Hello loves!
Happy October!
If you’re a fed like me, you’re also celebrating the start of the new (fiscal) year (FY for short). I’m so used to marking time this way after a decade of FYs that I’m adopting it for my own organizational purposes, Colby Years (CYs) if you will.
October is the first full month of autumn and in some ways it does indeed feel like a new year. There’s a natural major transition after the summer has slowly sidled to an end and the first red bursts through leaves. It’s back to work, back to school, and there’s a natural increase of energy, a busyness that starting new things requires. The flurry of activity these next ~2.5 months is marked in paralell by squirrels lunging after acorns to stow and bears breaking into cabin trashcans to add some lbs before the pause of a long, dark winter.
For me, I’m busy diving into the deep work of writing my second poetry collection (!) under the guidance of my writing mentor Jimmy Santiago Baca, who I met at his June writing retreat.
We chatted a few weeks ago to get started, and he told me what I would need to harness to write great poetry: magic.
And that gave me an idea for our love work this (CY) year.
The Artist’s Way
It is time. We’re stepping away from the academic, the theoretical talk about loving ourselves and getting into the real, the tangible, and the practical so you can develop your own, unique loving practice(s)!
The rubber must meet the road.
The way to learn to nourish yourself and share your magic is not by reading about it, but by doing it. There are, unfortunately, no shortcuts.
I have yet to find a more complete, more supportive guide that the inimitable Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”.
And I’m doing it with you.
Have you heard of it?
I was introduced to this workbook during our 300-hour yoga teacher training in late 2019. At first I was confused:
What does being an artist have to do with yoga?
After diving into the material I understood: both artistic and yoga practices have the same basic intention, which is to bring one home to the self. They link the spiritual and the practical, the inside and the outside, and ultimately support the individual’s pursuit towards wholeness and sharing of the soul-self.
Yoga also IS fundamentally a creative practice. Have you ever found yourself moving intuitively, creating the next movement as you complete the present one? And have you ever been to a yoga class so thoughtfully designed you wondered afterwards how it was possible to feel so good? A teacher created that from their own imagination, likely based on a lineage of creations by teachers before them.
So, what’s The Artist’s Way?
Heralded by the likes of Elizabeth Gilbert (author of “Big Magic” and “Eat, Pray, Love”), creative entrepreneurs like Flow Yoga Studio, and writers, musicians, dancers, and painters galore, this workbook, originally published in 1992, is an international best-selling toolkit on the creative process.
The two primary tools are morning pages and artist dates.
The book is broken into 12 chapters of readings and tasks (practice options). Each chapter begins with “Recovering…” because Julia’s premise is that you are already a creative being. You are already an artist. You were born that way. This work is about uncovering what already exists, what you may have buried along the way.
I’ve decided after conversations with fellow enthusiasts (hey Samar and Molly!) to start it up again this year as an act of self-love.
I thought what better base for our loving practices this year.
So, shall we do it together?
Have no fear, our pace is very gentle. “Hurry ruins saints as well as artists”. We must go slow. We have all the time in the world. There is no rush.
So, I propose we work through the 12 chapters each month of the love letter for the next 12 months.
Interested?
Are you ready to break through boredom, depression, and/or anxiety?
Have you lost a sense of what makes you happy, what makes you feel whole?
Do you feel like there’s something inside you that must come out?
Do you ache for creative community?
Just want to see what it’s all about?
Then read on below!
Practice
We start in October with Chapter 1 and will end next September with Chapter 12.
We begin with Recovering a Sense of Safety.
Julia writes:
[Chapter 1] initiates your creative recovery. You may feel both giddy and defiant, hopeful and skeptical. The readings, tasks, and exercises aim at allowing you to establish a sense of safety, which will enable you to explore your creativity with less fear.
How perfect for our collective moment, right?! I don’t know about you, but the world feels less safe than ever. I wake up every day terrified, and most of my actions are grounded not in love but as a reaction to fear (sometimes real, usually invented). What gets me through is my morning pages.
Safety is so important for creative work. It’s the critical first step of recovery by restoring trust (also the first pillar of love).
She goes deep, but she makes it highly accessible and fun. For example, some tasks for Ch. 1 are to list imaginary lives and time travel.
But Colby, how do I keep track of all of this on top of everything else?
Don’t worry, I got you. If you need support (& dig organization) check out this Practice Plan I put together for us!
You can print it out and mark it up, or save it as an editable PDF.
I’ll send out monthly Practice Plans with write-ups on the chapters as we go through (in case you don’t want to buy the book just yet). There is no pressure. It is a “work” book, but it is fun and rejuvenating. It is a non-linear growth process, and you will learn a ton along the way.
Is this for you?
Well I’d say yes it’s for everyone to check out, but especially if you’re…
craving a regular practice
feeling lost or stuck in your current mojo
disillusioned with your work
feeling disconnected from yourself
recently retired and are wondering what’s next (Julia wrote a special edition for that)
ready for playful, generous energy
in search of healthier ways to spend your time
Are you in?
I’d love to know! Simply comment on this post or reply directly to this email.
Then buy the book, choose a notebook, download the Practice Plan, and simply begin.
I’m so excited to dive back into this process for a second time. The first time helped me find a daily practice that works and the courage to teach and write again. Thanks to The Artist’s Way, I’ve started to think of myself as an artist. It’s becoming part of my identity, my practices, and my work. My work is to create. It’s all our work to show up as ourselves, and it’s all our inherent birthright.
I’m definitely slightly apprehensive (do I have time for this? do I need to add yet another thing to my plate?), but I know it’s worth it, even (& especially?) if it’s simply just more enchanting artist dates with myself.
But, this would be way more fun together :)
P.S. As always, please make this practice work for you. Do what you can, what you have room for. Know you are worth a loving practice and it’s possible to get there. I’m here for any support you need; please reach out.
Loving Lately
This quote from my dear Hilary sent me, which connects The Artists Way work of nourishing our happiness to our mission of love
Homemade masks made of turmeric & honey to heal inflammation (yes, I need to clean my mirror ;) )
Wisdom from strangers
Playing albums (that’s the Dr. Zhivago soundtrack) on my newly acquired record player, which was my grandmother Meme’s
plus committing to a Sober October (yes to whole foods, no to certain substances); hikes with my beloved; hot epsom salt baths (I use Ancient Minerals); visits with dear friends old and new (Hi Talya! <3); tossing old makeup; sleeping in; dancing all night at weddings like my life ends tomorrow (Hi Julia & Veronica!); Headspace meditations; and reading “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens for the first time (on my bday kindle - thanks bubsy!)
P.S. Do you have an Instagram account? Follow @colbymackenzieloves and watch our Poetry Pause series, a poetry reading every Monday from my heart to yours.
That’s it for me loves. I’d love to know what you think, how you’re feeling. Please send me a note or leave a comment below - I’ll see it either way!
All love,
Colby
P.S. Find this note online or get it forwarded to you? If you subscribe, you’ll receive each monthly love letter straight to your inbox from my heart to yours.