inspiring people Archives - Improvised Life

Ai Weiwei: On Home, Living in Isolation, Hope

Ai Weiwei’s thinking on purpose, home, isolation, hope are an insightful lens through which to consider our current circumstance. And especially, how the impossible becomes possible.

Kevin Kelly’s 68 Bits of Seriously Good Advice

To celebrate his 68th birthday, Kevin Kelly compiled some of the gold he’s learned over his seven decades. The brilliant list provides a roadmap to wholeness and positivity.

W.S. Merwin On Hope and What to Do On the Last Day of the World

In this short video, the renown poet and activist sepaks eloquently about hope and our interconnectedness, two themes so many are working to encompass.

Yayoi Kusama’s Defiant Message To Covid-19

Today the very uplifting MESSAGE FROM YAYOI KUSAMA TO THE WHOLE WORLD flew over our transom: a poem that acts as a call to arms, waking us from the shock of quarantine…A healing dose of Kusama’s own Art Medicine.

Toni Morrison: What to Do In Times of Dread

On the great instagram Nitch, we found an excerpt from an essay Toni Morrison wrote for the Nation in 2015. It seems an extraordinarily fitting message for THIS very dark time.

9 Answers to Krista Tippett’s Powerful Interview Question Inspire Our Own

This short video compiles some very surprising answers to On Being’s Krista Tippet’s favorite interview question. It evokes “a very fertile place in everybody’s imaginations, whatever their story is…full of questions and searching and softness.” It’s a wonderful question to ask ourselves…

Yoko Ono’s New Year’s Wish

A few days ago, Yoko Ono posted this remarkable message on her instagram, a perfect New Year’s wish. We’ve found some compelling images to go with it, and Ono’s spare, powerful recording of “Imagine”.

Gordon Hempton: Silence is the Presence of Everything

This lovely immersive video follows acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton to one of the quietest places on earth. It draws our awareness to just what it is we’re hearing, or not, and the unique, extraordinarily complex sounds of silence.

Powerful Questions About Personal Expression Sparked by W.S. Merwin’s Garden Time (Consider Journal)

At #Consider Journal, a remarkable post ranges from W.S. Merwin’s last book to the “cyclical effect of nature and art” to the bigger question of how our expression might come to resonate in bigger ways.

An Empowering Short Film on What We Can Do to Restore the Climate (Greta Thunberg, George Monbiot)

From The Guardian on the day of massive worldwide climate strikes comes this excellent 3 minute film on what we/you can actually do to restore the devastated climate. Empowering and essential.

Bolivia’s Cholita Wrestlers and Mountain Climbers Transform Stereotypes with Fierce Acts of Empowerment

Aymara indigenous women in Bolivia, long marginalized, have embraced wrestling and mountain climbing in traditional colorful skirts to affirm their history and their visibility. Their motto: To want is power.

Brené Brown’s Life Changing Question: Do You Believe People Are Doing the Best They Can?

When Brené Brown asked herself, ‘Do you believe people are doing the best they can? ‘ she admits to answering ‘Fuck no!’ until she explored it further, which yielded pure, transformative gold.

Monks Pond, Thomas Merton’s Visionary Underground Magazine Meant “To Go Out of Business”

In the sixties, Trappist monk and mystic Thomas Merton published a magazine with a radical and artful mission. Here are some excerpts…

Oliver Sack’s On Meeting an Orangutan at the Toronto Zoo

One of the most remarkable stories in the late Oliver Sacks’ posthumously published book is about Sacks’ unexpected meeting with an orangutan while visiting the zoo. It describes Sacks “”a brilliant singularity”: his ability for showing us the big fat gifts to be found in the everyday. Perfection in 274 words.

Listen to the Magic of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah Being Hummed Around the World

Among the many joys we experienced at the extraordinary Leonard Cohen exhibition at The Jewish Museum, is a room resonating with the sound of hundreds of people around the world humming Cohen’s anthem, Hallelujah. You can experience it online as well.

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