Lou Reed, 2011. Pic: Man Alive!
I don’t associate Lou Reed with lifestyle advice. Nor his wife Laurie Anderson. Groundbreaking, avant garde, rule-shredding music – yes. How to maximize your living minutes – not really.
Until I came across, via an Open Culture post, Lou and Laurie’s three rules for living well. Anderson revealed these during her acceptance speech at Reed’s 2015 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
She and Reed developed them because, as she warns, “things happen so fast, it’s always good to have a few, like, watchwords to fall back on”.
The rules are short and simple.
- Don’t be afraid of anyone
- Get a really good bullshit detector
- Be really, really tender
And what better to accompany them than Reed’s great song of empathy, his “hand in the darkness so you won’t be afraid”?
There – you’re living better already.
Cormac Looney 