Seven Rooms:
Experiments in delight-taking and peace-making
An online course beginning in February 2024
Hello, dear one.
I don’t know about you,
but I’m bone-tired
of too-loud conversations
about self-improvement
and better habits.
I’m tired of
making a factory line
of my life.
I’m tired of the myth
that there’s something wrong with us.
(What if we’re not broken
at all?)
I’m also tired because:
pandemics
war
all the usual
man-made heartbreak.
And I wonder
if the great uncovering
of the world’s suffering
isn’t happening
because of love?
Because so many humans
have lost faith in systems
designed to keep us small.
Because we are imagining
and creating
more compassionate ways
to live
more fully
together?
And that reminds me
of Rumi’s poem,
The Guest House which begins,
“This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.”
and then he says,
“Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.”
Oh! (Monna here!)
As hard as we try,
it always comes back
to the laundry.
Welcome to Seven Rooms.
This course is not about changing your life but about accepting the life you are in and making it as lovely as possible.
When we’re busy making a factory line of our lives, we’re less likely to give ourselves over to the deep, essential questions that give our lives meaning. These questions that give the asker agency over her life:
*How do I want to spend the days I’ve been given?
*What are my priorities given that I won’t live forever?
*How can I live my life in a way that’s more closely aligned to my values?
*What do I want to make, create, build or solve?
*If I drew a line, today, between the person others expect me to be and who I want to be, what would I do or change first?
*How do I want to show up for myself?
*How can I be of service to others right now?
*How can I embody love?
*How do I want to feel?
Asking these questions may feel scary at first but let’s ask them anyway.
When I began planning this course, the feeling states most important to me in this season of my life are peace and delight. If you’d asked me five years ago, my tiny list would have included freedom but I’ve discovered, at long last, that I’m already free and that I always have been.
What about you?
How do you want to feel inside your skin as we swim out into the fresh waters of 2024?
What would feel sparkly to you?
What would feel like home?
Close your eyes and consider these questions.
Feel the possibilities in your body.
Isn’t that lovely?
You are doing such a beautiful job of being you.
It’s highly unlikely that the way you want to feel is connected to external things like a fancier car or marble countertops in your kitchen ~ although there’s nothing wrong with a lovely marble countertop.
You don’t need need anything else, including the permission of another living soul. We write our own permission slips in Seven Rooms.
Let’s get started, shall we.
This new course is called Seven Rooms: Experiments in peace-making and delight-taking.
I’d like to suggest that the subtitle will be different for each person who takes the course, based on what you need right now and the questions you’re exploring.
You might need one of the following:
Seven Rooms: Invitations to Slow Down
Seven Rooms: Field Notes on the Setting and Maintenance of Boundaries
Seven Rooms: How I’ll Spend my Third Act
Seven Rooms: Experiments in Radical Self Love
Seven Rooms: A Guide to Finishing my Novel
The course is built on the idea of creating a metaphorical home for yourself.
The metaphor I am using to structure the course is that of a Japanese home built around an interior courtyard. There are seven rooms, or distinct spaces, that we’ll explore, decorate and live in during this two-month course. You may choose to add additional rooms to your house, even a second storey.
Your weekly lesson will include a short story based on characters from The 38 Impossible Loves of Naoko Nishizawa and from After Everything. There will be resources, strategies to employ, and experiments to try if and when you want.
I would call this a deep feeling course, an exploration. There is no homework. There’s nothing you need to do but my strong belief is that certain ideas will float up to the surface and you will recognize with your deep wisdom and your flawless inner navigational system, yes, that’s the one. I want to spend some time with that idea. I’m going to date that idea for a while.
You can think of this course as the slightly older and wiser sibling to the Twinkle Light Sessions if you took that course with me. Same sweet vibe with less attachment to outcomes.
How this will work
This is an eight-week course
for tender-hearted people
who are ready to design
an inner-home-space
for the season of life
in which you find yourself.
There is not just ONE way
to create a home
but many.
We’ll visit the BIG ideas together
and then you’ll choose the
floor plan
materials
for you.
I’ll provide guidance
support
company
and tools.
WHAT YOU NEED TO BEGIN THE COURSE
1. A question, a desire or a need (perhaps more than one)
2. A place to record your thoughts. I recommend a brand new journal.
DATES + WEEKLY ZOOM CALLS
Seven Rooms will run for eight weeks ~ from Monday 12th February until Saturday 6th April 2024.
We will meet on Zoom on Saturdays at 4 p.m. Pacific time. Each class will include a writing prompt, some teaching and a period for discussion.
Here are the dates:
- Saturday 17th February
- Saturday 24th February
- Saturday 2nd March
- Saturday 9th March
- Saturday 16th March
- Saturday 23rd March
- Saturday 30th March
- Saturday 6th April
Please note that all classes will be recorded for those not able to attend. This is a change from my previous courses.
COURSE MODULES
For each room, there’s a central idea or focus:
Week 1 ~ Room 1: Genkan (or entry way where you remove your shoes) | What keeps us from ourselves
Week 2 ~ Room 2: Kamidana (“god shelf” or altar) | The Befriending of Yourself
Week 3 ~ Room 3: Tatami Room | Connecting with Others
Week 4 ~ Room 4: Bedroom | Rest and Relaxation
Week 5 ~ Room 5: Dining Room | Gentle Systems
Week 6 ~ Room 6: Kitchen | The Joyful Making of Things
Week 7 ~ Room 7: Courtyard | The Noticing and Celebration of Delights
Week 8 ~ House Tour | Final Class
WEEKLY EMAIL
At the beginning of each week, you’ll receive an email with the week’s lesson in writing and as an audio recording if you would prefer to listen.
The lesson will include:
* key ideas around the week’s theme
* a short story based on characters from The 38 Impossible Loves of Naoko Nishizawa and from After Everything (Weeks 1 to 7)
* optional activities and questions for you to consider
* resources for this topic including recommendations for poetry, fiction, non-fiction, films and television
As always, with my courses, you are welcome to change any exercise to fit your situation or preferences and you are encouraged to do as much or as little as you’d like/are able. You are always invited to respond to the weekly email with any questions, concerns or thoughts which I will build into our live class.
THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU IF:
* you recognize that you’ve not been living/expriencing your life the way you’d like to
* you believe that you deserve to feel MORE (joy, peace, ease etc.)
* you believe you are the world’s leading expert at being YOU
* you’d like to re-think and re-create your own story
* you are ready to take very tiny actions on your own behalf
* you’re willing to play with writing, photography and other media in support of your vision for your life
THIS COURSE MAY NOT BE FOR YOU IF:
* you believe that there is a one-size-fits-all formula for feeling more joyful/peaceful/easeful
* you struggle to, or are not interested in, thinking metaphorically
* you are not interested in thinking differently about your life
INVESTMENT
Your investment in yourself for this eight-week experience is $350 Canadian Dollars.
If you are Canadian and would prefer to e-transfer your tuition from your bank account, please email me and we can set that up.
~ Thank you for trusting me! ~