Riding the Storm: January

Hello dear readers. It’s been an intense month. After a heart-warming Christmas with family, I returned to NL to facilitate two back-to-back psychedelic retreats for friends.

Right before my second retreat, I received the shocking news that a dear friend had suddenly passed away. Grief seems present everywhere right now. For my friend, and also for the world, as we watch fascism take hold in the US and move beyond 1.5 degrees.

I hope the resources in this issue can offer you a little support to navigate the turbulent times ahead.

With love,

Tom 💚

P.S. Last chance to sign up for the 🍂 Deepen Your Roots, Online Course that I’m volunteering with this year. In case you’d like to join me on this adventure, here’s a 10% discount code: WAVES10.

💖 The Wild Edge of Sorrow, Book, Francis Weller

After multiple recommendations, I started reading this to prepare for my grief-focused psychedelic retreat for climate activists last weekend. Little did I know that I would be digesting it in the days after losing a dear friend. It’s a captivating book that’s reminding me of the aliveness and love that can be found in grief.

🔥 When the Dust Settles, Book, Lucy Easthope

Who’s clearing up after the LA fires? Who dealt with 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Tsunami? It’s Lucy Easthope and people like her. This captivating autobiography takes you into the heart and mind of what it’s like to be on the frontlines of crisis management. It begins as “disaster porn” but develops into a thought-provoking philosophical read about life and death. Shout out to my Dad for lending me his copy.

🎯 2025 Goals & 2024 Reflection Resources

I believe that intentionality is key to transcend the mundane, destructive path of “business as usual”. If you’ve not set intentions for the year ahead, or are interested in additional tools, check out these resources:

🧭 Year Compass

Perhaps the most potent, accessible reflection tool I've ever encountered. It’s open source with a variety of questions to both reflect on 2024 and look forward to 2025.

📅 Tim Ferris’ Past Year Review

I’ve been using Tim’s method for many years. Look in your 2024 calendar and pick out what events/people/activities felt consistently good/bad. Commit to the good stuff, cut out the “bad”. Simple, yet effective. He explains more in the blog.

💭 Why Needs are More Important than Goals

I wrote this article back in 2021 based on a more “Tony Robbins-esque” approach to goal setting. But it still feels relevant. When setting intentions, reflect on what need is behind each one. When you get down to the need level, you often realise there’s a more effective strategy to fulfil them - which often doesn’t involve consuming, polluting or working your ass to burnout.

🍄 Psychedelic Life Crafting Retreat, March 8th - 9th 🍄

Ready to experience psychedelics in a conscious, safe space? In the right setting, psilocybin truffles can be life-changing medicines for healing, clarity and insight. Joining a retreat offers the opportunity to take the leap, trusting that I’ll be there to catch you. As a New Story subscriber, you can use the promo code FRIEND40 for a 40-euro discount on a ticket.

🧘 Circling Community of Practice: Evenings of Present-Moment Interconnection 🧘

Have you heard about Circling? It's a deep spiral of authentic relating, being in the present moment, exchanging what's happening. Some describe it as a "multiplayer group meditation." Together with my dear friend Cameron, we’re co-facilitating biweekly gatherings at our homes in Rotterdam. Next dates are 5th and 19th Feb. Join our Whatsapp Group to learn more.

This 5 minute video is a helpful, concise explainer:

🤔 Is your glass half-full or half-empty? You have the power to focus on the fullness of your life or the absence of what you’re long for. It’s not about just “looking on the bright side.” Underneath the harsh reality of death and loss is always immense love.

🙏 I’m reminded of this as I prepare to facilitate a gathering to celebrate the life of my friend who suddenly passed away last week. Yes, it’s important to take time to grieve, but in this case, we’ve decided to focus on celebrating the wonderful, passionate person that she was.

💐 Gratitude is the first step in Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects spiral in her Active Hope book. It’s a resource that we can cultivate. Focusing on what we love about being alive fills us with love, opening the door to connecting with the world and honoring our pain for what we’re losing.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to my rollercoaster ride of 2024. I’m grateful our paths crossed.

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I hope you can cultivate gratitude in these times of global unravelling - especially in the darkest moments.

This view is from my morning run in the Hoge Veluwe national park last week at my Active Hope retreat. I’d just seen two stags leap across my path, reminding me that even in the “dead of winter”, there’s so much life.

“The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.”
- Joanna Macy

In daring to open up our hearts, we bridge beyond our sense of being a separate self; connecting with a collective aliveness, strength and beauty as part of the web of life.

Thanks for reading,
Tom 💚