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Q&A with Candace Epps-Robertson: On Seasons of Life, Writing, and Career

Filed Under: Everyday Feminism, Higher Education, Interviews, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee September 15, 2023 Leave a Comment

Photo shows a close-up of Candace Epps-Robertson, Ph.D. with head tilted to the side and smiling.

This interview introduces Candace Epps-Robertson, Ph.D., a collaborator with Heart-Head-Hands, facilitator of writing groups, and co-creator of the new offering, “Pathways Through Burnout: A Cohort Experience.”  Candace is a writer, researcher, and educator with deep commitments to justice and more than twenty years of experience in literacy education. She is also Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she ... Read more ...

Can Registration Be Relational? How I’m Longing for Sliding-Scale Registration to Work

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee May 13, 2023 Leave a Comment

This image is a compilation of 7 photos shared from writing group members. Clockwise from the upper left: screenshot of Elaine Richardson (Dr. E) during conversation; carnation to accompany the related poem from Ruth Nicole Brown; “you are loved” mug that I use during groups; Cate Denial at her dining-room table, where she wrote for most of the pandemic; picture of Candace Epps-Robertson’s desk set-up for writing retreats; three generations at a beloved feminist bookstore shared from Jenny Veninga; and creative writing space with homemade pottery made by Briana Mohan.

This raw reflective post shares what I have been struggling to put into words: a desire for relationship and recognition, even during transactional moments like registration. Specifically, I’m reflecting on what I’m learning and how I’m longing for sliding-scale registrations to be a form of relationality itself—where all people are recognized and resourced. Can registration be relational? What would that mean, especially when money is involved and we live within the ... Read more ...

Reflective Poetry Prompts from Writing Retreats: A Contemplative Writing Practice

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Everyday Feminism By Beth Godbee March 17, 2023 Leave a Comment

Image shares information about writing retreats in 12 colorful blocks framed by leaves and flowers. The text reads: Writing retreats. One-day retreats: 6 dates open. 10am-4:30pm ET. Join via Zoom. Guided meditations. Lots of writing time. Optional 1:1 coaching. Reflective prompts. Group check-ins. Writing community. Available for groups, too. Sliding-scale fees. Facilitator Beth Godbee, Ph.D. Heart-Head-Hands.com.”

This post shares a few reflective poetry prompts (along with my poetic answers) from recent one-day writing retreats. For context, I’ve been facilitating one-day, online writing retreats for a few years now. I love the retreat space not only for supportive writing community and dedicated writing time, but especially for reflection. Throughout the day, reflection happens through guided meditation, freewriting prompts, and group conversation. To close each retreat, I offer ... Read more ...

Doing the Holidays Differently: Untangling from the Mythical Norm and Revising Rituals for “the Holiday Season”

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism By Beth Godbee February 2, 2023 1 Comment

Image shows three photos from this year’s holiday season. From left to right: a decorated evergreen tree with reflective gray balls; a forest scene of tall thin trees opening to blue lake and sky; and holly leaves and berries—green and red—symbolic of the season.

Preface: This post took me more than six weeks to write. I started drafting on the winter solstice, so it feels right to publish on the cross-quarter day imbolc. I’ve needed the time to sit with the questions I share in this post—questions that are sure to keep evolving. I hope you’ll come with me on this journey into my spiritual life and desire to do the holidays differently. The Holidays Are Hard. Do They Have to Be? For me and for many of us, the holidays are hard. ... Read more ...

Slowing Down to Clarify Commitments

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Racial Justice, Why Vegan? By Beth Godbee August 15, 2022 Leave a Comment

Image shows a yellow snail with antennae and body extended. The snail’s shell is as large as its body and shows a spiral pattern. The snail is on top of brown dirt, rocks, and sticks. Photo taken when hiking.

Earlier this summer, I had covid and slowed to a snail’s pace. Everyday care (like bathing and brushing) took incredible effort. Because I had such little energy, I had to make tough decisions about where to put that energy. In many ways, being sick provided time for review. That review clarified my commitments, helping me consider if where I’m directing energy is truly where I want to be putting it. For the most part, I could answer: yes. I am clear about my deepest ... Read more ...

Reframing Burnout and Recognizing the Collective Experience

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism, Higher Education, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee May 6, 2022 Leave a Comment

This screenshot shows Inside Higher Ed’s preview of the article and reads: “Career Advice. Honoring Ourselves and Each Other Through Burnout. Dealing with burnout should not be an individual responsibility but a collective one, Beth Godbee writes.” Text appears against a white background with the orange and white Inside Higher Ed logo and a small figure propped against a tumbling stack of papers.

Today, I have a new article published in Inside Higher Ed: “Honoring Ourselves and Each Other Through Burnout.” Here’s the opening: In the past few months, nearly all my conversations have focused on burnout. One friend is running on fumes, another wonders how to keep teaching when her body says no and still another rattles off a near-endless list of what’s not getting done. Such stories are nearly endless, too. The recent Inside Higher Ed opinion piece “Academe, Hear ... Read more ...

Interrupting Writer’s Block: Writing (and Pausing) Through Resistance

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Everyday Feminism, Higher Education By Beth Godbee April 13, 2022 Leave a Comment

This image shows a yellow pencil snapped in half with crumpled paper in the background. It shares the blog post's title: "Interrupting Writer's Block: Writing (and Pausing) Through Resistance."

This blog post responds to a question I received recently and offers some ways to interrupt writing resistance or writer’s block. My hope is that it offers support for writers (because we all face resistance, right?), while also providing a glimpse into one-with-one coaching. I offer this post with gratitude for the writer who shared permission to use the question and response. And I offer many good wishes to writers feeling the pressure of due dates. The Question: ... Read more ...

Commitment Statements: Questions and Answers Pointing Toward Action

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Everyday Feminism, Higher Education, Racial Justice By Beth Godbee February 28, 2022 Leave a Comment

This image shares folded paper in the shape of a leaf surrounded by the words: “Small-group commitment statement coaching. Part II. Wednesday, March 2nd 1:00-3:00pm ET (2 hours). Heart-Head-Hands.com. Email to get registered.”

Commitment statements are living documents: a way to clarify deep dedications and priorities and to make them actionable both in everyday life and for the long haul. For several years now, I’ve been working with commitment statements as a way to better understand my own commitments and where I’m out of alignment with them—and, importantly, to realign and strive toward justice. This work has grown out of my collaborative research on “Making Commitments to Racial Justice ... Read more ...

Journaling and Drawing Exercises for Times of Transition

Filed Under: Contemplative Practices, Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism By Beth Godbee January 13, 2022 2 Comments

This image shows my current journaling and drawing supplies: colorful markers and pastels on top of loose papers with handwriting and a 12-month project vision.

Recently, a Patreon subscriber wrote to me with the following question: Could you share a few journaling or drawing exercises to help find focus/calm/mindfulness during a time of big transition and change? I found myself nodding when reading this question, reflecting on how much feels in flux for me as well. As we’re heading into the third year of the pandemic, we continue to live with a lot of unknowns and uncertainty, a lot of change asked of us regularly, and a lot of ... Read more ...

Grief and Gratitude: Reflections on a 3-Year Anniversary

Filed Under: Emotional Literacies, Everyday Feminism By Beth Godbee December 17, 2021 Leave a Comment

Image says “Subscribe for the New Year” with a light pink background of a blanket, tray with tea, candles, and open book.

This Saturday (December 13th) was my 3-year anniversary as a Patreon creator, and this week I'm reflecting on how much has happened and changed over these three years. In the midst of this internal review, I am grieving bell hooks, who I know will continue to guide so many of our lives, though I'm experiencing her loss as magnifying the many losses of this year and the last. I recognize again—through emails and text messages and phone calls and blog posts (like this one ... Read more ...

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Embodied knowledge matters. So do commitments. And especially acting on commitments as part of everyday life, BIG and small. This website—a mix of blog posts and research writing, courses and offerings—shares ongoing efforts toward everyday living (feeling, thinking, and doing) for justice.

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This e-course announcement shows a yellow sunflower and blue sky. It includes a textbox with the following information: “E-COURSE AVAILABLE NOW! Career Discernment for Academics: Aligning Career with Commitments. Self-paced study, exercises, coaching, and more ...”

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bethgodbee

Update: THANKS to everyone who alerted me to the a Update: THANKS to everyone who alerted me to the account and who reported it. It appears to be down. I’m really grateful. 💚

*************

So … apparently someone has cloned my account and started one at @bethgodbeee (with eee — 3 e’s at the end). 

If you’ve received a request from this account, will you report them?

And if you’ve had this happen or know more about this sort of copycatting/cloning, I’m so grateful for camaraderie and advice. I’m in a learning curve.

Thank you!!!
If you're currently on a journey with a writing pr If you're currently on a journey with a writing project, consider joining this Thursday's #writing retreat.

I think of retreats like this boardwalk: there's a pathway to follow with clear edges and a lot of spaciousness to work/walk throughout the day.

Learn more about one-day online retreats, sliding-scale registration, and upcoming dates here:

https://heart-head-hands.com/product/writing-retreats/
✨✨link in bio✨✨
It's fall! A few views from here: 1. My partner J It's fall! A few views from here:

1. My partner Jonathan and me hiking at Great Falls.
2. Crocheting in progress. I'm picking back up this project started early in the pandemic.
3. Pumpkin pancakes. Yum!
4. Weird leg-like mushrooms sticking out of a log.
5. Book display on whole food plant based (WFPB) eating.
6. Embers in a simmering campfire. 
7. Shadows of me and my partner on a winding trail.

{Not pictured: Recovering from covid and flu vaccines. Send healing wishes! :-)}
Updates to the new offering “Pathways Through Bu Updates to the new offering “Pathways Through Burnout: A Cohort Experience”:

For the past year, Candace and I have been listening to requests for an offering around burnout (or, more precisely, being burned up), and we launched a new cohort experience August 1st. We are deeply grateful for the range of responses we’ve received since then, and we’ve been prioritizing time to listen and discern what people want and need.

Through a lot of conversation and reflection, we’ve decided to slow down further and to reshape the offering. 

We’ll continue offering interactive workshops on practices for navigating burnout—with new dates announced for November 3rd and December 15th (and more to come in 2024). 

Starting in January, we’ll hold a few one-day retreats with time for art, play, contemplative practice, conversation, and coaching. We hope the retreat will feel like something that’s possible now (with so many pushes and pulls on time and attention).

All of this is leading to a 12-week version of the cohort experience: a season of connection to match a season in life. We’ll reopen applications in the spring and hope that a small group forms well ahead of our start date in September 2024.

The details of all of these experiences—and an invitation to join the workshops in Nov and Dec—are shared online here: https://heart-head-hands.com/pathways-through-burnout/ 
✨✨link in bio✨✨

And we continue to appreciate all sorts of feedback (questions, suggestions, affirmations), so please reach out anytime. <3

[Image says: “Pathways Through Burnout / Practice Workshops / One-Day Retreats / Cohort Forming for Fall 2024” and shows photos of the two of us—Candace and Beth—side by side.]

With @dr._candace_epps_robertson_ #burnout #update #practice #contemplative #meditation #writing #art #retreat
I am slow to edit and share photos, but I want to I am slow to edit and share photos, but I want to share these from the Beyond Granite public art exhibit that just left the National Mall here in DC. I wish this installation was staying long-term. How I struggle with visiting the Mall in the best of conditions. And how these pieces helped me appreciate what could instead be done in this space. 

Also, Jonathan and I got really lucky that the night we visited was the most spectacular sunset! Scroll through for photos of how "America's Playground" appears against an orange sky (no filter).
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About Beth Godbee

I'm an educator and former writing studies professor who believes our fully embodied selves matter in the world. We can’t just think our way out of the incredible injustices, dehumanization, violence, and wrongdoing that characterize everyday life. We must feel and act, too. [Pronouns: she/her.] Read more ...

This image shows books alongside the words: courses, coaching, consulting. learning + unlearning.

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