Thinking and Seeing for Better Being
Daily writing promptList three jobs you'd consider pursuing if money didn't matter.View all responses Gathering, listening, sharing — the only work worth waking for. If money did not matter, I would not spend my days chasing titles, padding résumés, or stacking years like bricks in a wall. I have done that long enough to know... Continue Reading →
Daily writing promptWhat things give you energy?View all responses How struggle, not ease, fuels my soul. Two cups, one table, one day unfolding. The morning begins slowly, everything waiting for its cue.Button for coffee, knob for tea.A small hymn of burble and steam. Coffee for me.Green tea for Lindsey.Two cups, one table, one day unfolding.... Continue Reading →
Daily writing promptShare a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.View all responses The Collections That Taught Me Grace I collected things once, the way boys do, as if the world could be catalogued and kept. Stamps torn from perforated sheets, slipped from milky envelopes ordered from the Littleton Stamp Company’s ads in... Continue Reading →
Daily writing promptDo you see yourself as a leader?View all responses More Is Caught Than Taught I lead best when I am not trying. When I try, things get messy. They rarely turn out as planned. Lunch with Agendas One summer in Door County, I worked at Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant with two high school... Continue Reading →
How do you relax? Rest comes easiest when it is received, not earned. Rest as Surrender Lucy’s pink blanket slipped from her shoulder as the bunny drooped in her hand. She did not plan this nap; she drifted into it. This is the kind of rest that comes when we stop fighting, when the body... Continue Reading →
Why do you blog? Life measured in boxes—headstones stacked above, pale squares below. Nothing promised. How Many Squares Do You Have Left? Following a Life Lived From the Inside Out I keep a grid on paper—ten by ten, one square for each possible year.Sixty-three of mine are shaded already.Dark little boxes, like headstones in rows.The... Continue Reading →
Daily writing promptWhat does your ideal home look like?View all responses Grace in the Mess When I think of an ideal home, I imagine order, silence, everything in its place. But this summer, our dishwasher broke. In the busyness of life, repair slipped down the list, and so my hands found the water again. Morning... Continue Reading →
Daily writing promptHow would you design the city of the future?View all responses What if the city of the future wasn’t a gleaming utopia of steel and speed, but a humble haven where even the weeds in your soul could find grace? Beneath every dream city lies the grit of construction. Outside my window, workers... Continue Reading →
Daily writing promptWhat brings you peace?View all responses A Word to IbaYour words about unsung songs and the ache of becoming—they’ve stayed with me.They echo in the spaces between these lines.You’ve reminded me: peace does not come from perfection, but from presence.And I want you to know—You are not alone. None of us are. When... Continue Reading →
What's the story behind your nickname? A count without a castle, learning to tend what matters They asked about nicknames. But some names are not just playful—they’re formative, false, or even holy. Sometimes names are less about thrones and more about thresholds. My name is Dean Graf. Dean means wooded valley.Graf means count—a land steward.... Continue Reading →
Forming 2.0 