This week, a treat from the archives. Enjoy! Part 1: The Arch What if your creative practice wasn't one thing, but everything, always? How would that change your relationship to wherever you are, right fucking now? I conceived of the Arch a couple of years ago. As someone who has had many significant breaks in their creative practice, it was revolutionary to think about my art as something steady and continuous. I found that no matter how far away my practice felt, if I simply showed up to it...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Six out of seven tasks in my current morning routine are centered on grounding in calm, connection, and strategy. The seventh task? It's one fiery event that stresses me the fuck out. And I love it. Because, integral to my morning routine is my High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workout program, which is designed to put my body through hell in a way that's, like, very strategic and very, very rewarding way. => Heads up that you're going to get some fitness advice from a non-medical...
2 months ago • 5 min read
Patience is a virtue. Truly. Profound change is non-linear and in periods of substantial growth we sometimes hit roadblocks and confusion that seems to stall us outright. Patience in these moments helps us stay the course, tap back into creativity and resourcefulness. Patience keeps us from giving up and getting too frustrated to see our goals through. HOWEVER— Somewhere along the way the need for patience in transitions became the idea that change is necessarily slow. Which is, frankly,...
3 months ago • 3 min read
We are infinite creatures in a world of finite resources. Meaning, the limits we face are often a result of everything we force ourselves to carry. This is the real weight of monotony: Forcing ourselves to keep carrying things that don't serve us, just because we haven't allowed ourselves sufficient space to realize we're capable of putting them down. As I continue to rebuild my coaching practice with the goal of making it, and me, as vividly alive as possible, in fierce defiance of the death...
8 months ago • 2 min read
So many people and institutions around us right now are numbing out and slowing down. The drudgery of pre-post-capitalist fascism and co-pandemic living has so many humans just mindlessly moving through a world they're too overwhelmed to feel in touch with anymore. Depressing does not begin to describe it. Still, I'm not ready to throw in the towel. And you're not either. Instead of giving in, I'm giving you a chance to step it up. I am radically changing my coaching work to be more...
9 months ago • 2 min read
I've taken LOTS of courses on fostering creativity and crafting a "creative lifestyle" (whatever that means) and NOT ONE OF THEM has ever actually created lasting change in my creative practice. Books and programs that focus on practicing creativity, rather than freeing it, don't make for sustainable change. I won't argue that creativity isn't a skill or muscle that benefits from regular use, but the reason we feel blocks around creativity usually isn't because we've been mental couch...
9 months ago • 3 min read
Alex Pretti's public execution last Saturday at the hands of ICE is still hanging heavily in the air for many of us; especially since it follows so closely to Nicole Good's murder and the ongoing forced disappearance of so many immigrant family members and neighbors. It is HARD to find a way forward in our work when things are so unsettled around us and violence becomes more commonplace. And yet--- This world needs your work, your presence, your solidarity. Here's how you keep moving forward....
9 months ago • 2 min read
My close friend called me this afternoon, her voice shaking. "My fish is sick. And I don't know what to do." We talked about the fish, the aquarium, the situation and then she said, matter-of-fact-ly, "Well, if this fish dies that's just what's happening and that'll be end of the pet fish experiment. I should start thinking what I'm going to say to my kid when he gets home." The shift from shaken to indifferent set off my emotional spidey senses: This fish isn't dead yet. So why the jump to...
10 months ago • 4 min read
I have been in one hell of a rut the past month. Whatever reasons I have for this situation right now, in this moment, this is also just what seems to happen to me this time of year. I start hibernating or I have a down-turn in energy. I need lots more alone time. (Like, not reply to a text for 5 weeks, alone-time.) I also need some autistic recovery in the form of narrowing all my focus onto a project or special interest. (At them moment rehabbing my new-to-me, very antique Singer 66 so I...
11 months ago • 4 min read