I loved this conversation with Helen Ruff - a magazine editor, networking facilitator and event manager who publishes the Flos magazine four times a year and curates Flo’s Market - an artisan market in Portchester on the second Saturday of every month and quarterly networking events aimed at small business owners in the local lifestyle sector.
And for the past nine years - since the very first edition - she has been filling in the ‘Goodbye, Hello’ journal at the start of every year and using it to shape her life and her business.
In this delicious deep dive, we explore what it really means to consciously design your life - not in one dramatic leap, but through small, steady choices, honest reflection, and a willingness to change your mind.
We talk about her journey through multiple careers, sobriety, community-building, energy work, and ultimately creating Flo’s Mag and Flo’s Market - a thriving, hyper-local ecosystem rooted in connection, creativity and wellbeing. Helen shares how nine years of using the ‘Goodbye, Hello’ journals have acted as a kind of ‘affordable life coach’, helping her spot recurring patterns, honour what matters most, and gently steer herself back onto the right path whenever she veers off course.
Together we explore:
why self-reflection is a muscle (and why not everyone is ready to use it)
how vision boards, whiteboards and journaling work on both an energetic and practical level
the difference between manifestation and actualisation
designing a life that fits who you are now — not who you were told you should be
and why tending your own garden matters more than ever
We also dive into energy, intuition, the reticular activating system, the power of writing things down (even if you forget you’ve written them), and how staying aligned isn’t about perfection - it’s about noticing when you’re off course and choosing, again and again, to come home to yourself.
If you’re interested in life design, meaningful work, community, energy, and creating a life that feels spacious, intentional and deeply yours - this is a gorgeous one to tune into.
x Selina
