THE CREATIVE BUDDHIST NEWSLETTER

Dear Subscriber First Name,

I’m just back in Sweden after a couple of weeks in the UK. After a delayed flight I was taxi’d through the snow at 1am and now find myself with a ‘travel hangover’.

Even before unpacking my bags I wanted to jot down some thoughts after seeing Laurie Anderson’s new show, Ark: United States V. The post is called ‘7 Lessons from Laurie Anderson (a first draft)’, you’ll find the first three below and the rest on my blog.

1. Digression can be a method - In her film Heart of a Dog, Laurie often says, “Well, I digress,” after wandering off into a story that seems barely connected to the previous one. It was the same with her Norton Lectures. At first, you think, “Blimey, this woman is easily distracted.” But after a while, you realise: digression is her method.

2. You don’t have to make sense - The rest of us are desperately trying not to digress, because we want to ‘make sense’. We think that the story we are telling needs to be linear. It needs to be tidy, not have loose ends left hanging. Because… that’s how life is, isn’t it? We all know it’s not true that life makes sense, yet the delusion that it should persists.

3. You don’t have to be one thing - Who are you? Are you wacky, with a bizarre sense of humour? Or are you deadly serious? Profound or silly? Laurie teaches us we don’t have to choose. It’s okay if one moment you’re sharing something heartbreakingly sad, and the next something totally bonkers. Being everything is closer to our true nature than being something.

Read the rest below…

Retreats 2025

Having just come back from retreat I thought I could let you know a bit more about next year’s retreats - Booking are through Rivendell Retreat Centre

The Vajra and the Bell:
Discovering our Innate Confidence

Rivendell Retreat Centre 14th - 21st March 2025

“The meaning of devotion is that again and again we trust that the moment is enough; not under prepared or over prepared, but available. This makes us very soft because we start to trust… There isn’t anything to do except move into the situation.”

- James Low

The Vajra symbolises reality—it's ‘the facts,’ it’s what is. When we fully open ourselves to our actual experience, without ignoring or attempting to correct it, we create a magical space where something new can unfold.

The Bell symbolises wisdom or awakening. It signifies the awakening to a reality that is ever-present, here and now. This awakening is not a distant goal but a profound shift in our perception that can occur in the simple moments of daily life.

The retreat will combine meditation and insight inquiry with discussion and creative rituals. As the week goes on we’ll move more and more into silence. These practices help us recognise the opportunities for insight that exist in every moment. By developing a fundamental confidence in ourselves and our ability to awaken, we can transform our lives and the world around us.

Everyone is an Artist:
A Creative Dharma Retreat for women

Rivendell Retreat Centre 17th - 21st October 2025

This year’s Everyone is an Artist retreat will explore the theme of wabi-sabi. Leonard Koren beautifully describes wabi-sabi as “a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. A beauty of things modest and humble. A beauty of things unconventional.” But wabi-sabi is not just an aesthetic; it is a way of being—a philosophy that invites us to embrace the tenderness of imperfection and find profound beauty in the ordinary and ephemeral.

Rooted in Japanese culture, wabi-sabi teaches us to cherish the fleeting, the worn, and the understated, reminding us that life’s most precious moments are often found in simplicity. It encourages us to see the magic in everyday rituals, whether it’s savoring a cup of tea, observing the changing seasons, or tending to small creative acts.

During this retreat, we’ll deepen our connection to wabi-sabi through Buddhist teachings, meditation, and reflective practices. Together, we’ll explore the intersection of the Dharma life and a life of creativity, uncovering how these paths intertwine and enrich one another. This journey will help us cultivate mindfulness, gratitude, and a renewed appreciation for the imperfect beauty of the world around us.

While the focus will not be on producing large-scale artworks, this retreat welcomes you to engage in small-scale creative practices. Feel free to bring materials like pens, pencils, thread, needles, or a camera—simple tools that allow you to capture fleeting moments or express your inner reflections. Whether you sketch, stitch, or simply observe, this retreat offers an opportunity to honor the beauty of process over perfection and celebrate creativity as a mindful, everyday act.

The Dharma Bundle

A Mind of Winter:
Embracing the most wabi-sabi season

From the perspective of wabi-sabi, winter is the season with the most riches to offer. December’s Dharma Bundle comes out on the 1st and is all about making the most of winter. It includes an invite to a special zoom workshop -

‘Preparing for a Wabi-Sabi Yuletide’
📅 Thursday, 12th December
⏰ 7:00–8:30 PM (GMT)

In this session, we’ll explore how to transform the traditional 12 days of Yule into a season of wabi-sabi rituals, weaving the Dharma into the heart of this winter festival.

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.