Forced by a virus to endure a long convalescence in bed, it was impossible for Elisabeth Tova Bailey to imagine a future; “All of life was out of reach.” Only it wasn’t. A forest snail that took up residence on her nightstand, living in a pot of violets, would change her life and become the impetus for a remarkable book.
Read MoreEscaping Prison Through The Natural World (Merete Mueller)
Blue Room is a beauty of a New York Times video editorial by filmmaker Merete Mueller. It shows incarcerated men and women watching nature videos on loop, in a mental health experiment to see how seeing nature impacts their experience of isolation and the relentlessly bleak environments in which they must live. Its quietly powerful 11 minutes took us way beyond its subject.
Read MoreBoosting Wellness Through Language
Over the years, we’ve come to to view illness as a path that can, if we are lucky or open to it, provide a lot of illumination and healing. When we mentioned this to our remarkable physical therapist Rachel Miller Williams she nodded and offered this surprising view.
Read MoreCaring for Our Nervous Systems on Covid
The most helpful 50 minutes I’ve spent recently was listening to What’s Happening in Our Nervous Systems, a podcast from On Being with Krista Tippet. Clinical psychologist Christine Runyan discusses the physiological effects of the past years of pandemic and the profound changes its wrought in daily life. Knowing “what’s been happening on a creaturely level”, I’ve felt better, more grounded, despite the escalation of a new variant.
Read MoreMend Peace (Yoko Ono, Louise Bourgeois)
We were instantly riveted by @tumanualidades.de’s tiny videos of mending because they were so restful to watch, offering seemingly simple solutions to fixes we have in the past spent too much time worrying or procrastinating about. They called to mind a cosmic view of mending and sewing from some favorite artists.
Read MoreA Poet Defines a ‘Blessing’ (John O’Donohue)
For a long time, I was hard-pressed to find a good definition of “blessing” that encompassed its quality of kindness, possibiity and transformative power without referencing formal religion. I found it in ‘To Bless the Space Between Us’ by poet John O’Donohue, and in one of his exquisite blessings.
Read MoreWith Poetry as Balm for Dire Straits, We Are Taking Time Off (Mary Oliver, Su Tung p’o)
This week, my dearest friend will have open-heart surgery, a territory whose outcomes and demands defy prediction. So I will be taking time off from writing Improvised Life. But I will be carrying its lessons with me as I navigate waiting, hospital, ICU…
Read MoreMarina Abramovic’s Public Service Announcement
In 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 MoreWhy Walk in Hard Times (Rilke)
We take a walk daily because it never fails to refresh our thinking, change our view of things, calm us. Especially, in these most stressful times. It is perhaps our most powerful medicine. Walking, we find our mind shifting, ideas sparking, problems beginning to yield in ways we never expect. Rilke nailed it in A Walk:…
Read MoreA Healer’s Simple, Powerful Immune System Boost
Years ago, I learned a simple recipe for boosting my immune system from a legendary homeopathic doctor. He swore by it, and I’ve come to too. I’ve been drinking it twice daily since the fierce virus scare started and each time, feel its strengthening effect.
Read MoreSir Patrick Stewart Reads Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, Soothing Reminder of Love in Anxious Times
Sir Patrick Stewart chose Shakespeare’s sublime Sonnet 116 to read in this fearful time. Utterly soothing, affirming, beautiful.
Read MoreOliver Sacks: Nature is a Therapy More Powerful Than Medication
An essay in a posthumously published book by the very wise Oliver Sacks gives a scientist’s view of the healing power of Nature and gardens.
Read MoreBenediction for Living a Creative Life, from John O’ Donohue
A reader wrote that she has poet John O’ Donohue’s benediction tacked on her fridge to remind her to “let my work feed and refresh me”. Which is what it does for us, mightily.
Read MoreTrees Ordained as Monks, Forest Bathing and A New Lexicon Helps Heal our Connection to the Natural World
Disconnection from nature is being recognized as the cause of widespread psychological trauma in modern life. A new lexicon and age-old practices are being used to heal it.
Read MoreJim Carrey’s New Life of Color
Over the transom came a whole side of Jim Carrey we would never have guessed: Jim Carrey the artist who has much to say about vocation, art, healing…Check out his lovely, very surprising video.
Read MoreHow to Rid Your Mind of Thoughts of Death and Doom
The great Joseph Mitchell reminded us that “thoughts of death and doom” are part of the human condition, and of ways to rid our mind of them.
Read MoreSuddenly Paralyzed, Her Astonishing Graphic Novel Helped Her Heal
Emil Ferris’ started working on My Favorite Thing is Monsters, her astonishingly accomplished and imaginative debut graphic novel after she became paralyzed. “It helped me heal.”
Read MoreHospital Survival Strategies from Yoko Ono and Improvised Life
Over the past couple of years we spent a good amount of time helping friends navigate hospital stays. We started to write a piece about the many strategies we devised. THEN we stumbled on some photos of Yoko Ono’s hospital stay in the late sixties. The room was full of visuals that antidoted the ugly…
Read MoreHow Cures And Answers Arise (Thomas Ashcraft)
Whenever we hit a period of illness or depletion, we think of this artwork our friend Thomas Ashcraft made many years ago, with its powerfully healing reminder.
Read MoreWords that Ground You, Expand You, Shift Your Thinking or Mood
Every now and then, we stumble on a word with unusual powers. That is, it seems to resonate more than most, and we find ourselves changed just by thinking about it.
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