John Cage used chance as the key determinant in his art. Rather than impose his will and self-expression, he preferred “self-alteration”, which is a unique approach to life as well.
Read MoreWhat is Your Terrifying High Dive? (Ten Meter Tower)
Ten Meter Tower shows people who had never been on a 10-meter (about 33 feet) diving tower before, and had never jumped from that high. The film is about approaching a personal limit —a potential leap — full of fear, and either making the decision to make the leap or not. Watching it is both moving and illuminating.
Read MoreThings You Can Control, with Caveats + Brian Eno
There is SO much beyond our control these days, that is was a relief to a list of things we CAN control. Then we thought about the idea of trying to control things, which can tighten things up too much, add stress and an impossible ideal. Musician Brian Eno’s words inspired a better way to view it.
Read More‘a fearless proclamation of what’s possible for ordinary people’ (Pema Chodron)
We were stunned at how perfect these words from Pema Chodron are in this very unsettling time and how much they teach on a purely personal level.
Read MoreFour Ways to Withstand Chaos in 2017 and Beyond
Recently, we got a New Year’s card that provided a welcome strategies for this anxious time. As soon as we think about doing them, we calm down.
Read MoreGogo’s ‘Focus/Fuck This’ Practice
My daughter is two years old and is learning so much right now. Mostly, we are practicing patience. It’s easy to get frustrated when chubby little hands fumble zippers or shoe Velcro or doll clothes…To bring her down to earth, I say to her “FOCUS”. Then she usually repeats it back to me, sounding a lot like “FUCK THIS”.
Read MorePauline Oliveros: Deep Listening is My Life Practice
“Deep listening” was sonic pioneer Pauline Oliveros’ life practice. Here is her simple instruction for doing it yourself (with music).
Read MoreHow 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.
Read MoreMove Shit Forward Even If You Don’t Quite Know What You’re Doing
‘Move Shit Forward’ can be a great practice if you don’t know what you’re doing or where you need to be.
Read MoreHow to Have Patience (Mira Keras)
Last summer I fought long and hard for a new prosthetic leg after a surgery drastically changed the shape of my residual limb. Getting a new prosthetic required dozens of hours of phone calls and pleading with insurance company phone reps. I was waiting in doctor’s offices and waiting on hold with my insurance company…and all this came while I was really waiting to heal. This extended lesson in patience actually helped me to be more patient with others.
Read More‘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.
Read More‘Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Hit’ (Mike Tyson + Mira Keras)
After the clothing line I was designing got derailed by a health crisis, I blamed myself for not getting it done. A conversation with Sally (and Mike Tyson by proxy), gave me a very different perspective.
Read MoreUseful Analog Method for Visualizing Designs + Patterns
We’ve long been enamored of quilter Denise Schmidt. Her minimalist work is rich with color, geometry, presence, and tends to be hung on wall as art works rather than put on beds. In her workshops, she teaches an analog method for laying out pattern that can be applied to home design as well.
Read MoreJohanna Under the Ice: With One Breath, We Are Part of It
Hoping to recover from a serious biking accident, free diver Johanna Norblad tried an extreme and challenging therapy: diving under the frozen Arctic ice. The astonishing world she found led to her discovery of a new field of exploration and changed her life. I
Read MoreLife-Changing List: What You Didn’t Buy
Swiss-Miss, designer Tina Roth Eisenberg’s blog has provided us with consistently useful/interesting content for years. We especially love her new practice. She’s keeping a list of things the DIDN’T buy.
Read MoreWay Finding: ‘Head Toward One Place to Get to Another’
This compelling 2 minute short animation is about a unique, counterintuitive method of wayfinding —traveling from one point to another over a great distance — used by both the space program and the ancient inhabitants of remote islands of the South Pacific. The concept can apply to personal life paths as well.
Read MoreFinding Your Personal Medicine (Yayoi Kusama)
When we stumbled on an image of the polka-dot cloth-wrapped trees in Yayoi Kusama’s extraordinary Ascension of the Polka Dots on the Trees, we felt instant joy and astonishment and were reminded once again of Kusama’s use of art as her own medicine. It got us thinking about vocations, passions, practices, arts that actually help us to live in the world.
Read MoreThe Best Plan Might Be NOT Having One
So much of what I see on the web are strategies for planning and controlling your life, it was a huge relief to read Kottke’s recent piece about how it can be better NOT to have goals.
Read MoreLiving is a Martial Art (Bruce Lee)
Legendary martial artist Bruce Lee always carried a small notebook in which he wrote down quotes, affirmations, appearances, poetry, philosophical ideas and his personal practices for training his mind and spirit NOT just his physical skill. Take a look.
Read MoreIn a Life Change? Making a Spreadsheet Can Help
A friend has been mulling a geographic: moving elsewhere in the hopes of creating more of the life she wants. Since there are quite a few variables she needs to consider, she made an Excel spreadsheet to capture basic info about the places on her radar. It got us thinking about making a spreadsheet that includes less tangible considerations…
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