Roots and Branches

the theory and practice of living a creative life.

Roots + Branches

Posts

  • Vision journaling: A guide for creatives

    I love using vision journaling as a tangible and imaginative way to find clarity around the future I want and to identify how to get from where I am to where I want to go. If you’ve worked with me 1:1 or in my group spaces, you’ve probably encountered this practice at least in passing.…

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  • What if the dreams you weave this summer come to fruition this fall?

    I’m in the middle of a 40 day group quantum leap program alongside one of my mentors right now. Essentially I am focusing on several elements of my ideal creative future, continuously, every day, so that they become so embedded as habits and mental practices that they become second nature. It has me thinking about…

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  • We are tradition bearers

    The power of ritual and the unfolding of a creative practice When I was in college, I tried to structure each semester’s classes around a loose theme, to the extent I could: 20th century literature, for example, or Medieval studies. Sometimes a theme would emerge unexpectedly and organically (as in the semester I took American…

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  • catch me on book tour this summer (ATL, Boston, DC, Cork, and NYC)

    This summer, in addition to helping my fellow writers in their paths, I’m also celebrating my own writing and the release of my newest book! In honor of Essential Food Preserving, I’ll be on tour this summer, heading to some favorite cities and my home bases. I’d love to see you in person, hear your…

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  • Manifesting my creative life is so very different from the evangelical world I grew up in

    I spent years unweaving this one particular puzzle: I love manifestation, and believe there’s power in releasing control over a specific outcome. I believe there’s a universe, and various energies flowing through that universe, that shape and inform our lives and who we can collaborate with to build things beyond our wildest imaginings. But I…

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  • Despairing about the state of the world may feel rational, but these are irrational times Everyone I’ve been talking to lately is moving through a sort of oscillation, wavering between intense hopelessness and sadness (personally or collectively) and a deep, unflappable knowing that everything is going to be ok. It’s a jarring feeling, particularly if…

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  • History requires us to be active participants in its creation.  We aren’t just passive consumers of history, but active creators. Our daily decisions, our habits, from what we eat to who we engage with to our sleep patterns, clothing, and job schedules all become patterns that connect to the ways we define a given age.…

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  • We are living in a liminal moment. For the last few months, maybe a bit longer, everyone I’ve spoken to has seemed almost at the threshold of something.  Some element, or maybe even most elements, of their life as it was have crumbled away, and while in most cases we recognize this crumbling as an…

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