A Year in Practice: Seasonal Rituals and Prompts to Awaken Cycles of Creative Expression

by Jacqueline Suskin

“If you’re looking to get still, turn inward, and learn to trust your voice, this is the book for you.” —Alexandra Elle, New York Times bestselling author of How We Heal

“The seasons and cycles of nature have incredible power to affect everything in our lives—especially our creativity,” says poet Jacqueline Suskin. “The Earth shows us when our creative reserves might wax and wane. When we listen and follow nature’s lead, we tune in to an inexhaustible source of imagination, inspiration, and beauty.” With A Year in Practice, this inspiring teacher shares holistic practices to help creatives of all sorts access the limitless potential that flows with the rhythms of nature.
Set in sync with the progression of the seasons, A Year in Practice is a program of techniques and journaling prompts to guide the creative seeker all year long. Four seasonally themed chapters keep you connected to natural phases of creative contraction and
• Winter invites restoration so you can come back to your craft with renewed energy• Spring is a time of balance, focusing on the magic of emergence while embodying discretion• Summer is the season of togetherness, instilling confidence to bring our creations into the light• Autumn asks us to turn back toward ourselves as we prepare for another winter of introspection
Used regularly, you will move through creative blocks, deepen your capacity for self-reflection, expand imaginative growth, and find new levels of inspiration and contentment.
“It’s crucial that we spend time dreaming, crafting, and resting in a state of reverie,” says Suskin. Here she offers practical tools and creative customs to help you tune in to the energies of each season—to enrich your creativity through playfulness, emotional expression, explorative whimsy, and ever-deepening levels of imagination.

Genres: Nonfiction, Poetry, Writing, Self Help, Art, Personal Development, Spirituality

238 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 5, 2023

Reviews

[Caylee Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea of tuning into the seasons and using them as a way to become mindful and find a time for everything really appeals to me.

• Winter invites restoration so you can come back to your craft with renewed energy (Rest / Reflection)
• Spring is a time of balance, focusing on the magic of emergence while embodying discretion (Emergence / Fruition)
• Summer is the season of togetherness, instilling confidence to bring our creations into the light (Togetherness / Fortify)
• Autumn asks us to turn back toward ourselves as we prepare for another winter of introspection (Preparation / Transition)

Each season invites this beautiful question, which I'll be adding to my arsenal: "What is the natural world up to right now? How does it include me? How is it my mirror?"

It also includes notes on transitioning to the next season, and elemental instruction (fire, water, etc).

Some prompts from the book:
- Tape a note above your workspace at eye level that says "SLOW"
- Describe what plasure is for you
- How does spring relate to your pain?
- ask everyone to bring a short poem to share (at a dinner party)
- What is something you've let go of in the last year of your life, and how has your life changed because of it?
- How does this affect your practice?
- For twenty minutes, research something that's been on your mind, then write about it

This book has enough prompts to cover a year, without doubt.

I found the poetry in between unnecessary and preferred the more practical ideas, BUT I am sure those who like beautiful words would enjoy it. There are also a LOT of recommendations for MORE poems.

The prompts were more abstract and less instructional, and mostly included the way she incorporates them. I would have liked more practical steps here. The entire book is written as a poem, rather than an instructional manual. It feels more like looking into the author's world (and seasons) - since I pull inspiration from myself rather than others, I'm giving 3.5 stars, rounded down. I had to do a lot of summarising to be able to pull ideas from it. The core is solid, though. I would have preferred it without so much "fluff". I am a very practical person, so am certain others would love the fluff, though, as it does add a lot of beauty.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. I've ordered a copy for library.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I appreciate the theme of matching creative actions to the energies of the seasons, I found this book exceptionally repetitive.

[Karissa Schumacker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got a targeted ad for this book on Pinterest and something about it called to me… but honestly it was a catfish.

I would only recommend this book if you are currently in a long winded creative endeavor that will last multiple years i.e. writing a book, as that is the main focus of the narrative- how to stay inspired through the seasons.

A few good nuggets though, trust your instincts as the seasons change- rest in winter, awaken and return to gathering together in the spring, share everything with others in the summer, and in fall prepare to rest.

One thing that I did takeaway from this book is that rest is actually underrated and an act of resistance? Rest should be taken guilt free and treasured, rather than feeling a void of “productivity”

[Cindy(groundedinreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book I started several months ago, but had put aside. Many of the concepts were familiar to me however, it was a nice reminder to reflect upon the way nature and our environment can affect our creativity. It was also encouraging to read how the practice of mindfulness can set us up for success.

[Carma · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in a long, long time.

this book is both a tool and a guide for aligning your personal creative and artistic pursuits with the seasons.

The book is meant to assist you in floating with the river, rather than trying to waste and expend energy fighting the current.

A must-read for my fellow creatives and artists.

[Bernadette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jacqueline Suskin's A Year in Practice, is a seasons based approach to filling the well of creativity. I started the book in Autumn as that is the season I started reading it, her statement that "Autumn doesn't supply us with a lot of energy to start brand-new projects" was not something I could relate to at all, as after summer is gone I finally feel alive for the first time in months.

She gives small suggestions of things we should focus on to ground us into the season. She asks us to do "What plants and other animals do in the fall." Right now the skunks have come to eat all the rotten apples in the yard and are spraying the house in a perfume that makes being outside untenable, but I guess, you do you.

I loved it for the possibilities of creative escapism, it becomes charming that she carries around old seed packets with all her notebooks. We see her as some woodland elf poet living in a tree and spreading her inspirational knowledge to all us mortals.

It's less a way to navigate the seasons creatively and more an inspirational version of it, which I think could be helpful for some good old fashioned creative escapism. Her suggestions of an in house retreat, is something I think most people could make possible if others corroborated.

[Devin Rembold · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, it was ait. Author including one of their own poems on almost every other page was truly bit much, don’t put this one too high on your list

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was alright in one sense, the realignment of life to the seasons of the earth. But completely out of touch to the reality that most people live in daily in every other way.

[ankteckningar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books gives some real inspiring advice on how to set up a nice seasonal practice of mindfulness and creativity. A fair few books I've read in the same vein as this are not as instructional as this one. This book is beautiful, it's obvious, in a positive way, that it's written by a poet. But it has some very clear cut instructions on what the author actually means with what she's saying. There are multiple bullet points per chapter on different things to write about, meditate on and go out and do, as a way to get to the inner parts of yourself. A lot of books tell you to listen to yourself and find out who you really are. This books guide you through this search,
In the end this book was not my style, with it's flowery prose and flowing sentences, but I did end up with a fair few notes that I'll incorporate in my life and world view.

Thank you NetGalley and Sounds True Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own

[Michelle Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

After multiple years in a near-constant sunny area, we moved to an area with four full seasons. I've found myself prone to seasonal depression and I recently emerged from the worst depression of my life. After coming across this and reading the synopsis, I was extremely interested in the concept of creating rituals for the different seasons as it seemed a great way to practice gratitude and mindfulness and I was thankful to receive an advance copy of this title.

In my reading, I found some suggestions that I can definitely see incorporating into my schedule and it gave me some of my own ideas as well. I wasn't super crazy about the poems, but I'm sure that for some readers, they will be just the thing.

I'm thankful to the author for showing readers a way toward yearlong meaningful self-care rituals.

Recommended.



Thank you to Sounds True and NetGalley for the DRC

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highlighted so much of this book for future reference. I have a strained relationship with the seasons because I grew up in a part of the US without them, and only learned later that wintering is valuable for stepping back from society and resting, as is slowly coming back to life in spring. A Year in Practice inspired me to think of the creative process the same way, allowing breaks from expression in times when the outside is fading away and following the cue of the late spring and summer to build.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Lovely Loveday]

A Year in Practice: Seasonal Rituals and Prompts to Awaken Cycles of Creative Expression is the perfect book for those seeking stillness, introspection, and a renewed sense of trust in their own voice. Suskin expertly leads us through a self-inquiry practice that is not only deeply resonant but also exquisitely beautiful. Once I started reading, I could not put this down. This is a book that I will come back to again.

Thank you to the publisher and author for allowing me to share my thoughts on a gifted copy of this book.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a thought-provoking book and I truly did/do love the concept of leaning into the natural cycles of the world to inspire creativity. However... within the limited page count, Jacqueline Suskin wrote about 5 different books. There's poetry, there's diary prompts, there's a memoir, there's...a lot.

That said, I do believe this book would be a much better read/guide than listen — having an audio version is a disservice to what this book could be if it's truly meant to prompt reflection and mindfulness.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this on audio, so I don't really count that as reading. However, the audiobook came in before the actual book, so I listened to it. Two things: I loved her poetry journal class on Insight Timer, 2] this book helps me understand a bit of where I'm at with All The Things. She's a poet's poet, for sure.

"The Earth shows us when our creative reserves might wax and wane. When we listen and follow nature lead we tune into an inexhaustible source of imagination, inspiration, and beauty."

[Kate Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting concept, and I was expecting this to be more of a journal with prompts. It wasn't just journal prompts, it had lots of different styles of writing.

It had poetry, non-fiction text about the seasons, journal prompts, ideas for meditations and more!

I think it was actually trying to be too much! It was a lot, and a just felt a bit of a mish-mash and all over the place. I think it would have been better to have more of a focus.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. For me this wasn't a book that I would normally read straight through, but rather use as a tool to help me stay grounded as the seasons change.. This is a book I will return to again and again throughout the changing seasons. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review..

[Janeel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Information that didn't need to be written down and/or shared. Reads more like boring journal read by a self indulgent teenager who mistakenly finds her self realizations novel truths that have never before been uttered, and will serve as a golden nugget of wisdom. Too many books JUST LIKE THIS ONE.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book over the course of the year, reading each section during the respective season. While this book is aimed at people who make a living being creative, I still found it interesting and I enjoyed the seasonal reflections, even if I didn't actually do any of the prompts. Would be a good book to pick up and flip through when you are in need of a reflective creative prompt.

[JadersCorner · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC netgalley review

What an amazing book, definitely a go to for my daily yoga practice and to take with me in my tote bag. Highly recommend this to all. Well written and cultivated into just a pure masterpiece.

[Danielle Orozco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was excellent for reflection and ways to be mindful throughout the seasons. Made me slow down and think about how to incorporate these practices into my life. An easy read with simple, meaningful activities to implement

[Emily - whatemilysreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting listen! It’s much more geared toward someone who’s creative pursuits are maybe a bigger part of their career, but I was intrigued by the seasonal practices outlined, and it made me think a lot about my own routines in general.

[Falcon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally loved this, totally my vibe, not for everyone. Exceeded my expectations. I enjoyed sitting in the experience of this audiobook, I also highly recommend the hardcover copy so you can revisit as the seasons shift.

[Kendra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meditations and guided crafting exercises for connecting with the natural world, but with little too cute and using a little too much woo for me.

[Kelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to DNF this book.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great information and content, though I struggled at times with the writing style. I still fully recommend this book, it has a fantastic outlook and mindset.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed this one. A sweet and simple and poetic guide to aligning your creativity, habits, and life with the rhythm of the seasons.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished by skimming.... Really not my vibe.... But could be for other readers.

[Eliza Sarra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like others have said, entirely repetitive. I am also not a huge fan of her poetry in itself.

[Nicki Berens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just beautiful

[Margarete Maneker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this as an audiobook but having a hard copy to peruse at the beginning of each season would probably be most beneficial