Galina's Curiosity Gap: June Newness
From nature to sharing grief, my selection of things this month might surprise you
I never have a plan of how to ‘assemble’ things for my Newness posts. In fact, things or people collide in the most natural way in those monthly posts and I think it makes it particularly special. This month I spotlight some CBD products for the face from a German brand, a new haircare line from a French hairdresser, Finnish teas drawing on the vast richness of forestry, a face oil from a US-based brand that I have been meaning to try for a while and a book that is deeply, devastatingly sad, yet offers hope that grows out of the deepest crevices of despair.
Something to help remedy the soul” Books: Ben Goldsmith “God Is An Octopus”.
If you live in the UK, you probably read or heard the chilling news story about Iris Goldsmith that died in a freak accident while spending time on her father’s farm in Somerset. Iris was a daughter of two parents, who came from well-known families, Kate Rothschild and Ben Goldsmith. I remember reading the story and freezing on the spot, imagining the immeasurable pain her parents, family and friends must have experienced in that moment and had to learn to accept the loss of someone so young, vibrant and full of promise. A few weeks ago while browsing new books, as I do weekly at a local bookstore, my eyes fell on Ben’s book and my hands reached out for it.
“Perhaps our free will in this life really is far more limited than we believe it to be. Maybe we are no more than driftwood bobbing on some great ocean, doing our best but incapable of fathoming the meaning of it all. Maybe death isn’t what we think it is.”
To say that it is just a special book would be to do it injustice. I have never read a more grief-stricken and searingly honest book written by a father grieving a loss of a much-loved child. It’s painful and moving, tender and heartbreaking, reflective and even uplifting. British men are known for being laconic and stoic and in a way Ben ventured into unchartered water, writing with immense bravery, openness and sincerity about the grief and misfortune that he and his loved ones experienced after losing Iris so suddenly and in such horrible circumstances. It’s almost akin to a ‘Sliding Doors’ movie - how a minute or a fleeting circumstance can cause an irreparable damage that will haunt you forever.
Based on personal experience, I understand what hell Ben and his former wife must have gone through, but every parent’s situation in such circumstances is different. Some, not surprisingly, fall apart, unable to find & gather the inner strength to accept the loss of the most precious human being in their life. Some close off. Ben choose to process his feelings and by doing so publicly & by writing the book, he is also helping others in similar life circumstances, offering an opportunity to reflect and find strength by pulling at one’s inner reserve. There is an old saying that God doesn’t give you a task or a challenge that you aren’t able to handle. To lose a child is the most unnatural thing, as we aren’t supposed to outlive out children. How do you live, breathe, do things without them? Where do you find purpose or hope? Ben found it in nature and through its seasonality, he is changing things on his farm, helping rewild the land, learning from experts how to make nature thrive, rather than shrink and disappear in the UK.
I have never read a book like this and even though you will have to read it until the end in order to find out why Ben chose this title for his book, I hope you buy it and read it. Tragedy often gives us a chance to learn something that we wouldn’t have done otherwise. It also gives us an opportunity to change things for the better, to make peace with the card that life or god has dealt us with - and which you will never fully understand until your own last breath on planet earth.
“At times, I like to imagine that you and I work together on these things, that you are my invisible collaborator, somewhere across the chasm, brining me luck where I need it and colouring the sky pink and amber when I sit alone at the stone circle to think of you.”
Something for face & eye area: THIS PLACE face oil and eye gel
A brand founded by Laura Simonow is Berlin-based and focusses on pairing natural botanicals with the latest technological advances, including CBD. Products are created to help consumer to nurture itself in the privacy of home, applying products to face and body that can bring actual benefits, such as feeling calmer or less sore. As CBD is still viewed with suspicion and extraction and concentration regulation varies from country to country, a few of This Morning products are currently not being shipped to the UK due to regulation, but the products I will spotlight for you were shipped by Niche Beauty with no issues or problems. I will caution you from travelling with those products, unless you know the country’s requirements when it comes to product border control.
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