A look back at 2023 | #26

Celebrating the little things in a year of growth and grounding

I recall many occasions while writing morning pages, how much disbelief I had that the year was galloping towards the middle and then suddenly the end. And as I write this, we have four days left until 2024!

Here is a recap of my year across my practices:

Creative practices

Writing Becoming Caryn: This newsletter is probably the biggest achievement of my 2023. At the end of a writing retreat in Feb 2023, on a Mexican balcony overlooking the sea, I committed to publishing this newsletter twice a month.

I stuck to my writing cadence and sometimes wrote even more regularly! Writing this newsletter especially in community with an authoring circle through

Spirit of Foster

is one of the most joyous parts of my weeks. It allows me to share my life with others, and serves as an outlet to explore ideas and develop a deeper sense of myself. Naming this newsletter coincided with its first issue, which was me willing myself to have the courage to step further into becoming me, I am glad to say this year and this newsletter has been exactly that. Join me as I continue the journey into 2024:

Toby Jolly

and I are kicking off a regular writing circle on Sunday after ecstatic dance and sauna at the Old Baths in Hackney Wick. You can join for all three or just come to write with us. If you want to join us, let me know.

Painting and multi-disciplinary creations: I sold an oil painting this year — my first ever sale! I also painted over 88 paintings (I stopped counting at some point), mostly of life models and portrait sitters.

In the last quarter of the year, I studied at the Royal Drawing School and paused painting to do a LOAD of life-drawing.

I was immensely dedicated and intense about painting this year and while I am glad that I had the time to immerse myself in it, I suspect it will permeate less of my time in 2024. This is mainly to make room for my ever-growing multi-disciplinary creative practice.

The expansion began as a shift when displaying an interactive art exhibition at a Burner event this year. For next year’s Burner festival in the UK, I have proposed to do my most ambitious art installation, stay tuned ;)

Spiritual practices

Chanting my truth: Kirtan (an Indian mantra-chanting meditation practice) became more commonplace on my Friday nights, it is a heartfelt and devoted meditative practice that I intend to carry into 2024 with even more dedication and routine. I saw Krishna Das live in London two nights in a row and Jai Uttal twice in a week also.

These practices affirmed the importance of voice activation as a practice, and is probably one I will explore further in 2024.

Dancing for myself: I started dedicating Sundays to cycling 35 mins(!) to East London for a morning ecstatic dance followed by sauna/cold plunge, this has been a wonderful practice of building community and dropping deep into movement and somatic-awareness. I’ve made lovely friends at the dance and sauna. It is also a practice I am committing to deepening next year.

Bodywork: I also qualified as a deep tissue massage therapist and a gua sha for face therapist.

Transcendence through 4-beat yoga: I found a transcendental yoga practice called 4-beat with DJ turned yogi, Marcus Veda at Mission E1. I have been going three times a week to have my yoga x music fix. In Jan, I am learning about the psychology of music, how music affects our emotional states and the way we move in this course with Marcus. I am really excited for it.

Celebrating life in the woods: I went to three phenomenal festivals (Buddhafield, Medicine, Bhakti Fest) this year, which were life-changing. And festivals are going to be a bigger part of 2024, with intentions to build and attend Burning Nest, Nowhere and Medicine, amongst others.

Taking four months out of work in the second half of this year gave me a lot of space to think, explore and prioritise. I felt grounded by a dedication towards routine and practice and a preference to staying in London as much as I could.

I saw myself desiring community and familiarity in a city where it is all too easy to be swept up by novelty. I feel nourished by my commitment to a life and community in London and am excited to deepen into these areas in 2024.

I will be doing a more extensive and private review of 2023 with the Year Compass template, which I highly recommend.

Thanks for following my journey as I step further into my truth, I’d love to hear if 2023 was also a year where you had a greater becoming? Let me know in the comments!

Love and truth,
Caryn