practicing the
Aliveness
of being human
Grace
and
Spill the Water exists to help people orient themselves while living inside real difficulty.
This is a storytelling and conversation space where being human is treated as a practice, not a given.
We gather to build narratives guided by imagination
and shaped through curiosity, care, and lived contact.
Here, aliveness is not something we perform or aspire to.
It is something we notice, test, and tend together.
Grace, too, is not assumed or promised.
It emerges through honest presence, shared language, and the willingness to stay.
Welcome to a gathering place for crafting meaning with both attention and hands-on practice.
A space where stories are worked, not preached.
Vision
To cultivate a community populated by grounded badasses—men and women who navigate life like open water, living with collective vibrancy and elegance.
Mission
Spill the Water is a school dedicated to learning about and creating meaning and purpose. We provide a space for men and women to turn their curiosities and experiences into resonant stories, thereby constructing a pursuit held as sacred art.
Values
Iteration: Falling in love with the reset button. We commit to a rhythm of showing up, learning by doing, and practicing sustainable creativity without a need for perfection.
Holy Work: Finding the profound within the mundane, the profane, and the pristine. Showing up day-by-day, brick-by-brick, taking the smallest step possible, and imagining the next into being.
Atelier: Honoring the human as a vessel. We treat our lives as a work of creative non-fiction, committing to the practice of storytelling and conversation as a way to share our radiance within our communities.
Spill the Water: Prioritizing the singing of life and accepting the inevitable spilling. It's about the texture of trying and the freedom to fail spectacularly, knowing that aliveness is found at the edges of letting go and having fun.
Spill the Water
Vision | Mission | Values
Overarching Goal
To cultivate "storytelling about aliveness" as a practice that functions as a viable, humane alternative to collapse, harm, and violence, both inwardly and outwardly.
Essential Questions
What kind of stories might breathe life into us?
Key Understandings
Humans can learn to tell stories about moments of movement, relationship, and aliveness as a result of making mistakes, confrontation, and devastation. From these experiences, storytellers can structure an "is that so" perspective designed to nourish the human spirit.
Kairos, Curios, and Columns of Otherwise
is an artistic expression
of the vision, mission, and values
Kairos, Curios, & Columns of Otherwise is an Atelier of sacred storytelling—spaces where creative non-fiction stirs big questions and flavorful things to ponder.
Mission: To promote "stories about aliveness" not as a remedy for depression, rather, as a supplemental activity that's nourishing for the human spirit.
If you're curious to dig into the foundations of this season, you can read the curriculum design layout on the Atelier page.
A bit about the album...
This work is an exploration of curiosity, story, and aliveness. It asks how humans turn darkness into possibility, how vulnerability becomes strength, and how stories help us make meaning in an enigmatic world.
You’ll encounter the multiple characters, the spectrum between violence and vulnerability, and the way comedy, tragedy, and redemption intertwine.
The album invites you to try on ideas like hats, build imaginary selves, and translate vibrant questions into daily practices of Holy Work.
At its core, this album is about channeling vibrancy and discovering what it means to be profoundly, imperfectly, beautifully human.
**All sales are processed through Stripe.com due to its global reach and transparent pricing.**
Kairos, Curios, and Columns of Otherwise
is also
the curriculum for
Spill the Water
One: The Call to Wonder
-
Goal: Cultivate openness to possibility.
-
Question: What am I curious about?
-
Understanding: A life oriented toward "storytelling about aliveness" can counter despair and self-destruction.
Two: The Compass
-
Goal: Develop an orientation without certainty.
-
Question: How does my character know where to turn?
-
Understanding: Storytelling can function as a compass when fixed answers fail.
Three: CAT the Coddiwompler
-
Goal: To introduce a curiosity-based self-assessment, not an evaluation.
-
Question: What will your answers be?
-
Understanding: Not all meaningful questions require correct answers to be useful.
Four: Captain Brooke
-
Goal: Reframe humans as dynamic, adaptive systems.
-
Question: How am I assembled and how do I move?
-
Understanding: Humans are not broken; they are complex, moving systems responding to conditions.
Five: Alfie the Prisoner
-
Goal: Explore the cost of choosing against the grain.
-
Question: What do I want to do that may create friction or confrontation?
-
Understanding: Acting from curiosity disrupts existing ecosystems and relationships.
Six: No Questions Asked
-
Goal: Question the limits of assumption.
-
Question: How do people decide if they already know?
-
Understanding: Premature certainty often blocks new stories from being told.
Seven: Two Columns of Shit
-
Goal: Reveal the mechanics of good storytelling.
-
Question: What pressures generate the simple and obvious?
-
Understanding: Humans often require significant friction before becoming meaningfully open.
Eight: CAT the Artist
-
Goal: Practice observing curiosity in action.
-
Question: What do I notice about her responses?
-
Understanding: Certain questions generate energy, engagement, and aliveness.
Nine: The Captain’s Quarters
-
Goal: Reframe the mundane through attention.
-
Question: How are ordinary stories built, piece by piece?
-
Understanding: Daily life becomes meaningful when noticed with care.
Ten: The Captain’s Vow
-
Goal: Confront self-betrayal and responsibility.
-
Question: Where do I need to stand up to myself?
-
Understanding: There is a relationship between circumstances and conviction.
Eleven: Simple and Obvious
-
Goal: Clarify experience through consequence.
-
Question: Am I willing to feel the pain of Column Two?
-
Understanding: Much of our decision-making relies on outdated or inaccurate internal data.
Twelve: CAT the Storyteller
-
Goal: Continue observing curiosity patterns.
-
Question: What do I notice about her responses now?
-
Understanding: Curiosity reveals itself through moments of vitality and resonance.
Thirteen: The Captain’s Vessel
-
Goal: Explore movement as alignment.
-
Question: How can humans move in rhythm with natural cycles?
-
Understanding: Human beings move according to prioritized internal and external rhythms.
Fourteen: Full of Light
-
Goal: Examine redemption without erasure.
-
Question: How do we move forward from past behavior?
-
Understanding: Redemption is possible, and it requires sustained effort.
Fifteen: A Witness
-
Goal: Practice presence in devastation.
-
Question: What does it mean to hold suffering without fixing it?
-
Understanding: Not all problems are solved through action; some require witness.
Sixteen: An Academic’s Shit List
-
Goal: Re-enchant storytelling through risk.
-
Question: What surprised me when I had something new to say?
-
Understanding: When risk and reward align, learning can be transformational.
Seventeen: CAT the Strategist
-
Goal: Observe curiosity as a planning force.
-
Question: What do her responses reveal about direction and desire?
-
Understanding: Curiosity can guide strategy when answers are unclear.
Eighteen: The Captain’s Daemons
-
Goal: Name distractions and inner antagonists.
-
Question: What pulls me away from the present moment?
-
Understanding: Presence often requires deliberate practice.
Nineteen: Alfie the Wolfhound
-
Goal: Explore rebuilding after harm.
-
Question: What obstacles stand between me and repair?
-
Understanding: Harm is not the only possible outcome.
Twenty: A Forgiveness Map
-
Goal: Reframe forgiveness as orientation.
-
Question: What is forgiveness, really?
-
Understanding: Forgiveness can sound and feel like gratitude.
Twenty-One: CAT the Seeker
-
Goal: Observe curiosity as longing.
-
Question: What do her responses suggest she is seeking?
-
Understanding: Curiosity points to awesome stories.
Twenty-Two: The Captain’s Otherwise
-
Goal: Establish practice through repetition.
-
Question: What story am I willing to live and tell repeatedly?
-
Understanding: The life we want emerges from repeated habits.
Twenty-Three: The Socratic Cat
-
Goal: Demonstrate storytelling's transformative power.
-
Question: What stories can I tell now?
-
Understanding: Learning is a fundamental ingredient to good storytelling.
Twenty-Four: Preview of Season Two
-
Goal: Set the stage for storytellers.
-
Question: What am I curious about?
-
Understanding: Great storytelling is ultimately self-directed.