swissmiss: Recent Episodes
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swissmiss is an online garden (aka design blog) run by Tina Roth Eisenberg, a Swiss designer gone NYC.
Seth’s Riff’s is a collection of kernels, notions and riffs from Seth Godin. What a treasure trove! GAH!
“The ability to be wrong is one of the most important virtues, and it is extremely difficult. It should be emphasized in families and schools alongside standard virtues like honesty, sharing, and kindness, starting as young as possible.”
– Alan Levinovitz
Whoa! A massive archive of old-school user-interface screenshots. As a former user-interface designer, this archive definitely put a smile on my face.
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Håkon Anton Fagerås (@fageras_sculpture)
Completely in love with Norwegian artist Hakon Anton Fageras’ Marble Pillows.
“The distance between deciding and doing is the single most reliable predictor of whether your life will be extraordinary or ordinary. Not talent, not circumstances, not even the quality of your decisions-but how quickly you collapse the space between intention and reality. Think of this gap as a kind of friction coefficient on your existence: the smaller it is, the more of your internal force actually translates into external motion. When you can move from “I should do this” to physically doing it within hours instead of weeks, you’re not just accomplishing more-you’re operating in a fundamentally different mode of being where your thoughts have immediate consequences in the world, where your inner life and outer life are in a constant, tight, conversation.”
– Derek Sivers
(via)
“I still think the [real] revolution is to make the world safe for poetry, meandering, for the frail and vulnerable, the rare and obscure, the impractical and local and small.”
– Rebecca Solnit
My Retro Tvs allows you to watch live television from different decades, as if you were currently living in that time, watching TV as normal.
You can choose any year from the decades starting in the 50s, up to the 2000s.
There are thousands of channels, including cartoons, sports, news, music. (The commercials alone make it worth tuning in.)
(via)
I recently heard multiple friends positively mention MediSearch when having to research a symptom or illness. Definitely into this kind of use of AI.
“The market for something to believe in is infinite.”
– Hugh MacLeod,
(Via this Seth Godin post speaking on integrity)
“There are two kinds of people after dinner:
Those who ask, “Can I help?”
And those who are already doing the dishes.One sounds helpful.
One is.This plays out on every team every day. Don’t wait for permission. Do the dishes”
(Via Zack Klein)
“Next time I’m about to cast a harsh judgement on a stranger who offends me, can I allow myself instead to see them as the flawed and complex human that they are? Full of heartbreak, loss, ambition and disappointment, walking a volatile path of all the things they’ve ever failed at?”
― Kae Tempest, On Connection
VAWAA makes my heart sing. Imagine traveling to spend time with an artist, where they spend time teaching you their craft. In their home. Their studio. Mini-Apprenticeships with master artists.
I love what Geetika has built more than I can express with words. The care she pours into VAWAA is immense! And, most of all, VAWAA is a celebration of human creativity and connection.
Geetika is currently raising capital for her next phase of VAWAA. If you think that what she is building needs to exist in the world, please consider supporting her over on Wefunder. I am going to right after I hit send on this blog post.
Yesterday, May 27th, marked the 21st birthday of this beloved online garden of mine. The rolling panda beautifully represents how I feel about this.
I had no idea just how much this labor of love would increase my surface area for luck to find me. Do you run an online garden? Point us to it!
Sociologists have long argued that human relationships are sustained less by intensity and more by regularity. Simply encountering the same people repeatedly builds closeness over time. Youth offers this naturally. Adulthood dismantles it completely. Especially in urban life.
– From the article The quiet grief of adult friendship
This is one of the many reasons why we are building CreativeMornings/Clubs.
point out the good
when you see it.in life,
in others,
in yourself.because the world
needs to remember
what kindness and
love look like.– topher kearby
I am going to be spending way too much time on this website! Bring back the weird internet. I love you Brik.space. What weird tool are you going to build?
(via)
“The prosperity of the community grows from the flow of relationships, not the accumulation of goods.”
– The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
(via)
Do you need an invitation to step away from the algorithm?
An invitation to reconnect with your creativity?
Cool. But you also need a deadline!
I got both: Cue RELEASE DAY!
Release Day just launched and 1,482 creative humans have already pledged to create something during the month of May and then release it on May 29th.
A month of creating?
I’ll be sketching and drawing in my sketch book ever day to reconnect with Art School Days Tina. My poet daughter aims to put together her second poetry book. And my partner Tim is finishing and releasing songs he’s never shared with the world.
Will you join? Go to creativemornings.com/releaseday and join us!
Thank you Creative Quests and Adobe for making this happen. My favorite activation in 18 years of running CreativeMornings!
“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor”.
– Henry David Thoreau
In October 2024, Rachel Moore had a close encounter with a humpback whale in French Polynesia and took these photos of the whale’s eye. Whoa!
(Via Kottke)
“You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person,” says Buffett. “Intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two. I tell them, ‘Everyone here has the intelligence and energy—you wouldn’t be here otherwise. But the integrity is up to you. You weren’t born with it, you can’t learn it in school.”
– Warren Buffet
(via and via)
Subscription Cost Visualizer is a lightweight, interactive tool that turns your subscriptions into a visual grid. Instead of a list of numbers, you get a clear, proportional view of where your money is going—larger blocks represent higher costs, making your spending instantly legible.
Project Gutenberg is one of the oldest and most generous corners of the internet: a vast, free digital library built by volunteers. Founded in 1971, it offers more than 75,000 eBooks—mostly classic works whose copyrights have expired—available to read, download, and share without cost.
FutureMe is a quiet little corner of the internet with a simple premise: you write an email to your future self, and the site delivers it later.
You choose the date—months or years from now—type out whatever’s on your mind, and hit send. Then you forget about it. At some point down the line, it shows up in your inbox like a message from a past version of you.
(via)
Moon Joy. I am here for it. Thank you NASA. These four humans fill my heart with so much hope and love.
Using wiki software, old photos, family stories, bank transactions, social media posts, and an LLM to sift through everything to build a personal encyclopedia? Yes, please! whoami.wiki as an open source project. The encyclopedia is yours, it runs on your machine, your data stays with you, and any model can read it.
(via Jason)
My friend Derek Andersen founder of StartupGrind invited me to be on his Podcast called Divot. Loved our conversation, his curious and gentle orientation and most of all, his lighting questions at the end. (Starting around 35:25min)
PS: They got the community size wrong: We gather 25,000 creatives every month in 70 countries and have 600,000 members.
“Two decades ago, some poets in the Netherlands decided that people not having anyone attend their funeral was an unacceptable ending for a human life. In 2001, a poet named Bart Droog began attending the funerals of people who had no one to attend them and honoring the dead with a poem based on whatever was known about their life. A year later, Dutch poet and artist Frank Starik took the idea even further, launching The Lonely Funeral project to ensure that someone who cares consciously acknowledges the life of a person who has died.
The idea was to create a network of poets who would find out whatever they could about the person, write a custom poem about their life and read it at their funeral. As of 2018, over 300 “lonely funerals” had been attended by poets in Amsterdam and Antwerp (where Flemish poet Maarten Inghels launched a Lonely Funeral project seven years after Starik’s).”
Read More about The Lonely Funeral
(via this article)
Sidewalk Joy spots are free, curated public galleries, exchanges and displays. Installed in curb gardens, front yards or sides of buildings these projects were created to bring a bit of whimsy and inspiration to the community. Examples include Free Little Art Galleries, Puzzle Exchanges, Toy Swaps, year-round and often updated yard displays, Wishing Trees, and more!
Just so you know–
everything in the entire
universe is always about love.
And when it is not about love,
it’s about the absence of love.
Hope this makes sense.
– Unknown
My studiomate Brendan is building new internet tubes with number0. He is a deeply wonderful and smart human.
“There are a hundred paths through the world that are easier than loving. But, who wants easier?”
– Mary Oliver
“What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb but the darkness of the womb?
What if our America is not dead but a country that is waiting to be born?
What if the the story of America is one long labor?”
– Valarie Kaur
This made me laugh: The maximum size of a PDF is not limited by the format itself, however, Adobe Acrobat imposes a limit of 15 million in by 15 million in, or 225 trillion in2 (145,161 km2)
Marginalia-Search is a search engine that prioritizes non commercial content. I love this so much!
(via)
The news cycle is already getting to my heart. It’s not even been 24h.
It’s time to protect my mental health. First step will be to curb the information I consume and how much time I spend on Instagram, Twitter and Threads.
I loooooove the internet. I have made countless friends and meaningful connections here. Yet, the current version of these digital gardens is hurting my mental health.
Here is my honest attempt to curb the time I spend mindlessly scrolling and instead create new habits.
Here’s a growing list of things I’ll try to do instead:
-
Grab a book
-
Text or call a loved one
-
Pull up a random Wikipedia page
-
Listen to an audiobook
-
Read a poem
-
Play a soothing game on my phone
-
Do a brief meditation and check in with my heart
-
Pet my dog
-
Go for a brisk quick walk
-
Do 5 squats (yeah right)
-
________ <— your suggestion here
“It’s so freeing and beautiful in a way, to have a great failure. There’s nowhere to go but up.”
– David Lynch
I truly enjoyed this podcast episode with Icelandic president Halla Tómasdóttir. Halla joins Adam to discuss dealing with impostor syndrome, why leadership is worth the effort and how listening and asking questions can build trust with constituents and make you a stronger leader. The two also dig into the story behind Halla’s “scarf revolution,” Iceland’s history of solving problems with creativity and Halla’s approach to leading her campaign — and presidency — with optimism.
(Thank you Andee)
I love these minimal mini side tables by UNFNSHED. Paint them in whatever color matches your home and voila. Wishlisted!
Reposting this personal story from my Instagram Account as this resonated with so many of my followers.
Last month marked the anniversary of our adoption of a truly magical house. Her name is Finne.
She was built in the 1830s and from what we know was a loving and communal home to families in Salem NY. Then, a gentleman lovingly took her apart, piece by piece, labeling every beam and creating detailed instructions on how to rebuild her.
He listed her on Craigslist, hoping to find someone who will bring her back to life. He did. Cue Hudson Valley based builders Bex and Dave.
They drove their truck up and moved her three hours south. They schemed her rebirth and eventually started pouring her a foundation. They then poured a tremendous amount of love into her, expanding her original footprint. A year later they listed her for adoption, mid October of 2023.
That night, I was out for dinner with Tim and happened to see the listing pop up.
Just a few days earlier, I made the intention to buy a house upstate that could hold all of our grown-ish children and be a physical manifestation of our love. There she was!
I saw photos of Finne and gasped. I slid the phone over to Tim and he started reading the history of the house. Then he gasped.
The next day we were the first ones to see her. Before walking in, I told ‘my team up there’ that if this was my house, there better be a clear sign.
We walked in and were taken aback by Finne’s beauty. The original old wooden floors, stairs, exposed beams and extremely tasteful designed details all around.
We sat in the staircase for an hour, talking about life with the broker. On my final walk through of the house, I noticed a book on the nightstand, that was put there by the person who staged the house, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s one of my all time favorite books and I had started reading it for the 5th time two days prior. I chuckled. I hear you universe. I hear you loud and clear.
After a sleepless night, I spent a ridiculously long time writing a heartfelt offer letter to the sellers. Their broker responded with “Thanks. We have 6 showings this weekend and it will go to the highest bidder!”
My heart sank. I knew I could not participate in a bidding war. And I accepted the fact this might have been it. Onward!
The next morning, the weekend of the 6 showings, my broker calls me and said “The owners just read your letter and canceled all the showings. They accepted your offer and your application for neighborly friendship!”
Gasp! Tears were shed.
Fast forward legal schmegal. We closed on the house on 12/13/23 and have called her our home ever since.
Finne is gentle and majestic. She is wise but also silly. She loves to host and wrap guests in her warm energy. (Yes, houses have personality/soul!)
We love her so. But the biggest score of all is that we now call the humans who lovingly brought her back to life, Bex and Dave, our friends and neighbors.
The end.
Instead of my traditional start-of-the-year-birthday-intentions-post, I bring you this girl. May we all channel her energy and confidence in 2025.
(My intentions post for 2024 and 2023)
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
—Buckminster Fuller
I am excited for what the Fediverse promises: A diverse community of interconnected social platforms. More in this blog post about the open social web.
“Always go to the funeral” means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don’t feel like it. I have to remind myself of it when I could make some small gesture, but I don’t really have to and I definitely don’t want to. I’m talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to the other guy. You know, the painfully under-attended birthday party. The hospital visit during happy hour. The Shiva call for one of my ex’s uncles. In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn’t been good versus evil. It’s hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good versus doing nothing.”
A beautiful read: Always Go To The Funeral, by Deirdre Sullivan
Switzerland based Software Design Toni keeps a List of People he’d like to meet on his personal website. This is wonderful. Thank you for the inspiration!
(via Chris Glass)
I love this chair. By posting it here, I am adding it to my virtual wishlist. That’s all.
“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
– James Baldwin
Wow! This is magical: a map of the Reddit. Each dot represents a subreddit. Two dots within the same cluster are close to each other if multiple users frequently leave comments on both subreddits. Created by Andrei Kashcha.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by David Szauder (@davidszauder)
Wow. This. is absolutely magical. Hat tip to David Szauder for dreaming this up. (Yes, it’s generated with AI tools.)
“A talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well, is the chief instrument of cultural change.”
― Richard Rorty
(via Casper)
“Everything is on fire,
but everyone I love is doing beautiful things
and trying to make life worth living,
and I know I don’t have to believe in everything,
but I believe in that.”
– Nikita Gill
Now we continue living a life of integrity, kindness and community, no matter the circumstances. Find the helpers. Connect hearts.
Seems like I feel like organizing my digital life. I stumbled upon PARA, a simple, comprehensive system for organizing any type of digital information across any platform. Intrigued.
Libro.fm makes it possible for you to buy audiobooks through your local bookstore. Choose the bookstore you’d like to support, and they will get a portion of every purchase you make.
(You’re like me and want to get off Audible? You can download your entire library. Here’s a Reddit thread on it too.)
Kelli Anderson is a magician. Alphabet in Motion is an ABC Pop-up Book on how about letters get their shapes. Mad respect for this work of art which took Kelli 5 years to create. Let’s support her.
My dear friend Maria Popova of has a new book out and it’s a thing of beauty. Both content and design wise. Definitely gifting this during this holiday season.
Wow, I love the concept of the No Excuse Hour. It seems basic as a concept, yes I have tried getting the big and important stuff done first in the mornings. For some reason, naming it the NO EXCUSE HOUR hits differently.
1/ The “No Excuse Hour” is the first hour of my day.
No distractions.
It’s one hour of pure focus on the things that have to get done.
No emails, no scrolling, no chatting. It’s just me vs. my top priority. Why?
Because the rest of the day will throw distractions your way.
Get the important stuff done first.
Full thread by “Walker“
“Rewilding the internet is more than a metaphor. It’s a framework and plan. It gives us fresh eyes for the wicked problem of extraction and control, and new means and allies to fix it. It recognizes that ending internet monopolies isn’t just an intellectual problem. It’s an emotional one. It answers questions like: How do we keep going when the monopolies have more money and power? How do we act collectively when they suborn our community spaces, funding and networks? And how do we communicate to our allies what fixing it will look and feel like?
Rewilding is a positive vision for the networks we want to live inside, and a shared story for how we get there. It grafts a new tree onto technology’s tired old stock.”
We Need To Rewild The Internet, by Maria Farrell and Robin Berjon
(Thank you Brendan)
My pal Saul sent me the weirdest and funnest treat I have ever received: A “Not Fried Chicken” Ice Cream Bucket by Life Raft Treats. It looks just like a fried chicken drumstick, but it’s actually an intricate ice cream creation, complete with waffle ice cream, a chocolate-covered cookie “bone” and a coating of white chocolate and crushed corn flakes! This made me LAUGH!
“Stop trying to be cool. Be nerdy and obsessive about the things you love. Enthusiasm will get you farther than indifference.”
– James McCrae
View this post on InstagramA post shared by designboom magazine (@designboom)
This. Dessert. Makes. My. Heart. Sing.
What a time to be alive and 18! My daughter Ella just self-published her first poetry book. You can read her poetry over at ellajoy.com and if you enjoy it, support this young poet by buying a copy of her book. What other young poets should be on my radar?
And now that it is morning
I’ve lost all the poems from the night.I watched them leave,
pack their bags and go.No way to stop them,
I’m left alone, and with nothing to show,
but my empty page and motionless pen.Until this night, I will wait
for my dear poems return
carrying nothing but fate
and stars in their little briefcases.And as I sit
I would rather chat than
write them down,
because who am I
to trap them in this town?– Ella Joy
Wow, Capacities looks useful.
And if your first thought is, this looks like Notion, here’s a comparison.
“I don’t think we talk enough about the in betweens. The part when you know you want to change something but don’t yet know how, don’t yet feel strong enough, don’t yet know what your first step is. So to the people in the in betweens, don’t be disheartened, don’t give up. You’ve done the hard part. Now just take it one small step at a time.
– allyislia
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Festival of Dangerous Ideas (@festivalofdangerousideas)
Thank you Roxane for giving words to this feeling we are all feeling: an age of inelasticity.
“Friendship insecurity remains a final hurdle in how I interact in the world, but I’m realizing that if I want close, family-level friendships, I need to act as if I am already in them. Even if it brings me discomfort to text my friend an unprompted update about my life so they will feel more inclined to text me about one of theirs in the future. While most of my friends’ behaviors haven’t drastically changed overnight in response, I remain hopeful that I am slowly moving toward tighter bonds. And my growing friendship with my neighbor is shifting into the type of dynamic I’ve been so hungry for — much to my delight.”
– By Allison Raskin
Lovely read about Adult Friendship. Stumbled upon thanks to this thoughtful TikTok.
Wow, this post over on Threads struck a nerve. Haven’t gotten that many comments ever on Threads. So, let’s do it, let’s bring the good old blog-roll back. If you’re still tending to an online garden out of sheer joy of sharing, drop your link as a comment!
“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”
― Mary Oliver
“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”
– Jiddu Krishnamurti
Thank you Adobe for this wonderful opportunity to talk about my biggest labor of love CreativeMornings and what we are building. Psst… we are prototyping a new offering, called Clubs. For now only in NYC, but soon coming to a city near you.
“Without inner change there can be no outer change, without collective change, no change matters.”
-angel Kyodo williams
“Creativity is an active engagement with the unknown, it’s risk-taking, it’s curiosity, it’s exploration, it’s discovery, it’s mystery. It’s all of that.”
– Esther Perel
I am trying to figure out to not spend so much time on Instagram/YouTube/Threads… I came across this YouTube in which Reysu explains how he dumb-ified his phone and reduced his screentime. Intriguing.
“I think freedom, ideally, is being able to choose your responsibilities. Not not having any responsibilities, but being able to choose which things you want to be responsible for.”
– Toni Morrison
Via this Twitter post. Original source: Smooth Scaling, twenty ritual to build a friction-free organization
This must be the most beautiful personal project I have come across in a very long time.
My friend Maria Popova has found her love for birds and Tarot and felt moved to create her own card deck of divinations from the birds. (The deck is limited edition, for her friends only, but it might become available in the future.)
For now, we can bask in the beauty of some of her Bird Divinations and buy them as prints here, with all proceeds going to Audubon.
Maria is a national treasure. I’ll keep saying it. What a beautiful soul.
This little family is on its yearly pilgrimage to the Swiss Alps. Our days consist of: Hugging family, joyously eating bread, dancing in yoghurt aisles, swimming in all of the beautiful outdoor swimming places, and petting cows. You can follow along over here on Instagram if you want.
I LOVE Jefferson Fisher’s content on Instagram. I have taken so many of his communication tips into my life. Incredibly helpful. He just recently launched podcast where he dives in a bit deeper.
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
― Howard Zinn
“The person you’re working with might not know what you know, might not see what you see.
It’s tempting to begin where we are.
But it’s more useful to begin where they are.”
– Seth Godin
The fastest way to send someone your availabilities. pic.twitter.com/WcUGTGndpH
— Vimcal (@vimcal) May 29, 2020
Vimcal has some super cool features, my favorite is Slots, a super easy and fast way to send someone your availability. (I don’t use Calendly)
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.– Jalaluddin Rumi
The room is
almost all
elephant.
Almost none
of it isn’t.
Pretty much
solid elephant.
So there’s no
room to talk
about it.
– Kay Ryan
View this post on InstagramA post shared by The Stitchery (@gettheetothestitchery)
Love this woman and her bookshelf skirt.
“The faster you’re moving the more you’re in fear. The more you’re in fear, the more you’re thinking about yourself. The more you’re thinking about yourself, the less compassion and kindness you have for others.”
From this Reel.
I love Maya Angelou‘s notion of taking anyone who has ever been kind to her energetically on stage with her when she gives talks. That way, she is never alone. Always supported. I will think of this next time I give a talk.
- Be the first to say hello.
2 Introduce yourself to others. - Take risks and anticipate success.
- Remember your sense of humor.
- Practice different ways of starting a conversation
- Make an extra effort to remember people’s names.
- Ask a person’s name if you’ve forgotten it.
- Show curiosity and sincere interest in finding out about others.
- Tell others about the important events in your life. Don’t wait for them to draw it out.
- Demonstrate that you are listening by restating their comments in another way.
- Communicate enthusiasm and excitement about your subjects and life in general
- Go out of your way to try to meet new people wherever you are.
- Accept a person’s right to be an individual with different ideas and beliefs.
- Let the natural person in you come out when talking with others.
- Be able to succinctly tell others-in a few short sentences-what you do.
- Reintroduce yourself to someone who is likely to have forgotten your name.
- Be ready to tell others something interesting or challenging about what you do.
- Be aware of open and closed body language.
- Smile, make eye contact, offer a handshake, and go find the approachable person.
- Greet people that you see regularly.
- Seek common interests, goals, and experiences with the people you meet.
- Make an effort to help people if you can.
- Let others play the expert.
- Be open to answering common ritualistic questions.
- Be enthusiastic about other people’s interests.
- See that the time is balanced between giving and receiving information.
- Be able to speak about a variety of topics and subjects.
- Keep up to date on current events and issues that affect our lives.
- Be willing to express your feelings, opinions, and emotions to others.
- Use T when you speak about your own feelings and personal things, rather than “you.”
- Visually show others that you are enjoying your conversation with them.
- Be ready to issue invitations to others to join you for other events/activities to further the relationship.
- Find ways to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances you meet.
- Seek out others® opinions.
- Look for the positive in those you meet.
- Start and end your conversations with the person’s name and a handshake or warm greeting.
- Take the time to be friendly with your neighbors and coworkers.
- Let others know that you would like to get to know them better.
- Ask others about things that they have told vou in previous nonversation
- Listen carefully for free information.
- Be ready to ask open-ended questions to learn.
- Change the topic of conversation when it has run its course.
- Always search for the things that really get another excited.
- Compliment others about what they are wearing, doing, or saying.
- Encourage others to talk to you by sending out positive signals.
- Make an effort to see and talk to people you enjoy.
- When you tell a story, present the main point first and then add the supporting details.
- Include everyone in the group in conversation whenever possible.
- Look for signs of boredom or lack of interest from your listener.
- Prepare ahead of time for each social or business function.
50 Ways To Fuel A Conversation, by Debrah Fine
I saw Jason Friend rave about this screen recording software by Screen Studio. (Posting here, in my personal public archive, so I will find it again.)
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
-Walt Whitman
This collection of email sign-offs over on Arena is a treasure trove. I usually sign-off with Waving from Brooklyn, or Warmly, but I might have to add a few of these to the list now.
I am a big fan of Monstera Deliciosa. (Funny: it’s also called the Swiss cheese plant.) This is the one I have been growing in my bedroom for the last 9 years.
And just now, I stumbled upon the below video and was amazed to learn that it grows fruit, when growing in the wild. (This video is helpful, if you want to grow a big beautiful Monstera)
“Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, revelling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of shared values, of meaningful community.”
– Bell Hooks
Come work with me! My global labor of love, CreativeMornings is hiring a Brooklyn based General Manager. This is an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the CreativeMornings universe and make an impact on the lives of thousands of creative humans all around the world. You’d be working closely with me. This role calls for a highly operational, heart-centered, deeply thoughtful, grounded human.
I can’t get over how cool and realistic looking this sleeve kit is from Tattly. Designed by real tattoo artist Jessi Preston.
– I like the idea of a Hello Page. Explained here. (via)
– Wow! I had no idea what the different colors on the twist ties on loafs of toast bread meant: How to Get the Freshest Loaf: Breaking the Bread Code (Also, yes, I miss Swiss bakeries)
– Minimalist Phone makes me wish I had an Android. (Does a smilar app exist for iPhones?)
– Butter ear studs. For Butter lovers like myself.
– As a Swiss and trained graphic designer I appreciate this Instagram Account entirely dedicated to Swiss poster design.
– These sneakers made me giggle.
– Kevin Kelly’s life advice is a treasure trove. I especially love this one: Whenever you hug someone, be the last to let go. (It’s something I have become known for and call “hugging awkwardly too long!)
– Bookmarking this Twitter question and all the answers.
– An Instagram account dedicated to public transportation seat patterns. Love visual niche content.
– Cornelius teaches you how to make your own clothes. National treasure. (Thanks Ben)
– What kind of background noise would you like? Coffee shop? Japanese Garden? Singing Bowls? Cat purr?
– Want! Splinter Tweezers
– Intereting read: Everyone’s a sellout now, by By Rebecca Jennings
– This made me laugh: Seating with a built-in cat tunnel. (via Chris)
– Yes, its ridiculous, but also FUN: ride on car for kids that cleans the floors while they ride it. Give me one in grown up size, please.
– Here’s a way to prank your parents or look cool for a few days: Check out this new Tattly Sleeve by Tattoo Artist Jessi Preston.
My life has been super busy lately. I miss posting here. Thank you for not giving up on me and my little online garden.
I know we’re living through all the dark we can afford.
I’ll match your inward quiet, breath for breath.
Thank goodness, then, for this moment’s light
What else do we have but words and their absences
and you, holding the night at bay
– a hint of frown,
those focussed hands, that open book.
to bind and unfasten the knotwork of the heart;
to remind us how mutual and alone we are, how tiny
and significant? Whatever it is you are reading now
my love, read on. Our lives depend on it.
– John Glenday
What are you doing this coming Sunday? I have something delightful for you: The Universe in Verse is happening again, in time for the eclipse, and you can tune in for free. Thank you Maria for gathering these wonderful humans.
If you do watch it, please consider sending a contribution Maria’s way. She is extremely generous in making this experience avaialble at no cost.
“I would love to live
Like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding.”
– John O’Donohue
I got myself one of these wooden bathtub trays and am impressed. Sturdy. Beautiful. Practical.
Thoroughly enjoyed this conversation between Seth Godin and Tim Ferriss. Lots of gems around improving your writing, showing up for yourself, making room for new experiences and consistency.
In 2013 Seth Godin gave a beautiful talk at CreativeMornings. Well worth a listen too.
There is a butter emoji? Did you all know?
My life is complete.
Waving from from my #butterverse.
“Doubt increases with inaction.
Clarity reveals itself in momentum.
Growth comes from progress.
For all these reasons, BEGIN!”
– Brendon Burchard
OMG, I love YouTube! I stumbled upo this video by Michael Wyetzner, breaking down five of the most common apartment types found in New York City. So interesting!
Love this Greyson Blanket made from 100% Recycled Clothing Material, handwoven on a traditional loom, ethically made by Mexican artisans carrying on centuries of skill & tradition. What I love the most though on this product page is that the last image is an animated GIF of a cat.
“Without inner change there can be no outer change, without collective change, no change matters.”
– Angel Kyodo Williams
“The task of geniusis to keep the miracle alive,to live always in the miracle, to make the miracle more and more miraculous, to swear allegiance to nothing, but live only miraculously, think only miraculously.”
― Henry Miller
This past weekend I had the pleasure to meet the person who designed and fabricates GUS, the ceramic mushroom planter for your home. It’s stackable. It’s beautiful. And waitlisted.
(GUS is short for Fungus and I just think that’s the cutest product name ever.)
Join or Die is a film about why you should join a club—and why the fate of America depends on it. Screening on Saturday February 24 in NYC at 3.30pm at FIT. Tickets and more info here.
(Thanks Casper)
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
– Anaïs Nin
The quote that is normally attributed to the writer ANAÏS NIN, but it is also a Talmudic idea about dream analysis: People can only dream about things they have encountered or thought about, and so their dreams consist not of reality — whatever that is — but is instead a version filtered through the lens of the dreamer’s experiences.
“At my age, in this still hierarchical time, people often ask me if I’m ‘passing the torch.’ I explain that I’m keeping my torch, thank you very much – and I’m using it to light the torches of others. Because only if each of us has a torch will there be enough light.”
– Gloria Steinem
This episode of The Ezra Klein’s Show on How To Discover Your Own Taste is absolutely wonderful. I will make sure my teenage kids will get to hear it too.
(Thank you Annie)
“No, we don’t need more sleep. It’s our souls that are tired, not our bodies. We need nature. We need magic. We need adventure. We need freedom. We need truth. We need stillness. We don’t need more sleep, we need to wake up and live.”
– Brooke Hampton
This conversation moved me deeply. The question of “Are you engaging in your own campaign of misery?” stopped me in my tracks.
– “A walk-and-talk is a moveable salon. A small group of invited people walk together for a week, having casual conversations side-by-side during most of the day. In the evening the group sits down to an intense hours-long discussion centered on topics chosen daily by those present. A moderator keeps the conversation on that day’s single topic to sharpen it and make it memorable” How to walk and talk (You can download a PDF)
– I have never seen anything more soothing than Pandas playing in the snow.
– This Troika team exercise is fantastic. We have done it at few times within my teams now and it’s incredibly powerful to help others think through their challenges. Empathy building!
– Wow! The exact moment tv news switches from black and white to color in 1967!
– ‘Arquitectura Libre’ is a site collating the colourful, rule-bending buildings of India & Mexico.
– A week ago I hosted a Coffee-Shop-Pop-Up in my home and it was a big hit.
– Yes to a Stainless Steel Sharpie.
– Gastro Obscura’s list of 50 Places to Eat and Drink Before You Die, including a pizzeria w/ a volcano oven, a Bangkok bistro serving 45-year-old stew, a BBQ vending machine, and a farm serving moose milk cheese. Jason curates the best stuff.
– A unified theory of fucks, by Mandy Brown (via Chris)
– Excellent read: People Are More Generous Than You May Think
– So. Many. Beautiful. Shelves.
– I am dreaming of buying a Wood Fired Hot Tub. This post is thorough.
– AudioPen converts voice notes into text that’s easy to read & ready to share.
– This resonates.
– Where in the world do ~~mean~~ man sit down to wee? Interesting statistics.
– A guide to getting rid of almost everything
– Puzzmo. Fun!
– The New York Times gathered and analyzed 121 menus from restaurants all over the country. Love this visual article.
– The Basecamp crew just launched Campfire, a super simple group chat, without a subscription. One time fee of $299. Wow! (I love Slack but it’s cost-prohibitive for larger groups!)
– Focus On The Good Tattoo
My doggy ate my essay.
He picked up all my mail.
He cleaned my dirty closet
and dusted with his tail.He straightened out my posters
and swept my wooden floor.
My parents almost fainted
when he fixed my bedroom door.I did not try to stop him.
He made my windows shine.
My room looked like a palace,
and my dresser smelled like pine.He fluffed up every pillow.
He folded all my clothes.
He even cleaned my fish tank
with a toothbrush and a hose.I thought it was amazing
to see him use a broom.
I’m glad he ate my essay
on “How to Clean My Room.– Darren Sardelli
(thank you Ella)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by studio michael hilgers (@studiomichaelhilgers)
Now this is a stunningly minimal and beautiful birdhouse. Designed by Michael Hilgers. Would gladly adopt. (Looks like it will be available in their online store later in February)
“My mother always says to me, that there is a reason that we have a choir. It’s because sometimes you have to take a breath, and the tune continues. So right now, I keep singing, but there might be a time where I can’t, and I ask you to keep the tune going while I take a breath.”
– Diana Buttu
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Pamela Terry (@pamelaandedward)
I love Estelle Winwood and the word windowsill.
“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.”
– Jim Morrison
This Guineafowl Pufferfish Illustration by Ben Rothery made me giggle. (It’s not a photograph!)
What a gift! This talk! Wow!
Last Friday, the remarkable Jad Abumrad unwrapped a gift on stage, in talk from, in front of our CreativeMornigns/NYC community.
It’s a talk about wandering and wondering. Thoughtful. Thought provoking. Beautiful. Well worth 20 min of your time.
Tree.fm allows you to listen to a random forest. This is beautiful.
(Thank you Book of Joe)
I just learned that the remarkable Debbie Millman is interviewing radio pioneer Jad Abumard this coming Monday, September 18th in Brooklyn. We can all sit in and listen, live! Jad created one of my all-time favorite podcast called Radiolab! I wouldn’t be surprised if galaxies shift a tiny bit with these two master storytelling humans […]
I keep trying (and failing) at cleaning out my photos on my camera roll. Its a drag to do. But no more! Enter the Swipe Wipe app. It lets you swipe left to delete and swipe right to keep a photo. (yes, like dating apps!) I love it! I just started using it and it has freed up so much space on my phone. So simple, so effective.
I am EXCITED for this month’s CreativeMornings/NYC, happening on September 22nd at 8:30am. (Fun fact: It will be the largest CreativeMornings in history, hosted at the stunning 1026 seat City Tech Auditorium in Downtown Brooklyn.)
Keith Yamashita and Deb Bubb will take us on an immersive journey, celebrating creativity. Just like me, they see creativity as a birth right, a life skill. You can join us IRL by signing up, or tune in via Livestream. Oh, and as always, the event is free.
– Add energy to every conversation – Ask why – Find obsolete things on your task list and remove them – Treat customers better than they expect – Offer to help co-workers before they ask – Feed the plants – Leave things more organized than you found them – Invent a moment of silliness – […]
Focus on what you can control. You control how you respond to things. Ask yourself, “Is this essential?” Meditate on your mortality every day. Value time more than money/possessions. You are the product of your habits. Remember you have the power to have no opinion. Own the morning. Put yourself up for review (Interrogate yourself). […]
Spaghetti Mayhem. Thanks for the chuckle, Kottke. – My wonderful friend Maria Popova has entered the poetry stages with her beautiful Spell Against Indifference. There’s nothing I respect more than when I see humans expand, stretch, and break into new territory. Go Maria! – I am in the Swiss Alps. Just found this Youtube of […]
Posting has been light as I am currently on my yearly pilgrimage to the Swiss Alps with my kids. The scene above is what I am currently seeing and hearing outside our 200+ old farmhouse Airbnb in the Appenzeller mountains. (Cowbells are real!) You can follow our journey along on my Instagram and especially this […]
I hated it when someone asked me “What do you want to be when you grow up” when I was a kid. I should have just said A Book Doctor (via the kid should see this)
I had a pretty exciting week and met a bunch of super interesting humans this past Monday at an exclusively curated salon in SF. One of the fine humans at this gathering was Brett Perry: Dancer, Farmer, Educator and Producer. During one of his shares he explained how he started getting to know himself better […]
Love this notion of looking at spaces we inhabit as having the power to heal. (I had the pleasure to meet Michael Murphy this past week and experience his thoughtful approach to his craft.)
I love when objects put a smile on my face. This one is wish listed. Also these fellas!
Ok Go has a new song out. The video is ‘moving’. – Excellent read: On Relational Infrastructure – I love him! – Just recently discovered the Goodness Exchange. Bookmarked! (They also have a podcast) – Doh! Use shower caps to cover the bottom of your shoes in your luggage. Brilliant. – Are you a fan […]
I keep coming back to this gem. This part: “… It’s so beautiful is the thing that worries me sometimes whenever you talk about creativity, because it can have this kind of feel that it’s just nice, you know, it’s warm or it’s something pleasant. It’s not it’s vital. It’s the way we heal each […]
@woahtori #colorsorting ♬ Summer – Aesthetic Sounds My friend Steve pointed me to this incredibly soothing and minimal app called Sorting Therapy. My kids love it too!
I am loving Paul Cocksedge’s play of materials with the Compressed Marble Sofa. Stunning.
“To be silent the whole day long, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself.” – Henry Miller
I keep coming back to this concert. Wish I could travel back in time and experience it live. _ Whoa! This nutrient density chart. It’s so impressive. – GiveWell shares the top charities. – 7 Questions to ask yourself when you don’t know what you want. – Need some cool prints for your walls? Check […]
Check out this design-y park in Poland. Thank you Kottke for this find. I am so grateful you’re back at it!
I keep coming back to Tara Brach’s Practice of RAIN often. RAIN stands for: Recognize what is happening; Allow the experience to be there, just as it is; Investigate with interest and care; Nurture with self-compassion.
“To put it simply – we are here to become embodiments of love.” – Paramatma Siri Sadhana
Imagine you are at work and then this happens one cubicle over. I love Tiny Desk Concerts so very much. Fun fact: The first Tiny Desk Concert came about in 2008 after Bob Boilen and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson left South by Southwest frustrated that they couldn’t hear the music over the crowd noise. […]
“You keep worrying you’re taking up too much space. I wish you’d let yourself be the Milky Way.” – Andrea Gibson
This is so powerful. Makes me cry every time I watch it. – A simple, minimal stripe-y rug. I like. – The only stroller I want to own. – Tempted to buy one of these tea infusers. Worth it? – This is a beautiful carabiner. – What the web looks like to someone who is […]
My friend Steve texted me the link to archives.design saying “I DARE you not to like this!” He knows me well. Archives.Design is a digital archive of graphic design related items that are available on the Internet Archives
“Around the world, people create amazing experiences and opportunities. When they do, energetically, it becomes available to everyone. Think of it as a universal database of Creative Consciousness. One that we are all uploading our divine talents to. Therefore, we make them vibrationally accessible to kindred spirits across the globe.” What is Creative Consciousness?
“I’m often asked: How can you trust people so much? Because that’s the only way it works.” (Thank you Melanie)
@yeslouisvillelove “Sudden Gust of Wind” by Serkan Özkaya at 21c Bentonville. #bentonville #arkansas #artist #art #contemporaryart #nortwestarkansas ♬ original sound – yeslouisvillelove I would love to experience this piece titled Sudden Gust of Wind.
A garden is a collection of evolving ideas that aren’t strictly organised by their publication date. They’re inherently exploratory – notes are linked through contextual associations. They aren’t refined or complete – notes are published as half-finished thoughts that will grow and evolve over time. They’re less rigid, less performative, and less perfect than the […]
“…as I wander the internet, I wonder where the digital gardens are that will connect me to fellow gardeners more deeply. More often than not, the digital gardens of today are botanic—privately owned online spaces made for visitors to fawn over while a “do not touch” sign looms in view. These private gardens are generative […]
(via Chris) – I love moss. I’d wear this. – The color of the NYC sky. Scroll a bit back and you’ll see the orange tint from a few days ago caused by the Canadian wildfires. Here’s what it looked like. – Real-Life Infrastructure That Looks Like Sci-Fi – I am in love with the […]
“Magic happens through relationships and through faith. How do you build the trust so that people believe that magic is possible? You hae to let people cultivate solidarity and love for each other, individually; almost anything can happen in a room where people have that level of connection with at least a few others in […]
Last week I was introduced to Lagusta’s Luscious’ Rosemary Seasalt Camarels and my life will never be the same. How can vegan chocolate be this good? What? Thank you Tim!
“The ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the other nor of the self, the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and […]
“Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”
– Kurt Vonnegut
This vintage looking cassette player and bluetooth speaker combo by NINM made me gasp. What a beauty!
Carl Sagan describing books.
– Need more bass in your car? These decked out cars made me laugh.
– A New Creative Era (via)
-If you ever find yourself in Fort Greene Brooklyn, make sure to eat at Miss Ada and have the Whipped Ricotta. It’s the most heavenly dish I ever had. And if visiting NYC is not in the cards, you can make it yourself. Here’s the recipe. You’re welcome.
– Crazy Ideas. Love this!
– The next Buddha will be a community, – Thich Nhat Hanh
– The First Safe Chat-GPT for Kids, built by my dear friend Youmna Cham Cham. Try it with your kids.
– Visualization of prepositions
– “Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given, gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us.” Full Article
– VW ID Buzz coming in 2024. Wheee! (via)
– Matt Gray runs a ‘personal board meeting‘ every month.
– Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard tells us about how trees communicate underground through a complex web of fungi, and how they coordinate a powerful network that heals and sustains each other and in the end, us. (via)
– It has been my secret dream to be on How I Built This. It happened this week! Still can’t believe it.
– Pride is just around the corner. Get ready.
Have you ever dreamt of something really big? So big you felt it could only happen in 5-10y? (If at all!) And then, BOOM it’s reality and the universe giggles and whispers “naaah, you’re ready”!
Gasp!
It has been my secret dream to be on How I Built This, to have CreativeMornings one day be recognized for the completely magical, radically generous, collectively powerful, heart-centered organization it is.
The episode came out yesterday. I am swimming in a sauce of gratitude for anyone who has attended, contributed, supported, loved on CreativeMornings. As Thich Nhat Hanh said: “The next Buddha will not take on any individual form. Maybe he will take the form of a Sangha, a community practicing understanding and loving kindness…”
Seth Godin launched a new book, titled The Song of Significance: A Manifesto for Teams and the People Who Lead Them. It is a a rousing contemplation on work: why it is the way it is, why it’s gotten so bad, what all of us–especially leaders–can do to make it better. I deeply resonate with this blurb on the book description:
“The choice is simple. We can endure the hangover of industrial capitalism, keep treating people as disposable, and join in the AI-fueled race to the bottom. Or we come together to build a significant organization that enrolls, empowers, and trusts everyone to deliver their best work, no matter where they are.”
Ordered!
“Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time.”
– Jorge Luis Borges
R.I.P Tina Turner. What a force! Proud to be her namesake. Fun fact, she became Swiss. I became American. A Tina-trade of nations.
– Yahia Lababidi, an Egyptian author I follow and who’s work I admire, has a new book out, titled Quarantine notes, Aphorisms on morality and mortality.
– Last week’s CreativeMornings/NYC talk moved me. Deeply. If you are someone who has a creative practice, or wants to pick one up, this talk is for you.
– A Trove of Video Profiles of Artists
– 4 stress-reducing Google Calendar settings you didn’t know you needed. The “View calendars side-by-side in day view” made me gasp! YES! (via the CreativeMornings newsletter)
– I love plants. I didn’t know humidity trays are a thing.
– Lay Lo makes some pretty design-y dog beds. I like.
– How long do frozen foods (0°F) maintain their quality?
– This vintage espresso maker from 1956 is something else! (via)
– I want a forest on my roof.
– My daughter LOVES bread. She would dig this bread bed.
– Is it really urgent?
– Explore the Extraordinary Eons-Old Details of the Moon’s Surface in an Astounding 1.3-Gigapixel Composite
– My friend Jocelyn is offering a new 8 week course that is all about connecting to your creative life force in a new way — one that empowers you to tune into inspiration, drop into flow, and manifest your creative vision with ease. Jocelyn is a force.
– Summer is here and I am overhearing more and more conversations around people wanting to get a tattoo. Did you know that you can test drive a tattoo by a real tattoo artist, for just a few days? Here you go.
Composed of over 1000 engravings from the 19th century, Still Life is a meditation on subject/object dualism.
“It doesn’t matter how sensitive you are or how damn smart and educated you are, if you’re not both at the same time, if your heart and your brain aren’t connected, aren’t working together harmoniously, well, you’re just hopping through life on one leg. You may think you’re walking, you may think you’re running a damn marathon, but you’re only on a hop trip. The connections gotta be maintained.”
– Tom Robbins
“There is a door between the logical and intuitive worlds, and we must put a smooth hinge on it, and let it swing…”
– Lorna Crozier
“Developing tenderness towards yourself allows you to see both your problems and your potential accurately. You don’t feel that you have to ignore your problems or exaggerate your potential.”
– Chögyam Trungpa
– THIS! “Judge me for how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are.” – Matt Damon on brainstorming and collaboration
– I keep coming back to Clay Herbert’s talk: The Best Way To Answer “So What Do You Do?” Share your answer on what you do in a comment below? I’d love to hear it!
– My remarkably talented large format color photographer friend Andrew Moore just launched a Domestika course teaching you how to shoot urban scenes. Super cool!
– I dig this tote.
– I want to hear more powerful men like Scott Galloway talk about kindness. Yes please.
– If you rub garlic on your fingers, you can pick up an egg yolk
– What’s your version of “Canoe to Work?”
– Love this house tour, mostly because of the abundance of plants. (Humans who don’t own books or plants are suspicious to me.)
– These photos made me gasp.
– Thank you Chris for introducing me to the concept of Documentary Family Photography. Sign me up!
– Has anyone tried the Take Back Bag? Is this the way to go?
– The Hero’s Journey according to Joseph Campbell. (I didn’t learn about this concept until I moved to the USA.)
– Ram Dass on Relationships
_ I am in love with Nik Ramage sculptural machines. Like this lemon stroker, Brick sculpture or Back and forth.
– Want to walk on clouds? Here you go.
– I want to cover myself in these ladybugs.
– Did you know CreativeMornings offers 20+ free, community-led, heart-forward, virtual experiences every month? We call them FieldTrips. Or you can attend our monthly volunteer-led events in 229 cities.
“It’s embarrassing that after 45 years of research and study, the best advice I can give to people is to be a little kinder to each other.”
– Aldous Huxley
32 Sounds is an immersive feature documentary and sensory film experience by Sam Green that explores the elemental phenomenon of sound and its power to bend time, cross borders, and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us. Featuring original compositions by JD Samson, 32 Sounds is designed to be experienced with personal headphones for a truly unique binaural audio experience.
Ruxandra Duru lovingly gathered 130 color samples of brownstones Brooklyn. What a wonderful side project. (She’s done something similar with Coffee too)
“The tremors that rise when a new life starts to feel possible against all odds.”
– Lafawindah
RamDass · Ram Dass on his Spacesuit– An incredible resource of old German hi-fi/tv catalogues. Over 1700 of them!
– I would like a pet portrait. Yes please.
– Can you fall in love with blobby-type sculptures? I did.
– Love this minimal gold ring.
– 40 Things I Wish I’d known at 40
– Join the Responsible AI Challenge, by Mozilla Builders. In-person event: May 31, 2023 in San Francisco, CA.
– Glow in the dark pavement. Wow.
– A photographer who searches for doppelgängers. Love this.
– This clever device allows you to squeeze exactly the amount of lemon juice you desire, free of seeds and without risk of splatter, then protects the lemon (or lime) half in the refrigerator for maximum freshness.
– The World’s 25 Richest Countries by GDP per Capital
– The 100 best things to do in NYC for locals and tourists (via Chris)
– The Bantu philosophy of “ubuntu” focuses on the power of community
– The Future is Inclusive.
– Looking for a job? Try the CreativeMornings Job Board.
“You don’t love someone for their loss, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.”
– Oscar Wilde
“It may be that when we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work
and when we no longer know which way to go,
we have begun our real journey.The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.”– Wendell Berry
I am intrigued by this Gear Hauler bag from Pakt: A 60L open carry crate that quickly converts to a massive 120L zippered to. Wishlisted.
“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
Thank you David Spinks for sharing this graphic and introducing me to the term “The Cozy Web”. He got it from this article: The Dark Forest and the Cozy Web
“To gain your own voice,
forget about having it heard.
Become a saint of your own province and your own
consciousness.”
– Allen Ginsberg
Almost over you by Önnu Jónu Son aka Haraldur Thorleifsson, founder of Ueno.
– How to help young people limit screen time — and feel better about how they look. (I see my 16 year old try to come up with all kinds of solutions to limit her screen time on her own. It’s fascinating.)
– Everything that is not love is searching for love.
– Solar Eclipses in the U.S. in 2023 and 2024
– A read I keep coming back to: Being Alone by Ankit Shah
– Wirecutter tested the best non-alcoholic wines.
– I like the design of this physical timer.
– Good read: Imagining a new version of a good life (via DD)
– This Paula Scher slide from last week’s Kinference in Brooklyn made me gasp: Creativity Staircase and Power by Decade.
– Promise yourself that you will never withhold love. I think of this post by Danielle LaPorte often.
– I feel this sticker!
– Free Learning List: An expansive list of educational resources from all around the web, including YouTube channels, podcasts, blogs, online courses, coding schools, and books. (via DD)
– If You Fail at Love
– Qi, be with me!
– My friend Jocelyn is launching an online workshop helping you find your voice.
– Designer humor. Always gets me.
– A simple mortgage calculator designed for non-financial experts. (via Chris)
– I keep taking out the stack of personal messages card and flip through them with delight. I then keep one out for a few months that feels the most relevant. These cards (I have all four sets) are one of my favorite possessions. Ever.
– It’s time to get some ladybugs on me.
– Do you know CreativeMornings runs 20-30 virtual, free experiences aka FieldTrips a month? Creative, big hearted generous humans tuning in from all over the world. It’s a thing of beauty. Our community teaching each other. Love this so much I might burst at some point.
Tom Hodgkinson and a group of around 15 authors, artists, and teachers came up with a “Manifesto for Slow Learning,” which includes a “Bill of Rights” for the slow learner. (Start each of these with the phrase, “You have the right to…”)
1. Focus on direction, not destination
Immerse yourself completely in the journey and you will reach your final goal gradually.
2. Raise your hand
Asking questions is a fundamental human right.
3. Learn at your own pace
Find your rhythm, find your flow. Don’t compare yourself to others.
4. Unplug
You have the right to disconnect and move your attention towards what’s essential. Learn unplugged, far away from digital distractions.
5. Change your learning path (and mind)
Don’t get too comfortable in the habit zone and start with changing the aversion to change. Think differently and learn new things.
6. Take a break
Micro-breaks, lunch breaks, and longer breaks will all improve your learning performance. You have the right to rest.
7. Make mistakes
Don’t fall into despair but Fail Forward.
8. Leave it unfinished
We live in a super busy, multi-tasking, results-oriented society. Step away from your long to-do list and enjoy once in a while the beauty of an unstructured day.
9. Unlearn and forget
Harness the power of unlearning. Reboot your mind, abandon old knowledge, actions and behaviours to create space.
10. Slow down
Sometimes slow and steady will win the learning race. Make haste slowly.
(via Austin Kleon)
My friend Scott and his wife built F Shirts as part therapy, part dealing with the complexity of adulting now-a-days, part based on a ‘fuck-Covid’ bracelet their daughter made 2 years ago. I think we can all relate to some of these statements. (F Asparagus made me laugh.)
“I was never addicted to one thing, I was addicted to filling a void within myself with things other than my own love.”
– Yung Pueblo
“It scales better than competitiveness, frustration, pettiness, regret, revenge, merit (whatever that means) or apathy. Kindness ratchets up. It leads to more kindness. It can create trust and openness and truth and enthusiasm and patience and possibility.
Kindness, in one word, is a business model, an approach to strangers and a platform for growth.It might take more effort than you were hoping it would, but it’s worth it.”
– Seth Godin
Resurfacing this quote I posted in 2017. It’s so good.
“The body is everywhere assaulted by all of our new media, a state which has resulted in deep disorientation of intellect and destabilization of culture throughout the world. In the age of disembodied communication, the meaning and significance and experience of the body is utterly transformed and distorted.”
Have I mentioned that I’ve been trying to figure out the Internet?”
– Eric McLuhan
Uranus, Eris, and the Riddle of the Internet, by Eric Francis Coppolino
(Thank you Tim)
“Eventually we realize that not knowing what to do is just as real and just as useful as knowing what to do. Not knowing stops us from taking false directions. Not knowing what to do, we start to pay real attention.”
– David Whyte
“For me, success is not a public thing. It’s a private thing. It’s when you have fewer and fewer regrets.”
– Toni Morrison
Designing women explores the impact of women in design. It also aims to raise awareness of an ongoing gender imbalance in the design industry.
(via Chris)
Wow, these AI powered personalized journal prompts are quite helpful in helping you understand and navigate how you are feeling. The fine folks at Holstee keep impressing me with their thoughtfulness.
“The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy – & to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation”
– Gus Speth
“The truth is — genuine connection is ease. It is peace. When you find it you will know. You will feel seen, you will feel like you are being mirrored back to yourself, like you are discovering the shadow of your own heart in another human being.
Slowly, through loving the right people, you will come to realize that the human beings who are meant for you in this world will not exhaust you, or hollow you out, or leave you feeling like you are hard to love. Slowly, you will come to realize that you do not have to romanticize the things in this life that hurt. You do not have to run towards the fire. Love does not have to feel like a fight, does not have to feel like battle, does not have to wound.
Slowly, you will learn how to lay down your arms. How to walk away from those who will only ever love you in halves. Slowly, you will learn that you cannot love someone into loving you, or being ready, if they are not. You cannot love someone into their potential. You cannot close their hands around your heart if they are not willing to hold it themselves. You have to let them go. You have to focus on the people in your life who bring you back home to yourself. You have to focus on standing up for that kind of connection, on honoring that calm, because it exists. It exists.
And I hope you learn to trust that, because when you come across it, when you ultimately experience it, it feels as if you are standing at a door you finally have the keys for. You enter it with ease. There is no fumbling through your jacket pocket trying to find the right way in. There is no desperately reaching into your bag trying to uncover the point of access. You are no longer banging your fists against the door, asking to be invited in. You walk through. Soundlessly. Softly. Relief washes over you. You take off your shoes. You hang your coat in the closet. You put on a pot of coffee. You’re home. You’re home.”
– Bianca Sparacino
“If it is right, it happens –
The main thing is not to hurry.
Nothing good gets away.”
– John Steinbeck
Happy Medium is an NYC events series designed for the adult beginner who wants to have fun creating instead of consuming for a few hours with zero expectation of being “good enough.”
I love this so much I might burst!
They don’t publish
the good news.
The good news is published
by us.
We have a special edition every moment,
and we need you to read it.
The good news is that you are alive,
and the linden tree is still there,
standing firm in the harsh Winter.
The good news is that you have wonderful eyes
to touch the blue sky.
The good news is that your child is there before you,
and your arms are available:
hugging is possible.
They only print what is wrong.
Look at each of our special editions.
We always offer the things that are not wrong.
We want you to benefit from them
and help protect them.
The dandelion is there by the sidewalk,
smiling its wondrous smile,
singing the song of eternity.
Listen! You have ears that can hear it.
Bow your head.
Listen to it.
Leave behind the world of sorrow
and preoccupation
and get free.
The latest good news
is that you can do it.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
I have recently discovered Sunday Service Choir and am deeply moved by their music. I am not religious but appreciate their music from an energetic point of view. I listen to it on my walk to work and I can tell how I am all high-vibes once I make it to my office. I consider it my walking meditation.
– These Cooling Eye Pads made me laugh out loud. Also come in rainbow.
– Colormoods.co is a color generator suggesting pairs of colors based on the amount of stimulation you desire. Think of stimulation as the effect or mood a color combination can create, ranging from sleep coma to hyper excitement.
– Weston Lambert makes beautiful glass/stone sculptures. Want.
– Cloud Berries? What?
– Why does time move forward but not backward? Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder explains. The physics of time, entropy, and death
– This underground library is making me swoon.
– Positive News. Delivered to your door.
– Well worth a listen: Dachner Keltner on while we all need daily doses of awe
– A Notion Habit Tracker. Intrigued.
– Trying Patch. Love it. (via)
– How to repair a broken Zipper
– I love the internet. So much.
– Your breathing is an operating manual for your nervous system.
– Whoa! How well can Magnus Carlsen identify chess positions?
– Instagram was bombarding me with ads for this entryway rack. Eventually I broke down. I love it. It’s well made and holds a ton of shoes. Ok, Instagram, you win.
– One day I will own one of these bear shaped cotton throws by Donna Wilson. They make me giggle.
– What makes a relationship flourish? Love the answer Yung Pueblo shared.
– 1K Project is a “not-for-profit collective focused on directly connecting sponsors in the USA and around the world to help Ukrainian families impacted by the senseless and inhumane war”. You give $1000 as a direct relief to a family in the Ukraine which in turn sends a picture, a brief story and a ‘thank you’ note. According to the site, more than $10.7M (going to roughly 11,000 families) has been given already. Tax deductible for US taxpayers. (via)
“Every great and difficult thing has required a strong sense of optimism,” says editor and author Kevin Kelly, who believes that we have a moral obligation to be optimistic.
“The kindest people are not born that way, they are made. They are the sounds that have experienced so much at the hands of life, they are the ones who have dug themselves out of the dark, who have fought to turn every loss into a lesson. The kindest people do not just exist – they choose to soften where circumstance has tried to harden them, they choose to believe in goodness, because they have seen firsthand why compassion is so necessary. They have seen firsthand why tenderness is so important in this world.”
– Bianca Sparacino
Love Bianca’s writing? Follow her on Instagram and check out her book A Gentle Reminder.
Update: Resurfacing this post from 2021 as I keep coming back to it. Good reminder.
Subtractive Variability Dimensional 2 from Felipe Pantone on Vimeo.
Completely enamored with Felipe Pantones‘ works of art.
Photographer RJ Hooper captured the rare phenomenon of a reverse waterfall in Ivins, Utah. There’s a metaphor in here, isn’t there?
These laundry buddies made me laugh. (They supposedly remove pet hair and lint from your laundry.)
“Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure. Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know. ”
– Pema Chödrön
This is WaterLight, a device that provides electrical power using only salt water. 45 days of light with half a liter of seawater. This is incredible!
Today marks two years of not drinking.
A few things I noticed:
– our society revolves around drinking
– not enough bars and restaurants offer non-alcoholic beers or mocktails
– being fully present is a gift
– sleeping well is a game changer
– sitting with your feelings instead of numbing them is a journey
– some people get triggered when they hear I don’t drink. I had to learn its not my job to make them feel comfortable.
– sober dating is different. Still getting used to it.
– I sometimes miss enjoying a glass of wine with friends. Its ok.
– the addiction will try to find other outlets (overworking, shopping, sport….)
– grateful for friends and family who support and respect my decision
Happy my two year non-drinking anniversary to you!
What's the weirdest (good or bad) 1st date you've ever been on?
My date & I sat in a NYC bar on 12/31 and noticed people ringing a doorbell. So we did the same and crashed a strangers party. Upon entering I hear him say "She is cute". I play wing woman. They dated for 3 years. pic.twitter.com/eF3BR0FxP6
— Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) February 15, 2023
Dear readers, will you share your weirdest / funnest 1st date stories?
Anyone got a good workflow for actually reading email newsletters? (once per day? once per week? push to Kindle or something?)
— Dennis Crowley (@dens) February 14, 2023
I get way too much email. Reading newsletters in my inbox has never been the right context for me to actually enjoy content I am subscribing to. Looks like I am not the only one who is struggling with a workflow that makes sense for consuming newsletters. (Dennis’ Crowley’s Tweet above) I am asking you, my readers, how do you make sure you actually get to the newsletters you subscribed to? My biggest hack is that I have a bookmark folder with all my favorite newsletter landing pages and then I read them like a blog!
“For me, beauty is a physical sensation, something we feel with our whole body. It is not the result of judgement. We do not arrive at it by way of rules. We either feel beauty or we don’t.”
– Jorge Luis Borges
I saw Gregory Porter in concert on Saturday here in Brooklyn. What a beautiful talent this man is.
Love this Apple commercial. My dad went blind in old age and the Apple devices gave him so much freedom and connection to the outside world. Forever grateful.
– Stoicism: How to turn your sadness into strength
– Due to human bias, our search engines have learnt to prioritise sportsmen in our search results, even when the facts put sportswomen first. Correct the internet wants to change that. (via Chris)
– 8 Ways to Read (a Lot) More Books This Year
– Here’s what Frank Lloyd Wright’s unbuilt designs would look like today
– Ever wanted to use unique, natural handwriting in a design but didn’t like your own? This website generates variable handwriting in 9 different styles. You can adjust speed, legibility, and stroke width, then download the result as an SVG file. (via Dense Discovery)
– I want to live in this town with a population of 400 that has eight independent bookstores.
– Why I wake early, by Marie Oliver
– 8 revenue streams you can add to your own business
– Apricity means the warmth of the sun in winter. What a lovely word.
– I love to propagate plants. These stone/tube propagation vessels make it look way prettier than the simple glass jars I use.
– Want a temporary, delicate looking tattoo that looks real? Check out this new one by Tattly.
– CreativeMornings is slowly but surely building the most radically generous peer-to-peer leaning space with their FieldTrips. Go and attend some free virtual events and dip into this friendly community. For example: Try Qigong on February 16, a moving meditation for those who can’t sit still.
“The African view is that a person is a person through other persons. My humanity is caught up with your humanity, and when your humanity is enhanced — whether I like it or not — mine is enhanced as well. Likewise, when you are dehumanized, I am dehumanized as well.”
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu
The Bantu philosophy of “ubuntu” focuses on the power of community. Be famous within five miles.
This print by Mr. Bingo hangs in our work bathroom and it makes me chuckle every time. (The original patent from 1891 for a toilet paper roll actually shows the correct rolling direction!)
A Good Used Book is a pop-up book store specializing in sharply packaged vintage paperbacks. My daughter is a fan. And we both agree, they have the most adorable branding. You can read an LATimes article about them here.
there is brave in soft.
there is wild in simple.
there is peace in thunder.
there are songs in stillness.
– Jenthe Emma
Very few free icon websites offer straightforward download options without having to go through an account setup first. SVG Repo contains over 500,000 open-licensed vector icons and symbols that are easy to search and instantly downloadable. Helpful!
(via Dense Discovery)
“Rather than feel impotent and useless, you must come to terms with the fact that as a human being you are infinitely powerful, and take responsibility for this tremendous power. Even our smallest actions have potential for great change, positively or negatively, and the way in which we all conduct ourselves within the world means something. You are anything but impotent, you are, in fact, exquisitely and frighteningly dynamic, as are we all, and with all respect you have an obligation to stand up and take responsibility for that potential. It is your most ordinary and urgent duty.”
– Nick Cave
(via Jocelyn)
“… Beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life.”
– Hunter S. Thompson
Read the full quote here.
“Chuck Jones, the brilliant animator who conceived of this most clever depiction of the banality and inevitability of repeated failure in the modern world, actually had “Rules” for the Coyote.”
The 1000 Deaths of Wile E. Coyote
The Prayer‘ is a super weird art-installation by artist Diemut Strebe, exploring the supernatural through artificial intelligence with a long-term experimental set up where a robot operates a talking mouth that is part of a computer system, creating and voicing prayers.
– This scarf situation made me smile.
– What are you reading?
– A playlist of uplifting tracks, by School of life.
– “So how do you actually work with your mind and create things of value? What I’ve identified is three principles: doing fewer things, working at a natural pace, but obsessing over quality. That trio of properties better hits the sweet spot of how we’re actually wired and produces valuable meaningful work, but it’s sustainable.” The Digital Workplace Is Designed to Bring You Down
– And, if you have not been enchanted by this adventure — your life—what would do for you? “To Begin With The Sweet Grass“, by Mary Oliver
– Excellent read: The personal brand paradox, by Debbie Millman
– I’ll take two: Positive Vibes Blanket
– Intresting read: Tiktok’s enshittification
– Finding Awe Amid Everyday Splendor. A new field of psychology has begun to quantify an age-old intuition: Feeling awe is good for us.
– Loving these tunes
– If you win the popular imagination, you change the game’: why we need new stories on climate
– Erich Fromm’s 6 Rules of Listening
– As someone who is ready to meet my person, this story made my heart go pitter-patter: Jennifer Douglas was “avowedly anti-marriage” after her divorce; Kent Shell, too. Until she got down on one knee.
– The Future is Inclusive. Agreed.
– Did you know CreativeMornings has a job board? Here are some positions that stood out to me: Danielle Laporte is hiring an Integrator, Who gives A Crap is hiring a Director of Growth Marketing and a Director of Media and Digital Marketing.
“Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful…be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work. And if you build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency.”
– William S. Burroughs
Daniel Pink suggest a small language change in the way you think about a problem you’re trying to solve. So simple. So powerful.
Thank you Joe Edelman for sharing this thoughtful piece on rebuilding society on meaning! “If we want to make meaningful things, we have to measure meaning.”
…There are two kinds of quantities in the world. Stock is a static value: money in the bank or trees in the forest. Flow is a rate of change: fifteen dollars an hour or three thousand toothpicks a day. Easy. Too easy.
But I actually think stock and flow is a useful metaphor for media in the 21st century. Here’s what I mean:
Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that reminds people you exist.
Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time. …
Read the full article titled Stock and Flow
Can’t believe how well this song holds up. I would love to see them live. Also, check out Cosmic Girl. So good!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Andrea Gibson (@andreagibson)
This stopped me in my tracks. Wow.
“The so-called black sheep of the family are, in fact, hunters born of paths of liberation into the family tree.
The members of a tree who do not conform to the norms or traditions of the family system, those who since childhood have constantly sought to revolutionise beliefs, going against the paths marked by family traditions, those criticised, judged and even rejected, these are usually called to free the tree of repetitive stories that frustrate entire generations.
The black sheep, those who do not adapt, those who cry rebelliously, play a basic role within each family system, they repair, pick up and create new and unfold branches in the family tree.”
– Bert Hellinger
Full text here.
“When people talk, listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out, know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know exactly what it was that gave you that feeling. Try that for practice.”
– Ernest Hemingway
“Surround yourself with people where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.”
– James Clear
Hi tweeps, I'm prepping for my intro class. Can anyone recommend (deep breath) a good, critical, introductory reading on Art + AI ?
— Golan Levin (@golan) January 17, 2023
Interesting article recommendations in this thread.
I am a huge fan of all things Various Keytags. Their new customizable magnetic button tag is making me squeal. So many ideas on what to create…
What an absolute gift to have Maria Popova speak at CreativeMornings/NYC yesterday. We had 500 people in attendance and 945 people tune in on livestream. What a gift!
“When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, ‘You’re too this, or I’m too this.’ That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”
– Ram Dass
It’s an exciting week! My friend Maria Popova who runs the wildly popular blog called The Marginalian is speaking at CreativeMornings/NYC this coming Friday morning.
The event will be generously hosted at the stunning New York Society for Ethical Culture space on the Upper West Side. We are at 920 sign ups. Look at these beautiful humans!
Join us IRL or tune in on the Livestream.
“The body seems to feel beauty when exposed to it as it feels the campfire or sunshine, entering not by the eyes alone, but equally through all one’s flesh like radiant heat.”
– John Muir
A cheat code I wish I could teach my 18-year-old self…
The 4 Types of Luck:
— Sahil Bloom (@SahilBloom) December 30, 2022
I love this thread on four types of luck.
(Thank you Manu)
Gasp! German photographer Roland Halbe has taken these photographs of Casa Klotz, a rural beach house in Chile by architect Mathias Klotz.
My birthday and the new year coincide which always results in a reflection tornado. Here goes:
MY 2023 INTENTIONS:
– More firsts!
– Embrace softness.
– Be open to love.
– Believe in (my) magic.
– Dream bigger.
– Keep asking: “What if it was easy?”
– Listen to my inner whispers.
– More speaking up, setting boundaries, lovingly.
– Recognize openings and moments of ease.
– Pay attention to when I am happy. Repeat those moments and dial them up to 11!
– Notice when the universe is cheering me on.
– No assumptions. (Ask more questions.)
– Keep building things that make the world better in 100 years.
– Gently notice when I am not fully present. Redirect.
– When my body contracts and my heart wants to close, breathe, stay open, lean in with curiosity.
– Live with a sense of giving not taking: Regularly ask: Would I miss ____ if it was gone? What am I doing to help ____ exist and thrive?
– Don’t push the river. Don’t try to hold it back. Flow.
– Embrace and trust standing on collaborative shoulders.
– Seek out rooms filled with gentle strangers.
– Be brave. (Growth happens on the edge of discomfort.)
– Notice and celebrate what’s working.
– See beauty in everything.
– Never withhold love.
– Dance with the universe.
WHAT TO REMEMBER:
– Everything is alive.
– The universe is friendly.
– Time is an illusion.
– Energy is visible.
– Fear is absence of love.
– I am exactly where I need to be.
– We are put on earth to love.
– Clarity is your friend. Interpret mixed signals as a no.
– A belief is a thought you keep thinking. (You can change it.)
– Love, joy and peace are deep and pure states of being. (Notice them!)
– Another world is possible.
– We are here to transform, not win.
– It takes courage to be kind and have a positive outlook in life.
– Money is energy.
– Dreamers shift norm and possibility.
– My humanity is caught up with your humanity.
– Safety is the presence of connection.
– Vulnerability is a door to deeper connection.
– Everything is figureoutable.
– Love starts with me.
– Trust breeds magic.
– Our life is our way home.
Happy my (Jan 2) birthday to you. And happy 2023! Thank you for visiting this little internet garden of mine.
Bowie is a fascinating human. Thank you Steve for the recommending I let this movie-documentary-or-whatever-one-should-call-it wash over me.
– CreativeMornings/NYC is starting out the new year with a bang: Maria Popova, force behind The Marginalian, formerly Brain Pickings is speaking on January 13th, at 8:30am ET, at the beautiful Ethical Society on the Upper West Side. Sign up for in person or the Livestream It’s free!
– “Love is a breeze. The work we are doing is that we are opening our sails.”
– How to feel your feelings.
– “When you love someone, the best thing you can offer that person is your presence.” The Four Buddhist Mantras for Turning Fear into Love
– How to be a writer on a marketing team without sounding like a jerk (via Chris)
– Cool! Hotamet is a super stylish and environmentally friendly helmet made out of leftover Scallop shells.
– “1. Most problems get smaller with a good night’s sleep.” Thank you David and Claire.
– ooh.directory: “A collection of 951 blogs about every topic.” Found this via Kai’s Dense Discovery newsletter. I am right there with him, I’m here for the renaissance of personal blogging!
– My friend Marcus recommended I watch Toni Erdmann. What an incredibly unusual and surprising movie. (Can’t remember the last time I watched a movie in German.)
– “What we’re seeing is the transition of power from institutions to individuals, but it’s going to be messy and it’s going to take at least a generation.” Don’t Rely on Credibility Stamps
– The Making of Modern Ukraine: A Free Online Course from Yale University, Featuring 23 Lectures
– I gifted my kids one of these Birds Aren’t Real Hoodies, it was a big hit!
– How were the first fonts made? Who invented italics? When did we figure out how to print in color? Typographic Firsts!
– Made me look and smile: Hands-Free Bicycle
– Books curated by NPR
– I Might Meet a Dog Today. Made me smile.
– This egg candle made me giggle.
– Design Event Guide for 2023. And then of course, every month, there are free CreativeMornings events happening all over the world. Is your city on the map? If not, start a chapter.
– It’s the end of the year. Time for some reflection and to sport this Unicorn Tattly.
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Finding your true self is an act of love. Expressing it is an act of rebellion.
-
A sign of growth is having more tolerance for discomfort. But it’s also having less tolerance for bullshit.
-
Who you are is not your fault, but it is your responsibility.
-
Desires that rise in agitation are more aligned with your ego. Desires that arise in stillness are more aligned with your soul.
-
Procrastination is the refusal or inability to be with difficult emotions.
-
The moment before letting to is often when we grip the hardest.
-
You don’t find your ground by looking for stability. You find your ground by relaxing into stability.
-
What you hate most in others is usually what you hate most in yourself.
-
The biggest life hack is becoming your own best friend. Everything is easier when you do.
-
The more comfortable you become in your own skin, the less you need to manufacture the world around you for comfort.
-
An interesting thing happens when you start to like yourself. You no longer need all the things you thought you need to be happy.
-
If you don’t train your mind to appreciate what is good, you’ll continue to look for something better in the future, even when things are great.
-
The belief that there is some future moment more worth our presence than the one we’re in right now is why we miss our lives.
-
There is no set of conditions that leads to lasting happiness. Lasting happiness doesn’t come from conditions, but from learning to flow with conditions.
-
We often need to get out of alignment with the rest of the world to get back into alignment with ourselves.
-
Real confidence looks like humility. You no longer need to advertise your value because it comes from a place that does not require the validation of others.
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Negative thoughts will not manifest a negative life. But unconscious negative thoughts will.
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Bullying yourself into enlightenment does not work. You must befriend yourself to transcend yourself.
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There are 3 layers to a moment: Your experience, your awareness of the experience and your story about the experience. Be mindful of the story.
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Your mind doesn’t wander. It moves toward what it finds most interesting. To improve focus, become curious about what’s in front of you.
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Life continues whether you pay attention to it or not. I think it’s why the passage of time is so scary.
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High pain tolerance is a double-edged sword. It’s key for self-control but can cause us to override the pain of being out of alignment.
Read Cory Muscara’s original post.
“Safety is not a question of a lack of thread. Safety is the presence of connection.”
– Gabor Maté
I gasped seeing these images of a smartly designed living/working space. It was designed by Italian designer Guglielmo Poletti for his own studio in Milan.
“Our connection with other people is only as solid and deep as our connection to ourselves. In order for me to be connected to you, I have to know who I am. I have to be connected to myself. And I think what we end up doing is we end up desperately searching for connection with other people, when we have no idea who we are!”
– Brené Brown
“The most precious gift you can give to the one you love is your true presence. So the first mantra is very simple: “Dear one, I am here for you.”
– Simone Weil
I have clearly fallen down a Ludovico Einaudi rabbit hole and I am loving it. This 2010 Royal Albert Hall Concert is an absolute dream. I recommend listening with headphones!
“See enough and write it down, I tell myself. And then some morning, when the world seems drained of wonder, some day when I’m going through the motions of doing what I am supposed to do… On that bankrupt morning, I will simply open my notebook and there it will all be, a forgotten account with accumulated interest. Paid passage back to the world out there. It all comes back. Remember what it is to be me.”
– Joan Didion
“The light constantly changes, and that alters the atmosphere and beauty of things every minute.”
– Claude Monet
How the Psychedelic Amanita Muscaria Mushroom May Have Inspired the Santa Legend of Lapland
“Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”
– Rumi
The Lion King: Tiny Desk Concert – The Birds Aren’t Real Merch is putting a smile on my face. My kids are loving the plain black hoodie. – Very honest and personal interview over on Time Sensitive with yours truly. (Thank you for the kind feedback so many of you have sent!) – What a […]
“One of the reasons I have to take distinct breaks when I work is to allow the momentum of a particular direction to run down, so that another one can establish itself.” – Brian Eno (Via Jocelyn)
These beautiful glasses are made for drinking but destined for display. Well done Lateral Objects.
“The system will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling…their ideas, their version of history, their wars…their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We may be many and they be few… Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” – Arundhati […]
How does OK Go come up with their unique ideas for their music videos? (via Tobias Günther in Dense Discovery)
“Tightness erodes clarity. Tightness reduces expansion. Tightness broadens fear, scarcity, and the feeling of being powerless. Tightness keeps me wound in my own Small Self, forgetting entirely about everything that exists beyond the tightness. Tightness looks like turning away from reality. It looks like worst-case-scenario, all-or-nothing thinking. It looks like ‘What if this doesn’t go […]
I am feeling honored and a bit nervous sharing this interview of yours truly featured on the remarkably thoughtful Time Sensitive Podcast, a labor of love by Spencer Bailey and Andrew Zuckerman. (I originally met Andrew because he has been reading my blog for years.) They are two deeply thoughtful and smart humans nurturing deep […]
I am so excited colder temperatures are back and with that my See Design Wool Scarves! Love this small, woman owned business. I am also big fan of their toiletry pouches. Favorite go to gift for my lady friends.
“Social media forms are performative solo forms with an odd conflation of friendship and marketing; the body is alone in a room performing the self, with an undercurrent of desire for applause. Without a town square to gather in and hash out the day with neighbors, social media communications have a shading of loneliness underneath.” […]
“I don’t know what I’m doing. And if you don’t know what to do, there’s actually a chance of doing something new. As long as you know what you’re doing, nothing much of interest is going to happen.” – Philip Glass
These wall hooks are so cool. And not at all just for kids rooms! My friend Holly put them at her entrance.
Meet Jonah Hill’s friend and therapist, Phil Stutz. Directed by Hill, this film invites you to explore Dr. Stutz’s Tools for life in an effort to get real, get personal, and get better.
“The most audacious thing I could possibly state in this day and age is that life is worth living. It’s worth being bashed against. It’s worth getting scarred by. It’s worth pouring yourself over every one of its hot coals.” – Jeff Buckley
“When considering whether to buy yet another book, you might well ask yourself when you’ll get around to reading it. But perhaps there are other, even more important considerations, such as the intellectual value of the book in its still-unread state.” The Virtue of Owning Books You Haven’t Read: Why Umberto Eco Kept an “Antilibrary”
OMG! I want to ride EJ Hill’s Bubblegum Pink Roller Coaster Through a Mass MoCA Gallery. Says the woman who doesn’t like roller coasters.
– A truly entertaining read on the adventures of renovating a brownstone. (Thank you Bailey.) – The New Yorker’s list of best books of 2022 – The creative legacy of Gifs: Past, present and future – Fun gift: Personalized Word Search Throw Blanket – Turn your photos into wall art. Fun! – Revitalizing Culture in […]
“Love consists of this: two solitudes that meet, protect and greet each other. ” ― Rainer Maria Rilke
“Isn’t it wonderful to be alive? You know, you can forget all about it. Then suddenly you remember, and think of all the things you can do. Here I am. I can walk around. I can talk. I can see things and remember things. I am alive. How wonderful.” – Sophia Loren
The NYC Marathon is my favorite day of the year. Nothing compares to the loving and uplifting energy pulsing through this city on this day. And then, the signs, they make me happy. My neighborhood Fort Greene really goes all out. See my neighbors dance here.
I have spent an absurdly long time on this Instagram Account displaying surreal food art. (Via Weekly Highlights)
“I oscillate between thinking I am crazy, and thinking I am not crazy enough.” – Joyce Carol Oates
Currently on repeat, post soul fusion goodness: Late Bloomers by The Cut. – Coffee vs. tea smackdown – Real power lies in the domains of deep, slow change, by Stewart Brand – I stumbled upon the Modern Elder Academy and feel like I opened a portal to a wise, expansive universe. Wow! – I can’t […]
My son is obsessed with playing the piano. This had me google the making of a Steinway and stumble upon this. What a beautiful world to be in. The piano building world.
“The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer.” – Henri Matisse
“Bad companies are destroyed by crisis, Good companies survive them, Great companies are improved by them.” — Andy Grove
“Boy, I hurried… I hurried for a long time. I’m sorry I did. All the time you’re hurrying, you’re not really as aware as you should be. You’re trying to make things happen instead of just letting it happen. You follow me?” – Bob Dylan
Zara Home is making me swoon these these days. This Wooden Dustpan and Brush Set is a beauty.
As a cat owner I shy away of having candles in my house and am wondering if the Wick would create somewhat the same ambiance as a candle would.
Nexus is a ski film documenting five distinct groups of female skiers, their connection to the mountains and how skiing shapes their relationships. This is getting me excited for ski season.
I love this Throw Blanket by Real Fun Wow! The owner of the brand, Darren Thomas is a super refreshingly brilliant marketer. Watch this video he made about this blanket. I love following his account and am continuously surprised at how he makes me smile with his product videos. PS: You can also get some […]
Deeply moved by this thorough and generous article on the magic of CreativeMornings, my biggest labor of love. In case you’re not familiar with CreativeMornings: It’s the world’s largest face-to-face creative community. You can attend events in 225 cities every month or tune into our free digital FieldTrips (aka workshops) online.
finally starting to make progress on some big projects and i owe it to these post-its, which help me bypass the paralyzing adhd perfectionism that tells me nothing i could ever make or do is valuable unless it is done unassailably to the highest standards of any possible critic pic.twitter.com/ftCgeJdqSF — andreaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! grimes (@andreagrimes) October […]
Whoa! The RGB Colorspace Atlas by New York-based artist Tauba Auerbach is a massive tome containing digital offset prints of every variation of RGB color possible.
I love the idea of Digital Love Languages. I always appreciate receiving a “this makes me think of you” texts.
Loving these pieces by Swiss Graphic Design legend Erik Nitsche. Would love to own one of these!
The urban legend says there are dead wasps inside every fig. This blew my mind. (I love figs!)
In ‘Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing’, 1997, Francis Alÿs pushed a block of ice through the streets of Mexico City until it completely melted. After nice hours the block was reduced to no more than an ice cube suitable for a whisky on the rocks, so small that he could casually kick it along […]
I love the concept of a segmented backpack. The organizer in me is getting very excited about this.
Not new, but still wonderful. – The Unexpected Power of Random Acts of Kindness – What? Radiolab for kids? YES PLEASE! – Hey fellow US Citizens, are you registered to vote? Check here. – The Secret to Making Friends as an Adult (via) – “Marketing is product design, customer service, pricing, customer delight and creating […]
@nathanallebach We need walkable communities to support third places and third places to support healthy societies #thirdplace #thirdplaces #walkability #walkablecities #walkablecommunities #urbanplanning #urbanism #community #carfree ♬ original sound – nathan allebach A beautiful reminder that the work we do with CreativeMornings is really meaningful.
I have come to love this NOW watch, consistently reminding me to be present. I so very easily jump to a future moment.
Consensus is a search engine that uses AI to find answers to your questions directly from scientific research. (via)
From Kino Lorber Films comes a documentary on the Swedish abstract painter, Hilma af Klint. Not familiar with Hilma’s work? Read this. (via Open Culture)
CreativeMornings is doing something a bit wild this Thursday/Friday (9/22-23) in collaboration with the remarkable London based organization called StreetWisdom. We are celebrating 24h of waking up, around the world, with 1h sensory-tuning WalkShops. (Walking workshops) It’s free. It’s fun. We are kicking off the 24h bonanza at 8:30am NYC Time on Thursday 9/22 as […]
Yesterday I posted ideas on how to meet a romantic partner, outside of soul-sucking dating apps. Here is my post on Instagram. 2,830 likes and 261 comments later it’s clear this hit a nerve. Reposting it here with some resources my readers shared: Can we talk about dating apps? Yeah, let’s not. I can’t help […]
Embedding is unfortunately disabled, click through to see the video over on Youtube. Fascinating! The above clip from the 80s shows the human energy field radiating outward from the body. “The aura” has been captured with specialized cameras and film, noting how it changes based on feeling states, physical conditions, the interaction with energy radiation […]
Mark your calendars! Next Thursday, September 22, at 8:30AM ET, CreativeMornings/NYC is shooting the starting gun of a 24-hour global wander marathon! Time travel with us for a moment. Last November, CM/NYC took to the streets for the first time under the guidance of creative nonprofit Street Wisdom’s founder David Pearl. Together we unlocked our […]
I just now stumbled upon Tanya Moushi’s book Love is The Business Plan. The title made me gasp and I of course instantly downloaded it. So, while I haven’t read it yet, I am enamored by this video in which Tanya shares how she organized and wrote her book using Notion and Apple Pages. Love […]
“We are living through a pandemic of selfing — rampant self-celebration that mistakes applause for connection, likes for love. There must be another way — a way to unself just enough to remember each other, to grow a little more…” Thank you Maria for this gift. I am all for unselfing.
For 10 years, Casper ter Kuile has been trying to figure out what the future of spirituality and community might look like. The Nearness is the beginning of his answer to that question. Starting with this digital offering, the hope is to see this evolves into in-person meetups and a beautiful annual gathering. To start […]
ManyBooks was established back in 2004 to provide an extensive library of books in digital format for free to anyone on the internet. Today it hosts over 50,000 free ebooks with many classics, but also new indie titles added daily. (via my favorite newsletter Dense Discovery)
I can’t remember the last time I smiled ear to ear looking at an illustrator’s portfolio like this. Anna Süßbauer’s work is delightful!
I don’t believe that life is supposed to make you feel good, or to make you feel miserable either. Life is just supposed to make you feel. – Gloria Naylor (via)
Using data from Morgane Laouenan et al, the Notable People Map is showing birthplaces of the most “notable people” around the world. Data has been processed to show only one person for each unique geographic location with the highest notability rank. (via Dense Discovery)
I was recently in Switzerland (hence the silence here) and was invited to a dinner party where the hosts made pizzas in a Staedler Made Pizza Oven. It’s a thing of absolute beauty and the pizzas were delicious. It ships flat packed. Yes, I want one.
“Rule of 3 in conversation. To get to the real reason, ask a person to go deeper than what they just said. Then again, and once more. The third time’s answer is close to the truth.” – – Kevin Kelly
“The body of work you’re creating adds up over time. The consistency and empathy of your vision will seep through. Drip by drip, you’ll create something worth noticing.” – Crickets by Seth Godin
Games for Grown ups by School of life looks fun: 40 activities to draw us away from static conversation and cast aside reserve to get in touch with the neglected imaginative aspects of ourselves.
“Audience capture is an irresistible force in the world of influencing, because it’s not just a conscious process but also an unconscious one. While it may ostensibly appear to be a simple case of influencers making a business decision to create more of the content they believe audiences want, and then being incentivized by engagement […]
You must not have anything wrong with you, or anything different about you. If you have something wrong or different about you, you really need to correct it. You need to be able to pass under all circumstances. If you can’t correct it, or change it in any way, you should just pretend that you […]
The site Make My Drive Fun is pretty darn cool. Go enter your starting and end point and see the magic unfold.
I like this simple, wooden essential oil diffuser by Vorda. (Whispers: Yes, it’s expensive.)
I watched the show Severance with my kids (12 and 16) and I can’t stop thinking about it. As someone who has built companies, I am shook by the overall notion of the show. My kids and I felt so many feelings watching this first season. (The ending had us run around in the yard […]
11 years ago I launched Tattly as a fun side project. The goal? Create high-quality temporary tattoos, designed by professional artists. Little did I know this lighthearted idea would grow into a healthy business, shipping millions of tattoos around the world. Since July of 2011, Tattly has catapulted joy and good art into the world, […]
“When you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that makes it good or bad.” – Miles Davis
“It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.” – […]
Last week was unusually ‘full’. I had no brain space to post here. I can’t remember the last time that happened other than after my kids were born. And then, as I was swinging from one to-do-item-vine to the next, running from lots of Zoom meetings filled with men wearing blue shirts and khaki pants, […]
“The right person will know how to hold your love. The right person will choose you just as deeply as you choose them. You will not have to quiet the way you care, you will never feel like you are too much. You will not have to beg for the love you deserve. One day, […]
This is an inspiring talk. Definitely made me think about how I talk about what I do. Thank you Clay Hebert.
I didn’t enjoy brushing my dog with a regular dog brush. I started digging around on the internet hoping someone invented something better: HandsOn Animal Gloves. My dog LOVES when I brush her with these! (Yes, they look hideous.)
I totally want a pair of these baggy alphabet pants in my size. Put them on your little ones!
This generously sized carry-all Svea Bag by Stutterheim makes my heart go pitter patter. It’s out of rubberized-cotton material! Want!
“Everyone knows how productive you can be when you’re avoiding something. We are currently experiencing the civilizational equivalent of that anxiety you feel when you have something due the next day that you haven’t even started thinking about and yet still you sit there, helplessly watching whole seasons of mediocre TV or compulsively clicking through […]