The Beach

Somehow, coming full circle.

By Chris Dunmire

A few weeks ago I found myself walking barefoot in the sand at small beach where I had learned how to swim when I was four years old. The beach is part of a 27-acre lake, one of several populating a private midwest camping resort my family frequented during weekends and summers between the 1970s and 1990s. More »

The Wisdom Growing in My Garden

Manifesting in Baby Bell Peppers

When I first took up gardening two summers ago, I didn’t realize how much I’d learn from the process of planting and cultivating flowers, fruits, and vegetables from the rich soil in my own back yard. I started out simply wanting pretty things to grow and good things to eat, but what I’ve reaped is so much more, including a perpetual crop of metaphoric wisdom that transfers beautifully into my creative life. More »

The Acorn: A Symbolic Seed of Human Potential

From One Human, Great Things Can Grow

Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited with the quote, “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.”

That’s quite a feat, when you really think about what it means.

That means that from one tiny acorn that falls from an oak tree, a thousand more forests can grow. One acorn. Hundreds of trees. A thousand forests. More »

Choosing Joy

The feeling of happiness that comes from doing something worthwhile.

“Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile.” — Wilfred T. Grenfell

When I was enrolled in Eric Maisel’s creativity coaching courses, we talked a lot about the subject of “meaning-making”. Meaning-making is a theme that runs through a few of Maisel’s books focused on coaching artists, writers, performers, and other creatives ("Coaching the Artist Within" and "The Van Gogh Blues") and it is usually achieved by people who are engaged earnestly, honestly, and deeply with their art or craft. More »