Maria Kalman recently arrived in our Inbox with an invitation to buy a signed and numbered edition she created. It’s called “Don’t Think too Much” and it has much to say on the subject and how not to… (think too much)
Read MoreNature’s Operating Manual
In her seminal 1997 book Biomimicry, Janine Benyus introduced the notion that we could be better off by simply mimicking the ways problems are solved in nature. Although usually formatted as a numbered list, we saw them for the first time as a single sentence, set up like a poem. And like a good poem, it makes for a radical shift of view…
Read MoreA Simple Shift of ‘Should’ Sparks Possibility Thinking
How many times have we heard the exhortation: ‘Don’t ‘should’ on yourself.’? Sometimes that’s easier said that done. We have some pretty fierce ‘shoulds’ in our heads that carry the weight of obligation and duty, and a narrow view of choices. Then we tried a simple shift.
Read MoreMarsha Linehan on Building a Life Worth Living
We got interested in psychotherapist Marsha Linehan after a reader told us that it was she who first used the Buddhist concept of Radical Acceptance as a therapeutic tool in psychotherapy. It was a groundbreaking approach, as were the treatments she pioneered for patients who were previously written off as hopeless. The story of how she developed it — as a young woman she had been one of those “impossible” patients — is a marvel of resourcefulness and creativity.
Read MoreTricia Hersey’s Radical Nap Ministry: “Rest is Resistance”
During a particularly stressful and exhausting time in her life, Tricia Hersey had an epiphany: She started napping where ever she had a few moments. It was transformative and led her to research the idea of rest as a healing mechanism and form of resistance against societal oppression. It would become her ministry, and she The Nap Bishop.
Read MoreMaurice Sendak’s Very Wise Words on Aging, Living, Loss
We recently stumbled on this video the great Chistophe Niemann created to accompany a clip from Terry Gross’ last interview with 80-year-old Maurice Sendak, a few months before his death. It is full of wise, achingly tender words. Our friend Maureen Rolla turned them into a kind of blessing.
Read MoreFor Those Freaked Out by The Stock Market’s Slide + Prophecies of DOOM (Revised)
As the stock market jitters wildly and the media speculates dire straits, we take comfort in this piece from Jeremy Siegel’s seminal book, Stocks for the Long Run, an essential reference for anyone wanting to understand investing. It’s the memo that brokerage firm Dean Witter issued to its clients on May 6, 1932 after stocks plummeted 85 percent from their 1929 high.
Read MoreA Couple of Radical Ideas About Living (Niall Williams & Henry Miller)
In This is Happiness, a beauty of a novel by Niall Williams, I found a nugget of gold that has been subtly transforming my view. It reminded me of Henry Miller’s radical philosophy of living.
Read MoreWill Real Self-Help Please Stand UP?
After reading a New Yorker article on America’s biggest selling books, many of which are “self-help” I realized I’d read many of them and none helped me help myself (although plenty of other things in my life have). Soon after, I stumbled on the penultimate self-help advice.
Read MoreKevin Kelly’s 99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice
Since Kevin Kelly last published his 68 Bits Of Seriously Good Advice a year ago for his 68th birthday, he’s come up with 99 more pieces of wisdom. Like last year’s, it’s a brilliant list, creating something of a guide for living.
Read MoreExceptional Life Hacks from Strangers
New Yorker staff writer Emily Nussbaum posed this question on Twitter: What is your best LIFE HACK?? Most were amazingly wise and/or useful. Here are our favorites:
Read MoreOdes to Joy in Days of Darkness
Bach’s Ode to Joy got us thinking about how JOY works when when life throws in a giant monkey wrench and we find ourselves navigating darkness we never imagined…,
Read MoreLife’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?
Read MorePat Steir: How to Occupy This Time on Earth
Pat Steir is one of our favorite artists for the dazzling beauty and surprise of her work. She speaks eloquently about the dark time we find ourselves in.
Read MoreKevin 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.
Read MoreThomas Ashcraft’s Hopeful Reminder in Fearful Times
Over the years, artist-scientist Thomas Ashcraft has made artful iterations of a message that we’ve found deeply heartening. Especially so now, in this anxious time…
Read MoreLessons in Slowing Down (Pico Iyer, Vija Celmins, W.S. Merwin…)
The past week or so, the same message arrived through a variety of sources: in an email sent by a friend, a poem stumbled on on instagram, a notice of a museum exhibition…
Read MoreSlomo Followed THIS Principle To Change His Life and Transcend the Trappings of the Material World
The impetus for Dr. John Kitchen’s radical life change into the skater Slomo was the answer a very old man gave him when he asked, “What is the secret to living so long?”
Read MoreBrené 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.
Read MoreEditing Those Ubiquitous Lists of Reminders Yields Potent Scraps of Wisdom
Over the years, we’ve come to look more closely at the lists of reminders about how to live that we find in our internet wanderings, to decide just what is truly useful. Here’s how we curated this one.
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