Hello Friends,

Welcome back to another post of Calm in the Chaos. Unsettling times continue, I am sad to say, and I continue to gather and share things that I hope are soothing and that you can apply to your life as you like.

The first thing on my list this week is the word Meraki. I discovered this word around the time that the idea for this feature, Calm in the Chaos, started to take hold in my mind.

Meraki definition: create or do something with soul, creativity and/or love while leaving a piece of yourself in the work that you do.

When I found it, somewhere, not sure where, I thought it was beautiful and wrote it and highlighted the word and definition in my journal.

As I was flipping through my journal last week while prepping this post, the highlight popped out to me and I realized this, my writing here on substack, is my Meraki. Or at least one of them.

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Calming Things To Consider This Weekend

One of the things that is continuously calming, for me, is walking in nature. And right now that nature is in Great Malvern, UK. I am still absolutely loving Great Malvern - as I am writing this, from my office space in my flat, I can see the skies have cleared from a moody, grey, misty & windy day to reveal the lightest of pink and purple skies and an elegantly chill sunset (less blazing and more of a gentle fade). I took a very long walk today, towards the hills which look so lushly green from all the rain, amplified with the backdrop of a cloudy sky. As I walked I noticed the hills were dotted with white puffs, which turned out to be very fluffy sheep, coming into focus as I got closer. On my return, I always, always walk through my local graveyard and every time I find a new tombstone to investigate. Below is a picture of one of my favorites, tilted sideways with time and gravity but looking like it was freshly inscribed yesterday instead of over 100 years ago.

Eckhart Tolle - the Power of Now

Do you believe that things “find you” when you need them most? I would say that about Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now.

Now, I have known OF Eckhart Tolle and his teachings for many years. But I had never read his books or given focused time to his teachings. I cannot say how I might have responded or ingested them before now but I feel like now is likely when I needed them most. Like most things that impact me profoundly, his work found me in an unexpected way. If you will indulge me in this story… which begins with, I am fascinated by astrology. In the last few years, my astrology exposure has grown, and I especially love learning how the planets were positioned during major historical events throughout time. And how planet positions and movements could be related to both those events in time and what is happening in the world right now. One of my favorite new substacks, Kevin Garland’s ‘The Weekly Stars’, which I discovered last year, is SO GOOD. [I highly recommend starting with his post “We Need To Talk About 2025”.] While reading one of his current posts, Kevin referenced how, given our times and what is (potentially) to continue coming our way, it might be a good time to revisit Eckhart Tolle ‘The Power of Now’. I was immediately called to buy the book online and DOVE IN. Again, I will say that books, art, people…find you when you need them most and I feel that I needed this book. It is such a gift.

Excerpt from The Power of Now

“If there is no joy, ease or lightness in what you are doing, it does not necessarily mean that you need to change what you are doing. It may be sufficient to change the how. “How” is always more important than “what”. See if you can give much more attention to the doing than the result that you want to achieve through it. Give your fullest attention to whatever the moment presents. This implies that you also completely accept what is, because you cannot give your full attention to something and at the same time resist it.”

I realized, reading this book, well, many things but one being that I have mostly been worried or anxious about my particular future, and living there, in my head. Especially when it came to my health concerns and the physical symptoms, I would project myself into the future and not just accept what was in the moment but fight it - hard. I had an incredible AH-HA moment when I did this recently, started spiraling about symptoms and then applied what I was learning from the Power of Now: I got silent - deeply silent - and accepted (it is simple but not easy) what was. I wasn’t angry, anxious, or fighting what was happening. I succeeded in surrendering to what was at the moment. And whoa. Things got wayyy lighter. I am learning so much and I feel like it is another example of once you know, you cannot UN-know. My journey and practice is ongoing…

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Meditation before getting out of bed in the morning

I am on my 62nd day of daily meditation. I am not sure how I wasn’t doing this before as I am find so much benefit with my practice.

About 3 weeks ago, I woke up one morning around 5 am and I knew I wasn’t going back to sleep but I wasn’t ready to get out of bed. I decided to do an hour-long meditation with Dr. Joe Dispenza’s You Are The Placebo and saw huge impact right away. I felt I had both a lightness to my energy while having more energy. I’ve now set my alarm 3 times a week to do an pre-getting-out-of-bed meditation and I am loving it.

The Lion, The Witch, And the Wardrobe - the 2005 Film

It was TIME. Last weekend brought me a very wet, windy, stormy Saturday and I knew it was time for rewatch of this film. Just the best. I made some cozy food, turned off all the lights and lit some candles and let myself be carried away in one of my favorite stories of all-time, while in the place that inspired (some of) it. [If you don’t know Great Malvern’s link to CS Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia, click here] If you want to be transported to another world, you can find the film on Disney+.

This MAN - Christopher Burn - ‘Poetry Changes Lives’

I discovered Christopher Burn* back in late November when I briefly created a Tik Tok account to follow some specific content and this wonderful man’s page popped up in my feed. He is in his 80’s and has created an incredible following [237K on Tik Tok!]. Everyday [on tik tok] he reads from his book, ‘Poetry Changes Lives’ about poetry and literary history. It is so soothing to listen to this man. Some of his posts have made me full-on cry, and listening to him has given me a new appreciation for poetry. I love him. This is a GOOD part of the [overall dumpster fire] internet.

*(you can find him on Youtube and Tik Tok)

While not calming per se, if you are interested, I have a new ‘Life Off-Script’ posted as well today. This episode picks up the thread of what I call the kickoff of this life of remote work/travel/living in different countries when I was traveling with a company called Remote Year. You will find me in April 2019 transitioning from a month living in Hanoi Vietnam to my new city, Chiang Mai Thailand. Kind of fun to coincide with the latest season of the White Lotus (one of my obsessions though not exactly “calming”).

That is what I have this week my friends.

Thanks so much for being here.

Take good care. Until next time.

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