A Gentle New Year’s Reflections and Visioning Practice

Happy New Year!

In such a monumentally symbolic time of year, especially THIS year, making time to reflect and visualize feels…a little overwhelming. 

What if I don’t have time to do a deep dive? Taking 15 minutes could be exactly what you need.

What if I don’t ask myself all the right questions? The questions you do ask yourself will be exactly right.

What if I’m not creating something deserving of the gravitas of this moment as we depart from 2020? Sometimes simple is the most elegant. 

Which is why I’ve decided to ask myself the same questions I have for the past few years – and share them with you in a fresh design to fill in:

• What have I accomplished this year? 

• What am I grateful for?

• What am I letting go of? 

• What am I opening up to?

• What do I want to attract in my life this year?

For me, taking any amount of time, whether it’s a few minutes or a few hours, around each new year to reflect and focus my energy for the coming calendar year feels powerful and uplifting. Energy flows where attention goes. 

It’s an opportunity to create clarity for myself among a world of unknowns. It’s creating space to center – that center we can all return to and tap into during the moments of cray cray. 

If you’d like more ConverSketch ideas for New Years visioning, here’s the archive from 2020, 2019, and 2017. If a template feels too prescriptive, check out my favorite tips for creating your own custom vision board.

If you’re ready for a deeper dive, Sarah Firth has created a gorgeous digital download or printed workbook to fill in throughout the whole year. There are even two different covers to choose from and color!

Once again, thank you from my heart and soul for your support, great senses of humor, brilliant minds, collaboration and what you're each doing to make the world a better place.

Cheers, 

Where in the Virtual World is ConverSketch?

Resting  Happy Winter!

Getting ready for the virtual National Council on Science and the Environment + Drawdown next week. The theme is Research to Action and I’m looking forward to seeing researchers and practitioners connecting! 

Ready for 2021? Let’s explore how graphic recording can help make meetings better - even virtual ones!

Weird Holidays? Draw Happy Little Winter Trees

Hello!

As we lean into the darkest time of the year here in the Northern Hemisphere, creating space, physically or mentally, to rest can feed our souls. 

In this especially weird year, it might feel better to begin looking forward as soon each day will get a little longer. Stay tuned for one more ConverSketch newsletter before the end of the year with a template to help guide a vision board for 2021.

For now, here’s one way to draw some Happy Little Winter Trees – have fun, play, and root down to cultivate presence with a tree doodle. 

Wishing you a warm, joyful, and safe holiday season. I am SO APPRECIATIVE that you’re a part of my life and I’m looking forward to celebrating and co-creating safely together in 2021!

Cheers, 

Where in the Virtual World is ConverSketch?

Denver Housing Authority: Designing and guiding a three-part series for a team to fortify their connections after months working virtually and to explore ways to help each other and participants in a very complex system.

Virtual Facilitation Workshop for the Earth Leadership Program: Equipping researchers with best practices for virtual meeting platforms, how to design an engaging online process, and tips and tricks to plan for a successful convening in a remote world. 

Southwest Beef Knowledge Network: How can ranchers raise healthy cows in a way that supports the environment and can be adapted to a changing climate? This network shared best practices in ranching and education around their findings, a rare and delightful combination (get the beef pun?).

Painting: After many months not feeling extra creativity beyond ConverSketching, recently I picked up my paintbrushes and dove into an acrylic painting project. Rivers and Canyons are special places for me, so this painting will happily hang in our home.

Your WFH Refresh

By now, you’re all WFH (Work From Home) pros, figuring out systems that work for you. Kid/dog busts in during a zoom meeting? You’ve got a virtual background for that. Video call fatigue? You’ve got a stockpile of great questions to reenergize the group in breakout rooms. 

That being said, covid is testing our limits, and it’s challenging. As the northern hemisphere is heading into winter with longer nights and more time indoors, the struggle can most definitely be real. 

Lately, I’ve been digging back into these tips to help myself stay focused when I need to, and remind myself to take breaks to maintain my sanity.

So it’s a Graphic Facilitator’s WFH Tips remix this week! The timer has been especially clutch to help me back away slowly from news websites and drop into a focused space to work on what matters – projects with you all! 

Click through the gallery to see each image larger.

What are your best tips for working from home? If you don’t see yours below, send me a note and it might make it into Part III!

And remember, most of all, no matter what, you’re doing it. You’re a bright and valued person, you are loved, and you are doing the best you can. Thank you for what you do to make this world a better place!

Cheers, 

Where in the Virtual World is ConverSketch?

Alabama-Coushatta Tribe: Mapping out the priorities, needs, and opportunities of the Tribal Council.

Denver Housing Authority: Visually facilitating the first of three virtual retreat meetings focused on creating connections and a shared vision while working remotely. We mapped the team on the Enneagram circle using Google Jamboard to work collaboratively in real-time to reflect and learn about each other!

Studio Reveal: Hiring Barriers and Biases. Over the past few weeks, I collaborated with a team at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to visually map the challenges to BIPOC in applying for and getting hired at the agency. I’m looking forward to seeing how the shifts this team identified can create a more welcoming and inclusive environment!