I confess I love this last dark week of the year; the final sigh of the yearly cycle, my favorite time for reflection.
Every year, as fall progresses, daylight dims, time seems to slow, and I look forward to the winter solstice on December 21, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. I anticipate the lengthening of days and the expansion of energy that seems to come from that. My actual experience however is that the solstice marks the beginning of what I think of as “deep winter” and it isn’t until March that the days feel as if they are truly lengthening in a perceptible way. Curious, I looked at some yearly day-length charts and realized that the rate of daylight change slows in the weeks before and after each of the solstices, and I realized that this accounts for the sense that time has slowed into a state of suspension. Ah! Yes, the body knows; I am reminded once again of how our experiences are deeply tied to circadian rhythms throughout the year.
After the passing of the winter holidays, winter can feel like a dormant time of year, but this time is quietly and powerfully active–a time to think deeply about our intentions and renew our dedication to the things we care most about, including our creative practice.
The shorter slower days feel made for reflection, restoration, and dreaming.
In that spirit, I am offering some questions that I’ll be reflecting on this week as I think about the past year and prepare to move forward into my 2023 creative practice. Next week, I’ll be offering some questions to help focus on looking forward. Use whichever of these is most resonant to you, feel free to ignore any that are meaningless, and also pay attention to any that you feel significant resistance to–the ones that make you squirm a little. Often these are the most revealing and helpful!
Some Questions Worth Asking
In terms of your creative practice…
Think back to last winter. How did you start the year? What kind of headspace were you in and what were your intentions?
Think through the year. How did reality compare to how things took shape?
How did you feel in your creative practice? When did you feel disappointed? When did you feel satisfaction and joy? When were you elated?
When did your creative practice confuse you? How did you respond to that confusion? Did the confusion clear, or are you carrying it into the new year?
What parts of your creative practice felt like a drag on your energy? (And can you have less of that in your practice?)
What parts of your creative practice felt energized and full of flow? (And can you have more of that in your practice?)
How did you navigate uncertainty and fear in your practice? Were there times when you felt blocked from your flow and how did you handle that?
Was the past year a year of momentum? Disruption? Both? Think about the rhythm of the year and how events in your life influenced your experience in your creative practice. When things were flowing with momentum, what contributed to that feeling? Were disruptions avoidable or not?
What resources did your practice have? What resources did your practice lack?
Was there a theme or message/lesson that repeated itself in 2022? If so what was it?
What questions are feeling most relevant and helpful at the close of the year? Reply to let me know and I’ll include them in next week’s newsletter!
Gleanings
Reading:
”The Practice” by Seth Godin: Dipping into this a little at at time. Like having a little blue project encouragement fairy disguised as a book :)
”Four Thousand Weeks” by Oliver Burkeman: Really interesting alternative ways of thinking about time and how we use it.
Favorite yearly calendar for everything
Trying out these quarterly and project planners for studio goals and tasks in 2023…
Best notebooks (I do most of my studio and other planning in the softcover dot grid B5 lovelies)
Visualizing daylight patterns throughout the year and animated example
And an interesting chart
That’s all for this week; see you next Monday, the first of the new year. Thank you for subscribing and reading!
Yours in practice,
Lisa