The Designed Life

Hollis M. M.
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

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.

  1. 3d ago

    Eps 068: Mediumship & Building a Soul-Led Business w. Nicole Pope

    In this episode, I’m joined by Nicole for a conversation about what happens when we stop forcing ourselves into the paths we think we’re supposed to follow, and start allowing something deeper to lead. We dive into Nicole’s mediumship work: how she works with clients’ future selves, spirit guides, soul contracts, ancestral patterns, and other spiritual frameworks. We talk about the moment when a calling finds you, rather than the other way around, and what it means to build a business around intuition and surrender. Finally, we discuss resistance – both the resistance we experience internally and the resistance other people may have to the work we’re doing – and the importance of trusting that not every person needs to receive the same message or follow the same path. Join us for a robust conversation about following your own intuition as a path for building your most successful life and business. You can find Nicole via: Her WebsiteHer InstagramHer Podcast

    Eps 068: Mediumship & Building a Soul-Led Business w. Nicole Pope

  2. Sep 25

    Eps 067: Finding Clarity on The Other Side of Conflict

    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 ThresholdEps 062: Living the Questions & Experimenting w. Identity in Your WorkGiana Cerasia Connect with me: ⁠Life Coaching⁠ // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠ // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest⁠ //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠ //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website

    Eps 067: Finding Clarity on The Other Side of Conflict

  3. Sep 17

    Libra Season 2026

    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. Follow along with the edited transcript In this episode, we explore:‍ The equinox and finding balanceLibra energy, relationships, social harmony, values, beauty, and justiceThe Aries full moon 3ºMars entering LeoMercury entering ScorpioDifficult conversations, power dynamics, and the tension between the individual and the collectiveThe Libra new moon 10ºVenus retrograde in ScorpioGrief, absence, loss, and learning to find ourselves in the voidHow conflict can become a catalyst for deeper connectionThe relationship between global social change and our individual relationships Connect with me: Life Coaching // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack // ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads //⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website

    Libra Season 2026

  4. Sep 4

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

    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 expectedNavigating other people's expectations and projections around weddingsLetting go of responsibility for other people's emotional experiencesThe surprising vulnerability of bringing different communities and family members togetherHow friendship and chosen family can support us through major life transitionsReceiving love, affection, and celebration – and why that can be unexpectedly emotionalHow being celebrated can change the way you see yourselfThe importance of asking what feels good rather than following tradition automaticallyWhy ritual and threshold-crossing still matterWeddings as a creative act and expression of a shared lifeThe astrology behind our celebrationsThe subtle psychological shift from being two individuals to becoming a unitWhy commitment can create an unexpected sense of freedom and spaciousnessIntegrating after a major life event and navigating the post-celebration comedownWhat we would tell anyone planning an unconventional or deeply personal wedding Connect with Jess via her: Website⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠Podcast⁠ Connect with me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Astrology Readings⁠⁠⁠⁠Life CoachingDesign Services⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SubstackInstagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website

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

  5. Aug 28

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

    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

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

  6. Aug 21

    Virgo Season 2026

    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 understandingMercury entering VirgoThe final North Node Pisces eclipse in this seriesVenus entering her pre-retrograde shadowJupiter trine Saturn and values-based actionMars square Saturn and the frustration of having to slow down or tend to something before moving forwardThe Virgo New Moon and rewriting relationship narrativesUranus retrograde and becoming more authentic in social spacesChiron returning to Aries and revisiting wounds around identity and leadershipEnding Virgo season with clearer communication, creativity, and big ideas Mentioned: Uranus in Gemini article

    Virgo Season 2026

  7. Aug 14

    Eps 064: Reconnecting with the Plant World w. Amelia Andrade

    What if developing a relationship with the natural world could be less about learning everything there is to know about plants and more about slowing down enough to notice what is already around you? In this conversation, I’m joined by folk herbalist Amelia, who describes herself as someone who “nourishes the sacred and wild relationship between people and plants.” We talk about her journey from the corporate travel industry into herbalism, the dandelion that became one of her first plant allies, and what it means to relate to plants not simply as resources we consume, but as teachers, guides, companions, and members of our larger ecological community. Our conversation ultimately is about the responsibility that comes with returning to relationship with plants: understanding ecological impact, sustainability, harvesting and sourcing practices, and the ways colonialism has disrupted and erased plant traditions and the cultural knowledge held by the people who have stewarded them. We end by considering a simple but powerful practice: becoming more curious about where the plants we eat and work with actually come from. Find Amelia on her: InstagramWild Wisdom ProgramConnect with me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Life CoachingThreadsWebsiteMentioned: The Apprenticeship by Giana Cerasia

    Eps 064: Reconnecting with the Plant World w. Amelia Andrade

  8. Aug 7

    Eps 063: Which Astrological House System To Use w. Jess Ellen

    I'm joined once again by my friend and fellow astrologer, Jess Ellen, to tackle one of the most common questions we receive from students and clients: Which house system should I use? Together we explore the philosophy behind astrological house systems, how they developed, why different astrologers practice with different systems, and how both of us have expanded our own perspectives by working with charts through different lenses. Rather than trying to convince you that one system is objectively better than another, we invite you into a more curious relationship with your own chart, and with astrology itself. We also discuss how different house systems can reveal different layers of meaning, how astrology evolves alongside us throughout our lives, and why trusting your own lived experience is just as important as understanding astrological technique. Whether you're brand new to astrology or have been studying for years, this episode will help you approach house systems with greater clarity, curiosity, and confidence. This is Part 2 of Episode 57: Introduction to the Astrological Houses. If you haven't listened to that episode yet, we recommend starting there before diving into this conversation. Connect with Jess via her: WebsiteInstagramThreadsPodcast

    Eps 063: Which Astrological House System To Use w. Jess Ellen
See All (114)

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Hollis M. M.
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    114
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Hollis M. M.
  • Show Website
    The Designed Life

You Might Also Like