As we mentioned in November, we will be discontinuing our monthly newsletter. To close out, we end with one of our favorite activities for this time of year.
The Year in Review Exercise
We do this exercise every year because it helps flesh out the easily forgotten details of our lives and ground us squarely in our present. That helps steer us forward in ways that are more relevant, rewarding, and meaningful.
Do It With Someone Else
We highly recommend doing this with someone else. Interview each other and as you ask each other about relevant areas (travel, health, financial events, relationship changes, etc). Click here for the handout we use which lists different categories. It helps bring back things that had begun to fade. For example, Rebecca once again had her husband hostage on a road trip so, while he was driving, she filled in hers and his, starting with her own review. She began with travel since she had gone away most of the summer, filling in the whos, whats, wheres, and whys of the trips she’d taken. That helped jog KC’s memory.
Nothing Happened!
At the outset, though, as he is wont to do, KC initially insisted that while Rebecca was away, he’d only worked and scooped kitty litter. There was some truth to that, in the summer it’s so hot in Tucson that KC essentially hibernates and holds down the fort. But then with the fall, he’d actually had a burst of productivity and had cleaned up his workshop, started blowing glass again, fixed all of the irrigation in the yard, and started dragging Rebecca on walks 3-4 x week.
Once Warmed Up, It Starts To Come Back To You
Once he got started, he remembered many other things he’d done over the year (e.g., writing a draft of his first ever book, doing a deep dive into AI, and using AI to generate a song). He was also sadly reminded him of some unpleasant events that had happened over the year, like a fall that he’d had that required extensive physical therapy and the loss of our beloved cat, Benzo. At the same time it showed him how he’d coped with those challenges.
That’s When You Do The Visioning
When he was done and we’d fleshed out the different domains, KC recognized as he had in previous years, how full his year had actually been. Then, as we were looking back at his Year In Review/Visioning from the year before, there was a context for why some “resolutions” had not been fulfilled. Rather than being discouraged that he hadn’t met some of those aspirations, he had a clear sense of those that he wanted to revisit and others that could fall by the wayside.
Excited about 2025
The visioning was then more relevant because it grew organically out fully articulated accurate assessment of his recent life. And KC was actually jazzed about the next year, so much so that he spent the next couple of days drafting a plan for the next year and made the visioning artwork above. We noted how much positive energy there was in the image.
Other Observations About KC’s Visioning Artwork
KC also observed that, even though he hates the heat of the desert, the cactus and sun at the top were in an “elevated” spot. Also that the hand was imbedded in a design of cactus petals, another symbol for the desert, seeming to further underscore the importance of the desert. The cactus petals also looked like figures, something that he found curious and was going to contemplate. Finally, perhaps sadly, he had observed that the piece of paper had a little section ripped out of the right side of it, which he took to be a poignant representation of Benzo being “taken” from us.
Closing Out with Vision
As we’ve mentioned, as we close out 2024, we’re also ending the monthly newsletter element of Creative Wellbeing Workshops. Many of you have written us concerned that we are completely shutting CWW down. We are still committed to the CWW mission—using creativity to cope with stress and find sustainable happiness—so the website will still be live, the handouts, and the 12 years of blogs will still be at your disposal and we will still be available for consultation, workshops, continuing education, etc.! (IF you have any questions feel free to reach out to Rebecca)
Gioia’s Vision
With that in mind, we are sharing Gioia’s visioning artwork for 2025 which, no surprise, is full of family, generativity, and love. When she and Rebecca looked at the image, we realized that the “Shero” figure looks full of energy and is coming straight out of the page, seeming to reflect that Gioia is not slowing down anytime soon. also that there was a section in the upper right “behind the scenes” that reflecting her commitment to create a sacred space for her to step away and regenerate.
Rebecca’s Original Vision from 2009 Leading Her to Psychedelics and Art
We are also including a Vision/Mission statement Rebecca created when she and Gioia started CWW back in 2009. Her ongoing commitment to connect to others and consciousness, to have more faith, and to share beauty is actually at the core of her decision to shift her focus to working with psychedelics. Stay tuned for trainings and articles on that topic in 2025 and, in the meantime, join her on the Psychedelics, Art, Creativity, and Art Therapy Facebook Group. Youcan also access a handout with resources on the topic here.