Bill Murray never ceases to astonish us for his improvised ways and his very actionable brand of wisdom, like this…
Read MoreBill Murray’s Tweet Can Take You Far
Although I can’t verify that this wonderful tweet came from the REAL Bill Murray’s twitter feed, I don’t care. I’ve been mulling the idea for days, surprised where it took me…
Read MoreEssential Secrets About Living (Bill Murray)
In this rough video, Bill Murray is asked how his unique way of living came about. Here are “some of the secrets someone told [him] early on about living”. They are incredibly helpful.
Read MoreBill Murray’s Surprising Wish + Meditation
(Video link here.) How did we miss this surprising clip of Charlie Rose asking Bill Murray: “Tell us what it is that you want that you don’t have?” His answer in the first two minutes are truly wonderful, as he talks about “being really HERE“. When Rose asks “What’s necessary for you to get there?”, it get’s really…
Read MoreAn Improvised Goodbye to Gilda, from Bill Murray and Friends
How do you say goodbye when you know you might not see someone again? Bill Murray tells the tell of an unexpectedly improvised, completely perfect goodbye to his friend Gilda Radner: Gilda got married and went away. None of us saw her anymore. There was one good thing: Laraine had a party one night, a…
Read Moremore bill murray: ‘being relaxed’ (+ how to get there)
In the the Bill Murray interview we excerpted recently we held back an essential chunk, perfect for right NOW: I realized the more fun I had, the more relaxed I was working, the better I worked. Q. That seems to be a philosophy you apply not only to your work but to your entire life. A.…
Read Morebill murray’s life lessons
Sunday’s New York Times featured a wonderful interview with Bill Murray, a man who never ceases to astonish us for his very improvised ways. (He’s the guy who spontaneously said: Grab this day by the neck and kiss it.) The first couple of pages of a 2010 GQ interview we stumbled on intimates that Murray is not…
Read Morehow to slow down, via leo widrich and bill murray
(Video link here.) After we posted the anxiety-producing riff on Banksys “No stopping”, we found this great post called Slowing Down by Leo Widrich. It’s worth reading Widrich’s process of slowing down. Here’s an excerpt the essential, powerful technique he learned from Paulo Coelho in his book The Pilgrimage; it’s called The Speed Exercise: It is very simple.…
Read Morea mantra from bill murray
We recently clipped a compelling quote we found on Swiss Miss from Esquire’s great interview with Bill Murray. In the Comments section following, we found this amazing story-ette from from “Claire”, who seems to be a make-up artist: My brother is a huge Bill Murray fan so recently having had the “experience” of working with him I…
Read MoreSlow Down at a Traditional Japanese Spa with a John O’Donohue Blessing
This steamy virtual Japanese “sento” bath somehow helps us to calm and slow to the pace we need to be. As does this John O’Donohue Blessing.
Read MoreSlow Thinking is a Revolutionary Act
During a week away where we forgot to check into Improvised Life’s many social media platforms, we discovered “slow thinking”. It is indeed a radical and transformative act.
Read MoreWallace Stevens: Patron Saint of Creatives Held Captive by Work
We know many people who work hard at jobs they don’t love in order to pay for the lives or creative work they do. Our role model for how to do both kinds of work is the great poet Wallace Stevens, who was an insurance executive for much of his life; many of his greatest poems were written…
Read MoreThe New 10 Commandments and A Few More
We recently came across this tweet from God, with a new set of refreshing and useful commandments. Equally compelling, were tweets sent in response with suggestions for additional commandments. Here are some favorites:
Read Morei qureshi’s met installation: tragedy —>hope —> growth
Please enable flash to view this media. Download the flash player. (Video link here.) This afternoon Holton Rower texted: We’re at the MET on the roof. You have to see the installation. It is fu*king awesome! So we ran to the Metropolitan Museum’s website and found this illuminating video and a bit about Imran Qureshi: Three…
Read Moremastery of anything is about practice + overcoming ‘can’t’
David Saltman over at The Houdini File spotted this image on The Art of Kung Fu’ facebook with the comment: Whenever you say “I can’t do it”, think of this photo. All martial arts, including tai chi, are about practice…a lifetime of practice to gain mastery… …And mastery of ANYTHING is about practice, perservering in the…
Read Morejack kerouac’s crazy-wise advice + that improv scroll
We really love Flavorwire’s recent The Craziest Advice from Famous People which includes some wild stuff from cultural icons like Courteney Love, William Burroughs and Frank Zappa. We couldn’t help thinking that Jack Kerouac’s Belief & Technique for Modern Prose is a very curiously syncopated Beat poem full of jazzy wisdom about the creative process and…
Read Morechimero: ‘everyone is just making it up as they go along’
99% recently published highlights of designer Frank Chimero’s “everything he knows about design“. We went to the original and culled our own. As usual, we see them being about LIFE, not just design. If you can’t draw as well as someone, or use the software as well, or if you do not have as much…
Read Morepixar’s 22 rules of storytelling annotated: 13 rules for creatives
Over the past several months, Pixar’s former story artist Emma Coates‘ 22 Rules of Good Storytelling has been flying around the web. Although we find it to be excellent advice for writers, we found annotating it made it even better: a list of fine life principles for any creative soul. Our favorite: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not…
Read Moreimprovised kissing via alexander graham bell
Found on …Found, the great, full-of-amazing-things National Geographic Tumblr of images from its archives in honor of its 100 birthday: Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel kissing within a tetrahedral kite, October 1903. It reminded us that kissing is probably one of the most improvisational things there is. Related posts: a mantra from bill murray
Read Morehow to make yourself powerful: fake it
(Video link here.) We were knocked out by this must-watch-all-of-it TED talk by Anne Cuddy, a professor and researcher at Harvard Business School, where she studies how nonverbal behavior and snap judgments affect people from the classroom to the boardroom. The gist: everyone we meet is influenced by our nonverbals, our thoughts and our feelings and our…
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