Chelom: Lewis Capaldi

Since you all know about our dream of restoring a castle, I might as well share another dream. I dream of Lewis Capaldi coming to the castle to do a benefit concert for mental health.

Here’s why:

I was driving home from the university a few years ago and a song was playing. These words caught my attention, “Now the day bleeds into nightfall . . .” The emotion of that phrase stills touches me every time I hear Lewis Capaldi sing it. Since then, I’ve become such a Lewis Capaldi fan. His music, in particular his lyrics, ooze with emotion.

Any of my former students can tell you, I teach emotion. Emotion is a big part of being human. Emotion creates connection. Tapping into emotion like Lewis does (I hope it’s ok we’re on a first name basis, Lewis 😊) is a gift that Lewis is giving to the world. Lewis is also beautifully vulnerable with the world about his own mental health journey. One in three of us is currently struggling with feelings of depression, yet we so rarely talk about that.

Henri Nouwen, a spiritual thinker, said, “Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not 'How can we hide our wounds?' so we don't have to be embarrassed but 'How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?' When our wounds cease to be a source of shame and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.”

So my dream is to have the emotional song-writing genius, Lewis Capaldi, come to the castle for a benefit concert for whatever mental health cause he wants to support. He is, after all, nearly our neighbor as he hails from Glasgow, Scotland. A concert like this is aligns with aims of the castle—to

promote peace and generosity.