Hello,

Last week, I taught a special one day workshop that combined poetry writing and goal-setting. It was a pretty silly combination of topics, but I love where it took us. We started with this reflection question:

1. What resistances or habits do you encounter within yourself when you set a goal and then begin to work towards it?

Goal-setting can feel very harsh and impersonal. This opening question allowed us to consider the relationship we have to our goals, so that we could include more of ourselves in our initial wanderings.

Together we noticed the ways we could be "lulled by the comfort of familiarity" even while a secret part of us yearned for change. We reflected on the anxiety of choosing the 'right' goal, and how the overly critical and careful parts of ourselves could leave us in a frozen state of indecision. We noticed what that experience felt like, and what we might offer ourselves when in that state.

We brought all of this into our poetry writing practice. Some takeaways: perhaps play can belong here, in this space of wanting. Perhaps the first thing to do is to merely set out and navigate as you go.

I'd love to teach this workshop again. Would you like to join us? Fill in this short form. I'll choose the next date, depending on interest.

Upcoming Workshops:

Voice and Narrative: 6-Week Poetry Writing Series | STARTS Feb 8th at 6:15pm PST (Online)

How do you feel about about having a voice? In this series, you'll reflect on how you've used your voice throughout your life, and then you'll turn the stories you find into poetry.

The focus of this series is conversation and reflection. Your curiosity will truly guide where we go. A theme that came up during the last series was the experience of voice as performance... but how do you stop performing? The poetry that came out of these wanderings was stunning. I wonder where our conversations will lead us this time.

(A couple months ago, I shared this reflection video comparing my voice now to my voice at 22. If you're curious about how I relate to my own voice, this video says a lot).

*This series was previously scheduled to begin on Feb 1st, but has been pushed forward one week.

Coming up very soon:

All workshops are hosted online.

1. Finding Authenticity -- STARTS February 27th at 1pm PST. Register here.

2. Embodied Poetry —this workshop started last week, but late registration is open until February 2nd at 2:30pm PST. There's just 1 spot remaining. Register here.

P.S. The next Embodied Poetry series will be happening in the spring during the 6-8:30pm PST time slot. Want to be notified when the dates are announced? Email [email protected]

As always, thank you for all your support.

Warmly, Christine Bissonnette