February Update

Dear Readers,

It’s been a while since my last update. For newcomers, I like to offer updates on my activities every couple of months with a mid-week email, so as not to interfere with the stories and articles I send you at the weekends.

The move to Substack

It seems hard to believe that it’s nearly a year since I decided to move this newsletter to Substack. Last year around this time I was mulling over a whole variety of things: the wish to deploy my enthusiasm for writing about Buddhism and nature in a way that had nothing to do with Amazon. The wish to create something that matters – in particular, to support Buddhist charities in the Himalayas and animal rescue charities in my homeland of Zimbabwe who do so much with so very little. And the wish to draw together some kind of community of kindred spirits among readers around the world – we may live in many different countries but, in the most important ways, we share the same values, the same wisdom, the same yearning for transcendence.

I embarked on the Substack adventure without quite knowing how it would unfold. Having just written a short book on meditation from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective, I thought that readers would find the contents useful – in fact, articles based on the book turned out to be the least popular of all! By contrast, among the most popular were HHC’s mouse-size musings which I hadn’t even thought of when I started out.

I have really enjoyed writing some of the shorter pieces, which I would never otherwise have had the opportunity to do. I am always striving to point, using concepts, towards experiences that are non-conceptual. Trying to find the words that reveal how reality is our own creation – a subject with the most extraordinary implications for each one of us. I have deeply appreciated your supportive messages and encouragement, knowing that we are on this same journey together.

With trial and error, and thanks also to the reader survey many of you kindly completed, I feel we’re getting into a rhythm of different types and lengths of material that works for different people. No doubt there will be more shifts and changes in the future, but I feel we’ve arrived at a more resolved offering, with plenty of input from His Holiness’s Cat!

Turning to that especially rewarding part - donating money - in the first year we will have given away around $25,000 to charities. This is a large percentage of the money I receive in subscriptions and has been much appreciated as you know from my previous updates. I would really like to do more to make a meaningful difference. Our job may not be to fix the world, but if, with a little self-sacrifice and effort we can make a massively disproportionate difference to others – and in so doing, generate extraordinary merit – why wouldn’t we?

In the coming months I will do more to promote this newsletter via social media and other channels. So if you see articles popping up in your Facebook or Instagram feed, that’s what’s happening. And if you’d like to help get the word out by sharing posts, or gift referrals, I would sincerely appreciate it. As would all those whom we financially support.

If you know anyone who may be interested in joining our community, the best page to refer them to is the ‘About’ page for this newsletter, which you will find here.

New Dalai Lama’s Cat book later this year

I’m delighted to tell you that a new Dalai Lama’s Cat book will be published late this year, probably around October or November. I will reveal more about the title and cover in the next week or two!

My paying subscribers have been reading the chapters as stand-alone stories on Substack, so the content will not be completely new to you – although I will be including some fresh material. I have approached this book in the style of Charles Dickens, whose novels were first published in a serialised format in newspapers.  He used to adapt themes and characters according to feedback as the storylines evolved. Then he’d gather the chapters, edit them, and publish a novel.

I will be offering all my paying subscribers a free copy of the new Dalai Lama’s Cat book in PDF/ebook format when it is launched, by way of a heartfelt thank you for supporting its development. Stay tuned!

Visit to USA – May 2024?

It’s been an embarrassingly long time since my wife and I last visited USA. So we’re considering a visit to the East and West coasts in May 2024. While this will be mainly a personal trip, if any of you, my readers, happen to know a bookstore that supports my work and arranges author visits, or a similar opportunity to gather, please let me know. I am eager to see how things may unfold.

Mindful Safaris – August 2023

In the meantime, both our Mindful Safaris to Africa this year are booked out – except for one room on our Mindful Safari to Victoria Falls starting on Saturday 5th August. To join us, find out more at: https://davidmichie.com/mindful-safari/  

Twala Trust – Outreach sponsorship

Photo: With Sarah Carter, Founder of Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary in Zimbabwe

Continuing our support of Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary, we have recently agreed to support an outreach program which Twala runs in the surrounding Goromonzi rural area of Zimbabwe – one of the poorest parts of the world.

$300 a month makes it possible for Twala’s veterinary nurse and animal handlers to go into the community using a very battered and ancient Nissan pick-up truck, with basic vet medications and a variety of animal feeds. Their job is not only to treat and feed animals who need it, but also to bring in those animals requiring more intensive treatment or surgery.

They also educate the local people not to persecute and kill owls, genets and other native animals needed to keep the rodent population in check. And they play an important role in animal rescue, and even fire-fighting, because they have a water tank on the back of the pick-up. If this all sounds desperately vulnerable, that’s because it is. But it is better than nothing, and no hope at all.

Twala will let us have updates on their activities during the year.

Instant Karma: The day it happened

Thanks to everyone who supported the launch of my new book late last year. I’m thrilled by some of the reviews it’s been getting – if you are one of my reviewers or raters, my sincere thanks! Every single recommendation and positive rating really does help get the word out.

My wonderful literary agent, Monica Meehan, shared with me the cover of the Portuguese version of the book which I think looks terrific – I wanted to show it to you too:

If you haven’t yet bought a copy of Instant Karma, you can get it in hardback, paperback, e-format or audio - at the following links: USA, UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, France, Italy.

If you prefer Apple, Nook, Kobo or other e-format alternatives, please click here.

Booksellers and other retailers can get copies directly from Ingram Content Group here.

See you at the weekend!

I am looking forward to sharing a new, chapter-length story by the Dalai Lama’s Cat this coming weekend. I hope you’re able to find somewhere snug and cosy – or cool, depending which hemisphere you live in – to enjoy HHC’s forthcoming foray which takes us to The Downward Dog School of Yoga!

Warmest wishes to each and every one of you,

David