Beautiful Things, Art, Travel, and Poetry

Hello friends and welcome back to Life Reimagined, a free weekly elixir designed to make you feel good and live better.

I took a month off from writing the newsletter to refill my creative well in Europe. It was a wonderful trip that involved chasing waves in France and Spain, exploring the art and cuisine of Basque country, and walking the beautiful terrain of the English Lakes District with poet David Whyte and 30 others.

I’m back and excited to start sharing again every Sunday.

📖 I. Tiny Beautiful Things

I recently finished reading Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed.

It’s a beautiful collection of essays that discuss everything from what to do when a lover cheats on you, to how to navigate the death of a parent, to making it through life when you don’t know if you’ll be able to pay the bills.

If you’re looking for a broad, non-prescriptive self-help book, this is a good one for dipping your toes into the murky waters of how to think about the problems that many of us face in adulthood.

🌊 II. Places to Add to Your Bucket List

I recently visited a few places that may find a home on your bucket list.

Biarritz and Hossegor, France: Situated in the south of France on the west coast, these two towns feature good food and wine, lovely beaches, and world-class surfing. I’d recommend learning a little French before you go.

San Sebastian, Spain: This is a beach town + small city in northern Spain. It has an unusually vibrant food scene with many Michelin Star restaurants and tapas-style bars that serve creative dishes alongside local wines and ciders. The neighboring towns of Zarautz and Bilbao are also worth visiting.

English Lakes District, United Kingdom: Six hours north of London, this region has one of the most unexpectedly beautiful landscapes I’ve encountered. You can hike, spend time in lakes, and get to know the land that inspired many of the great poets like Wordsworth.

🖼️ III. Art I’m Enjoying

I discovered Anselm Kiefer’s The Renowned Orders of the Night at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. I encountered the painting at the tail end of a two-week solo surf trip in France and Spain during which I had a lot of time to noodle on life.

The painting reminded me of all of the deeply contemplative moments of life and how they have been some confusing combination of excruciating loneliness, profound connectivity, and memorable transformation.

Here’s the description of the inspiration behind the painting from the Guggenheim website:

“In 1995 Kiefer began to reincorporate the human figure into his work. Several pieces made between 1995 and 1996 show him lying on the floor as if he were a corpse. Similarly, in The Renowned Orders of the Night (Die berühmten Orden der Nacht, 1997), Kiefer portrayed himself as a lonely figure lying on dry, cracked ground beneath the immense mantle of the stars. Kiefer is fascinated by the night sky and its different interpretations throughout history, particularly those describing it as a divine, mysterious kingdom recalling our origins and fate. Spirituality, observes the artist, consists of "connecting with an older knowledge and trying to find continuity in the reasons why we search for heaven. The sky is an idea, a part of . . . an older knowledge. Heaven is an idea, a piece of ancient internal Knowledge. It is not a physical construction."

🧠 IV. Something I’m Thinking About

In your attempt to close the gap between where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow, can you stop and experience a moment or two of stillness with the wisdom of knowing that you are already enough?

That's all for now. See you next Sunday.

— Cal

🌎️ Three other things you might enjoy

1. Doing Time Right: Everyone wants to get more done in less time. This course will show you exactly how to do that with the eliminate, automate, delegate, and iterate framework.

2. Foundations. Looking for good books to read? Check out Foundations, a growing digital notebook with notes & lessons from 100+ timeless books.

3. Listen to the Podcast: Feel like school didn't prepare you for adulthood? The Sh*t You Don't Learn in School podcast exists to help make up for this societal failure.