As usual, your gal Sarah here is full of reflections about 2023 and intentions for 2024. I don’t think there’s anything magical about January 1, but it’s simply another opportunity to ask ourselves, “How is my heart, body, and mind? How are my relationships?”
I’m coming back from a long staycation and had an opportunity to do a lot of reflecting since my young adult children didn’t need me around as much as I planned. (Sigh.) In thinking about what arose for me in 2023, one of the most life-changing themes was discovering my artist self.
I didn’t become an expert in any medium. I didn’t quit my job. I didn’t sell anything I made. But I made a lot of things, and the process yielded immeasurable happiness.
I can trace a lot of play and experimentation back to a retreat I went to in March with Nicki Lang. It affected me so much that she and I are doing one together this March, and there is still room for you to sign up! (Check it out here—scholarships available!)
Nicki expertly taught us the basics of palette knife oil painting (not all artists can teach—Nicki truly can.) I turned out to be quite unskilled in the medium and joked with Nicki afterward that I loved the retreat but probably wouldn’t be doing a lot of oil painting afterward. She challenged me and said, “I hope you do.” I know now what she meant was there is no substitute for actually making things. We can’t just think about it. We have to actually put pen or paint to paper or sign the song or experiment with the recipe or plant the flower bed.
My friend Emily has been repeating the mantra “Action before motivation” lately, and it’s helped me a lot. Especially when it comes to cultivating our artist selves, we’ve been fed a damaging, false narrative that we need to wait for inspiration. That’s a recipe for frustration, self-blame, and not making much.
We’d love to fill this retreat with 8 or 10 more people who are ready to create a pop-up community and get better at noticing. One thing artists know how to do is notice. We can’t make things unless we are inspired by what’s around us, and we can’t get inspired unless we are paying attention. I’ve come to realize that this is THE primary skill for mindfulness, happiness, healthy relationships, activism, and indeed, liberation.