September 12, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, I keep practicing showing up with authenticity and intention, even if I feel anxiety or fear about it. This summer I attended “Why Feel? Healing Our Lineages and Transforming Our Communities,” a workshop where Prentis Hemphill spoke to how fear can exist alongside courageous actions. I was invited into a meditation on the source of the water we drink, how our body is water. I was asked to remember a moment when I felt awe,...
21 days ago • 2 min read
August 29, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, A couple weeks ago I started feeling like I was being chased by a tiger. The “tiger” started chasing me after a loved one shared their new life threatening medical diagnosis. I asked myself a series of Resilience Toolkit questions, “What’s my stress state?” A tiger chasing me = high stress vibes, maybe a 9/10. “How do I know?” I noticed my fast heart rate, irritability, difficulty concentrating, tight breaths. I asked, “Is...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
August 15, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Join me for Somatic Sometimes, August 24 at 10 a.m. PT in-person in Portland. Hello Reader, Everyday we navigate environments full of pressure, constraints, safety or lack thereof, possibility, beauty, change. We can be hard on ourselves when we end up facing what we already faced long ago. “After all this time, I’m still in this same situation.” Yes, we may be in a familiar situation. Now we have more experience and tools. When I am...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, Years ago when I left Los Angeles to farm for a year, my favorite tool was the broad fork, used to turn over the compacted earth to aerate the soil. With my body weight I jumped on the bar. As I shifted my weight, the tines dug deep in the soil to create space for abundance. I often circle grief. Loss that is cumulative, ancient, larger than one person. When my grief is packed down like dense soil, I need a broad fork to open up the earth....
2 months ago • 2 min read
July 11, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Join me in person in Portland for "Somatic Sometimes" at the Breathe Building on Saturday August 24 at 10 a.m. PT. Hello Reader, “Why is there shame in not being busy?”Abadesi Osunsade asks in a Guardian article featuring people turning to the “soft life.” A turn away from productivity burnout towards the “lazy girl job,” “quiet quitting,” “bare minimum Mondays.” A friend and I joked that as former “gifted and talented” children, how we are...
3 months ago • 2 min read
June 27, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Join me in person in Portland for "Somatic Sometimes" at the Breathe Building on Saturday August 24 at 10 a.m. PT. Hello Reader, Embodied expression is beautiful and subversive. Mainstream culture tries to bend people into certain shapes, color palettes, sounds, silence — a narrow lens, destructive and unimaginative. Musician Devendra Banhart says: “It feels like fashion is the room that our bodies reside in, that’s going to affect the way...
3 months ago • 2 min read
June 13, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, Self adornment is a natural form of embodiment. Even our plant and animal kin adorn and camouflage. Clothing, hair, jewelry, tattoos, perfumes, makeup or the absence or minimalism of these things, is a way to play, be rooted, expansive. Brian Lin writes "I would go and recover my past selves. All the people I wished to become by buying that book, that record, that garment.” Lin speaks to queerness, the body, fashion: “Queer as...
4 months ago • 3 min read
May 30, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, Creative process over the long haul fascinates me. A decade ago, I was turned down by several competitive fully-funded traditional MFA programs. I kept writing. Through residencies and fellowships, I found mentors, community and friends. Author and therapist Sahaj Kaur Kohli once posted a question on belonging and achievement, which I'll paraphrase, “If you could achieve this thing, and no one would know, would you still want to...
4 months ago • 3 min read
May 9, 2024 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, For years when I looked at my professional (‘pay the bills’ work) and creative life (labor of love, rarely paid), all my paths felt fragmented. Cue the Talking Heads song “Once in a Lifetime.” This catchy earworm produced by Brian Eno took inspiration from Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat music. The song lyrics ask “Well, how did I get here?” How did I get here? Slowly. Think: snail, sloth, tortoise. Slow paces are just as real as the fast...
5 months ago • 2 min read