Miri Cervantes
Our second client story is that of the extraordinary Miri Cervantes, Co-Founder of Calienna. “Grow Every Day” is this Austrian treasure’s mantra and way of life. A creative concept: Calienna is a store, cafe, gallery and creative studio. Dedicated to serving her community, Miri and Calienna’s mission is to inspire a relationship with nature and introspection through plants, thoughtful objects, books and conversation.
1.What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
This is a great question for someone who’s main accomplice saboteur is the hyper vigilant. Logically I know that even if I fail there will be a gift waiting for me on the other side. But my initial response can often be triggered by caution and risk aversion. Living life while managing that is something I am constantly working on.
But ultimately, to answer the question, I think I would be doing exactly what I am doing now. Just probably a bit quicker – and without any energy going into worrying about what might happen. In my heart I always know to follow my intuition and still go there, even if risk is involved.
2.What three things are "non-negotiables" for you?
A big non-negotiable is growth. It is a core value of mine. I am a deeply curious person, so learning is key. And that comes out in different ways for me – sometimes it has to do with learning new skills, sometimes through my love for travelling, getting to know other people, and sometimes through my desire for newness. I crave new impressions and am committed to learning something new every day. This could be a tiny thing like a fact that changes my perspective, something about a plant I am less familiar with, or a new skill.
Another one is love. Both regarding myself and others. This is where the battle against the inner judge comes to play. For me, love is deeply connected to openness, tolerance, and empathy.
A third might be about being in service. Ultimately, I want what I do to have a positive impact on other people’s lives. Sometimes in bigger, and sometimes in smaller ways. This is also at the core of Calienna’s mission – helping others to connect with nature. And connecting with ourselves – two of life’s greatest teachers.
3.What is the biggest lie your Inner Saboteur tells you?
Oh my god, so many things. Before this process I was often quite unaware of the negative things my saboteur was telling me. I think a big one is that the current circumstances I live within aren’t good enough, and that I will be content when I reach goal X, Y or Z. I often felt that I will only be happy when I move onto the next thing, or cross off the next bullet point of my to-do list.
By fully internalizing this as a lie, I have started to develop a muscle by reminding myself to be in the moment more often and allowing myself to feel content. I know that meditation and a simple gratitude practice can do wonders with maintaining this as well. I am still working on implementing those things on a more consistent basis.
4.What is your greatest failure and the greatest gift it gave?
This one is hard to answer, because I have really come to see failures just as parts of a growth process. When things get tough, I always need reminding that these are the moments in life that make us and help us become better versions of ourselves. The only real failure would be to stand still. This is why, looking back at my past, I cannot really define any experience as failure. Maybe more as a very big learning experience.
5. What one piece of Sage advice would you give to a future Tapestry participant?
My main advice would be to trust the process and trust yourself to have all the answers within you. I strongly believe that the constant distractions of social media, the news, and external noise are keeping us more and more from connecting to ourselves and being in the moment. Without this we will live life on autopilot trying to ‘succeed’ based on other people’s societal metrics of success. We need to train our mind muscles, now more than ever, to go inward, to listen to our intuition. This is where all the magic happens.