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🎨 What is the New Story?

Narrative is a powerful force. Some of the stories we’ve inherited are life-giving. Others are confining. Many of them are painfully destructive, both individually and collectively. It’s time for a new story. Stories shape us and they can transform us. They’re part of how we create a life and world that we want to inhabit.

This newsletter/blog/community is here to make it a little easier to walk our path from stories and systems that cause harm to ones that help us flourish. It’s where I publish my art. Which is to say it’s where I articulate things that are hard to name, celebrate the beauty that exists within and around us, and dare to envision the world that we long to inhabit.

It’s also a place where I share the art of my friends. The New Story is so much bigger than me. This is a journey toward a story that is big enough to hold us all. So how could I possibly tell it by myself? I can’t. That’s why I keep introducing you to my friends—to artists, writers, and storytellers who are living a beautiful, courageous, messy human life that brings more kindness, sanity, and grace to our world. Like my friend, Karna:

“Kai’s words have a way of bypassing my mind and lodging themselves straight into my heart - - where they act as tiny seeds that take root and then bloom into power, joy, and courage to live life on my terms and to craft my own story. Read it and be transformed.✨” —Karna Liv Nau, author of Unfolding

💃🏻 About Kai

I’ve spent a lifetime noticing how stories create the world we live in. From growing up in the Christian faith studying scripture, to my university studies of non-Western cultures, to a decade+ investigating consciousness and healing with spiritual mentors, to a career in marketing, I’ve been living in and looking at the relationship between humanity and story.

I believe the stories we hold as true shape our lives. Our lives are shaped by personal mythologies, our society was constructed from cultural narratives, and the two create each other. We need generative stories that move us toward wholeness.

I believe poetry is medicine. It reveals truth, celebrates aliveness, and transforms pain into wisdom. Poetry is a form of alchemy, distilling complex human experience into something succinct, beautiful, and potent. Good poetry is a companion that can walk with us through life’s sorrows and joys.

I believe art saves lives. Finding our voice heals us. Speaking truth transforms the world. Art is the first language of humanity. It’s part of what makes us, us. It nourishes us, reminds us who we are, and explores where we can go.

I'm a writer, brand strategist, copywriting coach, editor and poet. I love being outside and have a knack for weaving community. I co-facilitate a juicy community dance called Oasis, savor sunrise walks in the desert, and dip in the ocean every chance I get.

📩 Journey with me

Thanks to the wonderful world of Substack, when you subscribe every new post goes directly to your inbox so you don’t miss anything. We aren’t meant to walk life alone and I’m glad that in some small way we get to do this together.

⭕ Join us

Welcome to a community of people who care about the wonder of being alive, value the vigorous journey of healing and becoming fully who we are, and want to find our way to a world where everyone can thrive. It’d be great to have you.

Here’s to new stories,
Kai

🌱 P.S. I also help people discover their story

I guide people who’d rather not do marketing to discover their message and find their voice so that their business thrives. I'm here to support healers, teachers, artists, coaches, and innovators who are leaving the world more whole than they found it. If you have a business (or want to create one) you can catch me at The Paradigm Shift Project to learn more.