Let’s Begin

Announcing the launch of my new Substack…

“Training in equanimity is learning to open the door to all, welcoming all beings, inviting life to come visit. Of course, as certain guests arrive, we’ll feel fear and aversion. We allow ourselves to open the door just a crack if that’s all that we can presently do, and we allow ourselves to shut the door when necessary. Cultivating equanimity is a work in progress. We aspire to spend our lives training in the loving-kindness and courage that it takes to receive whatever appears—sickness, health, poverty, wealth, sorrow, and joy. We welcome and get to know them all.”

– Pema Chodron

A friend once asked me what my vision of the divine looks like, and I told her that it was an image of all the peoples of the world dancing together, each doing their own unique sashays and pirouettes, but still in harmony with one another, at peace with both themselves and others. 

This may sound naive, but I can’t help it. I’m a dancer by nature. Dance is how I access my most ardent flow state. It’s my natural, default vibe. Dance is an embodied metaphor; it suggests a capacity to maintain a certain level of equanimity in the face of all that life brings. And equanimity is the seed that, when harnessed, gives rise to love. Equanimity is a zen like state which all the great monks and artists have quipped about since the dawn of time. It is the jazz-like capacity to move through the vicissitudes of life, the deeper meaning behind Duke Ellington’s song, ‘It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.’ And it’s what I hope to master.

How does one respond to hatred with love? How does one, as the great Carl Jung once wrote “hold the tension of the opposites” and practice the art of relationship both with one’s self and with others, with neither aversion nor clinging, neither fantasizing nor catastrophizing, neither possessiveness nor antipathy. How does one become integrated in a culture that rewards the pursuit of power and victory over one’s ideological opponents, instead of love?

Equanimity: that’s what I’ll be exploring extensively in my new Substack. I hope you’ll join me along the way. If you’ve followed me on twitter, you already know that I’m interested in how we as human beings become fragmented, polarized, and deeply segregated —the opposite of equanimity. This manifests in so many ways, including in supremacy, which my start up, Theory of Enchantment, seeks to solve in a healthy and holistic way. 

And in my Substack, I’ll be writing about how we can heal and overcome those divides. 

I come to you not as one who has mastered this; In fact, as some of you may know, I’ve had lots of dogmas and preconceived ideas in the past that I actively try to see through. I’ll be practicing this new way of being for the rest of my life. It is a terribly difficult task because it requires that I be vulnerable, open, and honest with you about my shortcomings, imperfections, and flaws. But I want to train. I want to practice. I want to learn how to get better at the dance of life.

So, while I won’t be leaving Twitter, Twitter will no longer be my main squeeze. As you’ve probably noticed, Twitter isn’t exactly conducive to cultivating the most harmonious conversations so I’m going to focus most of my output elsewhere. I’ll be penning my thoughts on Substack, and I hope you’ll be inspired to join in on the conversation.

What you’ll receive

I’ll be posting little quips just like I did on Twitter at least once a week, as well as longer essays, podcasts episodes with guests, and smaller video segments called ‘Chloé’s Thoughts’ where I riff on some subject that was touched upon in the podcasts. 

Initially this will all be free but as my audience grows, I’ll start putting some content behind a paywalls. Paying subscribers will eventually get access to ad-free content plus other perks as well.

I’m excited to write this new chapter, and I hope you’ll join me. :)