Aryn Henning Nichols

Lagom. It’s a Swedish word meaning “just the right amount.” “Not too much, not too little.” “Just enough.” The Swedish proverb “Lagom är bäst” literally means “the right amount is best,” and is also translated as “enough is as good as a feast.” Enough is as good as a feast! Leave it to the Scandinavians to have just the right phrase to encompass my feelings for this winter.
In a time and world where the mantra is so often more, more, more, I encourage you, this season, to say, “Better, not more.” Make choices that count – shop local, show up for your community, be present with your loved ones. Define what’s enough for you.
A lot about defining enough is being creative with your resources.

Artist Diane Knight used a piece of wood from a friend’s scrap pile to create the art on this cover. Diane considers some of her greatest work to be bringing people together in her bank-turned-home in Whalan, Minnesota (pg 15).

Shaundel Spivey wanted to give more to his community so that they had enough. He co-founded BLACK – Black Leaders Acquiring Collective Knowledge – an organization that is fostering the next generation of community leaders and organizers (pg 20).

In Hillsboro, Wisconsin, Marnie Hofmeister-Pooley opened Let’s Shine Coffee in order to let the people of her town shine and gather, face-to-face, to build community.

This issue’s Sum of Your Business features one of my favorite people, Gabi Masek at Wildcrafted Acupuncture & Herbs. She is such an inspiring business owner. Plus, lucky us, she shares Five Chinese Medicine Tips for Winter Wellness (pg 31)!

We introduce the work of Defining Enough through my infographic on page 33, leading up to Olivia Lynn Schnur’s Mental Health piece. Olivia walks us through the process of Defining Enough following Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – first comes survival needs, and you move up from there.
Feel like you don’t have enough – yet – in a certain area in life? Let’s manifest that destiny! The first step is believing you can do it. The next step is…taking the next step. Check out our Paper Project Dream Board prompts (pg 40), and get dreaming!

For the Tlou family in the 1960s, the dream was a United States education at Luther College. They emigrated from Zimbabwe to Decorah, Iowa, where their kids – especially Hla and Joy – always felt at home. After Joy’s unexpected death in 2021, Hla and friends created a memorial scholarship and a rental house in Decorah that they hope will help future immigrant families like hers find the peace of home.

In early 2022, 15-year-old Seamus Schwaba wrote a musical that ended up blossoming into an entire community theatre organization in Winona, Minnesota. He shares his refreshingly optimistic outlook on life in a Q&A on page 56.

Finally, our favorite conservationist, Craig Thompson, gets us fascinated with the Great-horned Owl (one “tuft” bird!) this winter.

And gosh, one of these days we’ll have to do a tally of the number of Probit interviewees who, like Hazel Grotegut in this issue, answered “lefse” as the one thing they could eat every day. I mean, with butter and sugar, how could you go wrong?!

Happy Everything, friends! Here’s to 2023 being the best year yet. Thank you for your continued support – you inspire us!

Looking forward,

Aryn Henning Nichols

In this issue, you’ll find: The Tlou House: Finding Joy in Decorah • Seamus Schwaba + Sugarloaf Theatre • Community Builders: Diane Knight – Shaundel Spivey – Marnie Hofmeister-Pooley • Mental Health: Defining Enough + Hierarchy of Needs • Great-horned Owl • Sum Biz: Gabi Masek + Wildcrafted Acupuncture & Herbs • Chinese Winter Wellness Tips • Dream Boards • Probit: Hazel Grotegut • and more! Read the whole thing online here!

Today, we celebrate 15 years of positive news! Woot! At year 10, we compiled a list of 10 things we had found to be true through our decade of work. We thought it would be fun to keep adding things to this list every five years. Cheers to sharing the good stuff in the world!

Here’s what I wrote in 2017, updated for 2022:

I had my camera out the other day, and Benji asked me, “What are you shooting?”

“Oh, unicorn stuff,” I replied.

It’s all unicorn stuff to me though, really.

As of 2022, we’ve been making this magazine for 15 years! Adding that second digit at year 10 blew my mind (we won’t get to add another digit for another 90 years – at year 100!), but the heft of 15 feels pretty great as well. I’m pretty proud of this experiment in positive news, and grateful for all your support!

…(Try not to cry, like me, right now)……

Driving around the countryside, delivering magazines – literal stacks of positive news – to the amazing people of the Driftless Region, you get some time to think (don’t get me wrong – Benji Nichols does most of the Inspire(d) delivery, but I do a few select routes and love to ponder life, love, and, you know…the pursuit of happiness).

I always think a lot about Inspire(d), what we hope to do going forward, and what creating local, positive news has taught us over the years. What’s important? What is true? What do we need to do to make the world a better place?

Answers to these questions are seemingly subjective, but there are certain things we feel stand out as indisputable truths (hint, people and community are at the root of it all).

Thank you so much for reading Inspire(d), my friends. Let’s keep sending those ripples of positivity out into the world, one community at a time. XOXO – Aryn

In 2017, here’s what we wrote we had learned through our work with Inspire(d).

1. People are what matters. And all people matter.

2. A community of people – no matter the size – is one of the most valuable things we can build. Our relationships and connections and experiences with people will be most important and memorable at the end of our lives.

3. People want to be heard. We should listen. Remember the “response time” teachers use with students. Apply it in life. Pause. Give people time to think and respond.

4. Technology can be useful, but face-to-face time is still essential.

5. No one wants their kids to be jerks. Fostering our kids kindness is the most important thing we can do as parents.

6. Supporting your neighbor’s businesses helps grow local economy and build community.

7. Good food – vegetables and fruit and other healthy stuff – makes us feel good. So does exercise. We’ve got to take care of ourselves if we want to enjoy life, so these two things are top priorities!

8. Travel gives us a new perspective, helping us appreciate where we live, understand how other people live, and remember how amazingly beautiful this region, state, country, and world are. Seriously, we’ve gotta enjoy this life and see as much as possible. Through travel we gain empathy, insight, and experience.

9. Like we need to take care of our house to keep it from falling apart, we need to take care of our planet to keep it from falling apart.

10. Getting outdoors is just as important as travel. Nature is filled with perfect designs and inspiration. Being inspired is on of the greatest gifts in this life.

New in 2022 (15 years!):

11. Just like in kindergarten, when we had to do three put-ups for one put-down, we have to do the same with positive news. Our brains are wired to be fascinated by the bad stuff. That’s okay. We just have to mindfully share the good stuff – times three – as much as possible.

12. There is WAY more good stuff in the world than bad stuff.

13. A positive mindset ebbs and flows. It’s okay to have down days. But remember: the power of positive thinking is big. Believing something is possible will make a positive outcome much more likely. And either way, it doesn’t hurt to try.

14. TRYING – and getting out of our comfort zones – will lead to more fulfilling lives.

15. There will always be problems in the world – but there will also always be solutions. Work the problem; find the solution. It is worth it. You are worth it.

It’s back to school time, and, as an adult, I find that brings up a mix of emotions.

I am a little sad to see the summer go – long days, warm sunshine, more time with my family. But I love the sound of the marching band practicing in the distance, the smell of new school notebooks, and the anticipation of a new beginning. 

Okay, so honestly, despite what I may have said on the occasional morning in junior high, I’ve always loved school. Or perhaps it’s better said that I’ve always loved learning.

I know we don’t all feel this way, but I do think that all learning comes from a place of curiosity, and that we ARE all curious, in some way or another.

Tapping into that curiosity is what pushes us to be lifelong learners. And constantly learning – bettering ourselves and being open to what others can teach us or what we can learn about ourselves – this can open up the whole world. 

Psychologists – across the field and over many decades – have compiled research on the many benefits of curiosity. It enhances intelligence, boosts mental and physical energy, and gives us a deeper engagement in life.

The key is being willing to search out what interests you, what you want to learn more about. For me, right now, it’s power tools. I want to learn how to use them all, and then I want to learn how to build stuff. Fingers crossed that this fall is when I get to make my attempt – if I do, you can watch me fail or succeed here online, because you can bet your booty I’m going to let you follow along on my learning adventure, ha!

That’s the thing: Lifelong learning doesn’t have to be like “school”. It can be structured however you want it to be – you are in charge of the situation. Let the world be your classroom and your curiosity your driver (a little power tool pun). 

Class is in session!