About the Enrichment Project

Photo Credit: Jaki Hawthorne, Studio Jaki

In 2010, I asked a handful of creatives to share their practices and struggles for a year. 

Through monthly online prompts, weekend retreats, late-night confessionals, epic car trips, treehouse time, red tent talk, and while simply bearing witness to their creative selves, I began collecting their stories.

Stories that are altering our lives.

An Origin Story

Ostensibly, this project was about creativity; I could read a hundred books on the topic of creativity. I can, I have, and I probably will read them, but I felt inspired to supplement those resources with the context of lived lives.

Too often, the members of the Enrichment Circle – and I include myself here – equate creativity with an end result. Yet I’ve discovered it’s the practice of creativity that incorporates the most joy into the lives of this small study. These brave souls are dancers, artists, musicians, aerialists, yoginis, and counselors, but they are also parents, spouses, businesspeople, activists, and students. Their creativity comes in all forms and from surprising circumstances.

While sharing in their lives, I’ve changed careers and the way I greet each day.

Photo Credit: Carrie Meyer, The Dancers Eye

Naively, I thought after that first year was up, I’d spend a month or so mapping out all these new creative techniques, then apply them to my next project. I thought I would learn the what — the ten dance drills to perfect my belly dance shimmy, aerial acrobatic transitions between my favorite moves on the lyra, visual sources for drawing – but instead, I’m learning the how:

  • How articulating a desire names a color you’ve seen all your life but never had a name for

  • How presence in the moment opens you to more possibilities

  • How seeking balance washes tension away

  • How the concept of a circle provides a creative alternative to competition

  • How compassion is the first (and last and always) lesson of self-esteem

  • How surprisingly instrumental spirit is to the creative process

  • How integration can cascade through all my senses within the span of a single breath

These insights feel so deceptively simple, so easy to lose, that they have become Touchstones for me, small treasures that I must remind myself are always in my back pocket. These are the stories and reminders I need on a rainy day. What reminders do you need?

An Enriching Evolution

I wrote a book about our discoveries, weaving in journal prompts and exercises. I began my query letters to publishers with one of these invitations until an especially blunt rejection letter informed me I was “asking too much of a reader.”

This was early on in the pandemic, when everyone I knew was forced into finding creative solutions. Despite this one guy’s response, people kept asking me when the book would be out, seeking inspiration for what was clearly lengthening from sprint into marathon.

Paradoxes intrigue me, and this one made me realize the real story was less about the book I’d written and more about what it would spark for a reader ready to experience their own journey.

So I decided to share the content in a digital forum, with regular council shares and additional support. This was an incredible evolution, and yet because I care about your digital privacy, I have stepped away for a time to find a platform that safeguards information better than the ad-driven alternatives.

I’m also pursuing models of co-facilitation to find a format that prioritizes the evolution and creativity of all. You can currently connect with The Enrichment Project and a community supporting change through monthly circle shares.