Lisa Napoli's Blog, page 25
September 25, 2011
Midnight Mission @Radius @KCRW
My first taped piece for KCRW is about a musical series on Skid Row: please give it a listen:
http://soundcloud.com/kcrw/music-at-the-midnight-mission
Economics of #happiness: @Forbes
A former Times colleague asked me to blog for Forbes; I'll post of my happiness economics stuff there; here's the first installment:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisanapoli/2011/09/25/the-economics-of-happiness/
September 23, 2011
"Savor the elegance of your life:" @fearless_stories
I like this; it's kind of like a treatise on why the "3 good things" lists are useful:
From Fearlessstories.com:
I just noticed today that the trees are sprinkling their leaves on the ground.
It's getting cooler. Autumn is here. This doesn't seem that exciting. It happens
every year, without fail. And yet, whenever it does, I always feel compelled to
point it out. It's difficult to make Fear.less's Facebook status anything other
than "LOOK OUTSIDE GUYS. LOOK. LEAVES."
I had a cup of coffee this morning, as I often do. It wasn't a new flavor. I did
not experiment with different ratios of cream and sugar. It wasn't a particularly
notable coffee-drinking experience. But as I was drinking it, I thought, "Man, I'm
drinking coffee. I like this part of the day. I feel like a real writer."
What I took from these observations is that I am superficially aware that the
mundane stuff that we (and nature) repeat over and over are actually quite special,
but not always ready to embrace that. It's the distinction between a routine and a
ritual. Both are repeated, but rituals are active and sacred celebrations.
Doesn't that sound pretentious and foofy? It's hard to put forth the effort. It's hard
to, every single day, or even three times a week, really step back and admire the
simplicity and elegance of your life's cycles. It seems tryhardy too, like you're
overestimating the importance of meaningless things. I can just imagine myself
reveling in the warmth and taste and connotations of a cup of coffee and being like
"yeahhh life is good", and that doesn't seem like enough. But if I do that, it's my loss, really.
We have this foolish idea of the "special occasion" where it is only okay to actively
celebrate things, people and life once in a while. It may seem dopey at first, but I
think it might be interesting to try creating more special occasions for ourselves,
out of nothing. Out of our routines. Every day, each one of us winds down and goes
to sleep. This could be a ritual, honoring the end of another day survived and
well-spent, where the way we brush our teeth and put on new socks is an intentional
appreciation of what this process means. A lot of us drive to and from the same
places and spend a lot of time in the same buildings. How often do we spend this
time skating along with the bare minimum of observation?
We call routines "the grind". High-friction, abrasive, maybe destructive. What if the
friction was gentler and created something pleasant, like a needle scratching a record
to produce music? You know what that sounds like. That sounds like a hug. When I
wake up tomorrow, I'm going to rise from the bed and loudly announce to myself in a
nasal voice, "WELL, BACK TO THE DAILY HUG." And then I will try to embrace life
even if on the surface, nothing I am doing seems new and exciting.
Why should your life, possibly the only one you'll ever have, be special… occasionally?
I don't think it's a sign of low standards, sheep mentality or marijuana use to actively
look at a moment, dig for meaning and say "I thought this was a 4 out of 10 thing to do,
but you know, it's gotta be at least a 7." Or a 10. Ritualizing the necessary repetitions
of our lives mitigates that feeling of just drifting through half-asleep, and keeps
our gratitude level high.
A lot of the stuff in our daily lives doesn't mean anything. Unless we decide that it does.
Matt
http://fearlessstories.com/
Fried hornets and tomato soup: Chubby Hubby
My buddy Sharisse is a fan of Bhutan's signature dish emadatse, but the lady who wrote this is not….(For the record: No one has ever offered me fried hornets, or any kind of hornets, in Bhutan….but the honey there is great.) 
September 22, 2011
#3goodthings
1 this tree on the campus of Santa Monica College
2 that lunch
3 talking to ER
#3goodthings
The genius of my uncluttered home: @Salon-life
I could shack up with the author of this piece; we share the same philosophy of stuff. (Sorry, Ted 
and thanks, Allison!)
September 21, 2011
#3goodthings
1. talking to Kusala and hearing about his beloved mother (and seeing people at the IBMC after some time)
2. Midnight Mission and the band Radius and being able to tell people about them on KCRW–what a privilege!
3. the hot showers at the YMCA after not having hot water here on Bunker Hill for way too long
September 20, 2011
#3goodthings
1. wikileaks on Bhutan—endless intrigue
2. that nice drink
3. seeing neighbor Paul at the swimming pool looking fitter and happier than ever.
#3goodthings
September 19, 2011
Maryland's #GNH -esque Genuine Progress Indicator on @MktplaceRadio
David Brancaccio talked about this alternative metric of the economy today on Marketplace; it's kind of modeled a bit after Gross National Happiness from Bhutan (GPI, that is, not David or Marketplace.) Gives you more gist than detail but nice to know someone's paying attention:
