Towards the beginning of February, I had the opportunity to sit down with Gavin of the podcast What Origin? and chat about the Enrichment Project. This podcast explores the origins and motivations behind creativity, and I've enjoyed every single episode. Gavin asks insightful questions, leading our conversation from how the project began, to much further… Continue reading What’s the Origin of Creativity?
https://youtu.be/1Whnr8eBHbI Hilary's Rights and Assumptions "Open cup or closed cup?" Hilary opens a phone call with these words, and I can hear her grinning. Closed cup means that, after my turn elaborating on a topic I'm working with at the moment, I don't require any commentary or questions: I simply need a safe space to… Continue reading The Enrichment Circle: Hilary
https://youtu.be/i_xkISGSV4s Nancy chose "Joy" as her Touchstone that very first year of the project, and when I asked after the details, she emphasized the necessity of making a "stubborn commitment to joy." I've turned this phrase over so many times in my head that there's a worn groove on my mental floor. What does it… Continue reading The Enrichment Circle: Nancy
https://youtu.be/fZmbRIzk2-s Na'la and Singing Her Own Song When Na'la and I sit down to talk, time loses all relevance. We've become so absorbed in conversation that she has literally missed flights. At our last gathering for Solstice, Na'la and I were crashed out on pillows in Brandy's living room, eyes barely propped open, but still… Continue reading The Enrichment Circle: Na’la
https://youtu.be/xcIdQPzXMf8 Majda: I Poet You Majda taught me about the sacred and the sacrifice. Driving up to a mountain retreat, the Harvest Moon nestled into the valleys between the peaks like an exclamation point, we wrestled with conceptions around time, space, and our own bodies. Majda explored why she felt so pulled up to the… Continue reading The Enrichment Circle: Majda
https://youtu.be/Zct5thtLctc Kate: Speaking to Herself as Kindly as a Child I'm sort of beside myself, wondering how best to introduce Kate to you, because she's like another aspect of myself. A wiser, more motherly, sass-tastic aspect of myself. After being run over by a Mini Cooper in 2006, I enlisted Kate's help to rebuild my… Continue reading The Enrichment Circle: Kate
https://youtu.be/-GDKUUZXFxI The Touchstone of Compassion When I hear the word compassion, my first thoughts dance around the act of offering it: offering someone compassion. There's always an object, a recipient of the compassionate act. And how rare it is that I am the object of my own compassion . . . The Touchstones of Circle… Continue reading The Touchstone of Compassion
https://youtu.be/7SkmRXDx_JQ Natalie: Compassionate Queen of Misfit Toys I observed Natalie, watching a hafla afterparty in full swing. She'd just performed, and her kohl-rimmed eyes were still blazing, framed by a large feathered headdress. Natalie is accomplished, innovative, articulate, prolific, opinionated, and intense. And in that moment, she terrified me. I sidled up to her, trying… Continue reading The Enrichment Circle: Natalie
https://youtu.be/_whERFJFn44 She Who Compares, competes . . . What does she need? As the Enrichment investigations moved offstage, I spent countless hours journaling about my own inner workings, my own mysteries. What prevents me from being creative? Why do I struggle so mightily-- usually with the voices in my own head-- over naming myself creative?… Continue reading Sitting in Circle with my Shadow Shes
https://youtu.be/94RvZnWPlng A hug from Jaia is a thing of wonder. She waits, listens, heart-to-heart, until your breathing begins to synchronize. She invites you to be present in the moment, with another human being, with yourself. One of Jaia's superpowers is being able to create a patch of sacred space anywhere. She loves powerful places in… Continue reading The Enrichment Circle: Jaia
