The Mindful Writing Series invites you to explore your story as well as your writing life with a fresh, inspired perspective. We’ll examine what prompts us to share our stories, why we make particular narrative choices and what we’re truly hoping to elucidate. What do we know, and how do we come to know it? What do we not know that might open a path to curiosity? How may we learn to or perceive anew and write about the discoveries?  

In this first session, we thoughtfully examine:

• Initiation – what prompted your current writing project and how this impacts structure

• Intention – why your story and your writing style shift throughout the creative process

• Investigation – what gets in the way of telling the truth and how to relieve this pressure

When we begin to better understand how certain conditions and circumstances shift, a more easeful and authentic creative experience unfolds. To Reframe is to free yourself from expectations or judgment through the open door of curiosity, which is where mindful writing practices become liberating. Challenges becomes our best lesson, inviting us to find new ways to wonder on the page.

Lara Wilson, a writer, teacher and 40-year meditator, devotes her life to exploring the intersection of mindful wellbeing, nature immersion and storytelling. Intent to share the meditative practices that helped her through years of breast cancer treatment, she established the mindful wellness educational collaborative Be Well Be Here, a 501c3 nonprofit in Concord, MA. Lara’s short stories have been published in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, American Fiction, Confrontation, Indiana Review, and the Chicago Tribune Book Section as well as anthologized in Printers Row and Hacks: 10 Years on Grub Street. Her essays have been featured on NPR / WBUR’s Cognoscenti and in a collection honoring her mentor, the late Andre Dubus. Lara holds a master's degree in English and American literature from Harvard and a graduate certificate in Mindfulness Studies from Lesley University; she also earned certification in restorative yoga (RYT-200), Reiki (Level II) and advanced mindfulness trauma training (TSMa). She and her husband are the parents of four beloved adults, two of whom were married last year. Ask about her passion for forest bathing and equine experiential learning – and share your story!