Christin's Behind-the-Scenes Sunday 🎥

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Dear Ones,

Happy Halloween! 🎃 I’m in Chicago visiting some dear friends, where I get to practice my STRONG Konmari tendencies. It’s THE BEST. Let me know if you know anyone who wants help with organizing their physical stuff.

There might have been a slight packing paper pile avalanche

3 Updates:

This week was peppered with updates for my tea company, honeyritual. We revamped our website and are now available on Amazon with free prime shipping. My one ask, if you are interested in stocking up for the holidays, is to purchase from Amazon and leave us a review. Turns out, Amazon’s search algorithm is tuned heavily towards 5-star ratings and without them, we aren’t even discoverable when you search for honeyritual tea by name. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Help us out of this search algorithm black hole and we’ll be forever grateful!

I’m now enrolled in The Writer’s Studio with Michael Dean, a continuation/supplement of the Write of Passage program. Here are my live notesif you’d like to learn more about what we’re learning. This class helps to clarify my thinking about the cohort-based course (CBC) that I’m building with my co-founder Christine. We are submitting our applications to Maven’s Course Accelerator program, and it’s something we’ve been thinking about since we attended an Esalen retreat together earlier in the year. The current thinking is a curated blend of “[Best of” Write of Passage/Build-A-Second-Brain] x [Buddhist teachings with neuroscience] x [Stanford’s Interpersonal Dynamics program]. Together, we would like to create a supportive framework and community for cultivating rich inner/outer worlds. What do you think? Let me know by replying to this email!

Lastly, I had a “senpai noticed me” moment with my drawtober artwork today. Received a reply from Peter, one of my favorite artists of all time:

Christin Chong, PhD @ChristintweetsHere’s your #peachtober21 #drawtober2021 granddrawing @PeterDraws1! The Peter Pen with Noodler’s bulletproof black and Nebula Colorverse notebook = perfect combo @goldspotpens 7:59 PM ∙ Oct 31, 2021

3 Bullets of Vulnerability:

This week I attended a small Insight Meditation Center group gathering led by Maria Straatmann. I shared that I have been feeling this burst of creative energy lately (like the “good” parts of grad school—that buzz of intellectual stimulation.) But these highs also feel like they push me from my reference point of inner stillness and peace. And the greater issue is that I feel extra self-conscious—if I’m someone who’s trying to teach mindfulness/Buddhism stuff, it’s pretty obvious that I don’t come across as a Super Zen person!

I think I shared this because Maria is quite a high-energy person and quite different from Gil Fronsdal as a teacher, and she said that she was concerned if I was trying to “suppress” my energy to fit a preconceived notion. Instead she advised that I can let creative energy be what it is, and when it is released, that is when one can find the stillness.

I really liked that answer and got me thinking about the diversity of personalities represented in the Buddhist suttas. (…And this is where I went down the rabbit hole of research, but I could not find this story again for the life of me. It’s something about a monk who behaved like a monkey and jumped about as he walked, and the other monks were making fun of him and complained to the Buddha for being not “monk-like.” Then the Buddha admonished the monks for criticizing him because turns out, the monk was indeed previously a monkey but is enlightened anyway…I will share this story once I find the source!)

Warm Wishes,

Christin

P.S. I’m switching from Substack to Revue for this newsletter soon, so please excuse the dust as I migrate us over. 🧹