A Day Well Spent with Leyla Kazim

On Wednesday 25th March, JP Watson, founder of independent publishers The Pound Project, interviewed myself and Natalie Lue about our powerful titles from 2025: Pathways and Let Go. We discussed the origins of our books, how a pitch and idea became a reality, our writing process and where our ideas are taking us next. And in case you missed either of our limited edition books when they were on sale, JP is kindly re-opening the chance to purchase copies again — which is a real treat. Because they are otherwise totally unavailable to buy anymore. Just drop him an email at [email protected] if you’d like a copy.All three of us would love to hear what you thought about this conversation!For those who are new around hereLet me tell you a bit about my two-part debut book Pathways, that sold out in just three weeks back in June 2025.After spending my entire life living in London — the only city I had ever called home — I began to feel the pull towards a radically different life. Modern living makes us anxious, exhausted and physically unwell. I craved something my bones knew deeply: to grow my own food, to live in harmony with Nature, and to be guided by the sun and seasons. As opposed to strip lighting and spreadsheets. So, my husband and I spent years searching for land, until we found it — a 3 acre plot in the Portuguese countryside, 40 minutes north of Lisbon. We moved to the region in August 2025 and are currently living in rented accommodation. We will soon start building our eco-house in the footprint of an existing ruin and cultivating the land to produce much of our own food. It’s a long game. And whilst we’re still right at the start of this journey, so much has happened since the book came out.Book 1, Pathways: To The LandConsider any aspect of the current human experience and there’s a very good reason for doing things differently. This book is an honest look at the absurdities of modern life and why I quit the only way of living I’ve known, to pursue a very different one in rural Portugal.Book 2, Pathways: To Purposeful LivingA series of mini essays and thought exercises to help us face a simple question: how can we cut through the noise to identify the things that make us feel good and fulfilled?I’m Leyla. I write about becoming aware of the systems that do not serve you and reclaiming your energy, amongst other things. I send this once a week to 9000+ readers — join them if you’d like it in your inbox.If this conversation landed, share it with someone who needs to hear it. And hit the ❤️ so Substack shows it to more people. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leylakazim.substack.com/subscribe

If you’re ready to design what happens next — instead of letting the rest of your life just ‘happen’ to you — I’m glad you’ve found this.Hello and welcome.I’m Leyla Kazim. Let me explain everything you need to know about my newsletter ‘A Day Well Spent’ as quickly as possible. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leylakazim.substack.com/subscribe

An interview with Leyla Kazim as part of Rosie Birkett's Kitchen Hang series. We talk about the potency of herbal remedies, conscious community farming, DIY domestic flour mills (and more of Leyla's niche kitchen gadgets), the art of patience in permaculture and Leyla's recent big announcement about her imminent life-changing move to become a small scale farmer in Portugal.📕Pathways is Leyla Kazim's debut book, a two-part limited edition special with independent publisher The Pound Project.Part memoir, part manifesto, part guide, this book chronicles my decision to leave the only life I've known to answer a calling to live off the land in rural Portugal. It's an honest look at the absurdities of modern life and how we can cut through the noise to pursue a more fulfilling existence.Pathways is on sale now for a limited time only, until 27th May 2025. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leylakazim.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to this podcast on A Day Well Spent with Leyla Kazim, a Substack for people seeking pathways to purposeful living! If you’re reading this by chance and are not yet subscribed, allow me to help you with that - just enter your email here. Doing so will ensure you never miss my twice weekly posts (Thursdays and Sundays).In today's conversation I speak with Charlie Morley, a lucid dreaming teacher and bestselling author who helps people wake up in their dreams and harness the power of sleep for psychological growth. Charlie formally became a Buddhist at the age of 19 and has been lucid dreaming for over 20 years - he was “authorised to teach” lucid dreaming within the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism in 2008. Since then he has written four books and has run workshops and retreats in more than 30 countries.Charlie lives in London, next door to the Buddhist centre with his mini-dachshund called Waffles and its in his apartment where we had this chat. I came across one of Charlie's books on lucid dreaming a few years ago and I've found the subject - and the potential of it for personal fulfilment and growth - to be completely fascinating and such an untapped resource. I really hope you enjoy this interview with Charlie as much as I do.In this conversation we talk about what lucid dreaming is, why it's something we might want to do more of, what's so great about it, Charlie's background and how he became a lucid dreaming teacher, his personal examples of how lucid dreaming has helped him answer big life questions, how we can make ourselves become lucid whilst dreaming, whether lucid dreaming is just for the spiritually inclined, and so much more!As always, I (we!) would love to hear your thoughts - you can join the conversation here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leylakazim.substack.com/subscribe