I’m so excited to share this month’s spiritual, creative exercise with you that we worked through in the February Artist’s Way Alumni Group Meeting.

As a reminder, this monthly group is available to anyone who has journeyed through The Artist’s Way with Monastic Mamas.

​I really wanted to focus on the idea of first loves from childhood; those spaces we inhabited as children that brought us life, joy and connection with ourselves and God.

Leading the women into a space of quiet reflection through some beautiful meditations from a self-therapy IFS workbook by Bonnie J. Weiss entitled “Self-Therapy Workbook: An Exercise Book For the IFS Process,” we entered into a time of quiet reflection.

As part of the opening meditation we read a poem by Rumi entitled, The Guest House.

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

(She) may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

After that, we dove into 5 writing prompts to help us go deeper into our childhood memories so we can learn to gently re-parent our inner child back to his/her creative birthright.

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Here are the 5 prompts if you would like to write through them:

1. Describe five traits you LIKE in yourself as a child (present tense looking back).

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2. What did you love to do when you were alone as a child?

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3. What was one of your favorite toys/objects/gifts as a child, and what does it represent to you now?

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​4. If I could go back to my childhood, what would I give or gift myself that my family wasn’t able to give or gift me?

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5. How can I gift that to myself now?

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Take 5-10 minutes to respond in some creative way. Dance, journal, sing, draw, lay on the floor … whatever feels best to you.

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​I hope this exercise helps you get back in touch with that little child inside who had a natural connection to creativity and the Great Creator.

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Second, I will be doing something different for Lent this year and I want to invite you to consider giving it a go alongside of me.

So often for those of us who observe Lent, we go the route of taking something away in order to identify with Christ in his movement towards the cross. However, this year I’ve decided that instead of taking something away, I will intentionally add something instead. And what I am adding is 40 days of writing through 40 memories. Each day of Lent, I am choosing a memory that has been surfacing and using the 4 writing prompts from the “Memoir-In-Progress” Course (Setting, Connection, Meaning and Movement) to pop a memory bubble and write through it.

In doing this, I hope to connect with a new way of moving forward, as Shane Claiborne writes about in one of his latest Instagram posts about Lent: So there isn’t an anecdote, but there is an invitation – an excuse – to try something new. Some folks may choose, not just to give up something, but to take on something new – to exercise, read, learn a new craft, or pray. So whether it is giving up an old bad habit or take on a new holy habit…may we each use this Lenten season as an excuse to do something that empties us of ourselves so that our lives make better music.”

If you aren’t up for writing through a memory each day of Lent, you could try 40 days of morning pages, or intentional movement or mini artists dates. If you need more ideas, hit “reply” to this email and I can help you brainstorm!

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Third, I am excited to be hosting regular drop-in donation-based Memoir Write Nights (and Mornings).

Writing with someone else can be the difference between talking about writing and actually writing. As I attempt to pop the bubbles of my own memories, I realize how easy it is for me to avoid the work of actually writing. It brings up too much.

There is anger.

There is pain.

There is release.

And that can be really hard.

But you know what’s harder?

Knowing that all of that exists inside me anyways and choosing not to let it out. And so, I will continue to hold these drop-in donation-based writing nights as a way for all of us to answer the call we may feel to tell our story–or simply reconcile with it–through writing.

And as I know evenings aren’t always the best time for many of us to write, stay tuned because I will also be announcing some upcoming morning sessions too!

And if this work interests you and you haven’t yet explored the spiritual path to telling your story that I lay out in my course, go grab it for free and start working through it!

I hope you find something here to help you on your creative path. Something that leads you to wholeness and creative exploration. Something that leads you to connect with yourself and God.

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