Periodically I revisit this short clip of Julia Child flipping a potato pancake, “a daring thing to do” on her ’70s television show where flubs and mess-ups were left as-is. Child ad libs essential wisdom that applies to any daring endeavor, and life itself.
Read More
A Question for The Last Week of a Fearsome Year
As always, we are taking the week between Christmas and New Year’s off. It’s a time to slow way down and reflect on the rough year that’s passed and on the new one we are about to begin, starting with this question from Yoko Ono…
Read More
Sunset TV and Other Ways to Watch Amazing Goings-On
An image titled “sunset TV” reminded us of the many alt-TVs we’ve known people to watch. And the pleasure and illumination they afford.
Read MoreHow to Give Thanks Anyway (Melanie Beatty, Bob Dylan, Gary Snyder, Pablo Neruda…)
Many 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.
Read MoreLet Rhythm Rewire Your Life (Tasha Blank)
Tasha Blank‘s video manifesto shook us loose from a stuckness we didn’t know we had, mired as we were in the mighty anxiety of the zeitgeist, dire news, contentious opinions… The international DJ, dancer, coach, somatic practitioner and music producer has much to offer in the form of music, events, courses and meditations so you…
Read More
A Body Language Vaccine for Stress and Overwhelm (S.B. Dworski)
Since the convergence of Covid-19 and the run-up to the election, I’ve been increasingly bombarded with homemade mini zeitgeist-videos expressing the pent-up emotions we’re all sharing during this rocky time. The best of these I forward to good friends; mostly, I enjoy a good chuckle, then hit delete. I’ve kept this one on my desktop,…
Read More
Life Lessons from 100 Days of Seeing Color in the Garden (Lorene Edwards Forkner)
After a particularly rough period of her life, artist and gardener Lorene Edwards Forkner embarked on an unusual daily practice, that quietly taught her some very big lessons.
Read More
Buckminster Fuller’s Question for Finding Your Life’s Mission
In the course of our random reading, we love coming upon surprising questions that we can mull during the week to see what answers, information or mindshifts emerge. Our current favorite is from a story about Buckminster Fuller…
Read MoreA Young Poet’s Fierce Wisdom on Navigating Darkness
Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray and Emily Saliers put their finger on what makes poet/rapper Kae Tempest so unique: “…their willingness to love humanity through the darkness makes me hopeful”. That comes through powerfully in these two spoken word pieces and this short powerful interview. Words to live by.
Read More
How to Indirectly Help New Ideas Grow
We recently re-discovered “Eating Grapes Downwards” a poem we’d loved and somehow lost track of. Christian Wiman describes the mysterious creative process we cannot control, and often aren’t even aware of, but that is part of every life. With instructions for how to navigate…
Read More
The Ancient Formula for Gratitude
Opening at random Richard Powers’ remarkable novel The Overstory, we found the ancient formula for gratitude.
Read More
Why Starting Each Day with a Poem is ‘As Necessary as Bread’
Eight years ago, afriend and I discovered that reading – or listening to – a poem has a hugely beneficial effect. Here’s the backstory, the poets we rely on, and some poetry.
Read More
How We Manage Our Distracted Mindset and Get Working
We’ve heard a lot of people complaining about the strangely distracted mindset caused by the limbo of Coronavirus. Here’s a way we’ve found to manage it.
Read More
How to Practice Gratitude In Dark Times (W.S. Merwin)
We know lots of poems of gratitude but only one that manages to express thanks amidst the very hard things that befall us in life. It is remarkable and hard and heartbreaking and heartening, echoing perfectly that which we are living now… ‘Thank you’ helps us navigate.
Read More
Atul Gawande’s Solid Science: 5 Keys to Lifting Lockdown
Amidst contradictory guidance from the government, we’re putting our faith in wiseman physician Atul Gawande’s carefully-reasoned approach.
Read More
A Poem to Transform the Pandemic
We had not heard of poet Lynn Ungar before we saw her poem Pandemic. It offers a deeply affirming way to view this “strange and terrible” time, referencing an ancient practice.
Read More
Sonny Rollins on Losing Yourself In the Divine and His Sabbatical Playing on the Williamsburg Bridg
This sublime short film is about “saxophone colossus” Sonny Rollins’ two-year musical sabbatical playing on New York’s Williamsburg Bridge and what he found there.
Read More
A 16-Second Film’s Moment of Zen Sparks Haiku and a Writing Practice
In this 16 second film, a blow torch + hair dryer + popcorn makes for a curiously zen moment. We found two haiku to go with it. Then we remembered our friend Tim Chegwidden’s timed poetry-writing practice…
Read More
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”.
Read More
Listing What You Like Yields Mighty Benefits and Poetry
At the great Artist’s Prints and Multiples, we came across these inspired fridge magnets. We realized that making lists of “likes” can provide the same benefits as counting blessings AND work curiously like poetry…
Read More