An invitation to live softly.

a movement, a way of being, a return, and a retreat.

Hello I’m Lyndsay, I am so glad you have found your way here…

Welcome to Story & Thread., a cosy, welcoming place to be inspired by the quiet power of noticing beauty & wonder. Here we explore our creative lives through the lens of the seasons, and what it means to tell our stories with meaningful PR.

All subscribers will receive regular thoughtful posts about creativity, mothering, home and garden through a soft seasonal lens. You are invited to become a member of The Beauty Thread., to join a creative community for online seasonal gatherings, home guides, co-working spaces and soon, guidance for crafting a considered PR kit for your creative business.

“To be soft is to be powerful”.

―Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey.

Dearest reader…

How are you finding your feet in October? I realise that we are somehow nearly half way through…!

We have had some gorgeous autumnal days here in London — sometimes starting under a cloud blanket, slowly revealing a beautiful golden light and an ever-changing ombré palette. Each day, the world beyond my window alters before my eyes, but still the dahlias and cosmos and roses, asters and sweet peas grow on, and bring a different depth of beauty to the garden at this time of year.

Tomorrow, we will meet at Gather & Tend., our cosy co-working/co-tending space — a place to gather, to be together, to tend to our projects with care, you would be so welcome to join us…

A softer way to be.

I found myself seeking a softer September after a brilliant but full on summer with my children, and despite the month being busy in different, work-related ways, I have managed to find time to return to myself, to my work and a kind of purposeful creativity (I realise that there is still room to be made for rest and playful creativity too!).

Pressing flowers.

My daily rhythm is changing, and in between it all, I am realising that while this chapter often feels full and fast-paced rather than spacious and slow, that by bringing a lens of softness to my everyday, I can move towards the comfort that I need (and perhaps you do too…?)

Shaping my days.

The past few weeks I have been finding my way into a new working routine, one that I am sure, will continue to shift and evolve.

During my children’s school hours between 9.30-2.30pm, I am working as a freelance Public Relations consultant for a roster of inspiring and interesting clients within the interiors/arts/lifestyle sector, whilst also working on a handful of dream creative PR projects with people and brands I feel a deep affinity with, and carving out the time to be here — to write to you, to continue to develop my offering, and to nurture community within my membership The Beauty Thread.

Whilst it feels so fulfilling to be doing the work I want to do, it doesn’t leave a huge amount of space… or much of a buffer between worlds. To avoid overwhelm, I am finding it helpful to compartmentalise each aspect, to do one thing at a time, knowing that the time for each task will come, and to soften to what is possible within the space that I have — a continual learning since becoming a mother.

A soft autumn light.

I am choosing to recognise that the creative career around my children that I have been crafting is now taking shape — though not without slowly realising, (each time I hurriedly get up from my desk and rush down the road to school, grabbing a handful of snacks on the way), that this version of ‘having it all’ also means doing it all — squeezing every minute out of my work-time hours, to then transport myself to be there for the emotional and physical holding required by two young children at the end of a busy school/nursery day, until bedtime.

Right now, slowness and stillness doesn’t feel possible, aligned, or even really desirable. Perfection and a sense of order at home too, feels unattainable — home reflects our movement and growth each day and I am coming to soften to the fact that a degree of chaos and the unfinished are central to my existence in this chapter.

By looking to the world beyond my window in this magical season, I find resonance and recognition in its shifting, alchemical state, seeing the gentle but visible transformation daily. The beauty of the changing leaves reminds me that change is indeed essential to our cyclical way of being, that it can be gradual and easeful when we let go and allow things to unravel and unfold as they are meant to. The misted mornings and dew-drenched spider webs in the garden reassure me that we can live in the in-between, that things are always shifting, that so often the edges are blurred.

A seasonal shift in the garden.

All the ways to be soft.

I am finding myself needing softness more than ever…

Whilst I take on more, and gradually step out of the cocoon of the early mothering years in some ways, leaning into softness allows me to find a sense of cushioning underfoot. And when the world beyond my small corner feels hard, hostile and divided, (not to mention loud, demanding and overstimulating), I seek a harbour and a haven.

Cocooning in floral wallpaper.

We all need more softness within our lives — each of us begin cradled within the womb, hearing muffled sounds of the outside world, immersed in darkness, gently rocked by our mothers’ motion — touch, our earliest sense, becoming our first language. Perhaps we are always trying to get back to that place of safety, of symbiosis, of closeness, of being protected, of having room to feel…

Living softly is a movement — an embodied experience, a journey through the senses, a way of being, a remembering, a return, a rest and a retreat.

The leaves on our street.

It is a move toward mellow over sharp, gentle over glaring, quiet over loud, smooth over rough, suffused over intense, dreamy over fixed. We can choose softness as a way to meld, merge, yield and breathe rather than to brace, tense, force and push. It is learning that there is power in allowing ourselves to bend rather than break — that rather than signalling weakness, there is unshakeable strength to be found in softness.

I am sensing into the shape of what I (and perhaps others?) need, and feel a pull to softness, sharing, to curate and collaborate, in community with a new offering…

I welcome your thoughts as I hope to create an immersive and collective experience, see the poll questions below…

I will leave you with some soft thoughts, the autumn edition…

the blurred outline of fallen leaves on the ground

golden afternoon light in the garden

stewed apples

a cloud blanket

a sheepskin rug on a bench

a linen frilled cushion

a rocking chair

dahlia cafe au lait

cosmos cupcake

the last of the roses

floral wallpaper

cinnamon porridge

misted edges

melted butter

knitted cardigans

a wool coat

velvet everything

Thank you so much for reading and for your insights, I would love to hear what living softly feels like to you…

Sending autumnal love,

P.S. Find out more about The Beauty Thread., my membership space filled with creative seasonal gatherings and co-working sessions, seasonal home guides and considered storytelling and PR, within Story & Thread. — you can read or listen to more by clicking the link below…

Introducing The Beauty Thread. by Lyndsay.

Tending and telling our stories inspired by the quiet power of noticing beauty & wonder.

*creative gatherings | co-working | considered space | crafted PR*.

The Beauty Thread. by Lyndsay

I would love to support you in your own homecoming with a multi-layered offering at The Beauty Thread. including seasonal creative gatherings, cosy co-working sessions, a series of guides to help you create an intentional and joyful home, and resources to support you in crafting the stories of your creative business using meaningful PR in a considered and sustainable way.

It would be an honour to welcome you into the cosy, creative community at The Beauty Thread., you can find all of the details are in the page below…

I hope you will join us, you would be so welcome…