward to seeing you reveal your identity!

OM and rock ON.