blessings

How to Give Thanks Anyway (Melanie Beatty, Bob Dylan, Gary Snyder, Pablo Neruda…)

Seven months after coronavirus radically changed our world, we don’t know anybody that is not having a difficult time. We turn to the greatest balancing mechanism we’ve found to find out way back to fullness, “enough”, clarity, joy.

W.S. Merwin’s Lines of Gratitude

This morning we opened our Collected Poems of W.S. Merwin to the poet counting blessings and expressing gratitude. Which we find ourselves doing as we read it.

Words to Begin or End the Week (Maira Kalman)

This week in the life of artist Maira Kalman has some very important reminders for any week to come…

pioneer woman with wild turkey, helvetia West Virginia

Improvised Life’s Thanksgiving Toolkit

If you’re still wrapping your head around pulling Thanksgiving dinner together, here is our toolkit of Improvised Life’s best ideas from Thanksgivings past.

Our Newest Day Planning Strategy

In addition to our clockface day planner, we’ve been employing another illuminating strategy to fill and track our day.

How to Gratitude, From a Two-Year-Old

With our tumultuous political climate and Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s an especially good time to remember gratitude. Gogo, my spunky two year old, has a cool practice she came to all on her own.

Inspiration from Merce Cunningham

This video of Merce Cunningham’s ‘Scenario’ is a lovely thing to look at first thing in the morning AND its costumes by Rei Kawakubo gave us inspiration for Halloween creations. But the best costume idea we’ve heard was from Chris Eldredge.

A Mentor’s Wisdom: ‘Jump back and kiss yourself and count the blessings’

(Video link here.) In 1983, James Brown and band were playing the Beverly Theatre in Los Angeles with legendary blues man B.B. King. Halfway through the set, Brown asked “another fantastic people” to join him onstage: 25-year-old Michael Jackson watching the show ignognito in the audience. Brown’s words are as astonishing as Jackson’s 30…

Instant Therapy: Try Asking “What’s Good Here?”

Recently, we woke up really low and found ourselves mired, tired, unable to think our way out of our sad mood. It occurred to us to ask “What’s good here?” Then we started writing.

A Poem for Starting A New Year or Day or Hour

One of the best gifts we received for Christmas was Mary Oliver’s book of poems Blue Horses. No matter where we open it, we find a few words that reminds us of a way of living and seeing we’d like to follow. (The epigraph features the remarkable Kabir quote, above.) Here’s a catalyzing fragment from the…

When Normal Equals Perfect

Our readers know Sally has been occupied lately with the serious illness of a close friend – namely, myself. Now recuperating, we’ve realized something about perfection: it does not mean being super-human or doing everything exactly right. It simply means means being normal. This revelation was amplified by our friend Thomas Ashcraft, a remarkable artist/science.

louis c.k.: the fab things you get with a basic life

(Video link here.) 2:39 minutes of brilliant perspective from comedian Louis C.K, from his recent HBO special “Oh My God“. WARNING: Adult content. If you’re not ready for it, save for later. Related posts: louis c.k. on ‘putting the time in’ the collected wisdom of louis c.k. louis c.k. car dances ‘who are you?’ +…

‘my dinner with andre’ on the meaning of life + coffee

(Video link here.) One of our favorite films has long been My Dinner with Andre, which is, on the surface, a conversation between two friends during dinner in a French restaurant in New York City. Andre Gregory vividly describes his revelatory, new-ageish, risk-taking experiences in experimental theatre while his modest less-adventurous friend Wally Shawn listens and…

bob dylan’s blessing (+ our thanksgiving wish for you)

(Video link here.) At Apple’s recent celebration of Steve Jobs’ life, Norah Jones sang Bob Dylan’s classic Forever Young, which he wrote in the early ’70’s. Although we’ve heard the song many times over the years, we never really focused on the lyrics until we watched the video of Jones’ performance and looked them up. We…

‘1000 awesome things’

1000 Awesome Things is a great site to check into for a quick reminder of the tiny, daily experiences that are so swell, but that we forget when we’re moving too fast. The Toronto Star nailed it: “It’s less about awesome things than it is about seeing the awesomeness of the everyday.” I see it is as…