Think With Intention, Live With Intention
Introducing our first official workshop at Summer Camp 2025 + Succeed Slow and old school photo albums
On the last night of Third Nature Summer Camp, Memorial Day Weekend 2023, I found myself chatting with a participant named Liz.
Liz was someone I wanted to connect with all weekend - from her past personal and professional experience, she seemed awesome - someone I'd have a lot in common with, and a lot to learn from. So I was so excited when we finally got to dive deep into conversation by the campfire.
I don't remember everything we spoke about that night, but I remember saying towards the end of our convo: "Did I take some truth serum before talking to you?"
Because that's the kind of person Liz is - she bring the capital T Truth out of you.
By the end of our conversation, I was ready to propose - I asked Liz right then and there: "Will you lead a workshop at Summer Camp one day?"
She said yes. And nearly two years later, I'm so excited to announce our first workshop at Third Nature Summer Camp 2025:
Think With Intention, Live With Intention with Liz Sutton
Here's how Liz describes what she has in store for all of us:
“Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.”
- Soren Kierkegaard
This collaborative workshop will help us identify our habitual thinking patterns, particularly when they become “traps” that prevent us from living in alignment with our values and goals. Using research-backed activities from positive psychology and the cognitive behavioral model, participants will leave with personalized strategies for how to shift out of traps into more aligned ways of living.
A bit more about Liz:
For two decades, Liz Sutton (she/her) has been creating experiences where folks have the space to grow and thrive. She combines training in positive psychology, yoga, and facilitation to foster self-awareness and connection for a wide array of audiences. She holds an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a masters in applied positive psychology (MAPP) from the University of Pennsylvania. Liz also works at Heights Philadelphia, a non-profit working for social and economic mobility for Philly’s Black and Brown, first generation, and low income youth. Learn more about Liz at https://lifewithlizsutton.com/blog/.
If you'd like to experience Liz's workshop, while surrounded by other kind, curious, and intentional humans, we'd love to hang with you at Third Nature Summer Camp.
More workshops, activities, and amazing facilitators to be announced soon 😎
Fridays With Third Nature
February 21st | Succeed Slow
There's a lot of talk in the startup world about "failing fast."
The idea is to put yourself and your ideas out there quickly, without fear of failure.
And I'm all for that.
But I've always thought...I'd rather succeed slow.
The succeed slow mindset embraces the seasonality of life.
We act on our ideas quickly, but methodically and with intention.
We continuously work towards gaining a deeper understanding of who we are and how we can best create value in the world.
And yes - we experience a lot of failure on the path towards success. The key is failing at things you’re good at and passionate about, because that’s how you get better at the things you can sustainably do for the rest of your life.
Succeed Slow is a topic I've spoken about a lot over the years, and want to write more about. But first, I thought it'd be nice to have an open conversation about it.
I'll share more of my perspective, and as always, be curious to hear from you:
What's something you've always loved learning about?
What's something you feel like you could do for the rest of your life?
(Definitely doesn't have to be work related)
How do you grow in the areas you're passionate about?
We'd love to see you this Friday to discuss all of the above and more.
February 28th | How Was Your Month?
An opportunity to reflect on how February was for you. You can expect a guided meditation to start, thought-provoking journal prompts, time in breakout rooms to share with others, and time at the end to set intentions for the month ahead.
You may think of this as a condensed version of our quarterly / seasonal reflection workshops.
The one we did at the end of January seemed to be really well received, so we're excited to offer this again this month :)
LOVED THAT
I enjoy sharing some of the things that make me say (out loud or in my head), an enthusiastic, LOVE THAT, every other week that I send this newsletter.
But there's another reason I do this: I believe "LOVED THAT" is a weekly habit worth spreading. Taking the time to reflect on your week (or two weeks), savoring all the things you loved, is another form of gratitude practice that enhances happiness, fulfillment, optimism, and memory.
Do try this at home!
Anyway, here's mine from these last two weeks:
1. An awesome weekend at Mt Snow in Vermont with our newlywed friends, Matt & Maggie. It was especially epic getting 10 inches of fresh snow overnight before a true powder day on Super Bowl Sunday. I also loved getting my annual chocolate waffle (IYKYK) and stopping at Frank Pepe’s pizza in New Haven, CT (IYKYK) on the way home. Didn't mind missing most of the Super Bowl for that #priorities.
Matt and I have been friends since we played drums together in the South Woods Middle School band (and got kicked out of said band - a story for another day). We were also ski instructors together in Colorado in the winter of 2012-13. In other words, we've hung out and skied A LOT together. Adding Alexis and Maggie to the mix has been dope.
2. A rare midweek massage with the greatest of all time, Pepi. Coming off the ski weekend, I had some neck pain (#gettingold) and treated myself to a massage. Pepi fixed me right up. Might make this more than just a twice a year kind of thing
3. Getting to lead a team building workshop for Duolingo in NYC last Friday, before their full company retreat in Cancun this week. We started with some Duolingo Bingo to help team members get to know each other in new, more personal ways. Then I led the group through an energy management exercise, where there was more journaling, small group conversation, and an opportunity for everyone to create their own personal energy management toolkit. Then we closed things out with a little Winter Olympics and pure fun. I loved how eager to connect, open to being seen, fun, and adventurous this group was.
4. Celebrating my mom’s birthday on Long Island this past Saturday. We celebrated the soon-to-be-grandma by going baby stroller and clothing shopping. Then we enjoyed a delicious dinner at IMC Steakhouse in Huntington. I loved the wagyu skirt steak and creamed spinach, which tasted particularly cheesy, in a good way. We also got to indulge in another favorite activity while at mom's house - looking at old photo albums. I especially loved flipping through her album that captured moments from the time right before I was born - the chapter of life Alexis and I are about to close ourselves.
Do you think our kids will care to flip through old photos of us on our phones?
Should we turn our digital photos into real, bulky photo albums to sit around and look at together?
Or will they be too distracted by the latest technology that we can't even fathom?
These are some of the questions that keep me up at night.
As always, feel free to reply with any thoughts or questions that came up as you were reading - or things you experienced that you LOVED these past two weeks.
Wishing you a great week ahead!
With gratitude,
Brian & The TN Team