“Taking time to appreciate three beautiful moments in your day instead of one can be extremely meaningful. In my mom’s famous words, let’s make the most of our time here.“
Paris Rosenthal
You know how algebra includes letters with numbers? (I was never good at algebra.) These equations require words. The idea comes from Paris Rosenthal’s book, Project 1. 2. 3. A Daily Creativity Journal for Expressing Yourself in Lists of Three. Write a list of three, prompts are provided, every day. It was a project she continued resulting from her late mother’s work, children’s author Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She posted her list at 1:23 p.m. every day and began the project on 12/3. Her intention was to post for 123 days, but due to her illness, she stopped on day 61.
Like all other things requiring daily discipline to maintain, I faltered and only completed a few pages. Picking up the book for inspiration this afternoon, I took a look at previous entires (I got the book in 2019) and found this one titled Creative Calculations with the following:
__________x__________ = __________
__________+__________ = __________
__________–__________ = __________
My responses on 11/7/19
ideas x solitude = creativity
pen + journal= story
reading – social media = ideas
Today’s responses:
stories + Spotify = podcast
shopping x teen – money = thrifting
(observation + blog) x (community + comments) = SOL
I don’t know if I’ll continue to go through the book every day. I most certainly won’t have my list completed by 1:23 p.m. because I’ll be bogged down with a million other things at that time. I can toss it in my bag. If I get to it, fine, if not, the world moves on. However, I plan to pop in and use it as needed. At the bottom of each page, there’s space to document the date, which my brain likes for keeping track.
Thank you, Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Paris, for brining this project to life, and helping us focus on gratitude and creativity with simple lists of three.
Nerds Beget Nerds 
I’m wishing I read your post before I wrote mine! I love Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s This Plus That: Life’s Little Equations, but am not familiar with this one by Paris Rosenthal. I definitely could not post by 1:23 in the daytime–I am firmly a late afternoon/evening writer! (Probably forced by my work schedule!). Thanks for sharing these lists of three. I may be trying one sometime soon! (Even though the SOL challenge ends tomorrow)
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I wish I would’ve opened this book before the challenge started, but I’ll keep it in mind for next year. I might be able to post by 1:23 a.m., though. I’m also a late night writer.
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I knew how her daughter was continuing the project but don’t think I knew about the journal. It is interesting to go back and see what you wrote in 2019. I do like the simple list of three. I follow a a few people who do this quite often. I love your SOL equation!
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I love the equation format. I am going to tuck this idea away for later.
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These are so cool! I’m definitely pinning this idea for a future Tuesday slice.
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I love Amy Krause Rosenthal’s work. I didn’t know that her daughter continued it–I’m going to have to look for her book. Thanks for sharing about it! It’s interesting to see the difference in your 2019 equations and this year’s equations. Was it a conscious decision to make them more complex? It’s also interesting to see the subtraction of social media in the first set, and the inclusion of spotify and podcasts in the second. It sounds like spending years going through these prompts could be really, really interesting to mark the evolution of one’s thinking and writing.
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Hi Natasha,
I didn’t notice they were more complex, thanks for catching that. And the social media part, lol! Cant’ escape the tech, it’s part of us now, no matter what.
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I’ve been an AKR fan for years and hearing about her daughter continuing an unfinished project warms my heart in a special way. Thanks for sharing. And the equation format offers a host of new ways of thinking about words and ideas. Yay!
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I was never good at algebra, either! Such a poignant tribute to Rosenthal, who inspired you. Looking at life through the lens of gratitude changes everything – it causes us to live more deeply, to savor our moments. Your equations are spot-on! The teen shopping minus money cracks me up. This is such an intriguing way of tracking moments – like you, my brain appreciates dated entries for future reference.
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Thank you for the feedback, Fran. I like this little format. Short and sweet for those quick moments when life keeps us busy. It’s a good way to jot something down for later that isn’t an ordinary list or single word that I later forget why I wrote it in the first place.
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This is wonderful. I’m a bit teary because I had just returned to Rosenthal’s Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life a few days ago for much-needed inspiration. (I didn’t know she had died, or anything about her really, but I used her ideas with my students often.) Your equations are poetry; I want to give them a try. This one bears repeatng:
(observation + blog) x (community + comments) = SOL
Thanks for sharing this.
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Thank you, Trish. Besides her kids books, I didn’t know much about her either. Then I read her viral NYT letter to her husband. Thanks for the recommending her Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. I didn’t know about that one.
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Loving this idea of word equations. Thank you for sharing the book! Slice x 31 = muscle memory
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Cindy, yes! Muscle memory FTW!
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