Jacqueline Suskin, Poet and Author, "A Year in Practice"

  Welcome back, friends, to our podcast, Unlocking Your World of Creativity, and today our method of unlocking involves rituals and prompts that really can Well, what our author today says is awakening our creative expression.

It's going to be a terrific episode please welcome poet, author, educator, and speaker Jacqueline Suskin

hi, thanks

for having me. I love your experience leading workshops authoring articles and features and publications.

But your new book is just out, A Year in Practice, Seasonal Rituals and Prompts to Awaken Cycles of Creative Expression. It's just out from Sounds True. It's such an interesting idea of aligning these rituals to the seasons. Tell us about how, you became interested in structuring the book like this.

As someone whose creative practice is my main focus, and it's been my only job to be a poet for the last 14 years, I've had to consistently reconnect with what my practice looks like, and I think a lot of Artists will, connect with that because we're constantly trying to figure out what works best for us.

Like when is the right time of day to do this practice? When am I feeling most inspired? When should I maybe take a pause and step away? And I've, throughout my years of inquiry with this, I've found, the earth is my main Muse in all that I do, and so why not look to the earth for some affirmation about this cyclical need of mine?

Does the earth have information for me when it comes to me trying to find my low with my creative practice and As I asked that question, this book was born because the answer was a deep, resounding yes. And I found that each season had some information for me on when to retreat, when to contract, when to go inward, when to expand and go outward with my work.

And this book is a Exploration of that as a exploration of me, figuring out a rhythm that I realized worked for me, but that also gave a lot of information that I felt was very accessible and universal for anyone who's interested in that deep dig into finding the rhythm of their own practice. And

there's often I think about, there's books of prompts or there's books of inspiration, even journaling.

Hey, if you're going to write something, write this kind of amount each day, trying to create these rituals. Why is that important for us creative folks? It's interesting.

I feel like we get to these points, maybe on the timeline of our practice where we need a new muse or we need new information and input and inspiration to get us to move in a new direction.

Like maybe when we complete a project, or maybe there's a big transition in our life, like something huge changes. And then we have to reconnect and get ourselves back in line. And what does that look like? And how do we do that? And I think that. Everyone at some point on, the timeline of this experience does turn to other artists for information.

And I know for myself, whenever I would try to sort of better my practice or find new ways of, touching on that, I would look to artists who had previously inspired me with their work. And then I would read an interview with them or look to see if they talked about how their practice worked for them.

And it was really interesting to see how different Each person's practice was like every author and artist who I love and adore had their own approach. And so when I made this book, I definitely made sure to create something that wasn't prescriptive. It's not if you do this, then this will happen.

It's more like This energy is here and valuable for all of us at this point of year that will probably tell each person something different because everyone has their own unique perspective on what to do with specific energies. But the effect and the like actual presence of that seasonal energy is there for all of us to touch on and so the book is just this reminder that exists.

I like the differentiation, the distinguishing, you didn't write 5, 000 words this morning before nine o'clock, or you know you didn't do these five things that are going to make you more creative, but rather, wherever you are in your creative process your cycle I think about the natural creative roller coaster, wherever you are on that ride.

And you might be somewhere on that ride that totally aligns with the season that you're in, and you might be, like, really hard on yourself, feeling oh, I'm not being creative enough, or I don't have enough output right now, but that it's actually wintertime, and that's not what You're meant to be doing and your animal body is telling you, actually, could you just slow down?

And there's so many things distracting us from those moments of clarity that are inherently built in us that come from the natural world. Cause we are part of that, but we are distracted and we have forgotten that in so many moments. And so I think the idea that I have around creating a book like this is really just reminding people.

That this exists, that there's a framework that's already there. They don't have to reinvent the wheel. They don't have to figure it all out themselves. The earth actually is providing consistent wisdom. They just might need to reattune to that and remember that it exists and that it's for them.

accessible and it's free. It's constantly there offering its guidance, but we just have to turn to it and hopefully the book will spark that turning. Very good.

Perhaps you could share a excerpt from the book and yeah, something that might even align with the season we're in now.

I'd love to.

Yeah. There's a whole section in the winter part of the book. The winter part of the book is the longest because I personally love to create in the wintertime because it's on a different level of inspiration. It's like an inward exploration. It's calmer. It's quiet in that stillness. I often come to the heart of the matter.

And I, I usually try to give myself a lot of retreat time in the winter, just downtime. So that reflection time, everyone will find that differently. And there's this section in the book where I ask, where do you need to be in order to reflect? It's not always easy as saying, hey, it's winter, I'm ready to reflect.

Just as I have to get into the flow of rest, I have to set myself up for the work of reflection. It takes a lot of emotional effort to fully witness myself, even when I know I have the time and space to get into a reflective mindset, ask yourself to list some methods that you know help you with this kind of personal review.

Is there a tried and true tradition that you always use to get yourself into a state of mindfulness? Personally, I like to sit at my altar, stare at a candle, and focus on my breath for at least 10 minutes before I start my creative reverie. Maybe there's a time of day that you most enjoy this state of deep pondering.

Perhaps you like to walk with a notebook, or record yourself speaking aloud while you consider your inner workings. Or maybe you know you need to schedule uninterrupted time alone in order to get into your depths. Most often, it's the setting that I choose that helps me begin self exploration. It's sometimes less about the actual starting practice, and more about the amount of time and where I spend it that allows me to feel secure enough to look within.

For example, if I'm on a hike in the forest, I can almost immediately tune into my internal voice. Whereas if I'm stationary at home, it might take some breathing or stretching before I can get into the fullness of my rumination. Do you already know what works best for you? It can be helpful to list out your ideas and see how they align with the following methods I offer for practicing reflection.

So I go on to give these different practices where people can tune into whatever resonates for them and find that starting place so that they don't have to just feel like, Oh, I should be. able to reflect immediately. There's a lot of gearing up that needs to happen. And sometimes we know what works best for us.

And sometimes we have to experiment and try to figure out what that starting place looks like.

So good. And I guess while we're talking about the book where can folks connect with you and follow some of your work? And I know sometimes you post these almost daily ideas and inspirations.

Yeah, I use Instagram quite frequently and I also have a sub stack that I put out a newsletter just once a month. So it's not a ton of writing, but it's an update and usually some idea of what I've been pondering over the month. And then I have this is my eighth book. So I have many books out there in the world for people to enjoy.

Where all great books are sold.

Yes, perfect. That Instagram handle is jsuskin. So we'll look for that. And you have the whole link tree with lots of good links and resources. So we'll find it there. You've got me thinking about the seasons and how you've aligned these chapters and these themes.

So we've just been talking about winter. Maybe you give us a snippet of what are the cyclical. Motivations or inspirations per season,

right? Yeah. So winter, like I said, is this reflection introspective time and really focuses on rest and then spring comes along and I think. Was my most surprising chapter in the book because spring actually is quite hard for me.

It's really intense to return to the world from that time of, that, that cave time that I like to call it with the winter, pause that you get. And I think that being really careful with that transition is important and that spring has two sections. And once you're fully in spring, once you've reemerged that chaos and frantic energy can be.

Regulate it a little bit more. And that's where a lot of our, excitement comes from and we're ready for it. But I think preparing yourself for that level of exposure and knowing that it can be harsh and intense is really important because that affects our work. You don't want to come out of your cave too soon.

And then lose that momentum that was brewing when you let yourself have that pause. And then equally, once spring gives you its charge, you take that into summer. And summer is this beautiful communal time where we share our energy and we're out there. We share our work with other people.

We tend to be together a lot. And Again I've had a lot of friends say sometimes I need a little winter in summer. Sometimes we have to turn back to the energy of some other season in a different season. And I try to support that throughout the book, but it's not as simple as just, I'm in this season, so I should be ready to go and be with people all the time.

It's more Oh, I can remember what it was like to turn inward. I know that. Feeling I've memorized it and learned it. And so I can access that when I need to. And then fall has you wind down again and collect all of your resources. There's one last big burst of energy. And again, I think that transition from fall to winter can be really difficult.

The transition from spring to fall can be difficult. So noting. These changes and how that might affect your mood and your ability to show up to your creative practice. I think that can be really transformative to just allowing yourself to turn your inner critic down and say, Oh, you know what?

Actually, I'm perfectly aligned with what's happening with the natural world. And this makes total sense. And I don't have to be hard on myself. I can actually see how this connects to what's happening in the world around me.

I like what you're saying about natural alignment. And my ear caught a little thing that you said, and I thought I would highlight it for all of us.

And that is the should be, that sometimes we feel like it's summer. I'm supposed to be like you just said but going with this natural alignment and natural waves and being where you need to be, huh?

Yeah, I know that there's some part of it that seems so simple and yet I feel like there's so much that kind of takes away from our ability to connect with the simplicity of that rhythm, and that's.

Not necessarily on us as individuals, there's a societal framework there that is overshadowing the simplicity of that cadence. And I think that there's a lot of power in being able to return to that.

The book is a year in practice and Publisher Weekly published a review and they said it's lyrical prose and.

A cohesive structure that makes this accessible to dabblers and committed artists alike. First of all, this clash of lyrical prose and cohesive structure. You talk about something for both sides of the brain, huh?

Literally that was like describing me as a person. Okay, there

you go.

Which is whenever I put a book out, I'm always You know, this is my brain in a book.

So

I love that. But then let's take the second half of this. It's dabblers and committed artists alike. I think on the committed artist side, of course, we need, structure and we need rituals and we need practice, but this idea that it would be available. to people who are just trying to access maybe another creative part of their soul.

They're just work, or family. And it's I need a little creative expression for myself. I suppose there's ideas in here in your book for people like that too. Oh

yeah, I really focus with all of my work on trying to make things extremely accessible and the idea that you could just dip in and try out one of these practices and like you could read one section and think, Oh, I could apply that in this way in my life.

For 10 minutes or something once a week and just see what happens. And that, I think the people who are curious about that and want to experiment with that, I'm interested in offering up just little invitations and pathways into practice that, might not become, yeah, this rigorous discipline that you apply to your life, but that might just enrich you every once in a while, enough that you could open up a new part of.

Very nice. Maybe we could get another dose of inspiration from you. Do you have another poem that you might read or an excerpt from

the book? Absolutely. Yeah, I think sticking with the winter section. I really like the idea of rest and I'll read the there are these meditative poems that kind of break up the chapters and this is the first one.

It's called rest. Imagine all of the life underground that is waiting for spring. Envision the resting roots, the sleeping creatures, and everything below the surface that is paused for the season. Feel the fullness of this stillness. Feel the necessity of this calmness. There is silence here, in every den, in every inch of cold dirt.

There is silence in your home as well. Your body needs this pause. Your mind revels in this quietness. Winter speaks to you and says, Rush no longer. Put down whatever you carry. Curl up and rest. Scan yourself from toe to head and head to toe. Letting yourself unwind. Releasing all demands, breathe into every inch of your body as it relaxes into this healing state.

Imagine yourself in a warm cocoon, wrapped in glowing light. No need to go anywhere or do anything. No need for any plan at all. Return to this place of respite every time you crave the grace of winter's restful energy. Remember, everything else is asleep now, too. Give yourself permission to go into the cave and turn inward.

Yeah, that's

wonderful. We've been listening to Jacqueline Suskin share some of her seasonal insights as part of the book, A Year in Practice. So thinking about that idea of rest. We artists hit blocks, we hit obstacles, we find potholes, and we think we need to take action, overcome those things, get up and get back out there, but I'm inspired by this that says maybe you're not meant to, jump that wall today.

Take a moment, take some rest.

Yeah, a lot of times that's where I find the, my best ideas is when I give myself some pause and stillness and I turn my mind down because if I'm in a rushed state or a frantic state, there's probably too many ideas coming all at once. And I can't decipher which is which and it's hard to weave them together.

But if I really practice slowing down, then I usually can differentiate between those things.

And I think about teaching this to adults, but I'm thinking about children and in schools and universities. These are tools for a lifetime. And you had a chance to be recognized by Michelle Obama as one of the turnaround artists a few years back and teach these principles among others.

What do you think we need to learn and put into the schools for this?

I'm still working in the schools and I love it because the students are so ready to unlock all this that lives inside of them. Like I, I think of all of these things as very human and inherent. There are lessons that are just right below the surface there.

It's wisdom that we all carry with us and kids are especially ready to unlock that. And so working in the classroom is really just giving them this opportunity. And I, I. Really focus on the natural world as the thing that unlocks that and that they have a place in that and their sense of belonging in the natural world is full and real and they just need that chance in that space to realize that.

And they do almost instantly. They're just if they're given the chance. If they're reminded, if I can talk about any of these things with them for five, 10 minutes, and then ask them, would you like to write a poem about the natural world? Whatever your experience is with it. Usually I ask them to start with their senses and find their way in with their own senses, their own memories they do.

And they have so much to say. They have so much insight that lives right there on the surface. And I think for me, that's

We just all carry this with us. It doesn't matter how old we are. I don't think it goes away. Sometimes I think it's, with age or with circumstance, it's probably much harder to access this idea of what the earth offers us in this form of embodiment and this connection. There's a lot in the way of that, but.

offering any kind of opportunity for someone to have that invitation to reenter it or become acquainted again. I think that there's this great reward that comes clear pretty quickly and especially with students.

And you reminded me, as you talk about the natural world, how many inventors, writers scientists of all kinds are inspired by things in the natural world.

And I was wondering from your inspiration, whether it's other artists, other literature, where do you draw some of your inspiration?

Definitely from just going outside. I make myself go outside all the time. And that again, sounds really simple, but there's so much in the way of many of us being able to just go outside, or even if we did, where would we begin?

And I think that, I practice. Going outside, tuning my senses into what it looks like to be in a place that is not my home and be out underneath the open sky or stand on the cold ground and, just let myself feel that. And that keeps me attuned, that keeps me curious and asking questions that help me return to the voice of the planet.

But then also, yeah, there are many writers who reinforce this in my life. I'm a huge fan of Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver, Ross Gay, Camille T. Dungy, like all these people who write so beautifully about the intersection of human and planet. Yeah, I think

It's not only the going outside, but it's observing it, first of all, like I'm really looking, I'm not just browsing around, but I'm really observing.

And one of my early authors in this genre was Diane Ackerman. And she just had a way of describing what she was seeing. It was more than just putting you in the scene. It was really drawing that emotional, learning from what she was seeing. Yeah.

And I think there's something in that noticing that observation, which obviously gives way to great art, but also can be this like incredible healing tool, because as you notice, and you get deeper and deeper into the detail, you recognize how much is actually there for you all the time.

And it, it gives me this feeling of great bounty. Like the earth is constantly supplying me with. infinite bounty, wisdom, guidance, inspiration, beauty, all of it. And it's all there for me all the time. All I have to do is, train myself to pay attention. And I consider that as cultivating this poetic mindset.

I talk about that a lot in the last book I wrote is called every day is a poem. And it's all about this mindset of the poet and what that is to observe and what that does for us and what that great reward actually can be on and off the page.

Very good. Perhaps you could share another poem with us before I ask you some closing questions.

Sure.

So this poem is called The Eye of Consciousness. I'm Jacqueline Suskin, it appears in my book, A Year in Practice, and it comes from this idea of what happens when we turn inward. The eye of consciousness. We call the moment brutal, tallying death as we mark history, losing traction, watching the whole function of the free world loosen its grip on erratic reality.

But consciousness is an open eye that witnesses everything without cringing, without blinking, ever aware and curious. It does not have a body. It floats through us, the cosmos, taking note. Even now it stares unfazed, receiving the current chaos, recognizing familiar devastation, awash in the constant rush of information that will soon again change.

It leaves this small point in time for the next, all past held in pupil, all knowledge in iris, weightless.

isteners who are Embarking on: 2024

trAnsform, change, left turn, right turn, we're going in a bit of a different direction. Give us some encouragement from your experience that might support this journey this year.

The first thing that comes to mind is that you're in the perfect time to do that figuring because The beginning of the year, the winter season is so full of time and space for that slow, careful reflection.

And that will usually be the time in my life when I will piece together what the coming year will look like for me. And I love to think about time and my practice in sections like this. Not just seasonally, but also just When I consider the expanse of a year or what I might get done in a year, the first thing I ask myself is where am I at energetically?

How am I feeling my mind, my body, my spirit? Because those things have to be tended before I could ask myself to make something new. And if I don't tend those things. then when I try to show up to my practice and make something new, it might be a little bit watered down or it might be confusing. It might be a little less complex than I'd like it to be because I don't have the energy to attend to it as I would like to.

So in this winter season, in this new season of a new year, there's this chance to get yourself feeling whatever level of energy you need to feel in order to step into that new creation. And I think that's where I would suggest that you begin finding some alignment with that kind of care and consideration.

veRy

good. That's just the kind of encouragement we need, especially in the middle of winter, wherever we are, it might be covered with snow or we might be on the beach, but it's still winter, right? So these these. Seasonal forces. Thanks so much. My guest has been poet, author, educator, and the educator, I should emphasize more.

You're still working in the classroom and helping the next generation of creators come up. So thanks for sharing all that. So Jacqueline Suskin has been my guest. You can visit her website, JacquelineSuskin. com and her Instagram is jsuskin. Thanks so much, Jacqueline. I've really enjoyed the conversation and really have been quite inspired by some of these ideas.

Thanks so much for having me. . We've stamped our creative passport in Detroit today, and we're going to be continuing our around the world journeys, talking to creative practitioners. And I really like to underscore that word practitioner because it's great to feel creative, but we actually like to produce the work and share it and get it out in the world.

And that's what this podcast is all about. So we'll inspire for sure, but we'll also learn how to gain the confidence and the connections to launch our work out into the world. And we're approaching our milestone episode 300. We'll have a reunion of guests planned. So you won't want to miss that. So it's a great time to subscribe to the podcast on any of your favorite apps.

We're on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon music, Audacy, iHeart, All the podcast apps. So be sure you subscribe now. So until next time, I'm Mark Stenson, and we'll continue to unlock your world of creativity.