Riding The Storm: June

Hey folks, are you feeling the heat too? With war and hate spreading like wildfire, this summer I encourage you to gather with your loved ones and broader community. Let’s celebrate the life we do have, while honouring the suffering of others. That’s how we stay hopeful. And it’s how we grow our resilience, together.

Next week I’m off to Spain for my favourite event of the year: Nowhere (The Spanish Burning Man). It’s a special place where I get to revel in a hedonistic abundance of aliveness. Maybe I’ll even have a story or two to share when I’m back ;)

Thanks for reading,

Tom 💚

P.S. I’m offering free Resilience Counselling sessions for changemakers in exchange for donations for Gaza. Book a session here or share with a friend who could use it.

🦸 Interview with Ginie Servant-Miklos on Climate Grief, Collapse & Psychedelics
Ginie is a force of nature and a leading voice in the field of climate grief and collapse. This concise but insightful interview weaves together many of the themes we explore here at Riding The Storm. No surprise we’ve recently become friends :)

😆Oilwell “Meditation App”
We could all use a laugh right now. This is the funniest piece of satirical climate work I've seen in ages - and yes, you can actually do the spoof guided meditations!

😆Undercover with the Far-Right, Article, The Guardian
Equally baffled and terrified by the rise of the far-right? Check out this enthralling account from a journalist who spent a year infiltrating UK-based far-right groups while working with Hope Not Hate. Now that’s serious courage. What struck me most was the loneliness so many of these people felt and the sense of belonging they found there.

My relative emotional turbulence of the past weeks has made it difficult to write. So instead, I’m sharing with you a text that inspired me during the 10th Anniversary Celeberation of the Global Network of The Work That Reconnects. I trust it will resonate with you too.

Firmly establish your intention to live your life for the healing of the world.

Be conscious of it, honour it, nurture it every day.

Be fully present in our time. Find the courage to breathe in the suffering of the world.

Allow peace and healing to breathe out through you in return.

Do not meet power on its own terms.

See through to its real nature - mind- and heart-made.

Lead your response from that level.

Simplify. Clear away the dead wood in your life.

Look for the heartwood and give it the first call on your time; the best of your energy.

Put down the leaden burden of saving the world alone.

Join with others of like mind. Align yourself with the forces of resolution.

Hold in a single vision, in the same thought, the transformation of yourself and the
transformation of the world. Live your life around that edge, always keeping it in sight.

As a bird flies on two wings, balance outer activity with inner sustenance.

Following your heart, realise your gifts.

Cultivate them with diligence to offer knowledge and skill to the world.

Train in non-violence of body, speech and mind.

With great patience with yourself, learn to make beautiful each action, word and thought.

In the crucible of meditation, bring forth day by day into your own heart the treasury of compassion, wisdom and courage for which the world longs.

Sit with hatred until you feel the fear beneath it.

Sit with fear until you feel the compassion beneath that.

Do not set your heart on particular results.

Enjoy positive action for its own sake and rest confident that it will bear fruit.

When you see violence, greed and narrow-mindedness in the fullness of its power, walk straight into the heart of it, remaining open to the sky and in touch with the earth.

Staying open, staying grounded, remember that you are the inheritor of the strengths of thousands of generations of life.

Staying open, staying grounded, recall that the thankful prayers of future generations are silently with you.

Staying open, staying grounded, be confident in the magic and power that arise when people come together in a great cause.

Staying open, staying grounded, know that the deep forces of Nature will emerge to the aid of those who defend the Earth.

Staying open, staying grounded, have faith that the higher forces of wisdom and compassion will manifest through our actions for the healing of the world.

When you see weapons of hate, disarm them with love.

When you see armies of greed, meet them in the spirit of sharing.

When you see fortresses of narrow-mindedness, breach them with truth.

When you find yourself enshrouded in dark clouds of dread, dispel them with fearlessness.

When forces of power seek to isolate us from each other, reach out with joy.

In it all and through it all, holding to your intention, let go into the music of life. Dance!

Blowing on the fire during last month’s Psychedelic Resilience Retreat:

Fire is my element. I’m in awe of its power to transform energy from one form into another. As changemakers, we all carry a fire within us. Learning to channel it, rather than fear it, is a key part of our journey’s.

Interested in a guided psychedelic experience? My next retreat in this primal wood-fired yurt is 4th - 5th October. In the meantime, I’m transforming our attic into a cosy mini retreat space, ready to welcome you during the colder months.

“Things that seem really important now won’t matter at all a few years from now.”
– Dr. Michael Marshall.

As he often does, my Dad said exactly the words I needed to hear while I was fretting about crafting my future. Love you, Dad.

Thanks for reading!

-Tom 💚