Among the many challenges the lockdown has brought, the ascent of nature has been among the unexpected gifts. Cultural institutions are embracing that view to shift and refresh their locked-down patrons.
Read MoreLinden’s Fragrance Defies Dark Times
Wearing a mask has proven to be another kind of lockdown: of the sense of smell. We’re still enjoying the sublime scent of linden in bloom now.
Read MorePierre Soulages Invites You To Experience the Light Beyond Black
In this mesmerizing little film, Pierre Soulages slowly works black pigment to create different effects of light. He describes the very personal conversation at the heart of his luminous black paintings.
Read MoreYou never know when ideas are going to hit you. You can get ideas just from sitting in a room daydreaming, just feeling the air. I think people are like radios. They pick up signals.David Lynch
Life Got Wild, Be Back in a Week (with Haiku)
Life got so wild of late, I’ve got to take a little break from publishing Improvised Life. I’ll be back in a week with new articles and the spirit of this haiku by Buson.
Read MoreSeamus Heaney On Suffering, Self-healing, and Hope for a Great Sea Change
This Seamus Heaney poem from “The Cure at Troy” resonates POWERFULLY in this time of extraordinary social upheaval as though it was written yesterday, and lends hope to our sea change.
Read More4 Ways to Shift Your Dark View from Yoko Ono
The news is so very terrible, it is weighing on everyone we know. Then we stumbled on some heartening messages from Yoko Ono in our archive that help to shift the view.
Read MoreEssential Principles of Nonviolence to Live: Martin Luther King Jr. and The Dalai Lama
What would Martin Luther King, Jr have done in response to the brazen murder of a black man by a white policeman? As waves of protest, some violent, sweeping our country, we found the answer in King’s Six Principles of Nonviolence* and again in The Dalai Lama’s Essential Teachings.
Read MoreSimple Gifts (Yo-Yo Ma, Alison Krauss) + Quarantine Bookshelf Exhibition
What marks the dark time of Coronavirus for me are the many instances of acute beauty that I am offered daily that have the effect of infusing moments with light. Like this sublime 2 minutes: a simple gift for right now.
Read MoreProtective Face Masks Get Stylish
Now that it has sunk in that mandatory wearing of masks will be with us for some time, masks are moving beyond surgical and bandana-ish into serious style and design. Check THESE out.
Read MoreHow to Practice Gratitude In Dark Times (W.S. Merwin)
We know lots of poems of gratitude but only one that manages to express thanks amidst the very hard things that befall us in life. It is remarkable and hard and heartbreaking and heartening, echoing perfectly that which we are living now… ‘Thank you’ helps us navigate.
Read MoreAtul Gawande’s Solid Science: 5 Keys to Lifting Lockdown
Amidst contradictory guidance from the government, we’re putting our faith in wiseman physician Atul Gawande’s carefully-reasoned approach.
Read MoreTom Foolery’s Soothing Bedtime Story Views the Crisis from Hindsight
This surprising video takes place in the not-so-distant future after the coronavirus crisis is over. Poet Tom Roberts reads a bedtime story of hindsight, about the changes the crisis brought…and about what might happen if we let it.
Read MoreThe Onion and Riz Ahmed on The Pressure to Be Productive During Lockdown
Perspective we need: The Onion’s sublimely funny, spot-on commentary on the pressure to be creative during the “free time” of quarantining + Riz Ahmed’s wise view.
Read MoreLook at whatever is in front of you and say, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" to it. The universe of possibilities becomes visibly, tangibly larger, over a period of mere moments.Stephen Nachmanovitch
Rocks are Useful and Sparkle with Poetry and Art
Knowing how a long lineage of artists and writers have used rocks and stones in their work expands my pleasure in those I collect for their beauty and endless uses…
Read MoreFrancis Alys’ 16-Second Gem
We’ve watched this small, beautiful gem from Francis Alys several times during the past week, amazed by how such a seemingly simple little video can have such power.
Read MoreAi Weiwei: On Home, Living in Isolation, Hope
Ai Weiwei’s thinking on purpose, home, isolation, hope are an insightful lens through which to consider our current circumstance. And especially, how the impossible becomes possible.
Read MoreUplifting Finds, Visual Poetry, Tender Blessing
Like the I.C.U. nurse in the breathtaking image, above, we are looking for refreshment, air, and sky. Here’s what we found…
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