The Artist's Way

You're invited to join us in the new year - starts January 4

What else does this tiny cottage need?

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.

Mary Oliver

As grateful as we are for each other and the multitude of gifts we are thankful for, holidays are difficult for many of us. Whether it’s the increased obligations, the greater financial outlay, the expectations of what a family should (or could) be, or various triggers from our childhoods, most of us feel at least a little unmoored during this dark season.

As many of you know, I wasn’t raised with a priority of comfort or care, but lately, I have begun to appreciate the value in cultivating a self-care practice as a way to nourish and strengthen ourselves, which allows us to more effectively care for others.

So this holiday season, I’ve been foraging for a toolkit.

What’s in your self-care toolkit?

Here is a list of random activities that friends and strangers have recommended. I encourage you to build a tool-kit you can come back to over and over when you’re in need of some self-care. (Currently, my toolkit contains meditation, reading, writing, biking, hiking, yoga, and artist’s dates. Feel free to add yours in the comments section!)

• bike rides

• put your bare feet on the earth

• journal

• a photo walk

• listen to books and music

• visit a forest

• walk a dog

• a bath at the end of the day

• guided meditation

• lay down and stare up at the sky

• cook a meal for yourself

• get up early to read in bed

• list things you’re grateful for

• go to bed early

• read for pleasure

• yoga

• run

• bake

• hike

• knit

• go to live music

• dance

• watch comedy

• take a hot shower

• be a tourist in your own city

• schedule a lunch date with a good friend

• turn off the Internet at your house

• volunteer

• take time for slow contemplative morning coffee

• burn candles

• wake up without an alarm clock

• crafting

• go to a movie

• gather flowers from a garden

• stretch

• art journal

• get coffee at a coffee shop

• enjoy a glass of wine at the end of the day

• create playlists

The Artist’s Way

The Artists’ Way is Julia Cameron’s seminal book on cultivating creativity, which is a wonderful practice of self-care.

There are two main components in her 12-week program: daily Morning Pages (three sheets of unfiltered, anything-goes journaling, written by hand) and weekly Artist’s Dates (solo adventures during which you spend time with your inner artist). 

On the first Saturday of the new year, I am congregating an artist’s way group for anyone interested in courting their inner artist.

Our cohort will convene on Zoom on Saturday, January 4th for 12 weeks of support. (If you can’t make it, I’m happy to send you the recording.) Please rsvp by responding to this email and I will send you the link and and basic guidelines for our practice together.

Will you join us?

Storyscapes: A Nature-Inspired Writing Retreat

Sunday, January 5th - 9:30am-4pm

Welcome the new year by grounding yourself in creativity with a nature-inspired writing retreat. Join a small, supportive group of writers in a private, idyllic historical setting surrounded by gardens, natural light, and a rich artistic atmosphere. This retreat offers a day of reflection, exploration, and connection with your inner voice through nature and creativity; all spaces will be reserved and available exclusively for workshop guests.

Enjoy a colorful, nourishing plant-based lunch prepared with care by Enlightened Omnivore.

Email Michelle@michelledowd.org with any questions. Click here to register.

---

Thank you for reading Forager Fridays — your support allows me to keep doing this work.

If you’re a paid subscriber at any level, you are invited to join our upcoming Artists’ Way group, with weekly accountability markers and monthly Zoom check-ins.

Please respond to this email if you are interested in joining our group. We will commit to 12 weeks of a daily writing practice, with weekly artist dates. We will introduce ourselves in our first session and we will write together; our second meeting will be an optional report and check-in, as well as an invitation to ask questions, and our third meeting will be a wrap-up and an opportunity to share your journey and where’s it’s taken you.

January 4, 2025 at 1:00 PT/4:00 ET

February 1, 2025 at 1:00 PT/4:00 ET

March 1, 2025 at 1:00 PT/4:00 ET

The Zoom link will be the same for every meeting.

I’ll be working on the interior walls and ceiling next.

Additional opportunity for paid subscribers (or anyone who upgrades to an annual subscription by December 13, 2024, including gift subscriptions).

The tiny, tiny, tiny cottage in the middle of the forest is rising and will be finished early this winter, and I’d like to invite one of you to spend a night here, in the forest.

All annual subscribers will be included in a drawing for a free night in the cottage. Founding members will also be offered a hosted dinner in a nearby cabin (with me!). Drawing will take place on December 14, and the winning subscriber will be contacted via email by December 14. You will be able to choose/schedule your own date any time in 2025, and will receive concrete details and directions (the cottage is in southern California, about 90 minutes northeast of Los Angeles, not accessible by Google maps). If you decline, or only want to come for dinner, I will offer the cottage to another subscriber. With the winner’s permission, I’ll announce their name in an email to all annual subscribers. I will also offer the winner the opportunity to guest post, showcasing what they learned from their night in the forest.

If you’d like to gift a subscription to Forager Fridays to someone you love for Christmas, click below! A Substack subscription is the perfect gift for the reader in your life who already has all the stuff, and will give them access to our upcoming artist’s way series.

Thank you for reading Forager Fridays — your support allows me to keep doing this work.

Thank you for being on this journey with me. I am grateful for the gift of your presence. Walking this path, knowing so many of you are walking it too, gives me hope. May we recognize our interbeing, with one another and the anima mundi, supporting each other in growth and recovery, like a mycelial network.