Hey,
Here are 5 things I thought were worth sharing this week:
The subject matter for this email comes from the lyrics of the East Forest and Ram Dass album that I have been listening to recently. It’s a beautiful album. The full quote is, “When you witness a dark thought, a dark thought that isn’t going to get you anywhere. You witness it, and love it. You love your dark thoughts. Remember, the witness is part of the soul. And the soul loves everything. Every thing.” Ram Dass was one of the first spiritual people I ever started listening to, when a friend gave me a tape of his back in 1995. There’s something about his voice that soothes me. His documentary Fierce Grace is well worth a watch.
This article on Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter was excellent. I’m not especially interested in reading the book itself but hearing about the process that J.R. Moehringer went through was fascinating.
I watched ‘Still’ the documentary about Michael J Fox. It was brilliantly done, using scenes from his movies to help tell the story of his battle with Parkinson’s Disease, but it was tough to see what he has to go through each day living with the disease. He hasn’t lost an ounce of his charisma or his humour though, and your pity and empathy soon turns to total admiration.
I wrote a blog this week about my attempts to declutter my life and my mind. My attention and focus has been too scattered lately with all the things I want to be doing and so I’m finding a path through the weeds and journalling on that process.
I’ve ordered the Ursula K. Le Guin translation of the Tao Te Ching, I’ve heard really good things about it. The Tao Te Ching brings me a lot of peace and comfort. It instantly gives me perspective when I need it most. It brings me back to the simple life. My favourite translation of it, and my favourite version of that translation is Stephen Mitchell’s illustrated journey version. It’s beautiful.
Thanks for reading!
My new book, B7965 - A boy called Szmulek: A man named Sam, will be out on June 1st. It’s a powerful memoir of my unexpected year-long journey with a Holocaust survivor. I’m super proud of it and very passionate about sharing Sam’s incredible story and getting it out into the world.
If you like great music, please check out my radio station, The Buzz Mcr. We don’t do ad-breaks, news, weather, and travel. The music never stops. We have a thing called our Three Song Trust Policy, it’s like the old Pepsi challenge only with music. Try us, I think you’ll like us.