As you read this, imagine spirals by Louise Bourgeouis (can’t post them because of copyrights). Just imagine these spirals with me.
Got ‘em?
I’m here to tell you about a new workshop in Regarding Dew:
Closing Loops Together
Sunday, January 7th 11:00am-12:30pm
This workshop is free for paid subscribers. If you aren’t yet a paid subscriber, it’s $5 ~ You can click that button below, this will give you access to the workshop and gated content:
Want to just join for the workshop? Click here:
A loop: a task or activity.
An open loop: an unresolved task or activity. Maybe it’s simmering, maybe it’s looming…
A closed loop: a resolved task or activity. It can become open at a later time (revising writing, for example) or open the next day, but it’s functionally finished for now.
Open loop examples:
Call your representative for an urgent ceasefire in Palestine
Sort tax paperwork (chocolate helps for this)
Finish that one journal entry that keeps getting pushed off
Organize the Tupperware collapsing out of the cabinets
Organize your computer or physical desktop
Clear your phone’s photos
Check on your elderly neighbor
Write cards and letters
Clean out closet (or a drawer)
Sort through what will be donated
Clean ceiling fans
Fix a drawer pull
Reach out to the friend you’ve been meaning to reach out to for ages
Answer forgotten texts
Re-order household essentials
Toss out old spices
Your open loops will look different from my open loops.
Some will play a significant role in your day-to-day once they are closed (a spruced up resume for that role you’re looking to land) and some are inconsequential but have to get done sooner or later (tossing out old pens and sharpening pencils).
Why close them?
Open loops are like open tabs in your mind… They drain your precious creative attention and energy.
Field theory, from the Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin, demonstrates that “a task that has already been started establishes a task-specific tension, which improves cognitive accessibility of the relevant contents. The tension is relieved upon completion of the task, but persists if it is interrupted.” (That’s straight from Wikipedia)
Maybe, as you read this, you’re realizing how many open loops there are in your life…
Booking that appointment. Re-booking the appointment that took forever to finally book the first time. Checking on the insurance policy. Stain removal.
(Fun stuff, huh?)
Sometimes open loops involve sitting down to do research: what is the best Zinc supplement for you? What tailor do you want to take your pants to? What practitioner might be able to support your body? What needs to happen to get the sewing machine fixed? Are there local compost efforts to join?
Think about how open loops affect your ability to sustain energy and care.
Think about the low-buzz of worry, dissatisfaction, and overwhelm they can create (or the high-buzz where all of the tasks are top-of-mind and clanking around in there!)
Closing open loops can be fun… like really.
Closing open loops is a practice of generating mental space for fresh ideas to drop in.
Closing open loops is liberating.
Closing open loops is sweetly restorative in unexpected ways.
Closing open loops returns you to your agency.
Closing open loops creates a powerful domino effect.
Closing open loops might just be the refresh that you’ve been craving.
There’s a secret intention in facilitating this workshop, and it’s not to close all the loops. After all, life is one open loop!! My overt intention is to create designated time + togetherness + clear intention for you to direct your attention and action toward one or two pesky open loops. The intention beneath that: I’m here to support you in knowing that you can face the stuck places in your life, including what’s overwhelming or loaded or mundane, and that you can take small, kind choices in your life at any moment. In this workshop, we get to do this together.
You might go micro: sew that button!
Or be audacious: plot your escape plan from Amazon!
Whether you show up to finally clear through your inbox or to finally tackle the junk drawer, you’ll have the power of collective gathering as your momentum.
This will not be a regular offering, so if you want in… join!
Closing Loops Together
Sunday, January 7th 11:00am-12:30pm
This workshop free for paid subscribers of the Regarding Dew Letters. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, you can do so by pressing that button:
If you want to come, close the loop of registering right now by clicking that button! You’ll also be able to join for a journaling circle on December 30th (more info soon).
Want to just register for Closing Loops Together? Right this way…
~ Are you looking forward to this? Let me know by commenting ‘I’m in!’ below ~ I’d love to hear what open loops you’re ready to give attention to…
(It will only allow comments from paid subscribers on this post since some of the content is behind a paywall — so click that upgrade button if you’d like to)
Workshop tip: I recommend focusing on something doable in this time that you’ve just been putting off and/or something you feel a little daunted by, unclear, but you have a feeling you could figure it out with some concentrated attention. There’s more guidance on this below so that you come to the gathering space feeling prepared!
If you’ve never been to a workshop/course/gathering within Regarding Dew, here’s what you need to know:
1. ~Being around new people can be weird, but here it is fun~
2. Joining our shared space means that you agree to the Conditions of Gathering. Please spend a few minutes carefully reviewing the Conditions of Gathering before securing your reservation.
Some key points…
⦾ In order to create a sense of safety and reciprocity, cameras are on during the social parts (beginning and end)
⦾ You agree to bring your full presence to the activity at hand and the community that has gathered in order to best reap the fruits of your practice and honor the shared space
⦾ You share depending on your comfort and desire, meaning you might unmute to share or participate in the chat. I will never call on you—you are 100% welcome to practice passive participation. (If there are breakout rooms in this time—still deciding here—they remain completely optional)
3. I am not a productivity coach! Lord knows that’s not in the cards for me…
I’m a messy, creative artist who is obsessed with life. It’s taken years to learn to love what is in process, and to trust it, while also attending to creating systems of ease in my life.
My role is to support you in crafting a life that is beautiful and meaningful in all of the ways you can, and I’m interested in doing this together (the people who join the studio’s workshops and gatherings are deeply inspiring, funny, and kind—so you are in the best of company here)
Personally, this has been a year of getting back to basics and laying the foundation for my life through taking simple actions. In reading a booked called Already Free, Buddhism Meets Psychotherapy on the Path of Liberation by Bruce Tift, I recognized that attending to open loops (trusting that I could face what was unclear and daunting, including the shame of feeling ~all over the place~) increased my sense of ‘embodied immediacy’ in profound and fundamental ways. This created opening for true rest and sustained right action.
At this time, there are no plans to re-offer this workshop beyond the two dates listed above (January 4th and 7th), so if you want to start your January with closing some loops together, please join us!
By becoming a paid subscriber, you’ll see the rest of this letter including the Pre-Workshop Prep and how to join.
Want to join with a friend? Forward this email by clicking below.
Pre-Workshop Prep
Brain dump:
What have you been putting off? What are the open loops? Dump everything as a list.
(Be careful not to create open loops here—if you weren’t planning on painting the kitchen cabinets two minutes ago, keep it off the list!)