Being in the business of selling everyday home and living products put us in an awkward, less-than-convincing position to start a mindfulness community. So it’s not that we don’t hear what the naysayers are saying – we understand where they’re coming from. By logic, we should be directly opposite everything that ‘mindfulness’ and ‘conscious consumerism’ stand for. After all, the less mindful you are as a consumer, and the less conscious you are when making purchasing decisions, the more businesses reap off you in general.
But that’s not really what IUIGA is about. We’ve always viewed things alongside you, from a consumer’s standpoint because we’re consumers ourselves too. So we just wanted to share a bit more about why we started the IUIGA Mindfulness Community, because we’ve never really addressed it previously.
Before we share more – to the uninitiated, we’re referring to our IUIGA Mindfulness Community on Facebook. If you’re already a member, you’ll know that we spread only good vibes there on a daily basis to spark a little joy in your day. What you may not have realised is the content we share there is actually exclusive, and differs from the rest of our social media. Call it a members-only club if you will, but we think it’s more than that, minus the snobbiness.
If you’re new to us, don’t leave just yet. You may find this article an insightful read nonetheless. And if we’ve hooked your curiosity to join, welcome – you’ve found us here.
Thoughts Become Things
Prior to starting the community, we’ve lamented that something always felt amiss from our communication with you. For some reason, our social media content – which were product-driven, always felt like a monologue. Whatever we post goes straight to you, but somehow we can’t help but feel it’s pretty one-sided.
It took us some trial-and-error before we realised the missing element wasn’t something out of this world; it’s very basic – human touch and emotional connection. After all, we’re not robots here at the IUIGA HQ. We’re all real, everyday people. So it’s in our human nature to reach out and connect with other like-minded people – and guess what? That’s you, our consumer-turned-friend.
Rooting Back to Our Beginner’s Spirit
As a precursor, IUIGA was never created to be an entity on its own. That’s not what we envisioned the brand to be from the get-go.
For starters, we’re a Singapore-based lifestyle brand. We pride ourselves in carrying only thoughtfully-designed products at a luxury quality and completely honest pricing. And what does this entail?
It means as a brand, ‘radical transparency’ is not just a concept we market upon; it’s our modus operandi. Everything we do here gets checked against our pillars of thoughtful design, premium quality, and transparent pricing, because we believe fine living can be made affordable. That’s why we openly share our cost breakdowns and profit margins on our website and app – to empower you to make mindful considerations and comparisons, so you don’t ever overpay for quality.
And when you live and breathe by these standards, it transcends from a mindset to become a way of living. As a start-up, it’s especially important for us to never forget our beginner’s spirit. Regardless of how much the business takes off in the future, this remains deeply rooted in our ikigai.
Aligning Shared Values with Like-Minded Community
The truth is, the more we grew as a business, the more we wanted to stay grounded and true to people who matter most to us – and that again, is you.
So we thought: what better way to bring like-minded people together than a community? This way, we can all converse and interact with one another leisurely like a big extended family. Whether it’s sharing product reviews, online articles you’ve found meaningful, or motivational quotes you enjoyed – even tips for the day-to-day grind, we love it when you go the extra mile to share knowledge with one another.
Additionally, we get to hear directly from you. As you’re familiar, the nature of IUIGA’s business disrupts the conventional order of things in the greater industry. In so many ways we’re breaking down walls to forge new paths, so what we’re doing here is pretty revolutionary, if we may say so ourselves. And from our earliest days, we know we’ve benefitted most from listening to your feedback.
By listening, we discovered that beneath a landscape of mindless consumerism, like us, you’re really just seeking for something deeper in life. Even though we’re all about lifestyle essentials, we don’t want you to just buy goods without thoughtful considerations. Especially with something so prevalent in our lives as everyday products, the concepts of mindfulness and conscious consumerism come even more in play.
As we dug deeper into IUIGA’s purpose, we found ourselves aligned to mindfulness not just as a brand ethos, but as a way of living – you seem to resonate with this sentiment too. And that’s how we made the connection between IUIGA and the greater community through the value of mindfulness.
Balancing Conscious Consumerism with Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the self-regulation of attention with an attitude of curiosity,
openness, and acceptance.
This definition provides a clear explanation of the broad nature of mindfulness. Researchers used the word “self-regulation” in reference to your ability to regulate your focus on something else consciously. The latter part defines a conversion of impression – by changing your attitude, you change the way you perceive things. This means that instead of being judgmental, open your heart to experience life with receptivity.
Also important to note, the essence of living a truly mindful life extends well beyond a yoga practice, meditation, and nutrition choices etc. Lately, ‘mindfulness’ has become synonymous to a certain aesthetic or messaging, but in reality, it’s deeper than that. It lies in the day-to-day in how we think, act and react to situations, how we communicate with one another, and perhaps the most relevant – what we buy, because that matters too.
By practising mindfulness, we live in the present moment transparently. With a clarity of mind, you’re able to make conscious decisions feeling more empowered that it’s coming from a place of calm and confidence; not out of fear or desires. And as thoughts become things, being in the here and now recalibrate your well-being, physical health, and mental space to a new high.
The IUIGA Mindfulness Community
Today, the IUIGA Mindfulness Community is still a work-in-progress and evolving everyday as we have people from all walks of life there. Although it is a closed group, anyone can join us as long as they’re interested in learning more about mindfulness and bettering their lives. Over time, with your help, we’ve managed to create a culture focussing on transparent, open communication.
Having said that, we also have the freedom to explore so much more with the community. In the group, we’ll be happy to answer any questions about the brand or products that you have, and we welcome any mindfulness-related discussions you’d like to ignite.
Have a look at what we’ve posted so far:
Aside from exclusive content in long-form, we also share snappy posts with attractive infographics for your viewing pleasure.
Speaking of having conversations, with this community, it’s no longer one-sided – we also hear from you and everyone else. One of the best things about the Mindfulness Community is the members’ willingness to share their experience and knowledge.
This has got to be my favourite post to date: one of our members actually put together this information, sent it to my colleague and requested for her to share it with the community.
Such a beautiful gesture demonstrating the willingness of the community to share and learn together, isn’t it?
IUIGA’s focus behind this community is always people first, then mindfulness, but we love bringing the two together whenever we can.
We can’t be more proud of how far our Mindfulness Community have come, and can’t wait to see you there. If you’re not a member, but find yourself resonating to IUIGA’s values in mindful consumption and transparent living, please join us in this journey as well. We’ll see you on the other side.
We’re also on Instagram and Facebook, and always on the blog.