Aesthetics
Why Beauty Is the Quiet Force Behind What Moves Us
There’s a goldenrod yellow that lines the buildings in Évora, Portugal.
It’s not loud. Not flashy. But it catches light in a way that makes the city feel like it’s glowing from within.
The locals will tell you it’s symbolic.
An offering to the gods of the sun.
A vibrancy woven into the limestone bones of a walled city.
But to me, it was more than cultural, it was emotional.
It made me feel peaceful. Connected. Awake.
That’s the thing about aesthetics:
They don’t knock.
They slip in through the back door of your perception and start rearranging how you feel.
And whether you realize it or not, your aesthetic is shaping how you show up in the world.
The question is: Does it align with your story?
NOW: You Feel It Before You Name It
Aesthetic coherence is like a tuning fork.
When something resonates - an outfit, a room, a word, a voice - you feel it before you rationalize it.
But when it’s off? The dissonance can be deafening.
Think about it:
You’ve walked into spaces that looked “successful” but felt lifeless.
You’ve read résumés that were perfect, but hollow.
You’ve seen people dressed in power, but leaking self-doubt.
That’s aesthetic incoherence.
When the design of something betrays the truth of it.
Ask yourself:
~ What stories are your aesthetic choices telling others, without you saying a word?
~ Are you designing from your truth or from someone else’s algorithm?
~ How much of your taste is yours, and how much has been installed?
NEW: The Art of Choosing What Moves You
In Bruges, I bought a piece of art from a street vendor.
Not because it matched anything.
Because it captured everything.
It told the story of place.
It reflected the artist’s intention.
And somehow, it felt like a portal, not a decoration.
That’s the power of aesthetic alignment.
You don’t choose it. It chooses you.
Because it speaks your unspoken language.
And once you become fluent in that language, your decisions start to shift:
You stop optimizing for approval.
You stop explaining what doesn’t feel true.
You stop settling for “good enough” when you know it isn’t you enough.
Aesthetics aren’t surface.
They’re subtext.
They’re sovereignty.
Ask yourself:
~ What’s the most recent thing you chose that moved you, not because it made sense, but because it made you feel something?
~ Where in your life are you living with aesthetic dissonance?
~ What would you change if you trusted your sense of beauty more than your spreadsheet?
NEXT: Your Taste Is Your Compass
We are drowning in sameness.
Templates. Feeds. Filters. Safe choices wrapped in beige tones and manufactured cool.
In a world built by AI, aesthetic agency will be one of the few remaining forms of human authorship.
Your ShiftStory™ is not just what you say.
It’s what you design around yourself: visually, emotionally, energetically.
Because people don’t just listen to your story.
They feel it.
They see it in your choices.
They sense it in your space.
They read it in how you put things together, and what you choose to leave out.
Your aesthetic isn’t just style.
It’s strategy.
It’s signal.
It’s story.
Ask yourself:
~ If someone saw your life as a gallery, what narrative would emerge?
~ What aesthetic values are you building your next chapter around?
~ Are you editing your taste to fit in, or expanding your lens to be felt?
THE PAYOFF: Aesthetic as Alignment
In the Now, we wake up to what no longer fits.
In the New, we permit ourselves to choose differently, not for attention, but for resonance.
In the Next, we live lives that don’t just look good, but feel like they were authored by someone awake.
This isn’t about minimalism vs maximalism, muted vs bold.
It’s about coherence.
About being at peace with the visual and emotional vocabulary you use to build your world.
Because when your story and your aesthetics are aligned, people don’t just hear you.
They feel you.
Look again.
Choose again.
Curate a life that reflects what you believe.
Your aesthetic is already telling a story.
Make sure it’s one worth living in.
Are you ready to create your ShiftStory™?
“Our brains are not passive observers of beauty; they are active participants in how we perceive and connect with the world. Surround yourself with beauty—it shapes who you are.” ~ Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, “The Aesthetic Brain”
I’m Tobin Trevarthen. I am a Narratologist. I am a fusion of coach, mentor, and practitioner. My purpose is to enable you to shift your story from who you are to who you are becoming. Welcome to ShiftStory™.
ShiftStory™ is my evolved idea for building narrative agency in a rapidly changing world, where yesterday’s containers and approaches are no longer valid. I fundamentally believe we are entering a new Renaissance, and owning your story will become more paramount than ever before.
My ShiftStory™ is an intentional evolution: I am building a company and a life where relationships are consciously cultivated through reciprocity. Every connection is formed with purpose, and every decision is guided by mutual support and shared value.
My narrative is not just for those I serve; it is the story I am choosing to live, moving away from the pursuit of scale and toward a future defined by meaningful, reciprocal relationships.
Follow me on LinkedIn. DM at tobin@spatialshift.com or sign up for the ShiftStory™ waitlist here https://shiftstory.carrd.co/
This reminded me of Veblen: “it now becomes incumbent on him to discriminate with some nicety between the noble and the ignoble in consumable goods. He becomes a connoisseur in creditable viands of various degrees of merit, in manly beverages and trinkets, in seemly apparel and architecture, in weapons, games, dancers, and the narcotics. This cultivation of aesthetic faculty requires time and application, and the demands made upon the gentleman in this direction therefore tend to change his life of leisure into a more or less arduous application to the business of learning how to live a life of ostensible leisure in a becoming way.”