Susan Dworski

Life’s a Mess, Channel ‘Pura Vida’

Understanding the nuances of “pura vida” made me wonder what if, in the face of all the chaos and uncertainty and rage and sadness, we were to embrace it as our daily mantra?

S.B. Dworski Ponders “Sonder”

Frequent contributor S.B. Dworski dives into John Koenig’s deeply beautiful concept, Sonder, which has poignant resonance today.

How to be Clear: Walk the Wind with Natalie Diaz, Ada Limón, Theo Jansen

Uitwaaien is an untranslatable Dutch word for a simple, transformative practice you can do almost any time. I came to understand it more deeply through art and poetry that expands the meaning of “air”.

Sea Change Can Be Contagious (Susan Dworski, W.S. Merwin)

In posts and emails, I shared the questions fueling Improvised Life’s new architecture and many changes. Among the deeply affirming messages I received from readers, the most interesting was from long-time contributor Susan Dworski. She wrote of the contagious aspect of this sea change.

The Best of Core 77’s Hilarious Weekly Roast of Really Bad Design

Core 77’s Weekly Design Roast gives our Annals of Bad Design a serious run for the money. Rain Noe deconstructs high-minded, idiotic design, channeling the hilarious design thinking behind it.

Give it up. Go bare. Go free. Accept Your Shelf Life As Given (Guest Post)

Nobel Prize winner Dr. Jim Allison’s headshot filling the back cover of a recent New Yorker got me thinking. Would that photo fly as a full-page ad if Dr. Jim were a woman?

Karl Lagerfeld’s Inspired Ideas

After legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld passed away in February, we looked back into our archive for good ideas any of us might steal and employ…

Solar Lanterns Make Lunar Magic, Sensual Bubbles and, in the end, Stars

One of the best ways we know to create outdoor lighting magic in warm months are with Shoji Solar Lanterns…

Simple Ways to Create Private Space with Fabric Room Dividers and ‘Slung Cloths’

The quest for a calming, private space can feel like an impossible dream, particularly for those who share tight living quarters. Here are some ideas…

Edward Gorey on the Unexpected in Creative Projects + Morning Mantra

When Susan Dworski sent us this hunk of Edward Gorey brilliance, she also shared her own morning mantra.

Make Do and Mend: Gentle Inner and Outer Activism

Understanding that “waste is symptomatic of failed relationships” has changed our view about repairing/mending/fixing — from the inside out.

‘When one window closes, another opens’ (Kay Ryan +Susan Dworski)

From an island farm in the Pacific Northwest, Susan Dworski relates her post election strategies and one small miracle, with poem.

This Shining Moment in the NOW

There’s a sweet hiatus between summer and fall in the few weeks after Labor Day when the sky promises to be blue forever and only a dozen, drifting, saffron leaves hint of soon-to-be barren branches. Before moving to a ramshackle farm tucked away on a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest last year, seasons were meaningless. Here, Nature knocks and you listen…

Blackberry August: Island Harvest Crumble with Poem

Blackberries are considered both a scourge and a blessing. They grow anywhere and everywhere, bristling with thorns, invading civilized gardens, threatening to obliterate freeway on-ramps. But in August, if you see a car pulled off the side of the road, you can bet everyone’s piled out to gather wild blackberries to eat out-of-hand and transform in the kitchen.

A Strategy for Tumultuous Times (Bruce Lee)

I was pondering how to remain sane in the tumult and violence that seems to be our world these days, where lunatics of every stripe are taking center stage, when I remembered this quote from Bruce Lee, the great kung fu master:

What is YOUR Artist’s Studio?

A couple of weeks ago while we were compiling Artist’s Studios with Sofas + Rest Spaces, we stumbled on picture of earth artist Roy Staab‘s that had the notation: The Site Is My Studio. There was Staab creating in the Hudson River in 1989. IN THE HUDSON RIVER! It got us thinking about what our studio is. We realized…

Pruning the Old to Allow the New

When we wrote friend and contributor Susan Dworski of many decisions we had were making to change how we worked — limiting some aspects and dreams to focus on others — she likened it to pruning a tree: the essential process of culling and removing branches of a shrub or tree in order to encourage growth. Her words and…

When Doing a Geographic Renews and Enlivens

Current self-help wisdom asserts that ‘doing a geographic’ to solve your life dilemmas is a Very Bad Move. Blowing Dodge is no answer, they say. Well, I suggest common wisdom could be dead wrong.

Wall Murals in Vintage Black and White

At A Cup of Jo, we spotted a terrific idea Stylist Meta Coleman employed in her son Henrick’s room at home in Provo, Utah: a black and white wall mural made from a C1900 photo. Here’s how and where she had it made:

Morning Practice: Reading a Poem…..Again

For some time, our morning practice, before email or anthing digital, has been to read a poem aloud (sometimes with a friend). Recently, we decided to try reading the same poem every morning for a week. We discovered that each day, we’d hear it differently and find something new in those same few lines, as…

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