"Time is not a line, but a series of now-points."

Whitey Ford: "Yogi, what time is it?"
Yogi Berra: "You mean right now?"

Yogi, the Zen Master and Yankee catcher, may have been well trained by Del Close, in another life.


It has been said that "Time is not a line, but a series of now-points."

And the same can be said for improvisation. The training of improv allows one to experience the shear joy and comfort of always, always being 'in the moment.' One cannot improvise successfully without that mindset.

With no worries of the future, and no regrets for the past, the mind and body can respond with all the unique emotional intelligence its capable of----for only in that moment.

"If I had a plan I would be screwed."

While reading articles about Paul Newman, I came upon a very interesting fact. Here is this guy, a real mensch, an actor, race car driver, humanitarian, and model for Newman's Own spaghetti sauce jars----who had a sign in his Wesport office that read, "If I had a plan I would be screwed."

In her book "Improv Wisdom: Dont Prepare, Just Show Up", Patricia Ryan Madson echoes the same sentiment. She says: "Let’s face it: Life is something we all make up as we go along. No matter how carefully we formulate a “script,” it is bound to change when we interact with people with scripts of their own."

Take a lesson from someone like Paul Newman about improvisation ---someone who was describes as loving "creative chaos" where "everybody had a voice."