LEAP into LEAP YEAR: explore a deeper, more curious life in a community of whole-hearted learners
Jan 1 - Feb 29, 2024. Open to only 37 people.
\nI used to love getting new school supplies every August, and each September felt like a wide-open book waiting to be written. Yes, I was a Nerd Girl from a young age, and I still am. Notebooks, pencils, pens, stickers, folders, all the things. I love them. There is great satisfaction throughout my whole body when I feel like a fresh start is coming. I love the anticipation, and I love the momentum I feel. I still find myself loving September in exactly the same way. CLEAR THE DECKS, I’M HERE. Does anyone else see great possibility in a pristine package of college-ruled paper? \n \nSo when there is a WHOLE NEW YEAR, well, the excitement level is off the charts. And I long for a compass to find my way through the whole new life I can create for myself–all those blank pages! I know from so many New Years on the planet that much of that “whole new life” will look a lot like the same life I have already created but with important distinctions of new directions of intention. And on top of that, a leap year? A WHOLE EXTRA DAY. It’s like magic. WHERE THE HELL DOES THAT EXTRA DAY VACATION ALL THOSE OTHER YEARS?
What does a New Year promise us?
\nA chance to start. To start again. Without any shame about past starts and stops. God knows there have been plenty of those. Usually, it’s because I’ve planned too much all at once: I’ll write books, lose weight, be kinder, only curse on Wednesdays, learn to sew…. You get the idea. You’ve no doubt done it yourself. Then we inevitably falter, beat up on ourselves, and feel shame about failing–again. \n \nWhat if a New Year was, instead, an opportunity to learn things we have never known before, and to dive into ideas that enhance our lives without our needing to justify learning them? “What is this FOR?” will be an outlawed question. It is for living, for deepening our understanding of something we know nothing about, and just for the sheer enjoyment of doing so, not because it has utilitarian value. What we explore will be radical in a culture of utilitarianism and commercialism. \n \nHave you ever explored philosophy, art, or poetry? What do you know about the real history of Indigenous people in the United States and beyond? What stolen land are you living on? Have you ever read a book written in the form of a rondo? \n \nWhat if setting goals could be seen as an experiment, not a whipping post? What if lowering our bar were required rather than shunned? \n \nWhat if we knew more about our patterns when we feel uncomfortable? What would that tell us? What poets have shed light on this through their words? \n \nAll these “what ifs” excite me. What if I wrote a Haiku book review of every book I read in 2024? What if I created a small painting every Monday? What if I decide I don’t like creating a small painting every Monday? I CHANGE THE GOAL rather than consider myself a failure. GOALS ARE JUST EXPERIMENTS. What are the ramifications of that statement in your life? \n \n \n
Gatherings of Ideas and People
\nWhen in your life do you gather with intellectually and emotionally curious people from around the world and talk about ideas? Have you ever longed to have lived during the days of the great Salons of Paris when people gathered and talked about ideas BECAUSE THEY COULD? The Big Difference, of course, is that our modern-day Salons will be vastly more diverse than they were in the 18th century. \n \nThe French salon, a product of the Enlightenment in the early 18th century, was a key institution in which women played a central role. Salons provided a place for women and men to congregate for intellectual discourse, exchange ideas, receive and give feedback, read their own works, and hear the works and ideas of others. \n \nDoesn’t that sound luscious? Ideas for the sake of ideas? Thinking for the sake of thinking? Exchanging ideas and all that comes with that kind of additive process? Ideas bumping up against each other–it sounds like heaven. We’ll take it a step further–not just ideas for the sake of ideas, but ideas for the sake of creating, living more mindfully, and feeling more inspired and enriched. Your mind will expand, and your way of thinking and being in the world will change. \n \n \n
Become a Flâneur in Your Daily Life
\nYou will be invited to become a “flâneur” in the best sense of that word: having the ability to wander detached from society with no other purpose than to be an acute observer of contemporary life. You’ll be asked to notice what you notice in a way you haven’t done before, to walk around and experience art (and writing) in a different way. You’ll be asked to take these ideas into your daily life each month. \n \nAs a community, we’ll explore all these things—and much more. Have you ever read T.S. Eliot’s “The Four Quartets”? We’ll do that. And poetry by Toi Derricotte, too. We’ll explore entry points into poetry: reading it, enjoying it, not intellectualizing it, but feeling it, dancing it, reading it aloud, and creating our own. In it, you’ll find things that fuel you–I can promise you that. In that exploration, you will learn about yourself–and what you want to move toward in your life (and what you want to move away from, too.) \n \nHave you read James Baldwin? We’ll do that, too. And look at lyrics by Tracy Chapman and Johnny Cash. There is no limit to what we will do together, the strings we will find that link disparate things together, the ways in which we will learn to make meaning. \n \n \n
Costs
\nOur work together from January 1 - February 29 will cost $237. \n \nAfter that time, you’ll be invited to continue the process with an optional $37 monthly subscription to continue the process through 2024. \n \nYou can decide at the end of February if the 12-month commitment is for you. Only 37 participants will be accepted into the program each January. \n \nYou cannot join the monthly subscription if you haven’t participated in the Jan/Feb program. \n \n \n
Program Components
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Thinking Prompts online every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (readings, writing prompts, explorations in nature, and more)
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Weekly Discussion questions for the whole community to explore together online
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A robust online community space for dialogue with opportunities for community members to start their own dialogues as well as respond to those provided
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Monthly Zoom Gatherings on the fourth Wednesday of each month (7-8pm EST). These will be recorded for those who can’t join us live.
\n \n \nHave questions? Send them to patti@pattidigh.com.