Table of contents for Issue 7 in Project Calm

1 Take time to notice the mountain along the way: it’s not just about getting to the top. Most of the mountain is below the summit! 2 Consider walking into the mountains with a problem in mind, or a feeling that you want to pay attention to, and hold this in your mind while you make your journey. 3 Start by noticing the thoughts and feelings in your body as you leave your transport behind, and continue to pay attention to them along the way. How do they change as you go? What do you notice in and around you? 4 At the highest place you reach, how does your body feel? What are your thoughts? Do you have a new perspective from here? 5 Take time to sit and rest quietly, become aware of…

When we write, we are speaking – silently and yet with potential power. The writer, sitting alone at a desk, has the universe at the tip of her pen. Through writing, we can transport ourselves and others to the very stars. Using mindfulness in writing provides the opportunity of accessing a deep well of creative awareness. Our whole lives can benefit from this as we begin to experience the joy of written expression through our own creative voice. We know the world we live in through our five physical senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell. They are our direct line to the universe. By referring to the physical senses, we can allow the reader to enter and understand the world we are creating with our writing. How do you feel…

How does nature inspire your work? For me nature is the primary source of inspiration for everything. We all feel relaxed when we take a walk in the forest under the trees or on the sand of the beach. That´s because we connect with something special, our roots, our origin. How do you create a calm working environment? I am lucky I live next to the mountains, so I like to work with the windows open, so I can feel the breeze and smell the trees. Music helps me a lot too. I love John Williams soundtracks, Mike Oldfield, Deva Premal… I also have plants inside the house. They help create a natural space. And I try to be organised and keep things clean. I moved to a new house…

By bike, on foot, by boat… however you do it, exploring new places is a joy. This issue we succumb to cities’ charms and find calm amidst a cacophony, losing ourselves in distinct districts and finding fresh ways to observe life at its most active. Read our tips for mindful living in the metropolis, then pick up a novel based in the very streets you’re headed for. With a camera in hand, you’ll notice the finer details, have an excuse to stop and people-watch, and be inspired to share all you discover in a creative way.…

1 CONCERT HALL, REYKJAVIK Reykjavik’s Harpa concert hall is structured as a tilted cliff face, its walls have been built with multiple hexagonal glass tubes, studded with coloured and mirrored panes, as well as a mirrored ceiling. Inspired by Iceland’s volcanic geology, it has been designed to filter, refract and fragment the light. 2 PUBLIC LIBRARY, NEW YORK Public libraries can be similarly commanding architectural monuments, with the added benefit that they are also quiet oases. New York Public Library is a majestic landmark combining hand-carved classical details, vast reading rooms and one of the largest un-columned interior spaces in the world. 3 LIBRARY, COPENHAGEN Copenhagen’s Black Diamond library floats on a raised ribbon of glass that offers panoramic views of the surrounding waterfront. Inside the atrium are wave-like balconies…

How does one go about finding a penpal these days? We were happy to find not one, but two great options for boldly putting pen to paper. When was the last time you wrote a letter by hand? Using a beautiful pen and constructing a narrative, full of considerate questions and heartfelt observations? In the internet age, we fire off emails, texts and messages without a second thought. Often short (and not always sweet), it’s all about the convenience rather than the care. This made us wonder – how does one go about finding a penpal these days? We were happy to find not one, but two great options. The International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club (geekgirlpenpals.com) is as nostalgic as letter-writing comes. Harking back to our childhoods, this online…

Reading Betty Smith’s classic, ‘coming-of-age’ story before my second trip to New York City gave me a different insight to the ‘bright lights, big city’ version of The Big Apple I had encountered the first time. After hitting all the tourist stops on my first trip, I fell in love with the city, but longed for something more from it; I craved to know its past, its life before the bright lights, and the people who made it the place it is today. I yearned to go outside the metropolis into its gritty suburbs, to see life beyond bustling Times Square – which is how I entered Betty Smith’s world in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Growing up there herself, Smith explains that Brooklyn was “like a small town that New Yorkers were…

If your favourite thing about your home is those you share it with, you may very well be a cat person. We focus on furry felines this issue, our affinity with animals and the studies proving the positive affect they have on our lives. There’s positivity in play too, and creating our own worlds in which to lose ourselves is a calming endeavour. Artist and author Sam McKechnie shares the magic to be found in a doll’s house, and we reminisce about the imaginary friends of our childhoods.…

You will need: newspaper, plain newsprint, tissue paper in two colours, sharp scissors, Mod Podge (or PVA glue – Mod Podge gives a nicer finish but it’s harder to get off clothes and carpets!), masking tape, small stiff paintbrush, black fineliner pen, metallic or gel pens (optional). 1. First make the core shapes for your cat. Scrunch a sheet or two of newspaper really firmly to make a flattened oval shape for the body, securing tightly with masking tape, then fold a rough pyramid for the head. Tape the head and body together. Use scissors to make a small hole in the cat’s bottom (sorry, cat!) and poke in a length of florists’ wire for the tail. (This is also how you add legs if you want to.) 2. Tear…

Our winter-day meeting is as warm as the day is cold. Coming in out of the biting, grey London air and heading down steps to a cellar cafe, Sam McKechnie greets me and we’re instantly old friends, already chatting as we find a seat and get cosy. To set the scene, it is not lost on us as the coffee is served in giant bowl-like cups (for this is a French restaurant) and the trains clatter above floorboards overhead that we are very much like Borrowers. Sam’s new book, Miss Voilet’s Doll’s House, and the fascination she has with a world in miniature is the subject of our interview, though of course we go off on many tangents. The first is that we quickly discover we both grew up in…

Old wisdoms we still follow: walking it off, climbing up high to find perspective, taking a break to get some fresh air. Physical, practical ways to look after ourselves in body and mind by stepping outside. This issue we focus on the insights you can gain from both a wider view and a closer look… the grand and the minute. From mountain tops to the tiniest seeds, nature has much to impart on a symbolic level. We show you how to embrace the cycles of life by noticing and recording the flora around you.…

William Keble Martin was born in 1877 in Oxfordshire, attended Christ Church Oxford in the 1890s, where he studied Greek Philosophy and Botany, was ordained at Cuddeston Theological College and served as an army chaplain in France during the First World War. In 1921 he became the vicar of Coffinswell in Devon, which is where he began work on his magnum opus: making 1,400 intricate watercolours of the wildflower species of Britain for a botanical reference book. This painstaking task took him 45 years, more than half of his life, and The Concise British Flora in Colour was published in 1965, to great acclaim. He died in 1969. One of the reasons Keble Martin’s book was so successful is that the individual floral paintings on the plates in this book are…

As time capsules of life, seeds are precious parcels of hope and promise. They are the most complex organs plants ever produce, appearing in a huge range of shapes, sizes and colours, including the giant double coconut of the coco de mer, the microscopic seeds of orchids, and the vivid cobalt-blue seed arils of the Traveller’s Palm. Seed-bearing plants occur all around the world, and include the flowering plants (the angiosperms), and conifers, cycads, the ginkgo and gnetophytes (the gymnosperms). Alongside their vital role as the genetic ‘package’ of the next generation, seeds have sustained life for as long as insects, birds and animals have been on Earth. In their desiccated or dormant state, seeds are eminently transportable and enable humans to survive in some of the most inhospitable climates…

Just as a fresh view in nature helps with our perspective, so too does a new approach to writing and movement. This issue we go on a literary journey and challenge the concept of the solitary writer. What happens when you add another wordsmith to the mix? How can your ideas be improved through collaboration? We also look to others in the field of yoga. What can deepening your practice with dedicated teachers do for you? Jot down your new insights on our pull-out poster and give your lightbulb moments the importance they deserve.…

This special contest is open for submissions on Wednesday 21 February. Go to adhocfiction.com and write your (up to) 150-word fictional story on the user-friendly page – it has the functions of a mini word processor and will also count your words for you. The only stipulation is that your fiction will need to contain the word ‘spring’. Submit your story by midnight, 27 February. WRITING TIPS You don’t have to use the seasonal meaning of ‘spring’, you might instead choose to write a story about spring as a source of a river or spring as a coil of wire, or a leap into action. There are many different meanings of the word. Make sure your micro fiction is not just a vignette but a little story, includes interesting details…

1 IMPROVE YOUR SWIMMING School swimming lessons may exist to keep you from drowning but what if you’d like to perfect your front crawl, swim smoother, faster and further with more confidence? This two-day swim clinic at Watergate Bay may not result in a badge to stitch onto your towel but it will enable you to connect with the water and swim further and faster with less effort. And what better place to learn than this iconic pool overlooking the sea in one of Cornwall’s top hotels? Locals can enjoy breakfast at the hotel before the course begins, or stay at the hotel for a weekend of lessons by day and award-winning dinners each evening. 13-15 March, from £310 per person based on two people attending Swim Clinic and sharing…

I work from my studio in central Bristol and I share the space with four other illustrators so there’s always someone to bounce ideas off. I start the day with a big cup of coffee at my desk, then I find a podcast to listen to while I work – I’m a big fan of This American Life but I also listen to audio books. I like that gentle background noise. I take a lot of photos while I’m wandering around the city, especially if I see an unusual building or interesting shop front; I like to use typography in my work so things like shop signs and packaging are a big influence. I also collect things – picture books, old advertising pencils, figurines, postcards, erasers… and I find that…

Sweeping vistas from St. Mark’s Square, charming gondolas, narrow waterways, and romantic bliss. This is how I envisioned Venice – dreamy and alluring – yet I remained hesitant to go somewhere that attracted so many. Despite all its clichés, I booked a trip in November, hoping to experience a truer, if slightly more melancholy city that was devoid of tourists and effortlessly enthralling in its potentially flooded labyrinth of tiny streets. Once more, I was itching to go beyond the surface of stereotype and delve further into Venice’s mysterious aura. My chosen literary guide to explore was the novel Miss Garnet’s Angel by Sally Vickers. A quiet, gentle, meditative kind of story, it had all the elements of book travel I wanted; infused with mysticism and wonder, it focuses on…

Create your own sanctuary and warm your soul with inspiring workshops, podcasts, crafts and beautiful homewares. 1 CREATE A SANCTUARY When your home is a feeling and not a place, comfort, safety, acceptance and belonging are always available to you. Join Sas Petherick, a coach who helps women transcend self-doubt, for Write Yourself Home. During this day of self-reflection, conversation and connection, learn how to create a sense of sanctuary within you in this one-day workshop in Somerset. The result? Feel better equipped at carrying this new sense into your life, work and relationships. Can’t make the workshop but want to learn more from Sas? Listen to her podcast, Courage and Spice. Saturday 19 May, North Somerset, £199. saspetherick.com 2 GLASS HALF FULL & BEAUTIFUL Terrarium lovers, look this way!…

We have included two sheets to make a variety of folded paper buildings and houses in various sizes and with different styled windows, doors and coloured roofs. You can keep your houses as beautifully minimal as they are, or add your own touches with colour, drawings or collage materials. When your buildings are all neatly folded and formed, have fun arranging them into a miniature tableau – will yours be a silent cityscape, bustling town, or peaceful village? If you wish, incorporate model figures, animals, or kitsch curios to create a dreamlike effect, or hunt for twigs and finds from nature to bring the natural world into your fairytale paper kingdom. If you want to make more houses, copy the sheets. You could even enlarge the buildings on a photocopier…

“I have been fascinated by doll’s houses since childhood,” says Sam McKechnie. “Building a home from boxes can be equally as satisfying as being given a glamorous ready-made house, so do not be put off by budget or skill. See the beauty in the mundane, opening your eyes, say, to a fallen piece of foil upon the ground – voilà – a mirror for your doll’s house! A bobbin? A stool for your doll’s table! Bottle caps make wonderful dishes… I could go on and on…” A CLEAN SWEEP A broom is for life, not just for Halloween. Make our dinky version (witch optional) and keep your miniature home spick and span… Home is where the heart is. It’s simple to begin your own doll’s house – just think small…

My most recent house move felt like a disaster. What appeared to be a sweet little cottage in a lovely part of London turned out to be directly under a Heathrow flight path. Add to that the noisy main road I hadn’t noticed, the construction work behind the house and door-banging neighbours. The first few weeks were brutal. I couldn’t sleep, was riddled with anxiety and started dreading being in the house – not ideal when you work from home. And then, in a flash of insight one afternoon, I sat down in front of my trunk of notebooks and opened the journal from my last house move. I discovered I’d been just as anxious back then, too. My past self gave me clues on how to improve my situation.…

Take a new page in your journal and riff on any of the following prompts for five to ten minutes. Don’t worry about punctuation or spelling – just let the words flow. Keep writing until you feel you’re done and you’ve got all your thoughts out on the page. What am I making this mean? How is this person’s behaviour reflecting something within me? What would it be like to be in their shoes? What feelings am I avoiding? Will this matter in a year’s time? Will this matter in five years’ time?…

1 WINTER MAGIC FOR INSTAGRAM If the long, cold months are getting you down, you need a crash course in seeing the beauty of darkness. As luck would have it, a course teaching just this is available in the form of Gloom & Grow. The latest online course from Sara Tasker of Me & Orla invites you to spend four weeks celebrating winter and getting out and being creative, no matter what the weather. Sara believes that the best time to be on Instagram is in the winter months as people are online more, opening up more opportunities to connect and more opportunities for broadening your creativity. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. Gloom & Grow, £110. meandorla.co.uk 2 WOODLAND ADVENTURES If you’ve always dreamed of building fires,…

Have you always felt very connected to nature? Certainly as I child I used to collect leaves and flowers, keep stick insects and I loved being outdoors, clambering around castles and woods, or my parents’ allotment. As an adult, I’ve nurtured this connection by moving to one of the greenest pockets of the city. What do you do to stay inspired? I share a studio with around 30 other creatives, so I only have to do a circuit of the room before I’m pumped full of ideas and inspiration! But aside from my immediate surroundings, I love to explore new places, and I’m fond of a snoop around a good bookshop. Which section do you make a beeline for? Straight to fiction to marvel at all the beautiful covers! If…

1 PLAN A WEEKEND RETREAT AT HOME Welcome to a wellbeing retreat with a difference. Instead of escaping to some rural hideaway, State of Liberty invites you to enjoy a weekend retreat in your own home. Incorporating six key elements – yoga, food, meditation, mindfulness, pampering and sleep – retreats take place over the course of an appointed weekend, each stage of the retreat being made available to members at set times so everyone experiences each element together. Connect with fellow participants via a dedicated online forum and enjoy tailored food and pamper boxes designed to complement the digital content, which includes a membership site for support and expert advice on how to integrate all the wellbeing practices into your daily life. Weekend retreat from £300. Keep an eye on…

A photo challenge is set by you or another, with the aim to develop your photography skills, gain a new perspective and engage with others. Since Instagram exploded in the social media sphere, and before that on sites such as Flickr, online groups have encouraged photographic endeavours on pa themes. They could have you on a rambling walk on the moors, creating a garland of leaves, or styling a cup of coffee in a peaceful nook within a bustling city. A moment shared online can open up your world, with connection and discovery at your fingertips. “I love how photo challenges encourage us to appreciate the small things, to live more mindfully in the moment,” enthuses Instagram expert, business coach and writer, Sara Tasker of @me_and_orla. “They can spark new…

“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.”ROALD DAHL, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Sometimes the most unexpected moments are the best ones. Travelling somewhere new, it doesn’t always go to plan. We create an itinerary, a ‘mustsee’ list, all in effort to tick that box, but how often do we really go outside our comfort zone and explore beyond the surface? We’ve all read books set in exotic destinations that make us want to pack our bags and go there at once. And while most of us read books on holiday, there are ways we can take ‘armchair’ travel to a new level. With a little research and pre-planning you can have a more…

Visual storytelling should give us a sense of longing; of wanting to be transported to the place we’re viewing, of wanting to know more. Every story needs a beginning, middle and end. From the moment your trip begins, photograph something that signifies the start of your journey, such as a passport stamp, flight displayed at the airport, or special items you’ve packed. The middle is where you can share different perspectives and try different compositions in the place you’re exploring. Here are some tips: • Let a moment unfold. Just watch and observe moments, whether it’s people interacting, a bird on a tree, or the sun setting. • Choose a theme. Try to make your photos flow with a connecting element (for example, the patron beast of Venice is the…