CelebHomes: While promoting your latest book, you talked a lot about kindness and wanting to put something out into the world that was a break from the noise. How do you keep centered and calm?
NO:The term “restorative behaviors” is a word that makes me chuckle at self-deprecation. It brings back images of my idealized paragons, such as calm, steady success and centeredness. Eckhart Tolle, Ava DuVernay, Elrond, Robin Wall KimmererCharlotte, the spider Rebecca Solnit, David ByrneAnd such. Then, in that terrific and unrelenting way we humans constantly judge ourselves, I am immediately reminded of all the ways in which I’m not living “like them,” or adhering to my most “holistic” life. To maintain my calm, I take deep, steady inhalations and remember that drinking sweet, rich draughts is a great habit. Ha-HA! Marie Kondo, get it!
Let me answer your question more specific. I strive to be responsible for the happenings of people around the world. This means paying sufficient attention to current affairs so that you are aware of what’s going on, but not becoming emotionally involved or practical. I believe that I cannot do much in an echo chamber, regardless of how loudly I try to be on social media. Instead I try to learn from writers, comedians and authors I’m following, and then I use that intelligence to make my content sausage.