Chris Schwaar ©

Category: Inspiration

  • Content in Contentedness

    In a recent discussion on the Tim Ferris Show, Seth Godin said again and again that “knowing there’s enough [in life] opens the door to merely do the work.“ Contentedness paves the way for contentedness. If we take away the expectations of numbers or dollars or hopes for more, we allow ourselves to do the…

  • Interesting people are people with interests

    In March of 2020, right at the start of the Covid-19 U.S. quarantine, a playwright named Lauren Gunderson put on a series of playwrighting masterclasses, hosted live on her Facebook page. I gleaned many journal pages worth of information through those livestreams. One of the things that really stuck with me – like an arrow…

  • Picasso’s Letter

    “Everybody has the same energy potential. The average person wastes his in a dozen little ways. I bring mine to bear on only one thing: my paintings, and everything is sacrificed to it – you and everyone else. Myself included.” This is a quote from a letter Pablo Picasso wrote to a lover, discovered through…

  • The Life of Hayao Miyazaki

    This evening, I watched Never Ending Man, a documentary following Hayao Miyazaki, the famed founder, writer and director of Japan’s Studio Ghibli. It was a fascinating watch, as Miyazaki is, himself, a fascinating man. He wears a white apron in nearly every shot of the film, at home and in the studio, and there’s more…

  • The artwork of Jason Polan

    Today, this blog post from Austin Kleon introduced me to a charming new artist – Jason Polan. Jason died on January 27, 2020. I’d like to continue learning more about Jason, “one of the quirkiest and most prolific denizens of the New York art scene.” But from the little I know about him now, it…

  • Favorite passages from the ‘Fellowship of the Ring’

    I’m just about finished with J.R.R. Tolkien’s famed beginning of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As I read, I like to put sticky tabs over those passages I like most, to go back to in future. Here I’d like to share a few of those passages! “Then, each in an angle of the great…

  • The Bizarre World of Basil Wolverton

    This morning, I read a blog post by Austin Kleon talking about the ‘Gross Up’ in the Spongebob TV show. That post led me to this video, which describes what the ‘Gross Up’ really. (it really gets good and insightful around 2:05) That video briefly talks about an artist I’d never heard of, named Basil…

  • Routine

    Repetition and routine make choosing easier. If you know you’re going to go out for dinner again next week, it’s easier to try that new taco place down the street today instead of the old favorite. If you don’t like the new taco place, you can go back to Portillo’s next Friday, no problem. Taking…

  • Lessons from Malcolm Gladwell’s masterclass

    1. The ultimate question is “what is interesting?” – Imperfection is interesting – Failure can be interesting 2. Interesting doesn’t mean it’s clean or that the protagonist gets what they want. 3. Incomplete stories, without that final piece that wraps it up nicely, can be the stories that stick in a readers mind the longest……

  • Aaron Copland

    Currently listening to Aaron Copland (1900-1990). I’ve been listening to a fair amount of Copland recently, likely more than most. Appalachian Spring is my favorite of his pieces. It sounds like an early morning – soothing, and peaceful and patient, but full of the excited energy and possibility of the new. We in America are…