Did National Geographic steal the idea for its cover or is it an instance of Multiple Discovery? I’ve experienced it many times…
Read MoreWhy You Should Play: It Sparks Creativity and Invention (Steven Berlin Johnson)
In this mind-boggling little film, Steven Berlin Johnson shows how play and pleasure may be as powerful drivers of invention as necessity.
Read MoreWhat 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…
Read MoreHow to Do Almost Nothing on Memorial Day Weekend
Memorial Day weekend is the real start of summer in our minds. And our minds are full of ideas for simple pleasures and ramblings, whether home or away.
Read MoreDoubt Allows for Alternative Ways to See the World (Albert O. Hirschman, Colorni, Christopher Columbus)
The very counter-intuitive views of Albert O. Hirschman turns commonly accepted ideas of productivity on their head: Doubt is essential to the creative process.
Read MoreOpened at Random: Zen to Go
This morning we opened Zen to Go to this…
Read MoreBathrooms Designed for Our Intellectual and Creative Selves
In their visionary bathroom, friends purposefully accommodate what most bathrooms do in an ad hoc way: reading material, a laptop, and art for their ever-creative selves.
Read MorePema Chodron’s First Step in Dealing with Chaos
We photographed a page from Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart years ago, only to rediscover its wisdom recently.
Read MoreAmbient Nature Sounds by Irv Teibel: “Like Experiencing Something Great and Sublime”
On a packed subway train I listened to birdsong and felt myself calming down. This was not just any endless-loop “nature sound” tape. This was Irv Teibel’s artful recording from the 70’s, now available as an app that I can’t live without.
Read MoreWild Green Butters of Spring: Ramp, Nettle, Spring Onion
One of the best ways to capture the flavors of ramps, nettles and spring onions is to blend them into good butter that you can eat on all manner of foods and freeze to have on hand. Here are two methods.
Read MoreAllen Ginsberg’s Advice for People Who Are Not Quite Sure How Far to Go
This morning we opened Spontaneous Mind: Selected Interviews by poet Allen Ginsberg and found his incredibly wise words of advice…
Read MoreNew Washi Tapes Transform Space with Morphable (or Removable) Designs
This 2-minute video shows just how liberating and morphable a room or design created with washi tape can be. Nitto’s new Haru tape is pushing the possibilities of washi tape.
Read MoreWords 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…
Read MoreTalking and Listening to a 3,000 Year Old Olive Tree
The astonishing 3,000 year old Olive Tree of Vouves got us thinking about the intimate ways trees and human beings communicate.
Read MoreBrandless’ Will Deliver Some Seriously Good $3 Bargains, and Ideals, to Your Door
Brandless is a unique e-commerce platform that sells its own food, personal care and household items for $3 each. Intrigued by its premise and high ideals, I placed an order.
Better stuff, fewer dollars. Just what matters.
Online retailer Brandless’ mission is ‘Better stuff, fewer dollars. Just what matters’. Skeptical that generics could
Read MoreOpened at Random: The Enlightened Heart, An Anthology of Sacred Poetry
This morning, we opened The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry and found this…
Read MoreJohn Cage’s Clarifying Question About Good and Bad Taste
John Cage’s question of taste is curiously liberating. It helps to gently soften our rote opinions and view of ‘ugly’, making us see more possibilities.
Read MoreMister Rogers’ for Adults
We came to the extraordinary Fred Rogers late, after watching Mister Rogers for Adults, a brilliant series of 1-minute videos from his show, that convey his unique philosophy of love.
Read MoreSome of the Most Beautiful Sentences in Literature are Like Poems
When we read 50 Of The Most Beautiful Sentences In Literature, we felt like we were reading poems, each one complete unto itself.
Read MoreCure for Bed Heads: Our Stripped Down Version of The Cuban Table’s Sublime El Pecado (Layered Coffee)
The Cuban Table’s recipe for el pecado, which layers three kinds of milk with strong Cuban coffee, is so compelling, we’re going to make it this weekend…
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