"Art is about letting yourself be changed. If you aren’t growing, what’s the point?"

Poet and essayist, Maggie Smith, has distilled two decades of teaching and creative practice into a book of reflections on both the craft and mindset of making art. Last week, writer and educator, Anna Brones, interviewed Smith for her newsletter, Creative Fuel.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/dear-writer-pep-talks-practical-advice-for-the-creative-life-maggie-smith/21525857?ean=9781982170844&next=t&affiliate=3108

How to build a creative business as an artist and a leader

Katerina Popova is a Philadelphia-based painter who helps fellow artists build their businesses and advocate for themselves. Through books, coaching, and self-made platforms, she offers practical resources and inspiration.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DLj-zPpPGBu/?img_index=1

A jazz master shows how to contribute when your footing isn't what you thought it was

Chris Corrigan is a facilitator, consultant, and teacher with deep expertise in participatory processes, large-group facilitation, and dialogic approaches to organizational change and complexity.

https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/tackling-giant-steps/

Learning to cultivate the the hidden strengths of people and societies

Ernst Bloch was a pioneering thinker on utopia, hope, and the role of human aspiration in shaping history and society. Born in 1885, he studied philosophy, German literature, experimental psychology, physics, and music, drawing influence from Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalah.

https://www.tribunemag.co.uk/2020/04/ernst-bloch-and-the-philosophy-of-hope

"I truly think that autodidacts are responsible for all that is good and great about alternative culture."

Celine Nguyen is a designer and writer from California. She publishes a great newsletter that explores "literature, design, fashion, technology, phenomenology, perfume, and Proust"—a list that only skims its depth and breadth.

https://www.personalcanon.com/p/research-as-leisure-activity

Apocalypses destroy old worlds, but they also create new ones.

Science journalist Lizzie Wade challenges the idea that apocalypses are solely about destruction. Instead, she argues they can be moments of transformation—times when societies collapse but also rebuild, sometimes in better ways.

https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/ancient-role-catastrophe-forging-better-futures-bookbite/55684/

"Goals are often surrogates for clarity. We set goals when we’re uncertain about what we really want."

Joan Westenberg recently reflected on her experience of achieving goals. Yes, she had reached some—but so what? The achievements felt hollow.

“Predicting doom in difficult times may have more to with the sorrow and depression of the moment than with any real insight into future possibilities."

In January 2000, the White House asked Octavia Butler to write a memorandum to President Clinton outlining her vision of the future. She chose to focus on education.

https://us14.mailchimp.com/mctx/clicks?url=https%3A%2F%2Fantiableistcomposition.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F07%2Foctavia_e._butler_a_few_rules_.pdf&xid=e2b31af288&uid=60904557&iid=9f934ace29&pool=cts&v=2&c=1751042448&h=58254d2008b550730713ad23a0539467c76f9a37323e03319eaff23e2b58e967

Some nitty-gritty details regarding Joan Didion’s writing process

Jillian Hess describes her newsletter, Noted, like this: “I’ve spent the past two decades studying hundreds of notebooks, and I’m excited to share the most interesting, inspiring, and unique notes with you.” Through Noted, she offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creative processes of some of the world’s most fascinating minds.

https://jillianhess.substack.com/p/3-lessons-on-writing-from-joan-didions

Radical acceptance shows us the value in learning how to truly accept life just the way it is.

Pema Chödrön encourages us to meet fear with curiosity.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/05/in-a-culture-obsessed-with-positive-thinking-can-letting-it-go-be-a-radical-act

Pema Chödrön on curiousity

The path of meditation and the path of our lives altogether has to do with curiosity, inquisitiveness.

https://justdharma.org/the-path-of-curiosity/

Four steps to practicing deep curiosity about the perspectives, stories, and humanity of others.

Scott Shigeoka was feeling overwhelmed by the anger and fear saturating our public life in the U.S.

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_curiosity_can_help_us_overcome_disconnection

Many small ideas are worth more than one big one.

Chris Butler believes we’re chasing the wrong goals.

https://www.chrbutler.com/the-compound-interest-of-small-ideas

Curiosity can serve as an antidote to the anxiety that arises in uncertain times.

When we feel anxious or depressed, it’s often because we’ve latched onto a fixed idea about how the future will unfold.

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-to-fall-in-love-with-questions-elizabeth-weingarten

Designing a future that supports all species begins by asking what nature can teach us.

AskNature is a free, open-source database from the Biomimicry Institute that translates biological knowledge into clear, accessible language.

https://asknature.org

'Secure relationships rewire your brain,' and 19 other helpful truisms

Gandhi once said we must be the change we wish to see in the world.

https://medium.com/personal-growth/all-the-best-selling-psychology-books-boiled-down-to-20-simple-rules-345a21437b6f

“Hope does not deny the evil, but is a response to it.”

This is a book of encouragement that begins with a visit to Jane Goodall in her kitchen.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250784094/thebookofhope/
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'Dread is harmful. It fosters helplessness. It makes us fear the future and fear everything deeply new.'

Stewart Brand is writing a new book called Maintenance: Of Everything.

https://books.worksinprogress.co/book/maintenance-of-everything/communities-of-practice/unending-world/1
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Through the eyes of 2100: What a future historian might see in today’s world

Trump may make America great again — just not in the way he had intended.

https://www.freethink.com/the-changing-world-order/the-great-progression-trump-and-america

Why do humans wage large-scale acts of appalling cruelty on other members of our own species?

Deborah Barsky studies ancient stone tool technologies and human prehistory.

https://observatory.wiki/How_Long_Has_Humanity_Been_at_War_With_Itself%3F
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'To understand that the American order is not the only possible system — that, for many countries, it is not even a particularly good or fair one — is to allow oneself to hope that its end could augur a more inclusive world.'

Amitav Acharya is a globally renowned scholar of International Relations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/opinion/west-american-order-free-trade.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-k4.LtgV.0Y-IdhUALlRg&smid=url-share
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'The question isn’t whether we can imagine a better future—it’s whether we can afford not to.'

Rob Hopkins, a leader in sustainability and community change, says the future isn’t something that just happens—it’s something we create.

https://www.robhopkins.net/2025/02/27/what-if-we-could-uncancel-the-future-when-luigi-vitali-interviewed-me-for-dust-magazine/

“More often than not, community is about conflict and about how we together navigate it.”

At its core Hope Leans Forward is indeed a meditation on hope: its significance and how to cultivate it.

https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506478371/Hope-Leans-Forward
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What truly matters in shaping our collective destiny?

The Manual for Civilization is a project by The Long Now Foundation that seeks to answer a profound question: What books would you need to restart civilization from scratch?

https://longnow.org/ideas/how-can-we-create-a-manual-for-civilization/

'I will devote my life to beating my head against that wall.”

https://masoncurrey.substack.com/p/what-artists-really-do

How to enhance personal and social and planetary well-being

Astronauts who see Earth from space often experience the "overview effect"—a powerful shift in perspective.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2024/07/24/how-the-overview-effect-can-make-you-feel-alive-again-by-a-psychologist/
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'Have we become apathetic about the possibility of things ever being radically different?'

In modern discourse, "utopian" is often used as a criticism, equated with unrealistic or impossible ideals.

https://psyche.co/ideas/we-need-the-toolkit-of-utopian-thinking-now-more-than-ever
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An independent search engine that focuses on non-commercial content

Viktor Lofgren had a crazy idea.

https://marginalia-search.com/

Group facilitation prompts from hell

Having facilitated my share of rooms, I find this list from McSweeney’s both cringe-worthy and hilariously relatable.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faculty-meeting-icebreakers

'Embrace your constraints — they’ll spark your creativity.'

In another example of DIY cool, consider this: Pixar’s Inside Out 2 had a staggering $200 million budget, DreamWorks spent $78 million on The Wild Robot, and Aardman made the latest Wallace and Gromit film for about $40 million.

https://medium.com/@risahaasbroek/flow-the-latvian-animation-masterpiece-that-defied-hollywood-46dd78ace1b2

Looking at the past can help to navigate the future.

Carole Crumley is a pioneering scientist in the field of historical ecology, studying the long-term interactions between humans and their environment.

https://ihopenet.org/tag/latin-america/
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Giving up hope is not an option.

https://antiableistcomposition.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/octavia_e._butler_a_few_rules_.pdf

Proposing a new enlightenment

Stuart A.

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/stuart-a-kauffman/reinventing-the-sacred/9780465018888/

'If you are a remotely informed left-leaning person in America right now, why wouldn’t you be experiencing depression and anxiety?'

As we all work to make sense of our world, Lindsey Adler offers some wise guidance.

https://lindseyadler.substack.com/p/youre-allowed-to-feel-like-garbage

A school without teachers, classes, or theory

Hive Helsinki offers a new way to learn and gives its students the tools to solve the problems of tomorrow.

https://www.hive.fi/en
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Civilizations come and go. Civilization continues.

It’s fitting that Stewart Brand authored the first article in the inaugural issue of Pace Layers.

https://longnow.org/ideas/elements-of-a-durable-civilization/

Negative emotions like grief and horror can coexist with positive feelings such as love and beauty.

Sarah Jaquette Ray recalls the day she asked her students to envision a positive future 10–15 years ahead—one in which their hopes for solving global problems had been realized.

https://harvardpolitics.com/on-climate-emotion/
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'We hope to help each other be good ancestors. We hope to preserve possibilities for the future.'

The Long Now Foundation, established in 1996, aims to foster long-term thinking and responsibility.

https://longnow.org/ideas/pace-layers-journal-02024/

In the age of A.I. and machine learning, just being more productive won’t cut it. The future belongs to the creatives.

In the Human Productivity Parabola (see graph above), we have now passed the point — call it the 'Productivity-Creativity Inversion' — where machines (algorithms, robots, etc.) have become a better investment for future productivity gains than humans.

https://scottbelsky.medium.com/creativity-is-the-new-productivity-d287d6ad7533

'How to Talk to Strangers' and 80 other tools to help navigate uncertainty with resilience and purpose

Publisher's Web Page: Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways

https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book/?isbn=9781984858160

Holiday gift guides work for other days, too.

In December of every year a lot of thoughtful people compile a lot of thoughtful gift guides.

https://kottke.org/24/12/2024-kottke-holiday-gift-guide

Turning mixed textile waste that was destined for landfill or incineration into something valuable and usable by Earth’s “helpers”.

There are millions of species of bacteria, archaea, and algae, the most ancient and widespread engines of material flows and life support for the planet.

https://d4t.biomimicry.org

Hey Kids! Adults Only!

Increasingly high school students are struggling with reading stamina.

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/65063/banned-book-club-anime-and-third-spaces-how-to-get-teens-really-reading

Systems Thinking terminology, vocabulary, definitions, and concepts gathered on one site

Welcome to the Systems Thinking Glossary, your go-to resource for understanding essential terminology, vocabulary, definitions, and concepts in systems thinking.

https://systemsthinkingalliance.org/glossary/

'Stealing is bad unless you're hungry and stealing food. I love you.'

This isn't a list of the best albums released this year.

https://www.joshlafayette.com/bestalbums

How do we come home to ourselves? To one another?

A couple of weeks ago I pointed to an essay by Garett Bucks.

https://beinghumanmag.com/how-do-we-come-home-to-one-another/

How connecting with our future selves can improve our lives right now

I like Hal Hershfield's perspective.

https://longnow.org/ideas/your-future-self/

It’s OK to sit the post-election period out and build strength for the challenging days ahead.

I need the leaders who will counter Trumpism to take self-care seriously.

https://newrepublic.com/article/188182/post-election-self-care-works

'Gratitude makes me ready for what’s coming.'

Viki Robin wrote this Thanksgiving letter two years ago.

https://vickirobin.com/gratitude-the-yes-in-spite-of-it-all/

Is anxiety causing you to procrastinate? Channel that energy into something else that needs to be done.

It’s best to procrastinate with other things I don’t want to do.

https://lithub.com/six-writers-on-procrastination/

Thich Nhat Hanh to the U.S. Congress on how to support communities of understanding, peace and happiness.

In 2003 Tim Ryan, then a congressman from Ohio, invited the Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh to address members of the U.S.

https://www.lionsroar.com/there-is-no-path-to-peace-the-path-is-peace/

'We have a duty to dwell on the overwhelming beauty of the world, to let its warmth soothe our sore hearts.'

Recently Cameron Bellm has been reading the diaries of journalist, social activist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, Dorothy Day.

https://cameronbellm.substack.com/p/the-duty-of-delight-in-times-of-despair

'When we mourn, we honor the love we carry for the people and causes that matter most to us.'

Mourning is a necessary and urgent part of change – individual change and collective change.

https://antiracismdaily.beehiiv.com/p/mourning-is-a-tool-of-resistance-use-it

Just in time? Research shows that AI mediation can help people find common ground on complex social and political issues.

To act collectively, groups must reach agreement; however, this can be challenging when discussants present very different but valid opinions.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2852#editor-abstract

What it takes to live with our hearts and integrity intact in this time of global crisis.

We welcome you to the kitchen table of the legendary eco-spiritual teacher Joanna Macy....You’ll be guided into these conversations by Jess Serrante, a longtime activist and student of Joanna’s.

https://resources.soundstrue.com/we-are-the-great-turning-podcast/

A new survey suggests that young people are shunning AI algorithms and online retailers to experience the joy of visiting bookshops.

Gen Z’s cultural tastes are heralded, maligned and mythologised in almost equal measure.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/11/i-love-the-whole-atmosphere-and-can-spend-hours-browsing-how-did-bookshops-suddenly-become-cool
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What happens when a flow state extends beyond the individual to encompass an entire team?

Imagine a group of minds, synchronized in (a flow state), their brainwaves aligning like a symphony.

https://futurelabconsulting.com/index.php/blog/178-the-science-of-collective-creativity

'In the grand scheme of things, everything is workable. As long as we practice and engage with the world for the benefit of others, humanity will survive the rise and fall of any politician or ideology.'

When the going gets frightening and weird, I turn to Buddhist teachings for guidance.

https://www.lionsroar.com/you-can-make-a-difference/

This summer a new visitor center opened across the street from Louis and Lucille Armstrong’s two-story house in Corona, Queens.

In 1943 the great American jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong and his wife, Lucille, settled into what would be the last residence they shared: a two-story house in the New York neighborhood of Corona, Queens.

https://metropolismag.com/projects/louis-armstrong-museum/
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Jacob Mitchell knew that he learned best through rhyme and pattern and music. He figured kids would too.

School bored Jacob Miller.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/23/books/mc-grammar.html?unlocked_article_code=1.PU4.FjG9.cwGUCrvOH9lZ&smid=url-share

Pursuing what’s interesting to you can enrich your life beyond happiness and meaning, benefitting not just you, but society at large.

What makes for a good life? Is it pleasure or enjoying the passage of time, as James Taylor once sang? Or is it more about living life with purpose and contributing to other people’s well-being?

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_if_you_pursued_whats_interesting_instead_of_happiness

Street Stiching is 'an act of gentle disruption that demonstrates the pleasure and necessity of garment repair.”

https://nicenews.com/environment/street-stitching-movement-pop-up-sewing-lessons/

'Rule 4: Consider everything an experiment.'

I've talked with you about Sister Caritas Kent's ten Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules.

https://youtu.be/IRPyql3cezo?si=mGS9LlxMhJwc6q_F

It seems that creative people don’t see unusual information as quite so unusual.

My work explores the ways in which creative individuals prioritise information differently to their less creative counterparts.

https://psyche.co/ideas/a-key-part-of-creativity-is-picking-up-on-what-others-overlook

It’s irrational to be cynical, so why is it becoming more prevalent?

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jamil-zaki/hope-for-cynics/9781538743065/

'Keep up with what’s causing chaos in your own field.' John Waters on being a professional creative.

In 2015 John Waters’ gave the commencement speech at The Rhode Island School of Design.

https://youtu.be/Hl05XGifKb4?si=rFPWTUL8EGWYKrZn

Music can hep us study and learn.

https://research.gatech.edu/feature/music-and-memory

'Knowledge must often molder in our mental warehouses for decades until we figure out what to do with it.'

Leslie Valiant...calls our ability to learn over the long term 'educability,' and in his new book, “The Importance of Being Educable,” he argues that it’s key to our success.

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691230566/the-importance-of-being-educable
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The science behind how nature impacts productivity, and how to integrate nature into your work-life

https://medium.com/@lewis.areosis/how-nature-creates-productivity-e6aa078777b9

'Hope is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.'

Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth.

https://everythingisamazing.substack.com/p/open-thread-what-are-you-feeling/comments

Educational institutions could place a higher value on the inner life of young people by supporting a culture of contemplation.

Gaining fluency with the contemplative practices – like becoming an artist or athlete – requires not only time and attention, but social and institutional support.

https://psyche.co/ideas/what-if-we-learned-contemplation-like-we-do-arts-or-sports

Bill Evans on jazz, creativity, and tapping into the 'universal mind'

In 1966 Steve Allen hosted a documentary about Bill Evans and his approach to learning and creating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9iP9LhdXzw

The youngest Australian Olympic champion in history

A great place to find hope for the future is in our kids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3W3vgZyy4c

An antidote to anger

We are living through a time of uncommon helplessness and uncertainty, touching every aspect of our lives, and in such times another reflex is the longing for an authority figure selling certainty, claiming the fist to be a helping hand.

https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/07/18/leonard-cohen-anger-resistance/

“Remember that you are one of 8 billion.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/dalai-lama-wisdom-good-life-happiness/677653/?gift=8gV2RmOlZDXbhJbLMCca7wia_w6V0Ta_Gs88WgxJy8w&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

A vast majority of people worldwide are personally willing to sacrifice part of their income for the common good. Yet those same people also assume that others would not.

I was first introduced to Otto Scharmer's Theory U by my friends, colleagues and clients at Reos Partners.

https://resources.soundstrue.com/transcript/what-future-is-wanting-to-emerge-through-you/

How creative self-expression affects physical and emotional health.

Human brains are not computers processing data.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91144323/how-creativity-defines-humans-wellness

What does it mean to hope in our fragile and fraught world?

You and I know that ordinary hope is based in wanting an outcome that could well be different from what might actually happen.

https://www.upaya.org/2021/09/understanding-wise-hope/

Social scientists have proven that religious or spiritual beliefs and practices improve people’s health and well-being; increase social cohesion, empathy and altruistic behavior. It's time for neuroscientists to look, too.

Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, known as Amma, has dedicated her life to spreading a message of peace, tolerance and compassion.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02153-7
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How to make rational, fact-based decisions like a scientist, and how to work with other people to come to a consensus when not everyone shares the same values.

In 2013, the University of California, Berkeley, debuted a course to teach undergraduates the tricks used by scientists to make sense of the world, in the hope that these tricks would prove useful in assessing the claims and counterclaims that bombard us every day.

http://news.berkeley.edu/2024/03/26/amidst-misinformation-critical-thinking-needs-a-21st-century-upgrade/

How can we create things in the world without causing harm, and instead, create with healing in mind?

To be a maker today—to be human—is to collaborate with the world.

https://ssir.org/books/excerpts/entry/assembling-tomorrow#

Margaret Mead thought we needed a deliberate process of cultural evolution. She thought psychedelics might help.

In the summer of 1930, the anthropologist Margaret Mead and her second husband and fellow anthropologist, Reo Fortune, made their way to the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska.

https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/turn-on-tune-in-write-code

Breaking is a dance that celebrates athleticism, creativity, and a variety of scientific principles.

Breaking, also known as breakdancing, originated in the late 1970s in the New York City borough of the Bronx.

https://theconversation.com/paris-2024-olympics-to-debut-high-level-breakdancing-and-physics-in-action-230752#new_tab

A handbook of useful exercises for unblocking creative drives and stretching creative muscles

In recent years, (cartoonist, author and teacher Lynda) Barry has taken a deep dive into research into images and human cognition, designing and teaching a multi-disciplinary course at UW-Madison called “Writing the Unthinkable.” What It Is came from these deep explorations into images, writing and memory.

https://truestorieswelltold.com/2018/03/28/what-it-is-by-lynda-barry/

"The good thing about everything being so messed up is that no matter where you look there’s good work to be done.”

- Derek Jensen