practice

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…

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”.

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…

Richard Feynman’s Simple Technique for Learning Just about Anything

Richard Feynman, the brilliant Nobel physicist and “great explainer”, devised a simple 3-step technique for learning things. We’ve found it mightily effective and for preparing for a talk or workshop.

Revelations from Living with A Book Left Open

Although I’ve often left art books open around my space so I could live with an image, it only recently occurred to me to do that with a volume of tiny, powerful poems.

Private Office Rituals That Make Work Better, Deeper, Richer

Accepted for artists, rituals are taboo in the business world even though they can enhance productivity and well-being. Peter Bregman tells how to use them in any setting (once you understand what they really are and do.)

Don’t Know What You’re Doing and Think Everyone Else Has It All Together?

We’ve lost count of the times we’ve thought “We don’t know what we are doing!” We got some perspective from 4th-century Chinese Taoist philosopher/poet Chuang Tzu…

By viewing time as something incredibly delicious, would we feel like we have more of it?

A random sign got us wondering if shifting our view about time would, in fact, make us feel like we have more of it.

On Being Prepared For Joy: Iridescent Readiness (Christian Wyman)

In a snippet from a long interview, poet Christian Wyman asks and answers: Can one really just decide to be more joyful?

How To Change a Negative Habit

Over the years, I’ve learned that change doesn’t happen over night, but it WILL happen if I practice these five steps…

Why Napping Is Essential to Well-Being and How To Do It (with Haiku)

Sleep researcher Damien Leger is determined to dispell modern-day guilt about fatigue and napping, because, he says, it is an essential practice, not a luxury of the lazy or entitled…

Instead of Resolutions, a Transformative Record of Surprise

While reflecting on the year gone by, I came across a unique way New Years can transform that is far more powerful than the usual resolutions.

Opening Poetry and Art Books at Random Each Morning Sparks Hope (Naomi Shihab Nye + Joseph Albers)

Because we are aware of the dark side of things, we’re always on the lookout for antidotes and reminders of other ways of seeing. This morning, we struck gold.

Annals of Found Art: Cathedral of Vines (with Haiku)

We frequently stumble on objects that are readymade artworks unto themselves. If we saw them in a gallery, we would ponder them in the way we do “real” art.

Unexpected Mandalas To Take With You (Meg Hitchcock)

Meg Hitchcock’s assemblages of letters cut from sacred texts remind us of mandalas: harmonious images designed to create a calm, meditative feeling.

How to Live Wisely With Your Phone

School of Life’s How to Live More Wisely with Our Phones is a remarkable essay about how we can gently balance our relationship to our smart phones. Here are the most useful and view-shifting hunks.

Instant Therapy: Try Asking “What’s Good Here?”

Recently, we woke up really low and found ourselves mired, tired, unable to think our way out of our sad mood. It occurred to us to ask “What’s good here?” Then we started writing.

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