The Art of Beginning Well: A Creative Approach to Intention, Presence, and The Year Ahead

As a new year begins, intention often matters more than resolution. Rather than setting rigid goals or racing toward outcomes, creative manifestation offers another way forward. In this space between reflection and momentum, intention becomes less about striving and more about noticing. This is the spirit of Wellness at 1, a reminder that how we begin shapes everything that follows.

Wellness at 1 is a shared moment across our properties, marked by experiences designed to bring guests together through art, wellness, and community. Each gathering invites a slower pace, offering space to reconnect, ground yourself, and start the year with care, allowing clarity to surface naturally.

On Day 1 in Los Angeles, multidisciplinary artist Lizi Phoenix will lead a manifestation workshop at 1 Hotel West Hollywood. Through guided grounding, visual exploration, and hands-on creation, guests are invited to craft a personal North Star for 2026, one shaped by memory, texture, and the quiet power of presence.

In conversation, Lizi shares how creativity serves as a grounding practice in her own life, emphasizing process over outcome and trust over urgency. It’s an approach that invites 2026 to unfold with intention, rather than pressure.
 

Setting the Tone for 2026 with Lizi Phoenix, Multidisciplinary Artist

Manifestation through art invites us to slow down and listen inward. How did creativity first become a tool for clarity and intention in your own life?

I’ve discovered that creativity is the most effective way for me to reach ‘the zone’ or a flow state. Many people in my family are artistic, and I took the slowing down and making art I was encouraged to participate in as a child for granted. I had always made time for it innately. It wasn’t until my first semester of college when I didn’t take any art class at all, and didn’t prioritize creating above making friends and learning about a new city that I could clock creativity’s effect on my wellbeing. A few weeks in I noticed something felt off internally and I didn’t like it. Since then I’ve been intentional about regularly tapping into my creativity, and this grounding source has helped me stay on track with my other goals.

Day 1 is about beginning with intention rather than resolution. What opens up when we begin the year through artful exploration instead of control?

Much of my work involves drawing processes that teach you to release expectation from the outcome of your piece. Instead, you’re taught to focus on how the process makes you feel. This workshop is a perfect way to put this same concept into practice through a new medium. While we are going from A to B, the studio experience will help us to slow down and be present with the intricacies in the spaces between. Noticing the gentle downward slope of our A and then wrapping ourselves around the curves of the B without judgement gives us the opportunity to appreciate abundance, rather than racing to the finish line. With this mindset our journey is infinitely expansive. Racing to the finish line means we have a fixed mindset on what B will look like. There are so many things we could be missing with a fixed mindset. The workshop will teach that artful exploration enriches what we can achieve via our goals through presence.

In your workshop at 1 Hotel West Hollywood, guests create a visual North Star for 2026. What can guests expect from the experience, and what do you hope stays with them afterward?

We’ll begin the experience by settling into a creative and liberating mental space through a guided grounding exercise. We’ll then walk through how visual manifestation works, and guests will have a chance to hone in on their intentions with precision. The table will be scattered with magazines, clippings, and craft tools, and at this stage guests can begin sifting through the pieces and selecting what calls to them. For the rest of the workshop, guests will have free rein to put the skills they’ve just learned into action and find their flow state while creating their portals. We will seal the experience with a closing visualization. I hope guests will retain their ability to listen to the whispers within themselves.

As you step into 2026 alongside this community, what are you personally calling in and what are you choosing to leave behind?

I am calling in opportunities to tune deeper into my own North Star, and expand my practice. I’d like to take what I’m working on into other categories such as mindfully functional products, thoughtful community involvement, and by expanding my digital reach through platforms who support my mission. This is why I’m so happy to be kicking off 2026 IRL at 1 Hotel with my community!

I’m leaving behind interest in doing things that I know aren’t true to me. I feel happiest when I know exactly who I am in a situation. That centering is invaluable, and recharging to me when I’m in touch with it. I’m hoping to lean into this with more clarity, and not be so swayed by an ‘I should’ type of feeling.

For those beginning the year with intention, whether joining the workshop or creating on their own, what’s one simple practice or mindset shift you’d recommend starting 2026 with clarity?

Seeing moments of rest or pause as opportunities for recalibration. With consistent check-ins with the self you can assess from a clean slate. This gives you the chance to be in touch with the most recent past and its direct effects on you. Being able to truly see in these moments, without the clutter of too much of the past, will allow you to move into 2026 with clarity.