THE CREATIVE BUDDHIST NEWSLETTER

Dear Subscriber First Name,

First things first, have you changed your name? These emails are personalised with your name, but the name that appears might not be the one you’d choose to be addressed by! So let me know if you want me to change your name (just hit reply to this email).

I’ll actually be on retreat and offline when you get this email. It’s scheduled it to go out all on its own. The retreat is called Everyone is an Artist, and it seems to have become a yearly event. I’m happy to be running this event just as we go into winter, as it’s striking me that winter is by far the most creative time of year. There have been more of us at the Creative Monday Club since the nights drew in and I’ve been sewing and mending in the evenings. In finding recommendations for this month’s ‘on my radar’ (below) I realised I had so many, I’ve been watching great movies, and reading more books. Now I’m wondering what I was doing in the summer as it wasn’t this! I guess I was working in the garden, socialising, out on walks or for a swim, summer really feels like a different world.

Anyway, I’m taking all that creativity into the retreat. The retreat is designed to have lots of space. In fact, we’re dedicating one whole day to boredom! The early mornings are an open practice session where we each create our own routine, coming in and out of the meditation room when we want to. There’s some Dharma input each morning and playful workshops in the afternoons where we get to try out different art forms. Then in the evenings we have small groups to check-in or meditate together with some simple rituals, or watch a movie. In fact, I’m saying all this, but actually I don’t know what’s going to happen. No one does! That too is a theme of the retreat, letting it happen.

If it sounds like something you might enjoy, check out next year’s Everyone is an Artist retreat, which beautifully coincides with the changing of the clocks and the beginning of our creative season. Though the blurb doesn’t yet say so, I’ve decided next year’s retreat will have a wabi-sabi theme!

The Dharma Bundle

Mirror-like Mind #3 - 
Disarming difficult thoughts

This month, we’re exploring ways to welcome all thoughts, while learning how to "disarm" those that might feel overwhelming or harmful. 

• Article: Befriending my anxiety

• Audio: The difference between thoughts, sensations and emotions

• Audio: Disarming anxiety

• Audio meditation: Meditating with anxiety

• Creative Assignment: Befriending a lost emotion

• Video: Zoom workshop recording - What does it mean to be in the present moment?

The Dharma Bundle is a ‘bundle’ of dharma resources, thoughtfully made and beautifully packaged. Short, illustrated Dharma videos and audio talks. Audio meditations and reflections. Creative assignments. Zoom meetups. Find out more here.

On my radar this week

Things I’ve got my eye on

TV - Ethos:
I can’t believe no one recommended this to me sooner! Ethos is a Turkish TV drama on Netflix and it’s the best thing I’ve seen on TV in… well, maybe ever! Or at least it’s up there with the all-time greats. We immediately wanted to watch it again as soon as it ended. In fact, if you haven’t seen it, I envy you that you still have it to discover!

YouTube - Qigong with Nick Loffree:
I’ve been wanting to learn Qigong for years and finally got a good online recommendation from a friend. Start with Nick Loffree’s foundation course, and you’ll find lots of other free videos. I’ve been starting my day with Qigong and it feels like exercise, meditation and massage all rolled into one!

Film - The room next door:
We celebrated the clocks changing by going to the cinema at noon to watch the lavish new Almodóvar film, The room next door. If you love his movies, you’ll love this. I have to say I like them a lot but never completely love them. The acting is, of course, brilliant but is, as it’s Almodóvar, not completely realistic. The whole thing is beautifully contrived. It is a film about euthanasia, yet the thing that stayed with me most was Martha’s clothes, gorgeous!

Article - How to winter:
I’m just coming to the end of the book by Kari Leibowitz but can’t fully recommend it (it’s okay). It’s about how your mindset affects your experience of winter and turns a lot of research into a few helpful pointers. The pointers are then padded out into a full-length book! You’ll probably get the gist from this guardian article of the same name, How to Winter.

Film - Past lives:
The beautifully heartbreaking Past lives has been on my watch list for a while. The acting is incredible, and the storyline is simple and unexpected. Without wanting to give anything away, you get to see what actual love is, right at the end!

Diary extracts:

Designing my day

In the Creative Co-working Space, we’ve been talking a lot about planning. And the more I think about it, the more I’m struck by how planning has its own aesthetics.

It’s like curating our time the way we’d curate any visual space.

Since I was a kid, I loved rearranging my room. I would move the furniture around, trying different layouts, looking for something that felt just right. I’d find the perfect relationships between things, and for a while, it was great. Then I would become bored with it and move it around again.

Those first few days, I could really see all the things in the room, like each piece was in conversation with the others.

But eventually, that freshness fades, and I’d stop noticing it. That’s when I knew it was time for another change, another experiment in finding that feeling again.

Now I realize that arranging my day or my week is a bit like that. It’s an aesthetic act, a kind of design project in itself. I’m asking myself: what is the most elegant way to arrange these activities? How do I lay out my time so that it feels enjoyable and balanced? And how do I keep it from turning stale?

One of the most important things when arranging a room is finding the best view out of the window. I want to position things so that I can see clearly, notice more.

It’s the same with work—how do I arrange my tasks and projects so that I get the clearest view of what I’m trying to achieve? How do I keep my perspective fresh and make space for taking a creative approach to work?

The tea ceremony is not symbolic

I’m sharing this conversation between the Qigong master Ken Cohen and Ray Haywood as I was struck by what he said about the tea ceremony not being symbolic.

Ken is making tea for Ray and explaining the tea ceremony.

“There are practical reasons for everything in tea, it’s not symbolic. People might say ‘Oh what does it symbolise when you pour the hot water into the cup?’ ‘Er, it doesn’t symbolise anything, I’m drinking tea!’

It’s not for symbolic value, in fact it’s the opposite. It takes us out of our ironic tendency to treat everything symbolically.

As if something only has worth if it refers to something else. That’s a kind of craziness!

We’re always looking elsewhere for what is actually right here.”

(This little dialogue comes 15 mins in, find the video here )

A quote I’m thinking about:

If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen, then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers it is not boring at all.

- John Cage