The Edge of Usefulness (Sound Anchor) @havensoundscapes

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes This sound anchor was inspired by Notes From a Slow Coach, after we explored the question, "How do you know when an idea has reached the edge of its usefulness?" in The Haven Journal Circle.

It reflects on themes of letting go, recalibrating, and moving on, in relation to the ideas (tools, habits, practices, etc) we hold without knowing why.

Blog post: the-haven.co/edge-of-usefulness
Notes From a Slow Coach: the-haven.co/notes-from-a-slow-coach
The whole library is available for members in The Haven: http://the-haven.co/sound-anchors

updated 9 months ago

The Edge of Usefulness (Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-30 | This sound anchor was inspired by Notes From a Slow Coach, after we explored the question, "How do you know when an idea has reached the edge of its usefulness?" in The Haven Journal Circle.

It reflects on themes of letting go, recalibrating, and moving on, in relation to the ideas (tools, habits, practices, etc) we hold without knowing why.

Blog post: the-haven.co/edge-of-usefulness
Notes From a Slow Coach: the-haven.co/notes-from-a-slow-coach
The whole library is available for members in The Haven: http://the-haven.co/sound-anchors

Leave It There | Coming To Our Senses (Vol 14)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2026-09-07 | Over the past three months, we've been exploring the words "leave it there". This audiovisual zine represents some of the angles we've looked at.

The music, narration, and visuals by Andy Mort.
The video includes photos and videos by Tuula Ahde.
A Big Big Sky by Sara Bates.

Sara wrote to me, "This poem is in conversation with the prompt - "can I take that for you?" I think of this poem as lightening someone's load when they are at capacity, having the support of someone who can see the light when someone else is cloaked in darkness, the universe being larger than we can imagine. I made this poem as an example for the class from a page in Winnie-the-Pooh--the poem was made in real time during the class with no previous idea of what I'd create. It's mixed media - a big printout of the novel page (four sheets of regular printer page paper), collaged acrylic paper, newspaper, watercolored pages from a novel with Modge Podge and thick Sharpie marker. Lots of stickiness along with the search for the poem on the page of text."

00:00 Introduction
03:10 Who took the last one?
06:10 A desire for justice
09:26 Carrying the taste
11:20 Where is my baggage?
13:25 What happens behind the curtain?
15:46 A big big sky (Sara)
16:20 Seeing it like that got me thinking
17:35 Valuables on display
19:10 The song that fades out
21:15 Hanging up your boots
23:45 Rejecting the bait
25:40 That'll do
28:30 Self-doubt and overpreparation
30:30 Outroduction

What are you returning to? (Serenity Island)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2026-05-10 | What does it mean to return?

This is from a Return to Serenity Island picnic sound anchor. Join us for more like this: serenityisland.me
Music, words, and narration: Andy Mort

One Love (A Visual Meditation by Zoie E Holzknecht)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2026-02-11 | I'm thrilled to share this beautiful visual meditation by Zoie E Holzknecht. I am really touched that she used two of my instrumental pieces as the musical accompaniment. I love how well it all works together. Spend 6 minutes floating with us...

From Zoie:

One of my art practices includes a contemplative response to my environment. I take photos while on walks in my community and use them to create digital collages. Occasionally, the final image may prompt me to create what I call a "visual meditation" and bring a larger story and movement to the original image.

My participation in The Haven, Serenity Island, and in Andy Mort's Slow Coaching program all inspired this visual meditation called One Love. Thank you so much for watching, and thanks to Andy for the beautiful music!

Check out Zoie's art: zeh.myportfolio.com
Join us in The Haven: the-haven.co
Listen to more of my instrumental music: andymort.bandcamp.com/album/aphron-ambient

Arriving Through The Fog | The Return To Serenity Island (Full Narrated Soundscape)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2026-01-22 | This is the first narrative soundscape I created for The Return To Serenity Island.

A familiar stranger guides you to safety out of the storm.

This is one of six soundscapes included in the Serenity Island Experience.

Get your passport here: serenityisland.me

Thanks to Tuula Ahde for the photos and videos. Visit Tuula's website and check out her beautiful macro ice photography: tuulahde.com/english

Arriving Home - Postcard (The Return To Serenity Island)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | First published in August 2021.

Do you feel like you've been drifting, trudging through treacle, or languishing in recent times? Do you want a gentle foothold back onto a more solid and hope-fuelled platform for your life?

Learn More About The Return to Serenity Island: serenityisland.me

The Arrival - Abridged (The Return To Serenity Island)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | An abridged version of the first soundscape from The Return To Serenity Island.

🏝️Learn more about the course: serenityisland.me

Left Beneath a Bucket of Cold Water (Extended Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | Sound Anchors are short, bespoke reflections that include music I've composed and words that speak to a particular situation, topic, or experience. This one was created for a summit I spoke at in 2023.

The full library is available for members in The Haven: the-haven.co

Regulated Landscapes (Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | This Sound Anchor is based on an exercise from Chapter Two of Anchored by Deb Dana. We read Anchored in The Haven Book Club.

The full library of sound anchors is available for members in The Haven: the-haven.co

Survival Landscapes (Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | This Sound Anchor is based on an exercise from Chapter Two of Anchored by Deb Dana. We read Anchored in The Haven Book Club.

If you haven't listened to the sound anchor on Regulated Landscapes, I recommend starting there: youtu.be/LRsmEcuDQvk

The full library of sound anchors is available for members in The Haven: the-haven.co

The Vagal Brake (Sound Anchor)

Befriending The Autonomic Hierarchy (Sound Anchor)

An Unexpected Detour (Narrative Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | Sound Anchors are short, bespoke reflections that include music I've composed and words that speak to a particular situation, topic, or experience. This one was created for a session in The Haven.

The full library is available for members in The Haven: the-haven.co

Look On The Bright Side (Phrase Maze)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | This is the start of our zine cycle for the prompt "Look On The Bright Side."

Join us to explore and participate in this creative journey: the-haven.co

Phrase Maze (Sunday November 9th 2025): the-haven.co/event/phrase-maze-look-on-the-bright-side
Zine Listening Party (Sunday December 28th 2025): the-haven.co/event/ctos11-look-on-the-bright-side
Submission Deadline: Monday December 15th 2025.

An Ode To Imperfection (Poem)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | 'Perfectionism' is not about achieving a tangible outcome. It's an attachment to dissatisfaction in the face of our outcomes.

Perfectionism is not simply a desire for high standards and top quality results. It is always in pursuit of satisfaction but can never be satisfied. No matter how good it gets, it will never do quite enough.

Despite appearances, perfectionism is not about producing quality. It's about the relationship we have with our belief in the idea of 'faultless'. Perfection is like a black hole. It's a void, made conspicuous by its lack of definition.

We all know the void. The lack. The deep awareness that something is missing. And we all have different relationships with it.

We do many things to cope with and respond to it. This has given rise to all kinds of amazing innovation and art over the years. It's why we've not all agreed on the 'perfect' song, the 'perfect' novel, or the 'perfect' painting, and decided we can finally stop creating things now.

It's why in sport, no matter how final a final is made to feel by the hype surrounding it, there will always be another one. The sport is un-winnable at the ultimate level, it goes on even after the greatest of all time can no longer play.

In many ways, this sense of what is missing is the fuel tank that moves us, connects us, and gives life its meaning. It's the thing into which we throw our passion, our care, our love, our energy, our time, our fear, our joy, our pain, our delight, our confusion, our longing.

We all know it. We all feel it. But the one thing we none of us can ever do is fill it. We can't eliminate it.

And yet this is exactly what perfectionism tells us we CAN do. It promises that we can earn our way to the impossible utopia (lasting satisfaction, completeness, and acceptance), just as long as we don't make any mistakes. It has us believe that we can be happy once we find the perfect partner, the perfect house, the perfect car, the perfect job, the perfect computer, the perfect child, the perfect vacation, the perfect Christmas, the perfect wedding etc.

As far as I'm concerned, perfectionism can 'do one!' Its promise doesn't even sound that good.

It's completely rubbish compared with the price we have to pay for it. I mean, all the things that give life a sense of meaning and make it worth waking up for - passion, love, compassion, pastimes, risk, uncertain outcomes, art experiences, story, overcoming the odds...are all fundamentally at odds with the certainty, control, and safety that perfectionism promises if we do things in the way we are 'supposed to'.

What's more, the most meaningful and lasting stories/memories I have are intrinsically tied to when things went wrong. Why? Because they were times when I connected with other people. We cried together, laughed together, and shared a moment of timeless understanding...that the clumsy imperfection of ordinary life is what gives rise to true beauty.

I wrote an imperfect poem thing as a response to my reflections around this theme. I recorded it and turned it into a short video. It's an ode to imperfection, in all its vulgarity.

I hope it speaks to you in some way...

No Matter Who Wins

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | Managing director of Reasons To Be Cheerful (https://reasonstobecheerful.world), Rebecca Faulkner is also an award-winning poet. Her team gave her the nearly 500 responses they received to the reader question: “No matter who wins, __________.” This is the poem she assembled using some of those responses.

I layered it with the ambient instrumental version of my song, Breathe.

This was helpful during 2024; a year when many of us in The Haven community had national elections.

rebeccafaulknerpoet.com
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/a-post-election-day-poem/

The Artists Prayer (Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | Inspired by Julia Cameron's Artist's Prayer in The Artist's Way, this was one of the very first sound-anchor-style pieces I created. It was made in 2020.

The video was put together by Tuula.

A Hot Black Cup of Coffee (Extended Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | Sound Anchors are short, bespoke reflections that include music I've composed and words that speak to a particular situation, topic, or experience. This one was created for a session in The Haven.

The full library is available for members in The Haven: the-haven.co

Dreading The Day Ahead (Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | What does anticipation feel like to you? Does it carry a flavour of dread, excitement, or something else?

Elisha Ward's piece in the Serenity issue of Coming To Our Senses beautifully demonstrates a familiar experience with anticipation. I recognise similar feelings from times I’ve wished away situations, events, or even entire days and weeks—not because they were unpleasant, but because I’d reduced everything to a homogenous mound of what Elisha describes as “appointments.”

Maybe this feels familiar for you, too?

Learn more about Elisha: http://elishaward.com
Listen to more Sound Anchors: the-haven.co/sound-anchors

Sometimes Things Get Wonky (Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | Sound Anchors are short, bespoke reflections that include music I've composed and words that speak to a particular situation, topic, or experience. This one came out of a coaching session.

The full library is available for members in The Haven: the-haven.co

The Journey Below (Extended Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | Sound Anchors are short, bespoke reflections that include music I've composed and words that speak to a particular situation, topic, or experience. This one was created for a session in The Haven.

The full library is available for members in The Haven: the-haven.co

What Do You Need? (Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | Sound Anchors are short, bespoke reflections that include music I've composed and words that speak to a particular situation, topic, or experience. This one was inspired by a conversation about Nonviolent Communication.

The full library is available for members in The Haven: the-haven.co

You Are The Bridge (Sound Anchor)

Andy Mort | Haven Soundscapes 2025-11-26 | Words, music, arrangement, and read by Andy Mort
This sound anchor was inspired by my creative collaboration with Elisha Ward.

Learn more about Elisha: http://elishaward.com
Listen to more Sound Anchors: the-haven.co/sound-anchors

It reflects the theme of being before doing, and this quiet strength of gentleness. We may feel like our value depends on what we do and say. The urge to fight to clarify, explain, and shape how we are perceived and understood can drive us. But this is an impossible task. The bridge remains steady, as others have experienced. Perhaps even taken for granted. Yet it is in the right place at the right time, and for those who recognise it, their gratitude energises their spirit, enabling them to be a bridge, too.

Blog post: the-haven.co/you-are-the-bridge-sound-anchor
Fireside Spirals: the-haven.co/fireside-spirals