Breaking up with my email newsletter (and new things)
Tldr: I’m ending my email newsletter in March. I’ll be starting something different on substack. I don’t know exactly what that will be like, but I’m hoping some of you would like to come on that journey with me. Whatever you decide, thank you for being here over the last 7 years. Sharing.This has been […]
Preparing for winter with compassion
Last year, I think it was, I made a playlist called ‘this winter will be different’ full of atmospheric and cosy music – medieval choral, contemporary folk, female singer-songwriters, even a nice bit of Eddie Vedder – and then completely forgot about it. Was last winter different? You ask. Well, no, not really. And it […]
It’s the start of Spring, but what season are you in?
Yesterday was the Spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, one of my favourite moments of the year. As well as providing a natural point to stop and consider aspects of balance in my world, I also feel so grateful that the light is only increasing from here, and that longer days are on the horizon. […]
Rhythms of reflecting (or Why I don’t do planning at New Year anymore)
One of the biggest challenges for me when I started working freelance/self-employed was how to maintain the structures of ‘work’ that help me most, but adapt them to the way I work best. For a long time I expected the frameworks or productivity tools/hacks that I’d used as a student or in the workplace to […]
Noticing the rhythms in your life and choosing your own timetable of reflection
This autumn I made a particular effort to notice how the light was changing in my immediate environment. I watched each day, around noon, to see how and where the sunlight peeked over my roof and into the back garden. I was fascinated to see how different it was from the height of summer when […]
How I’m reflecting, reviewing & planning in 2021
I’m really excited to share with you my brand new New Year Creative Practice Review course. For the past few years I’ve offered a series of guided reviews which have gradually become more holistic and less specific. Your practice is uniquely yours, so you don’t need me pretending there’s a one size fits all way […]
Reflect to reconnect
In my last post I shared the process I go through each new year, as I assess how the previous year has gone and prepare for the new one ahead. It’s only recently that I realised that it has 3 distinct phases – reflection, review & planning. For a long time I only did the […]
Approaching the end of 2020
We’re fast approaching the end of the year and with it thoughts of the future begin to occupy the quieter moments. But after a monumental year what will reflection and planning for 2021 look like? I can’t speak for anyone else, if you feel that 2020 needs to be forgotten as quickly as possible, I […]
A regular practice – just not the one I’d expected
I used to get wound up about this, feeling like it was some kind of moral failure to have my enthusiasm taper off, that it was just a matter of working harder, pushing through and all that other bullshit we’ve internalised from the world of ‘proper work’. But now, instead of blaming myself, I’d rather ask questions that help understand why this happens, why this pattern belongs to me. I might start by asking “how is it that I have so much energy to begin with?” and then “is there something that happens that changes things for me? Can I understand where the energy goes or why?” Perhaps there are general circumstances or thought patterns that get me here each time, perhaps in this month it was specific things (migraines I’m looking at you). Either way, I’m interested in what was going on, how I was feeling and how that lead to me writing or not writing.
What is it you do? I ask questions
Something I’ve been thinking about recently is my role in the work I do, and what happens in the sessions that I facilitate. I’m trying to understand it so that I can change the way I communicate about my work to others. Often the ways I’ve said things in the past, the explanations I give, […]