Guten Tag, Reader,

This morning, I filled the final empty pages of my current “Daily Page” journal.*

As I flipped through the pages from today to the beginning, I realized that the first pages were actually journal entries from the Salmon River Slowdown, the retreat I co-hosted last year.

It had been raining and we’d all retreated to our tents (still unaware of the approaching thunderstorm that would shake the canyon walls within the hour).

I always come to any river with a journal and the intention of writing and drawing every day. On overnight trips, it rarely happens. I enjoy sitting in a circle of river people too much.

But when the rain forces me “inside,” I throw words on pages.

That evening, I compared the raindrops drumming on my tent to a conundrum I was having in my business at the time.

As I wrote, I became a raindrop.

Then the conundrum became the raindrop, and I, a person who is trying to count the rain.

My business became a river.

Then the ocean.

Then a cloud – a community of water particles, soon to turn into rain dropping on someone’s tent.

By the end of two pages, I had sketched out my solution, and it didn’t worry me for the rest of the trip.

That’s why I go to the creek or the forest when my thoughts are like raindrops on a tent fly – undiscernible and keeping me awake.

When we sit still in nature, we allow our nervous system to sync with natural rhythms — the slow, self-regulating intelligence of the more-than-human world.

Then we’re no longer working hard to “figure out” the problem, but letting nature remind us how problems soften when we stop forcing a solution.

You should try it.**

The Advent Calendar Was Born on the Clark Fork River

You won’t be surprised that I carry a notebook in my river daybag. Being out there with a fly fisherman affords me many moments of sitting by the river. In one of those moments, I basically wrote the thing that will make your adventure slower, calmer, and altogether better.

Now You Can Finally Get Yours

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Tell Me

Before I see you back in your inbox in two weeks, I'd love to know:

🧐 What's your current conundrum, in business or otherwise?

🌧️ How is your conundrum like the rain? Or a tree? Or any random object you can see right now?

Always on your side, truly,

* These days, a Daily Page consists of

• my personal vision statement (repeated verbatim each day so that my brain and the universe have an opportunity to settle into the vision),
• a drawing of one element of my daily tarot card (to practice drawing and as a gateway to a deeper understanding of the card)
• A short reflection on how this card supports my vision
• A short gratitude list (always including the “why”)

** Why don't you join me on my next Nature Therapy Walk? November 4 on Zoom or November 5 in Missoula. Find them here.

*** If you are in or around Missoula, reach out, and let's skip shipping altogether.

p.s. If you found something valuable in today's letter, why not buy me a coffee? I am keeping my writing AI-free, which means a lot of creativity goes into it. You can leave a tip for me here.