07 Mar What is the Philosophy of Clarity?

The (hard-to-pronounce) word, at the heart of Clarity Wellness….

I had the pleasure of meeting with a designer the other day and was asked to explain the ‘sense’ of the Clarity brand, ergo: what is the feeling that is at the heart of Clarity, that we are trying to convey through our space, services, team members, messaging, branding, service and ethos…….

Well, the philosophy, and therefore the ‘branding’ of Clarity is founded on 2 things:

The flower of life, an image which you will see a lot of in our branding and around the centre – which is so much more than just a cool piece geometry – this symbol represents interconnectedness and is a demonstration of the Clarity approach to wellbeing: more on that in this blog.

And

One very important word (my favourite word, in fact) which is at the heart of it all. Only………. it is rather hard to pronounce:

G E Z E L L I G

This word was taught to me by my “Dutch Sister” Marije – to whom I bore a striking resemblance – as we were trekking through the hot and rambling jungles of South West Sumatra, some 9 years ago (this year-long adventure was where the story of Clarity all began)

Gezellig (see here for the pronunciation, and realisation of why I opted for “Clarity” instead, HA!) does not have a direct translation into English. In my understanding and applied philosophy, gezellig it is like “cosy”, only……..much more.

You can describe a place, a sound, a smell, a taste, a person, a conversation, a song, a feeling or an idea as “Guzelig”.

Something that brings you warmth, safety, cosiness, joy and calm = G E Z E L L I G.

It’s not unlike the Danish concept of Hygge, actually…..but it sounds much more bad-ass.

I love that although it is a little bit hard to understand; the sense of it is universally understood.

I love that although it is a bit of a course and challenging word to say; it represents such a beautiful softness.

I love that, in those precise ways, it so perfectly encompasses Clarity: we endeavour to provide effective, evidence-based (& sometimes hard to pronounce!) services in a warm, safe and comfortable place.

Sometimes it can be hard to clearly articulate and encapsulate all of the many services which we provide at Clarity, but underlying it all is this greater sense, this feeling of gezellig, which means that regardless of whether you’re attending a workshop, having a massage, sweating it out in the classroom, enjoying a skin-nurturing facial, learning a new skill at a Clarity course, getting acupuncture, healing your gut with naturopathy or buying something from our store;

My hope is that you feel gezellig: That you feel nurtured, cared for, listened to and understood, and that you have great experiences and treatment outcomes as a result.

With gezellig warmth and gratitude for your ongoing support,

Sarah

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