signs + reminders

Mary Oliver’s Instructions for Living

In this often dark times, I am grateful for the potent little instructions for living Mary Oliver gave us.

Brian Eno’s Early Handwritten Oblique Strategies Cards Inspire Our Own

Brian Eno’s original set of handwritten oblique strategies cards designed to break creative impasses made us wonder about making our own…

Notes on Personal Flight via Marc Johns, Anne Sexton and Anonymous

A 2-line to-do list and a Marc Johns drawing made us think hard about the different kinds of personal flight.

We are Still Living with Barbara Kruger’s Questions

Artist Barbara Kruger’s iconic 1990 mural is an artwork for today, and offers an essential lesson about difficult questions.

How to Navigate the Darkness of our Time (Fred Rogers)

The great Mister Rogers who lived in the neighborhood where the Saturday’s heartbreaking shooting took place, had much to say about how to navigating darkness.

Benediction for an Ordinary Day (John O’Donohue)

Some of the best blessings, benedictions and well-wishes we know can be found in Irish poet John O’Donohue’s book, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom, like this one for an ordinary day.

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…

Even as Things Are Going Wrong, Thousands Are Going Right

It was one of those days, with all manner of things going awry. I posted a message on Facebook to alert readers, along with the a few lines about the strange synchronicity of challenging little events that had occurred. A reader sent back an amazing message..

For all who hit a with a blank screen, a rolling beach ball or the terrible message that Improvised Life could not be found, I apologize for the mishap, a technical glitch that took several hours to resolve.

It was one of those days, with all manner of things going awry and a fine lesson.

Using Limitations As If They Were a Tool For Your Benefit

In this unique view of constraints, not having enough —money, help, whatever— can be a good thing…

Questions that Transform Difficult Situations (Jack Kornfield)

At the height of a crisis, a friend sent us this hugely helpful excerpt from Jack Kornfield’s wise book about becoming at ease with the difficulties of life.

What Bill Murray Does When He Feels Stuck

Bill Murray never ceases to astonish us for his improvised ways and his very actionable brand of wisdom, like this…

Words That Expand (or Contract) Your Universe of Possibilities

This photo of hunks of clay by Gentl and Hyers made us wonder: What are we going to make today? And then we found this hunk of wisdom…

Ask This Simple Question to Disarm Your Self-Critical Inner Voice

We found a lovely, simple way to reframe those big existential questions everyone seems to ask themselves about whether they are enough…

Happy Passover, Easter, SPRING!

Eggs are a symbol or rebirth and renewal. We embellished one to make a perfect message for Spring.

Steven Pinker on How to Live a World We Think is in Dire Straits

We are not alone in feeling that things have never been so bad, that the world is in seriously dire straits. Psychologist Steven Pinker offers some clarifying strategies that shift our view.

Ikigai: What is Your Reason For Being?

When a friend sent us a VENN diagram of the Japanese concept of Ikigai last week, we found we couldn’t get its big fat question out of our mind.

Love is Telepathic

Walking along the Lower East Side of Manhattan, we looked down and found this amazing message pasted onto the curb…

Impossible is a Dare! (Mohammed Ali and Fred Astaire)

When we stumbled on this sublime minute-and-a-half of Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling Mohammed Ali’s powerful declaration on IMPOSSIBLE came to mind.

Peace Writ Large Across War-Torn Rooftops + Bill Evans’ Peace Piece

What are ways that ordinary people can spread light rather than darkness through the day? Lebanese graffiti artists Mohamed and Omar Kabbani, who grew up amidst the brutal civil war in Lebanon, figured out an astonishing way.

Art Materials Can Be Weapons of Mass Destruction (Henry Taylor)

This image found in The New York Times’ T Magazine Holiday Issue speaks volumes on the radically transformative power of art.

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