Writing with presence, play, and perspective is a way of being. Seven Wednesdays of mindful free-writing, life design, and small group connections that generate insight and accountability.
Is This Yours?
You've been meaning to write more — for months, maybe years.
You're in a transition of some kind -- between jobs, life chapters, or identities.
You're ready to make, create, and enjoy the process of discovering something new.
No writing experience required. We write as a way of practicing presence, play, and perspective. Some participants are published writers; others haven't written since college. All you need is a notebook and a willingness to show up.
The Seven Weeks
The sequence is designed to honor each person's inner wisdom to create a good life of authorship and transformation. You choose your own learning outcomes and refine them as we go. Each week ends with one small, real artifact that's yours to keep.
We write to practice mindfulness. We write to compost shit, deepen our attention, and broaden our capacities for positive emotions of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. Zen and writing to know thyself.
You'll write: a Creative ContractHealth? Work? Play? Love? Starting where we are, we clarify a compass for coherence — identity, success, and why you're here.
You'll create: a Good Life DashboardWay-finding with synchronicity. We increase receptivity to the meaningful coincidences, take the inner child on an artist date, and infuse our life work with a sense of improvisational play.
You'll start: a Synchronicity Commonplace BookWriting as life design. Prototype experiences, conversations, and beautiful questions — existential experiments to get a taste of the shapes your life might take. Especially applicable for those in transition.
You'll write: three Odyssey PlansBased on our prototypes, we renew Kaizen agreements and tune our decision-making processes to choose happiness — collaborating with and facilitating our own growth.
You'll write: a Reflective Process LetterWe write to deepen our relationships with ourselves and others — creating healthy, nourishing connections, and providing the basis to continue to forge connections with people who can change our lives for the better.
You'll write: a Strength Reminder for reach-outs & mentor decksWe write to reframe experience for joy — to delight, to transform, and to carry the practice forward. "The real journey of discovery," Proust says, "is in having new eyes."
You'll write: a Renewed Creative ContractWant the full week-by-week, the Improv Wisdom reading schedule, and everything enrollment includes? Read the complete Cohort #20 syllabus →
Included This Season
Enrollment in Season 20 includes the Improv Wisdom Special Inquiry Group and the Improv Wisdom ToolKit — a parallel track through Patricia Ryan Madson's thirteen maxims, one or two per week alongside the writing: Say Yes. Don't Prepare. Just Show Up. Start Anywhere. Be Average. Pay Attention. Face the Facts. Wake Up to the Gifts. Act Now. Take Care of Each Other. Enjoy the Ride.
Improv, free-writing, and life design share one logic: practices for getting out of your own way long enough for something undefended to emerge.
What's Included
~11 contact hours of facilitated gathering, writing, and deep listening. Cap of eight per group.
$1,100 valuePrivate sessions with Sean, plus standing open office hours Monday & Wednesday afternoons.
$500 valueFriday afternoon open hours to ask for feedback on anything you're working on. Plus unplanned good stuff.
IncludedCurated session field notes, plus private video and transcripts if you miss a week.
IncludedDocumentation for up to 45 continuing-education hours. Employers have reimbursed past participants.
IncludedCuriosity conversations, the Synchronicity Digest, Field Notes, and 55% off all future enrollment.
PricelessThe Rhythm
Wednesday is the heart of it: your 75–90 minute group gathering (noon or 8pm ET, on Zoom). We begin with a timed, unedited freewrite. Then we share what we wrote — not to perform, but to practice being seen. Deep listening follows.
Around it, the week has a shape: Improv Wisdom Labs on Mondays at noon ET, Creative Consulting Hours for 1:1s on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, Friday Feedback to close the week — and 3+ hours of reading and writing that pays dividends, on your own time. Tuesdays and Thursdays stay open on purpose.
All times Eastern · all sessions live on Zoom
"Wisdom creates time."
Books & Resources
Each week you'll receive an abundance of reading opportunities, writing invitations, and growth experiments to help you build momentum and keep going. If you're called to pick up any of the following books for additional support, they will enrich your journey. You'll also receive curated notes from class, plus private video recordings and transcripts for further learning and review.
Natalie Goldberg (1986). Delights at the intersection of writing practice and meditation practice, with a Zen Buddhist flavor.
Burnett & Evans (2016). "Life design skills" and powerful reframes for navigating life transitions.
Julia Cameron (2016, 25th-anniversary edition). The cult-classic course of creative self-study. "Spiritual," but grounded in experience.
Patricia Ryan Madson (2005). Thirteen maxims for showing up before you're ready.
Enrollment
Sixteen seats across two groups. Your tuition also creates space for those who can't pay — every full enrollment helps fund a Co-Creative Partnership.
By enrolling, you agree to our Before You Arrive code of conduct and Terms of Participation. Still deciding? Read the full syllabus.
Finances a barrier? Apply for a Co-Creative Partnership — tuition payments create space for those who cannot pay. Employer reimbursement: Sean has developed workplace wellness programming for the City of Fort Collins and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation; employers who value self-awareness, wellbeing, and communication have reimbursed past participants. Email sean@wisdomworkshop.io for supporting materials.
Voices
"This has been the most educational thing I've done outside of my education, and the most therapeutic thing I've done outside of therapy."Paul Marcus, Psychotherapist — Taos, NM
"I started the course thinking that I would fix my life and career… and it turned out that I got back into a relationship with myself, and I realize that everything else will take care of itself."Monica Aikman, Nurse — Saskatchewan, Canada
"All this free-writing unlocked something in me. There's stuff in me that wants to come out!"Luna Alice, Medical Student — United Kingdom
"I now have a practice of writing that I need, that I'll honor, and that I'll keep going."Kristina Cash, Event Organizer — Fort Collins, CO
"I don't need to have my whole life figured out — I can just do my best today. I used to think I needed answers to my life, but now I'm OK with uncertainty."Josie Johnson, Elementary Art Educator — Sioux Falls, SD
"This course gave me what I needed that I didn't know I needed: permission to boldly make choices."Simi Llowyin, Community Organizer — Toronto, Canada
"I've grown more in the last two months than I have for years, and I feel more hopeful about the future than I have for even longer."Sharon Pitkin, Writer — Fort Collins, CO
"I have never not-wanted to miss class so much in my whole life."Bennie — Fort Collins, CO
Questions
No. We write to think, not to publish. Some participants are published authors; others haven't written since college. The practice meets you where you are.
We begin with a brief check-in, move to a mindful freewriting session, then share, offer notes of loving kindness to see and be seen, and integrate insights and takeaways. Sessions typically run 75 minutes on Zoom.
One 75-90 minute Wednesday session plus 3+ hours per week of reading and writing in a way that pays dividends. Optional open hours Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. Wisdom creates time.
You'll receive private video recordings, transcripts, and curated field notes for any session you miss — and open hours are a good place to catch the thread back up.
No. Participants consistently describe the experience as therapeutic — the group dynamics intentionally draw on well-researched therapeutic factors like hope, universality, and cohesion — but this is an educational community, not psychotherapy, and it isn't a substitute for mental health care. See our Terms of Participation.
Often, yes. The certificate documents up to 45 CE hours, and employers who value wellbeing have reimbursed past participants. Email sean@wisdomworkshop.io for supporting materials.
Start with a 15-minute conversation. Sean meets with most prospective participants before a cohort begins to see if it's a good fit.
We begin July 8th. Sixteen seats, two small groups.