notes from liguria, italy

The enchanted forest

By Margherita Patrone - Oct 2, 2026 - 4 min read - Issue #14

Before we start, a note: this issue was inspired by a video of Gabor Maté that really stayed with me.I really, really like him.There is something about the way he speaks that feels both gentle and impossible to ignore.In the video, he talks about the end of Winnie-the-Pooh.Christopher Robin is growing up.He has to go to school.He tells Pooh and the other animals that he won't be able to play with them so much anymore.And then the book ends with the idea that, whatever happens and wherever they go, somewhere in the Enchanted Forest, a little boy and his bear will always be playing together.Gabor Maté says that line has brought tears to his eyes for years.And I understand why.Because maybe the tragedy is not growing up.Maybe the tragedy is forgetting how to play.Last Tuesday at lunchLast Tuesday, I was having lunch in the middle of a working day.My body was at the table.My mind was already in the next meeting.Then a friend called me.She started talking slowly.Very slowly.And I could feel myself becoming irritated.Not because she had done anything wrong.Not because I didn't care about her.But because, in that moment, her rhythm was slower than mine.And I didn't like what I noticed in myself.Because I realised how often this happens.Someone calls.Someone wants to talk.Someone needs time.And instead of receiving the moment, part of me reacts as if life itself is interrupting my productivity.I am not proud of this.But I think there is something important there.The next thingI love my job.I really do.I love that so much of what I do is about connecting with people, helping them, understanding what they need, and talking about topics that genuinely fascinate me.Brands.Behaviour.Creativity.Culture.Why people choose what they choose.But I am also realising that I sometimes struggle to stop.There is always a next thing.The next meeting.The next message.The next idea.The next opportunity.The next version of myself I am trying to become.And when you are always moving towards the next thing, slowness can start to feel uncomfortable.Even when that slowness is actually life.Driven or alive?In the video, Gabor Maté talks about how we can become driven by unconscious needs to justify our existence.That sentence stayed with me.Because there is a difference between being ambitious and being driven.Ambition can feel alive.Creative.Expansive.Joyful.Being driven can feel like being chased.Sometimes we work hard because we love what we do.And sometimes we work hard because stopping would make us meet something quieter inside ourselves.A fear.A wound.A need to prove we are worthy.A need to show that our life means something.And the tricky thing is that, from the outside, both can look exactly the same.The same calendar.The same ambition.The same full days.But inside, the feeling is different.One feels like building.The other feels like running.The experimentSo this week's experiment is very simple.Create one parenthesis in your day.Just one.A coffee without checking emails.A walk without voice notes.A lunch where your mind stays with your body.A conversation where you don't rush the other person to the point.And if someone interrupts you this week, pause before reacting.Ask yourself:Is this really an interruption?Or is this one of those ordinary moments I might one day miss?Because maybe we don't need to choose between ambition and presence.Maybe we just need to remember that success without play can become very lonely.And maybe, somewhere inside us, the little boy and the bear are still there.Still playing.In the Enchanted Forest.Until next Saturday,Margherita