Video of Amy & her seven-year-old daughter climbing the rocks at Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia.

Episode VII - A simple study on how becoming a mother alters a woman's life. Every decision, every movement is factoring in someone else.

Creative Field Notes is a series that studies the way creativity weaves itself throughout and communicates with all aspects of the natural rhythms of life.

Rushing and racing and running in circles
Moving so fast, I'm forgetting my purpose
Blur of the traffic is sending me spinning, getting nowhere

My head and my heart are colliding, chaotic
Pace of the world, I just wish I could stop it

- Emmy Rossum - Slow Me Down Lyrics

Since the beginning days of 2022, I have felt this build-up of unrest and concern. Something within was becoming at odds with the world around me. I have learned over the years that this often occurs before or during significant change.

The Summer of Slow is a meditation to remind me of my values in my personal and professional life.

What it looks like:

• Maintaining a strong AM / PM Routine (morning workout, breakfast, journals - bedtime routine etc.)

• Everything between the AM / PM routine is unscheduled (don’t freak out: appts, and contract deadlines still maintain a place in the calendar)

• A weekly beach day or evening

• Write a letter weekly (communicating with those I love slowly)

• Document mindfully (follow the inspirations and whims)

• Read for work & pleasure often.

• Visit the library often.

The world we live in is not a world that is geared to slow, yet the best and most provocative work I have been moved by so often has the story of years of thought and mindful work behind it.

I want to be that type of person.

The one who puts every ounce of insight thought, and curiosity into their work.
One can only do that at a mindful pace and from a place of intentional space.
Yet structure is where the work is honed, which is what I also seek to find in my Summer of Slow.

I seek to mine the gemstones of meditative thinking, processing, being and creating.

The underpinnings of what it means to slow the heartbeat to hear the world around me so that when I speak and move, I am doing it from a place of anchored confidence, compassion and intentions.

Onwards,

The noise of the world is getting me caught up
Chasing the clock and I wish I could stop it
Just need to breathe, somebody please
Slow me down

Episode 2 - Reflections on the weight of trauma and what it means to give space for others and the situations we are unaware of.

Creative Field Notes is a series that studies the way creativity weaves itself throughout and communicates with all aspects of the natural rhythms of life.

*a note:

Throughout February, I became more heavily burdened for the words we use to communicate our own perspectives.
Watching posts on social media become more and more volatile and disrespectful.
It is damaging when we create outrage on the internet yet miss the ones beside us who are suffering.

We ‘other’ others without hesitation. We insert sarcastic emojis, gifs and snippets of news clips to demand our point and our outrage to be seen.

Yet,

We have become increasingly numb to the trauma and wounds of others.

Seeing the trees around us bear the weight of the winter ice and winds reminded us how much we are all carrying.
And by we, I mean…
The ‘we’ of humanity. ‘We’ the breathing. ‘We’ the me and ‘we’ the you.
’We’ the ‘every’ side.

May we collectively remember, especially now, what it means to support those who are suffering, to be the place they can recover and find strength and not the place they struggle to survive and begin to break under the weight of our own words and actions.

In late 2020 I ended up riffing a pilot episode idea with my husband as we were getting ready for bed.

The more we talked, the more we got excited about the idea. Within minutes of showering, nightly skin-care routine, and plugging in our iPhones, it felt like an opening scene was taking shape.

I ended up writing that scene to humour him and myself.

I let him read it over Christmas break.

Cut to the new year, and I knew I wanted to work on this concept more, but how?

I had other projects to attend to.

So we decided to set a goal of a specific page number a week.

It has been a rewarding and fun experience.

He gets to read and enjoy the development process of making something from nothing once a week, and I get to have a specific type of accountability that keeps me current with my goals.

In this, it’s not about perfection, but about the progress and attempt to continue the narrative.

Who knows where this one will lead us, but it’s connecting us in something I am working on. It’s an enjoyable and challenging diversion that grows me and, it gives us something to discuss that is more than just “what’s the next chore that needs to be tackled?”