The Designed Life

I'm a designer, astrologer and life coach who's always seeking for deeper understanding, meaning, and beauty – and I love doing it with other like-minded friends. I created The Designed Life to help you ask the bigger questions, explore the unexamined nooks and crannies of your own habits, behaviors and choices, and inevitably start aligning your daily decisions to create a more empowered and fulfilling life. In every episode you'll find stories, resources, and contemplations, from me and other entrepreneurs, curated to help you gracefully navigate a life that comes with no guide book.

The Designed Life is a education podcast hosted by Hollis M. M., with 111 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Hollis M. M. hosts The Designed Life, a education show with 111 episodes published.

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  The Designed Life

  Eps 067: Finding Clarity on The Other Side of Conflict

  Sep 25, 202643 min

  Over the course of the summer, I found myself navigating a bit of an identity crisis in my work. I had reached a point where astrology, as I had been practicing and teaching it, felt like it was holding me back from the deeper, more integrated work I wanted to offer. Rather than blowing everything up, I decided to step back, live the questions, and give myself the space to discover what was actually calling me forward. In this episode, I'm sharing what feels like the final update in this series (both other episodes linked below) from the uncertainty of not knowing to the clarity I've found on the other side of the conflict. I explore how my experiences with design, yoga, coaching, astrology, somatics, creativity, and self-expression have come together to reveal a much clearer direction for my work. What I discovered is that the conflict itself was the catalyst. The very questions I was wrestling with helped me recognize a framework I had been developing through years of personal experience, education, experimentation, and working with clients. If you're currently navigating a transition, questioning your direction, or feeling the tension between who you've been and who you're becoming, this episode is an invitation to stay with the questions and trust what they might reveal. Mentioned: Eps 058: Life Update - Crossing a Threshold Eps 062: Living the Questions & Experimenting w. Identity in Your Work Giana Cerasia Connect with me: ⁠Life Coaching⁠ // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠ // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest⁠ //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠ //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Website

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  The Designed Life

  Libra Season 2026

  Sep 17, 20261h 29m

  This Libra season can potentially defined as the deep work of letting go. We begin with the equinox and an invitation to pause, recalibrate, and take stock of what feels balanced – and what doesn’t. But this season is also the beginning of a much deeper process. With Venus preparing to retrograde through Scorpio and Libra, followed by Mercury retrograde in Scorpio, we’re entering a period of heightened vulnerability, relationship reckoning, difficult conversations, and profound internal change. In this episode, we explore what it means to resource yourself before entering a season that may leave you feeling exposed, tender, or raw – and how to find the internal anchors that help you remain connected to your values and sense of self when the external world feels uncertain. At the heart of the episode is an invitation to become more comfortable with conflict and discomfort, to look beneath the surface of our relationships and values, and to recognize that sometimes letting go is what creates the space for something new to emerge. In this episode, we explore: ‍ The equinox and finding balance Libra energy, relationships, social harmony, values, beauty, and justice The Aries full moon 3º Mars entering Leo Mercury entering Scorpio Difficult conversations, power dynamics, and the tension between the individual and the collective The Libra new moon 10º Venus retrograde in Scorpio Grief, absence, loss, and learning to find ourselves in the void How conflict can become a catalyst for deeper connection The relationship between global social change and our individual relationships Connect with me: Life Coaching // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Website

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  The Designed Life

  Eps 066: The Wedding Recap! On Ritual, Identity, Community, and Commitment w. Jess Ellen

  Sep 4, 20261h 15m

  Jess and I are back! This time with a slightly different kind of conversation: a reflection on getting married in the same summer and everything that came with our experiences. From navigating family dynamics and other people's expectations to receiving unexpected amounts of love and support, both Jess and I found that getting married became a powerful process of release, integration, creativity, and transformation. We share the behind the scenes stories of our unconventional and very intentional wedding experiences, including week-long celebrations, vision boards, astrology, community, private vows, chosen family, and the small personal details that made each celebration feel uniquely like us. This conversation is ultimately about more than weddings. It's about the value of ritual in modern life, consciously crossing thresholds, creating experiences that reflect who you really are, and allowing yourself to be changed by the moments you choose to celebrate. This episode is an invitation to get curious about the rituals and experiences that help us mark who we've been, and who we're becoming. In this episode, we explore: Why getting married ended up being a much bigger emotional experience than either of us expected Navigating other people's expectations and projections around weddings Letting go of responsibility for other people's emotional experiences The surprising vulnerability of bringing different communities and family members together How friendship and chosen family can support us through major life transitions Receiving love, affection, and celebration – and why that can be unexpectedly emotional How being celebrated can change the way you see yourself The importance of asking what feels good rather than following tradition automatically Why ritual and threshold-crossing still matter Weddings as a creative act and expression of a shared life The astrology behind our celebrations The subtle psychological shift from being two individuals to becoming a unit Why commitment can create an unexpected sense of freedom and spaciousness Integrating after a major life event and navigating the post-celebration comedown What we would tell anyone planning an unconventional or deeply personal wedding Connect with Jess via her: Website⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠Threads⁠ ⁠Podcast⁠ Connect with me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Astrology Readings ⁠⁠⁠⁠Life Coaching Design Services ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Website

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  The Designed Life

  Eps 065: 10 Years As An Entrepreneur – Lessons, Money, Astrological Timing and Designing A Life You Love

  Aug 28, 20261h 10m

  I’m approaching 10 years of working for myself, and for the first time I’m looking back at the full arc of my entrepreneurial journey – not just the revenue numbers, but the lessons, relationships, risks, failures, pivots, personal growth, and unexpected opportunities that shaped the business I have today. In this episode, I walk through my business year by year, from starting my own design business in 2016 at age 27, through opening and eventually leaving a yoga studio, navigating the intensity of my Saturn return, becoming a life coach and astrologer, paying off significant debt, buying a house, experiencing some of my highest-earning years, and then navigating the contraction and financial uncertainty that followed. I’m also sharing the parts of entrepreneurship that don’t always make it into the success stories: fluctuating income, debt, changing relationships with clients and collaborators, the ways our lifestyles can take time to catch up with our income, and what it feels like to realize that you business (and your life) can change direction more than once. And, of course, I’m bringing astrology into the conversation. Looking back at the last 10 years through my own chart has given me a fascinating way to understand the rhythms of expansion, contraction, identity shifts, financial lessons, creativity, and career development that have shaped my work. Entrepreneurship isn’t a straight line. This is the first in a few posts where I take the time to look back at the data of my own life and recognize how much I’ve actually learned – in hopes that it offers you insight and support in return. Connect with me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Astrology Readings // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Life Coaching // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Website

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  The Designed Life

  Virgo Season 2026

  Aug 21, 20261h 5m

  After the expansion, visibility, and self-expression of Leo season, Virgo asks us to gather everything we’ve experienced and make sense of it - to come back down to earth. It’s a season of refinement, discernment, organization, and practical action, but also a season for noticing the extraordinary richness contained in the smallest, most mundane details of our lives. This Virgo season may not be the loudest or most globally dramatic stretch of the year, but it offers something we haven't had much of lately: the opportunity to come back into the details of our actual lives. To ask what needs to be adjusted. What needs to be tended to. What needs to be released. What needs to be rewritten. What needs to become more authentic. And perhaps most importantly: what can we create when we stop trying to make everything perfect and start paying attention to what is actually alive? Ultimately, this is a season of course correction . A season for refining what isn’t working, breaking free from perfectionism and self-criticism, tending to what needs care, and getting more intentional about the person we are becoming—and the relationships, communities, and systems we want to participate in creating. In this episode, we explore: The Virgo–Pisces axis and the relationship between intuition and understanding Mercury entering Virgo The final North Node Pisces eclipse in this series Venus entering her pre-retrograde shadow Jupiter trine Saturn and values-based action Mars square Saturn and the frustration of having to slow down or tend to something before moving forward The Virgo New Moon and rewriting relationship narratives Uranus retrograde and becoming more authentic in social spaces Chiron returning to Aries and revisiting wounds around identity and leadership Ending Virgo season with clearer communication, creativity, and big ideas Mentioned: Uranus in Gemini article

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