A new way forward, together.

When I was in kindergarten, my parents decided it would be a fun idea to throw a mud party for my sister and me, and our friends.

We lived on the beach, and in the space between the edge of our property and the shoreline, there was a stretch of mud. It was silky smooth, a little smelly, and perfect for playing in.

It was the kind of thing every kid I knew wished they had in their back yard, and every parent was glad they didn’t.

So we knew we had to share it.

On the day of the party, there was excitement in the air. The thrill of sharing this piece of our lives with our friends. The anticipation of the mess and adventure before us. The not knowing what, exactly, we were all in for.

And so began our journey into the magic of the mud.

Some of the kids only went in ankle-deep. Which was okay. They still had fun wiggling their toes in the mud.

Those of us that went all in - mud from our toes to the tops of our heads - became one giant glob of mud and joy and laughter.

We were a mess, but we were in our element, together.

At first, you could hardly tell any of us apart. Our bodies and swim suits all the same gray. Our shrieks of joy piercing the air in the same high key. But as we began to find our rhythm of play in the mud, each of our personalities came out with wild curiosity.

Some of us enjoyed just sitting in the mud, rubbing it into our skin, sinking our feet deeper. Some decided to dig to find out what was below this layer of soft silk. Others followed the call of their inner wildling to run and slide.

One kid noticed that the grownups were too clean, and made it their mission to share the joy of the mud through hugs.

As the afternoon went on, we learned from one another. How to pile the mud onto our legs like a blanket. How to make the perfect trail for sliding along the mud’s surface. How to get our feet stuck and unstuck from the mud.

And we learned from the mud. How it feels between our toes when we first step into it. How it cracks on our skin after drying in the sun. How it changes the way we look, the way we see, the way we imagine everything. How it brings out new ideas from each of us.

This kind of creative discovery, play, and connection is what a group of kids could do in a field of mud in one afternoon.

Imagine what we - creative wildlings & wonder seekers- could do together with a world of possibilities.

For a while now, I’ve been on a journey of rediscovering and healing my own creativity and Artist Heart.

After years of trying so many things while building my business, while chasing after dreams I thought I wanted, and struggling to keep up with the grind of social media, I broke.

Actually, it was more like I cracked open.

I could finally see that the cost of running in a race I didn’t believe in, was my creativity. My deep, beautiful, sensitive, and wild creativity.

I needed to reclaim the art for me, not the algorithm.

I’ve spent the past two years in the metaphorical mud. Playing. Exploring. Following my curiosity. Reconnecting with the callings of my Artist Heart.

And dreaming of a different way of living in a world that tells us we are never enough. A world that tries to make us believe that we only exist when we're running in the race.

But that world is wrong. We exist because we live and breathe and create and feel. And love. The world I want to live in celebrates that above all else.

But I can’t change the world just by wishing for it, so I’m doing the next best thing I know how.

I’m making a new one.

A new space where we can choose to stand together rather than struggle to stand out.

A community to explore the deepest caverns of our creativity.

A place in which to wonder wildly.

And a movement to reclaim our creativity, together.

This is what I hope for, so this is what I’m creating.

If you’re longing for this kind of creative revolution, join me in the wild between what was and what can be. And we'll create a new way forward, together.

Learn more, and join the waitlist for SoulDog Wonder Collective, here.

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About the artist

Marika Moffitt is an artist and storyteller focused on expressing the spirit of dogs through photography. As the owner of SoulDog Creative in Washington state, Marika helps clients throughout the Pacific Northwest to honor their journeys with their Soul Dogs with one-of-a-kind artwork. Full of life and movement, Marika’s photographs touch deep within the heart of what it means to live the journey with the dogs we love.

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