Succulent Centerpiece at the Farmette

This year I have started teaching more succulent and creative writing workshops. I'm calling them Ink and Stem for now. I led an in-house retreat for Kathy Davis Studios in January, a private event for barre3 Cherry Creek in June, and a Succulent Centerpiece workshop at the Lyons Farmette in August. (We were going to call it Succulent Pot but considering we live in Colorado we had to re-think that one. Haha.)

It is so rewarding to bring people together and open up an opportunity to explore our deeper selves. The plants are a way to connect with nature and beauty, and the poetry, group reflection and individual writing offer people a chance to pause and reflect on what actually matters to them. I love to start each workshop with a quote from Jane Austen, who said, "We all have our best guides within us, if only we would listen." We are all so busy and our world is so loud that it's hard to hear our inner voice. Again and again, I keep finding that people who would not call themselves "creative" are actually brimming with ideas they want to share and explore, but everyday life doesn't give them a chance.

During our introductions, one woman told us that as a child she was taught never to write anything down because if you wrote anything negative someone could find it and hold it against you. She said she's in her late sixties now and has never kept a journal or written anything down, but she signed up for the class because her daughter invited her. She told us she might have a lot inside her, especially at this stage in her life. At the end of class, she came up to me with tears in her eyes and said that during the contemplative scavenger hunt writing exercise, she thought she had nothing to say. But at the end of the exercise, she discovered she'd written page after page, and she couldn't believe that all of those words had spilled out of her. She said she's going to keep writing, and I really hope she does.

It's small moments like this that make the hours and hours of work that go into these workshops feel worth it to me. I'm honored to be part of providing a safe space where people can open up their own inner world and glimpse the creativity and wisdom waiting inside.