à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Identity
Improv as Spiritual Practice
I just passed the half-way point of an improvisational acting class. It’s my first in many years, this time at Boulder Improv Collaborative, coached by Myles Goldin and Zac Chase. I enrolled out of a desire to have fun and practice spontaneity. While “practicing spontaneity” might sound like an oxymoron, it’s not. Some of us, … Continue reading
Of Optics and Illusions
When I learned recently I’d need my first pair of glasses, I had two reactions: gratitude for decades of good vision, and excitement about possible looks. More than other accessories, spectacles speak volumes about who we believe ourselves to be and how we wish to come across. Long before I needed a prescription, I lusted … Continue reading
What’s Your Territory?
When I need a sane, no nonsense reminder of what resistance is, and inspiration for battling it daily, I pick up my worn copy of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. It’s a must-read for anyone trying to live more powerfully, whether that means creating art, healing a relationship, or getting in shape. As he … Continue reading
When a Memory’s Absence Tells a Story
A former boyfriend, from decades and another continent ago, e-mailed me last week to mention that Barack Obama had visited Germany, where he now lives with his wife and two children. He wrote: “I told my family that, thanks to you, I heard the senior Bush’s speech in Budapest in 1989!” Really? I didn’t remember … Continue reading
God as Fashion Director?
“Religion is just a costume party,” argues the formidable mystic and author Caroline Myss. The first time I heard her take-no-prisoners tone in one of her recorded lectures, I was stunned by her sheer irreverence. How could she trivialize or reduce hundreds if not thousands of years of tradition and customs to the garb worn … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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