First, it’s my birthday today (61 – wow!) and I’m using the occasion to announce a new Kind Living project based on one of my all-time favorites.

Over 81 consecutive weeks, beginning in 2018 and ending in 2020, I adapted the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching into kindness verses, one each week, as part of a personal meditation practice. The idea of this project was to consider the ancient wisdom of the Tao through the lens of 21st-century kindness. Find the verses archived here.

In 2024, I discovered Suno, the AI music generator that allows people to make their own music using prompts, including putting their own lyrics to music. I’ve found this to be a tremendously satisfying thing to do and I’m joyfully adapting all 81 of my verses into pop songs.

The one embedded above, “Slow Down (At One With the Divine),” was inspired by Verse 13 of the Tao Te Ching. It’s included in the first of five albums I’ll be making available over the next several months, ultimately having all 81 verses adapted in readily-available pop songs. You’ll be able to find them on pretty much all the usual music streaming services and as free downloads on Bandcamp (links below).

I’ve named the “band” Motte Rouge as a tribute to the city of Nantes, France, where my family lived in 2010-11. This is a specific tribute to Line 2 of the city’s tramway, Motte Rouge being one of the tram stops. Learn more via this blog post I wrote on October 15, 2010.

STREAM:
Apple Music || Amazon Music || Spotify

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE:
Bandcamp

SUPPORT KIND LIVING:
Buy Me a Coffee || Patreon || PayPal