Introducing Tuning Fork!

Daily meditations for gratitude and connection

Product launch

INTRODUCING TUNING FORK!

Daily meditations for gratitude and connection

Chloé Valdary

How often do you automatically compare and contrast yourself to others, without even thinking about it? How many seconds, minutes, hours of this thought pattern fills your whole day?

How often are you fixated on whether or not you’re winning or losing? How often are you worried about whether you’re being praised for something or blamed for something? How often are your thoughts filled with negative self-judgement? And  when's the last time you felt present, and genuine gratitude just for being alive?

In Sanskrit, negative mental states are called  “kleshas.” Kleshas cloud the mind, cause suffering, and stop us from being present. In his epic essay The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin wrote that the inability to be present was the source of so many of our relational problems in America. He labeled this presence of mind “sensuality,” and wrote that, “to be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the breaking of bread.”

I have always been drawn to the way that both Western and Eastern wisdom traditions teach this, especially since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many of the Civil Rights Movement leaders were deeply inspired by Protestant Christianity and Buddhism. That combination made the Civil Rights Movement one of the most successful protest movements in world history. This is because protestors internalized teachings that taught them to embody unconditional love, let go of resentment, and overcome their ego’s tendency to perpetuate a feeling of separation between themselves and their fellow human—even if their fellow human hated them. 

Tuning Fork, the latest product from Theory of Enchantment aims to teach the same. It’s a simple product that provides you with daily 90 second meditations that teach you to be mindful of your negative thoughts, return to the present moment, and give thanks. And it does all this on a digital platform that provides community for less than $5 a month.

At a time when we are being bombarded with divisive, polarized content that feeds off separation, we have to work overtime to guard our hearts from becoming callous, cruel, and filled with despair. This is especially true now with war in the Middle East, civil unrest at home, and a looming election cycle with candidates who will likely adopt a campaign strategy of divide and conquer.

It sounds perhaps too simple, but we can protect ourselves against this by learning to express gratitude every day for the fullness of life and by doing so in community. This isn’t something that comes easy to us without practice. We take so much for granted. I know I do. But if we are reminded daily to do this, we can become free. 

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Chloé Valdary is the founder of Theory of Enchantment, “an antiracism program that actually fights bigotry instead of spreading it,” and its new initiative, Tuning Fork. She hosts The Heart Speaks podcast (available on all platforms) and writes a Substack newsletter. Her writings for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other outlets are available on her website. She wrote “Israelis, Palestinians, and the Search for Home” for JFBT in January of this year and appeared on the FBT Podcast earlier this month. Follow her on Instagram and X/Twitter.