About

I read the phrase more beautiful good in a book called To Be Told by Dan Allender nearly a decade ago. The book itself had a big impact on me, but that phrase has followed me from the moment I read it.

For the start of 2025, I felt compelled to write something about it. Exactly what I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure what the phrase meant to me. Allender wrote, “Wisdom ultimately isn’t a formula or a conclusion but a way of being in the world that leads to a more truthful and more beautiful good.” Maybe he didn’t intend it, but it was like the whole universe was packed into that sentence, my hope for the future in that one little phrase.

When researching similar quotes, I came across this piece from Clarissa Pinkola Estés. An excerpt:

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.

Yes. This. Thirty-six people.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

In the months prior to starting this project, I found myself in a state of despair. Usually, like Dr. Estés says in the full piece, “I do not keep a chair for it.” This time, however, I couldn’t shake it. A combination of realities had become too much—my own chronic illnesses, those of my mother and two remaining grandparents, the estrangement within my family, a world that seemed hell-bent on destroying itself, just to name a few. I was kind of getting over it. But it wasn’t until the Nazi salute on Inauguration Day that I finally hit my limit. Where were we going?

It was at about this time that I started noticing a (fairly unfamiliar to me) face showing up all around me. Frida Kahlo. For weeks she was everywhere. Finally, it had become so obvious, I mentioned it to my husband while we were at a bookstore (after seeing her yet again), “I’ve been seeing her everywhere lately. EVERYWHERE.” I rounded a corner a few minutes later and came across two more instances of her. What was going on? What was she trying to tell me? It was time for some research.

After a couple of documentaries, some Wikipedia digging, and a visit to the Frida Kahlo museum website, I was beginning to understand why she might be showing up all of a sudden. Okay, fine, Universe, God, Frida, I hear you. Suffering doesn’t have to be for naught. Find the meaning in it. I know! (Wisdom can be so annoying.)

Next I went to ChatGPT.

I’d been using it to help me brainstorm and consolidate my thinking around more beautiful good (MBG) since January, and while all of that insight was still relevant, so was this new information. I just didn’t feel sure that I understood Kahlo’s work and message well enough yet, so I asked Chat to summarize the themes of Frida’s life in her own words.

Its response:

Turn your pain into art. Life will wound you—physically, emotionally, in ways you never expected. But pain is not just suffering; it is also a canvas. Transform it. Let it speak. Let it mean something.

Love deeply, even when it breaks you. Love is messy, painful, intoxicating. It will betray you, heal you, and remake you. Love anyway. Love fiercely. Love yourself most of all.

Be unapologetically yourself. Society will tell you to shrink, to soften your edges, to be less. Don’t. Be loud. Be colorful. Be strange. Be exactly who you are, and never apologize for it.

Rebel with passion. The world is unjust, and silence serves the oppressor. Speak up. Stand for something. Fight for what matters, even if it costs you. Especially if it costs you.

Live boldly, even in the face of death. Life is short, unpredictable, and often cruel. Dance anyway. Drink, laugh, paint, kiss, create. Leave your mark before you go.

From there I asked it to combine the MBG concept from January with those messages into one set of categories and themes. Here was its response:

1. Creativity & art

• Exploring art as a means of self-expression, resilience, and transformation.
• Highlighting how creativity can be an act of rebellion, healing, and meaning-making.

2. Personal growth & self-actualization

• Encouraging people to embrace their uniqueness and pursue their callings fearlessly.
• Using Frida’s lessons to inspire deeper self-awareness and authenticity.

3. Philosophy & meaningful living

• Examining what it means to live boldly and leave an impact.
• Connecting personal pain, joy, and purpose to a larger, more meaningful vision of life.

4. Social change & cultural commentary

• Discussing how personal transformation fuels collective change.
• Exploring the intersection of art, activism, and social progress.

5. Spirituality & existential inquiry

• Weaving in the spiritual elements of Frida’s defiant embrace of life and death.
• Examining how beauty, suffering, and joy coexist in a well-lived life.

That was it.

I put together a mood board and got to work building MBG.

And here we are.

But what about the thirty-six people?

It’s something Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl said, repeating an ancient Jewish legend:

… Benedictus de Spinoza, whose main work, Ethics, concludes with the words: Everything that is great is as rare to find as it is difficult to do. In fact, I myself believe that decent people are in the minority, have always been and always will be. But that’s nothing new. There is an ancient Jewish legend, according to which the existence of the world depends on there always being thirty-six—no more than thirty-six!—righteous people in the world.

(Bold emphasis mine.)

That’s all it takes to save the world.

We just have to find them, inspire them, motivate them, mend them, tip them, shake them, heal them, help them come together for a more beautiful good.

In the words of Dr. Estés, it’s not my task to fix the entire world, but I can stretch out to mend this little part that’s within my reach and maybe that’ll inspire a reader or two to reach out and mend a part that’s within theirs.

Logistically, I’m sick a lot. But so was Frida. She made a difference. FROM HER BED. If she can do something, so can we. Anything. Certainly something.

This image of Frida painting and meeting with someone—again, from her bed, just another work day—is so powerful to me. (It’s from the Frida Kahlo Museum. I hope they won’t raise a fuss that I used it here.)

These days, I worry about making promises I can’t keep. What if I get sick? What if I miss a deadline? But then that just holds back the work. There are things to do, words to write, people to shake, cages to rattle. I can’t and don’t want to just be sick. That’s boring. Work is fun. Work is inspiring. Making things is much more interesting. Talking with interesting people about all the things they’re making and doing is way more interesting. So I’ll be sure to put that checkbox in the membership signup thingy, that you understand some deadlines may be missed sometimes, but that I’ll do my best not to let that happen. Hopefully, though, you’re not here for the stuff, but for the point and purpose. Either way, I thought I should mention it.

So what's next?

The choice is yours.

1. You can be a wallflower or a lurker.

Hang out as long as you'd like, read the free articles, and get a feel for the place. If you like it, consider subscribing for more access and to support MBG.

2. You can become a patron.

If you like what you see, want more access, and want to support MBG ...

First comes a big, big thank you. Thank you for believing in good things and in a better future for us all and for working with me to help create it.

And second comes all the more beautiful good stuff (hopefully all of which is considerate of our mission and planet):

PATRON level membership includes:

• Access to members-only essays,
• Access to members-only commenting,
• Fortnightly newsletters,
• Voting privileges (content direction, new benefits, etc.)
• Patron-level¹ membership milestone benefits as they're added (next milestone: 250 members—see note below)

Membership milestones: When MBG reaches 250 members, more perks will unlock 🔒 (and members get to vote on new benefits!)—so be sure to tell your creator, seeker, meaning-maker friends to join!

¹ I'm thinking there will be other membership levels added in the future.

So that's it for now!

I'll be adding more details as things go and grow, but hopefully you get the idea.

Oh, and I'm Amber. If you're interested in learning more about me, you can do that here and here. For now I'll treat this like a new friendship forming and let more personal topics come up organically.

Anyway, I hope you'll consider sticking around and that you'll like it here.