A Culture Therapy Prescription | March Edition by Beth Nasce
This month’s Culture Therapy Prescription is written by Beth Nasce, a creative celebrant, writer and primary school teacher, whose passions are seasonal living and celebrating all of life's milestones (the big and small). Beth is constantly experimenting with poetry, non-fiction and short stories and helps other people explore their own creativity too.
Connection & Community
Podcasts: The Real Question, and Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, both by Not Sorry Productions.
TRQ is a place for people to explore deeper questions about life and think about how different texts can help us with those answers. The current edition of the podcast is called Should I Quit and its guests come on with a question about whether they should quit something and Vanessa the host does a sort of chaplaincy service for them.
HPST is treating the HP stories like a bible study. Each episode goes chapter by chapter reading it through a theme e.g. love or jealousy and then they use old religious practices to deepen their questioning.
This is the second read of the books (I think book 5 right now?) and they do an amazing job of holding this tension of the ultimate question about whether HP should or shouldn't be given airtime anymore given the author’s recent statements. The podcast has a large LGBTQ+ fanbase so it has been really helpful in understanding the difficulties with it.
Modern Life / Untethering
Book: The Power of Ritual by Casper Ter Keuile is a fantastic book that looks at rituals and spirituality from a secular lens.
Casper is not a Christian but has grown up sort of culturally that way, and while traditional Christianity feels inaccessible to him as a gay man at times he also sees the power and beauty of many ancient practices.
In this book, he explores the ways different religions and civilisations access rituals and explores how we can see them being used in secular contexts too e.g. Soul Cycle or CrossFit.
In the book, he talks about doing a tech sabbath every Friday night for 24 hours where he turns off his phone and all tech. He says the mantra "the work isn't done but it's still time to stop" and it's something I TRY to do. It always feels very enriching and expansive when I do it!
Nature
Podcast: As The Season Turns by Ffern and Lia Leendertz.
Lia Leendertz who writes The Almanac releases an enhanced audio version of the monthly entries of her book on the first of every month. The podcast version also includes a soundscape meditation, a herbal musing by Zoe Gilbert and a Welsh folk song.
In my newsletter Spark and Fable, each month I follow a weekly pattern - of things to look forward to this month (a combination of seasonal events and celebration days) - a seasonal recipe - field notes (where I simply write what is going on at this moment in time outside) - and a monthly roundup of favourite things (including tree, plant and flower of the month!)
Mind & Body
Book: The Self Care Year by Alison Davies is a lovely book that has different ways to care for yourself both physically and mentally in line with the seasons. There are meditations to do, pamper products to make yourself, yoga positions to try, etc.
Purpose
Podcasts: Quiet The Hive is a podcast where host Jane Galloway mixes solo musings with interviews of people in all different industries. Her linking thread is well-being and often the people in the interviews have a clear vision for their project/mission which is always very inspiring. Most people in it have simple ideas and not many resources but just go for it. Her solo episodes are also very inspiring and give lots of ideas for getting to know yourself better.
Squiggly Careers podcast. Hosts Helen and Sarah send out a weekly podcast about careers that are never really linear.
Spirituality & Meaning
Book: Your Spiritual Almanac by Joey Hulin is an evergreen almanac that can be used every year. Each month has a theme e.g. abundance, rest, and alignment, with affirmations, meditations, journal prompts, ways of paying it forward, yoga poses, fables and creative ideas.
Podcast: The RobCast by Rob Bell. Rob Bell is a spiritual writer/speaker who used to lead a megachurch back in the 90s and early 2000s until he wrote a book called Love Wins which basically said "there is no heaven and hell" or words to that effect, and he was very much ousted by the church. He is a beloved friend of Elizabeth Gilbert and Glennon Doyle (I think) and while he uses the Bible and what he called "Jesus stories" in a lot of his podcasts I do feel he comes at it from a totally different way and isn't really seen as a "Christian" podcast. This podcast is great for everyone but perhaps, especially for people who used to be Christians or who struggle with calling themselves that.
Mental Wellbeing
App: Finch is kind of like a Tamagotchi on your phone, only you're not feeding and watering it with food, etc but you're feeding it by doing little reflections or mini well-being activities.
Website: 750Words. If you've ever attempted morning pages (from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way) this is sort of a digital version of that (750 words is roughly 3 pages)
It's essentially a private place for you to write and store your words. The beauty of doing it on the website as opposed to handwriting is you get a sort of analysis afterward that details the themes you wrote about, and your predominant feelings and ways of writing (eg. introverted/extroverted). You also get badges for keeping streaks or doing certain things like writing early in the morning etc. (love a bit of gamification!)
It has become a daily practice for me in the same way handwriting them used to but I feel I access deeper thoughts and feelings, like lots of "gunk" coming out onto the screen. Perhaps it's because I find I type as fast as I think whereas my handwriting is always a little slower and I often trip over my own thoughts.
I'd recommend it to anyone who struggles with the handwriting element of morning pages but likes the idea of them! (oh and it's totally private too)
Awe & Wonder
Art: Nature Photographer of the Year Exhibition (starts in the Natural History Museum then tours the country). Just looking at how these photographers interpret a category but also the way they can capture nature in such awe-inspiring ways is enough to have you desperate to get outside!
Place: Cambo Gardens in Fife, Scotland is an absolutely stunning garden that has a "wow" moment at every turn! It's a walled garden that's lovingly looked after, which then turns into a woodland walk and before you know it you're on a beach. Oh, and it has a lovely cafe and shop.
Creativity & Culture
Book: Little Stories of Your Life by Laura Pashly is a fabulous book that looks at how we can use social media, storytelling and photography to tell more authentic and creative stories online. It feels like a perfect antidote to the showoffiness of social media (Instagram in particular) and gives a beautiful roadmap of how we could all show up online in a more positive, creative and authentic way.
Podcast: Sentimental Garbage by Caroline O'Donoghue, especially the latest season of this podcast. Caroline and a guest take a cultural phenomenon or work that society deems as "trashy" and looks at why it isn't and why it is in fact worthy of being treated like high culture. Particular highlights lately have been the movies, Chicago and Bring It On, and a discussion about weddings.
Doing Good
App: Seek (also nature really!) Seek by iNaturalist is a citizen science app that also helps you learn more about the flora and fauna around you. You begin by holding your phone on a plant/insect/bird/stone until the app identifies it, you then take a picture and save it to the app which then records where you spotted the thing you've just snapped. This then gives a clearer picture of what exists where and when. There are also monthly challenges like "butterflies" etc
In a similar vein: Joining in with RSPB's great garden birdwatch in January, and The Big Butterfly Count in the spring are great ways of helping scientists understand species numbers and placements, etc. I'm sure there are similar things with The Woodland Trust, The National Trust and there's a bluebell one too - all ways of helping people to track patterns, migrations, growth and decline etc
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