Writing in the Recommendo newsletter, Kevin Kelly, whose great, useful ideas we’ve been following for years, described his latest find: placebo pills that he buys on Amazon. He’s found them to be helpful to alleviate certain symptoms, echoing research by Ted Kaptchuk and others about the efficacy of open-label placebos.
Read MoreTime management educator Marydee Sklar helps entrepreneurs and other scattered creative types develop a kind of x-ray vision to antidote their often inefficient and energy-draining work habits. I’ve found the essential principles of her method mightily useful, in tandem with poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s approach.
Read MoreWhat if the future of well-being is about “tipping the scales in the world away from fear and toward love”? asks On Being’s Krista Tippett in The Future of Well-Being. This simple premise feels like a guidepost for navigating the extraordinary elevation of fear the past years have brought, wrought by the pandemic, politics fueled by animosity, climate change. We were particularly struck by the idea of “microdosing of well-being”.
Read More“I obey time, but do not try to manipulate it” said South Korean artist Myonghi Kang, referring to her painting “Le temps des camélias” (“The Time of Camellias”), which took her 30 years to complete. We are heartened by her assuredness and courage, even, striking in a world where the pressure to be productive seems to inform every moment.
Read MoreRecently I stumbled an article about lighting designer and photographer Christopher Baker and potter Odette Heideman’s home in Maine in House & Garden. Amidst a trove of clever ideas was one I plan to steal.
Read MoreWhen uber-journalist Bibi Baskin was asked what she planned to be doing when she retired she replied, “Nothing.” It is a pursuit she has longed for. Still it is not always easy to do given the fierce demands of a society that values productivity above most else.
Read MoreWe have marveled at Susan Simard since we realized she was the model for the fearless, hermetic tree botanist in Richard Price’s wondrous tree-centric novel The Overstory. Her new book Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Ancient Wisdom of the Forest about the intricate underground communication network trees create and depend upon got us thinking about the perfect gift, for Mother’s day or otherwise.
Read More“Languishing” perfectly describes the unsettling emotional state so many of us find ourselves in a solid year into the pandemic. We looked deeper into its meaning, and found insight in art, music, poetry…
Read MoreAfter David Saltman described his remarkable experience seeing Alan Watts give a talk in the 1970s, we hunted down some video of the essential astonishing lesson. Which led to way more…
Read MoreSince Kevin Kelly last published his 68 Bits Of Seriously Good Advice a year ago for his 68th birthday, he’s come up with 99 more pieces of wisdom. Like last year’s, it’s a brilliant list, creating something of a guide for living.
Read MoreOver the years, I’ve practiced various breathing techniques to reduce stress. But it wasn’t until I listened to this interview with James Nestor, author of Breath: The New Science Of A Lost Art that I understood how breathing works in the body and emotions, and how we can use the simplest of practices to calm or energize ourselves, and heal.
Read MoreSomething doesn’t ring true to us about the idea that with a simple change of year would come an erasure of the heavy mood and fearful times we’ve been feeling. Here is a different view…
Read MoreAs always, we are taking the week between Christmas and New Year’s off. It’s a time to slow way down and reflect on the rough year that’s passed and on the new one we are about to begin, starting with this question from Yoko Ono…
Read MoreIn this video, performance artist Marina Abramovic describes the tree therapy she developed many years ago in the Amazon rainforest. It has become part of her “Abramović Method,
Read MoreAn image titled “sunset TV” reminded us of the many alt-TVs we’ve known people to watch. And the pleasure and illumination they afford.
Read MoreAfter a year of big transitions — to a new platform, with a disbanded paywall, free content for everyone and new publishing schedule — here’s an update on Improvised Life and its fantastic community.
Read MoreAfter a particularly rough period of her life, artist and gardener Lorene Edwards Forkner embarked on an unusual daily practice, that quietly taught her some very big lessons.
Read MoreArtist ciriacaerre made a video of repairing a smashed vase using kintsugi, the Japanese art that celebrates the scars and breaks. She, and other artist, eloquently describe its greater meaning…
Read MoreIn the course of our random reading, we love coming upon surprising questions that we can mull during the week to see what answers, information or mindshifts emerge. Our current favorite is from a story about Buckminster Fuller…
Read MoreIndigo Girls’ Amy Ray and Emily Saliers put their finger on what makes poet/rapper Kae Tempest so unique: “…their willingness to love humanity through the darkness makes me hopeful”. That comes through powerfully in these two spoken word pieces and this short powerful interview. Words to live by.
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