rules for living

Odes 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…,

Life’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?

Pat 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.

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.

Thomas 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…

Lessons 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…

Slomo 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?”

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.

Editing 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.

Oliver Sacks: Nature is a Therapy More Powerful Than Medication

An essay in a posthumously published book by the very wise Oliver Sacks gives a scientist’s view of the healing power of Nature and gardens.

Seinfeld on Why Things Make You Happy or Not (and Why He Loves Advertising)

We are knocked out by Jerry Seinfeld’s radically truth-telling, wise, funny —Is he kidding or what?— send up of advertising and his clarifying principle of things and happiness.

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…

What Maurice Sendak Discovered About Aging and His Tender Blessing

In this animated clip Christophe Niemann illustrated from Terry Gross’ last interview with Maurice Sendak a year before he passed away, the author of Where the Wild Things Are, shares some very tender wisdom…

“I like to be like a big oak tree”: Willie Stargell via Mister Rogers

Sublime: the first 25 seconds of this Mister Rogers’ interview with Pittsburgh Pirate baseball player Willie Stargell.

Balancing Advice from Thích Nhất Hạnh

When we read this remarkable quote from Thích Nhất Hạnh, first we thought, What great advice for caregivers. Then we thought, What great advice for being with anyone…

A Charleston Pastor Comforts a Pittsburgh Rabbi and Teaches Us About the Healing Power of Presence

Rev Manning described the Ministry of Presence that became the heart of his church’s mission and teaching after the violence it experienced in 2015. And he showed it in action.

Practical REAL-Life Wisdom from the Very Wise Ann Lamott

When she turned 61, Anne Lamott decided to “take the opportunity to write down every single thing I know, as of today.” It is a seriously good distillation of decades of living from the author of Bird by Bird.

The Deep Internal Realizations to be Had from Fooling Around

In his wonderful TED talk, Gever Tully describes the “deep internal realizations” to be had from having the freedom to fool around, tinker, improvise…

Honoring 9/11

Seventeen years after I watched from my window as the twin towers fell, I remember a powerful message sent from a friend in Italy.

Sister Corita Kent’s Visual Meditations on the Moment

Artist and renown educator Sister Corita Kent’s 1977 series around the theme of ‘the moment’ makes a heartening meditation…

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