Dancing with the Muse

{in the dark}. (I'm breaking a rule I set for myself years ago because I think this conversation is worth sharing)

At Refine {the retreat} in March, I gave a talk on learning to pivot creatively, called, “Dancing With The Muse {In The Dark}. This was a talk born out of layers of heartbreak and some little “t” trauma recovery that I never imagined I’d be walking through. If you’d told me 10 years ago I’d be writing or talking about this, I would have waved my hand in naïve dismissal.

For nearly 10 years I have long held firm to my insistence on keeping all parts of the Refine experience exclusive to the women who attend the retreat in person. The whole weekend is such a sacred and special encounter that it has never felt right to share it with those “outside of the room”. Context matters, and the workshops at Refine are given in a specific context, to a specific group of women, for a specific purpose. I teased in my last article that I’d be sharing about this, and after much deliberation and re-listening to my recorded talk from the last retreat, I decided that I would break my own rule, and share the actual recording of this session with those of you who were not present with us on retreat.

This particular talk around the topic of the creative pivot feels like something intended for others to hear. So, I am opening the door to the room that is usually closed, (except to a trusted few), to you today, in hopes that you find something here that helps. (Scroll to the end of the article for the audio.)