Hi Everyone,
My summer of hitting the pause button (explained HERE if you missed it) is going deliciously (going camping in Taos next week with my son!) So, no new writing from me, but I wanted to pass on recommendations for three other Substackers in three of my favorite subjects: psychology, poetry, and spirituality.
In the category of psychology, I think some of you might really enjoy the writing of Richard Bourne, writing HERE at 365 Days of Becoming. I don’t know Richard and I’m not getting any free merch for the plug (Richard, if you do have free merch…I’m open). But he writes beautifully, and will be especially helpful for those working on healing from childhood pain and old patterns of coping. Also check out his list of Archetypes HERE that I found creative and thoughtful.
Second, in the category of poetry, I invite you to check out the writing of Laura Barr, HERE at In Brief. I think Laura does more with fewer words than just about any poet I know. Her most recent poem, Poetic Justice, is heartbreaking and gorgeous.
And finally, in my favorite subject, spirituality, my good friend Elizabeth Jameson is offering a class this fall (online or in person) that I think is going to be really special.
It’s called The Inner Alchemy of Wisdom and it will be “guided by the voices of mystics and poets who have walked through darkness and found beauty still waiting on the other side.” If you want to explore mystical spirituality as a path to living with more joy and freedom, I think Elizabeth is an incredible guide and resource. You can learn more about her and her work HERE. Below is the class invitation she just sent out (which you can also read on her homepage HERE).
Okay, that’s all for now!
With love and joy,
Ian
Here’s Elizabeth’s recent post about the class…
I have this sense that something is converging—a crossing of sorts.
It’s tender, almost raw. Like standing at the edge of a threshold and not yet knowing what waits on the other side. As if we are holding our collective breath.
For so much of my life, I’ve been oriented toward achievement, going with the societal flow that honors doing, producing, proving our worth. That drive has served me—helped me survive, helped me build. But it also left me exhausted. Beneath the striving, there has always been the fear of not being enough.
Perhaps you can relate.
Over these last few years, I have felt the invitation to let go. Have you felt it, too?
To rest in simply being.
To trust I don’t have to earn my place here—that the love I’ve longed for is already here, holding me, holding you, holding all of us.
This love is within, is who we are at our deepest, truest center.
Is there a deeper generosity you are trying to trust? Yearning to trust?
And I wonder, are you able to be who you really are in your own life — all in — without holding back?
If not, what keeps you from fully trusting, from letting go into the arms of love in any and every circumstance? What hope lies within your heart to live your precious life from the inside out rather than the outside in?
Can you sense that there is enough—
enough time, enough love, enough grace to meet what comes?
Can you keep showing up—
imperfect and real?
When I look back over the last few years, I see how much has been stripped away—roles, identities, illusions. At times it felt like devastation.
And yet, in that emptiness, there is a freedom I didn’t know was possible.
Available to all of us. Beckoning to all of us.
An Invitation
In the spirit of that trust, I’ve created a space for those who may feel themselves at a threshold too.
It’s called The Inner Alchemy of Wisdom.
It’s not a course in the usual sense. It’s more like a circle of fellow travelers, guided by the voices of mystics and poets who have walked through darkness and found beauty still waiting on the other side.
We’ll sit with the ancient questions:
✨ Why is there suffering?
✨ How do we live with it?
✨ What does it mean to be changed by love?
We’ll listen—not just to words on a page, but to what stirs in us as we open to those voices.
There will be silence. There will be reflection.
There will be the kind of learning that begins not in the mind, but in the body and the heart.
You just have to feel the nudge that something in you is shifting—and be willing to honor it.
Are you standing at a threshold of loss, transition, or reawakening?
Are you spiritually curious and open-hearted, drawn to mystery rather than certainty?
Do you feel that inherited religious frameworks are too small for your lived experience—but who still long for a bigger, deeper Love?
Are you seeking gentle guidance and authentic community?
Do you value contemplative practices, soulful storytelling, and honest reflection?
If that sounds like you, you are welcome here.
Just as you are.
🌀 We begin in late August.
Read more about the journey and how to join here.
With tenderness and hope,
Elizabeth
Ian, thank you for your kind comments. I appreciate it and hope the message of healing reaches those who need it. All the best and enjoy your space. Rich.