#14 This Caregiver's July Watchlist: "Small soulful moments and oases of calm."
Music and documentaries to replenish the soul.
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This article is part of the “Care for the Carer” section in the Carer Mentor Website — less about the caregiving, more about the needs of the person who’s doing the caring.
Small soulful moments and oases of calm
Dear friends, caregivers and anyone who needs a small oasis of calm….I see you.
Summer isn’t the same for everyone.
Some people are excitedly preparing for their holiday with family/friends, checking passports and coordinating a fabulous new look for cocktails by the pool. Yup, I have twinges of envy. I’m only human! ;-)
I’ve nostalgically scrolled through floaty maxi dresses online and conjured up memories of cocktails by the pool, a glass of rosé in hand. I remember al fresco dinners with friends… the glow from candles (or was that my sunburn!), the laughs, and all the great food and wine. I don’t miss ballooning into bumps, as the sacrificial mosquito fodder for the evening, but I do miss the magical hum of cicadas. I have beautiful memories. Blessings - the memories and the friends.
Despite the nostalgia-fueled envy, my heart lifts when I see friends’ photos taken at airports and on planes. I can imagine the kinds of memories they’ll be curating. New adventures for the kids. Seeing others enjoying themselves makes me smile. So I ask for photos and urge them not to censor their excitement or news!
It’s just that Summer isn’t ‘a break’ for everyone.
People who are caring for family members, whether they call themselves ‘carers’ or not, experience a different kind of season. They’re navigating disruptions to familiar care routines, such as coordinating care around kids being out of school or paid carers going on holiday. Familiar faces may be replaced by substitute support, creating angst with dementia sufferers. ‘Sundowning’ behaviours can be more acute in Summer. I remember the heat and angst, and it wasn’t all due to the weather. Not everyone is relaxing or able to explore new creative pursuits.
For me, caring for my mother and continuing my mentoring business have meant a continuous flow of events and appointments since January; small crescendos, with flurries of activity. So, I’m relieved that I’ve had this backbone of music to lean on:
Each year, I update a few playlists to stabilise, soothe or shift my mood during the year ahead.
Over the course of the year, I curate other playlists with new discoveries and motivators.
But these are the songs or classical pieces that serve as vertebrae, keeping me upright or moving. These make me feel more centred, and enable my head, heart and gut to align again.
My head-heart-gut alignment feels solid when I can have small moments of soulful respite. I recently made a new playlist to create an oasis of calm in my day. This isn’t about energising my mind or exercising. It’s not for soothing hurt or sadness.
This music is for releasing pent-up tension, exhaling, and letting the soulful blues out.
My new playlist SoulFull May 2026. You can find 10 playlists via my vcinspire profile
The opening bars of Quédate Conmigo give me an exhale now. I highly recommend listening carefully to the poetic lyrics of “You Lost Me Forever.” Powerful reframes about a relationship ending.
You’ll find a lot of Olivia Dean’s songs and a few old faves by Sade.
In the quiet moments, sometimes I seek out short talks. Here are two short docufilms — wise reframes about life and living.
May 26, 2026 This Artist Says Ambition Is a Trap (10 minutes)
Portraits of Another Life is a documentary series about artists, makers, and people who have chosen lives shaped by craft, discipline, and meaning.
Directed and Shot by Emil Lozada, Edited by Brittany Hammer and Emil Lozada, Produced by Arnelle Lozada
In this short documentary, Jennifer Owen, a Maui potter and ceramics teacher, reflects on a lifetime of pottery, teaching, and living close to nature in Hawaii.
This is a film about pottery, but it is also about the quiet politics of enough. It asks what happens when an artist refuses to let the market become the measure of the work. It asks what a creative life can look like when it is rooted in attention instead of achievement. Maybe this is what success has looked like all along, before we were taught to confuse it with applause.
96 Years of WISDOM: The 3 Lessons That Will Make You Feel Awe
Featuring Dot Fisher-Smith. Filmed in Ashland, Oregon, USA. August 10 2024 (12 minutes)
Awe isn’t only for extraordinary moments—you can find it in everyday life: a starry sky, a powerful sculpture, or music that moves you. With a little intention, we can seek out wonder and remember we’re part of something bigger—an extraordinary response to the ordinary. Thank you, Dot.
“People ask, what’s the secret of longevity? What’s the secret? There’s got to be one thing that if I just do that everything will be ok? And it’s go slow, for me.
[She sings} Go slow then you’ll know,
where to seek the truth
when to speak your truth from your heart.
Go slow
then you’ll know that the only way
to enjoy this day is
right now.”
Plumes Musical Moments with Animals
Singing for Animals Compilation You’ve probably seen his videos, if not take a few moments to watch the animals react to his music
Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Viktor E. Frankl
Other ComfortZone Watchlists
Care to share a moment, when you’ve created space for a deep exhale?
How do you curate moments of respite within your day; your oases of calm?
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