Here is a sampling of the week’s events and how to tune in (all times are Eastern). Note that events are subject to change after publication.

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Monday

Commemorate Australia Day, which falls on Jan. 26, by watching the WugulOra Morning Ceremony, performed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dancers and singers. The ceremony, which honors Australia’s First Nations people, is held on the land of the Gadigal people and organized by the Government of New South Wales and the Australia Day Council of New South Wales, in partnership with the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, Infrastructure New South Wales and the Sydney Festival. This event is free.

When 3:45 p.m.

Where australiaday.com.au/whats-on/wugulora-morning-ceremony

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Tuesday

Immerse yourself in art and music with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s “Art in Tune,” an event that pairs artwork from the museum’s current exhibitions with music. Local musicians will perform pieces, including original compositions, that are in conversation with works by artists such as Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Jean-Michel Basquiat. This event is free.

When 7 p.m.

Where mfa.org/programs/music/art-in-tune?event=10078

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Wednesday

Learn about the history, biology and myriad uses of lichen in a workshop from Atlas Obscura. Over the course of a 90-minute workshop, Felicity Roberts, an herbalist, urban farmer, writer and textile artist, will teach viewers about various winter mushrooms, lichens and fungi, from the commonplace to the rare. Tickets cost $25.

When 5:30 p.m.

Where atlasobscura.com/experiences/foraging-in-a-winter-wonderland-of-lichen

Hear from Nikole Hannah-Jones and Chana Joffe-Walt, the hosts of The New York Times-produced podcasts “1619” and “Nice White Parents,” at the Hot Docs Podcast Festival. They will discuss audio storytelling and the impact their series have had on conversations surrounding racial justice. Tickets are $11.75.

When 8:30 p.m.

Where hotdocscinema.ca/podcast

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Thursday

Make a cup of masala chai (and even turn it into an ice cream float) in a cooking class presented by the Museum of Food and Drink and Malai, an ice cream company. Pooja Bavishi, the founder and chief executive of Malai, will share the story of her family’s recipe, which has been passed down for generations, and teach readers how to use her spice blend to make a melted ice cream masala chai cake. Tickets cost $15, and registration closes at 5 p.m.

When 7 p.m.

Where mofad.org/events/0128/masalachai

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Friday

Enjoy a performance of Beethoven’s works during the latest installment of the “Piano Cantabile” series at the New School’s Mannes School of Music. Three pianists, all students at Mannes, will play the composer’s final three piano sonatas. This event is free.

When 7 p.m.

Where coparemote.com/mannessounds

Grab your popcorn and cue up a fun selection from the Sundance Film Festival, which runs from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3: “Playing With Sharks,” a documentary about the shark hunter-turned-conservationist Valerie Taylor. (Ms. Taylor filmed the real sharks that appear in “Jaws.”) Tickets are $15, and capacity is limited.

When 11 p.m.

Where festival.sundance.org

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Saturday

Gather up your art materials for “Open Studio From Home: Marisol,” a craft workshop for kids and families from the Whitney Museum of American Art. First, learn about the sculptor Marisol’s life and artistic practice, and then make a six-sided, cardboard self-portrait inspired by her works. This event is free.

When 11 a.m.

Where whitney.org/events/open-studio-from-home-marisol

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Sunday

Tune in to an all-day interview marathon from the Chicago Dance History Project, an organization committed to documenting and archiving Chicago’s dance history. Jenai Cutcher, the project’s executive/artistic director, will conduct seven hours of interviews with some of dance’s greats, all of whom have connections to Chicago. Interviewees include Twyla Tharp, the choreographer; Mark Morris, the founder, artistic director and choreographer of Mark Morris Dance Group; and Robert Battle, artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Tickets cost $20.

When 12 p.m.

Where chicagodancehistory.org/events

Listen in as the actor Natalie Portman discusses her new children’s book, “Natalie Portman’s Fables,” a retelling of three classic tales, with Joanna Fabicon, the Los Angeles Public Library’s senior children’s librarian. This event is free; audience members can submit questions in advance until Jan. 27.

When 6:15 p.m.

Where crowdcast.io/e/skylit-portman

Welcome. Have you noticed how the weeks that sort of seep by, the ones in which you don’t schedule a socially distanced date or go for a hike in a new spot or otherwise alter your routine, are the ones you can’t account for? I’ve certainly had my share of these, entire weeks of Groundhog Days, in which I seem to always be making dinner again.

Sometimes we need to deliberately shake things up. In the absence of novelty, we need to create it.

In 2007, some friends and I mounted an experiment we called “The Daily Dose.” What would happen if, to intervene in the tedium of days, you purposely added some small variations? What would the butterfly effect be of wearing two different socks for a day, or brushing your teeth with the opposite hand?

It would, if nothing else, create a wrinkle in the starched sameness of the hours. If you wore two different socks, someone might comment on them, and you’d end up having a conversation that would never have happened if you’d worn matching socks. The experience probably wouldn’t be “life-changing,” but it would be life-changing.

The Daily Dose was easy to orchestrate. Two friends and I each wrote up 28 “doses” on tiny slips of paper. The rules were loose: The doses should be small and manageable enough to accomplish in a single day (no “Charter a boat and sail to Bermuda”), they should not be unduly embarrassing, and they should not include any activity you wouldn’t be willing to perform yourself.

We put each dose in a small, identical manila envelope; put all 84 sealed envelopes in a hat; then passed it, each drawing a month’s worth, a random assortment of doses, including some we’d written ourselves. We’d each open one first thing every morning, like taking a vitamin.

“Count how many glasses of water you drink today,” read my first dose. Easy enough. “Do a household task you’ve been putting off,” read the next. I replaced the broken hinge on a kitchen cabinet. Checking things off the to-do list felt good.

“Spend five minutes playing air guitar to the Rolling Stones before breakfast.” Silly, but fun, rocking out to “Emotional Rescue” first thing in the morning. It was exciting to report back on how the doses went, to hear how one friend felt to “go vegan for the day,” what happened when another was instructed to “call someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time.” Some of the doses were absurd (“In conversation, refer to yourself as ‘baby’ twice, without explanation”), some just made a tiny dent in the day (“Buy a cheese you’ve never heard of”).

The point of The Daily Dose was to keep things fresh, to ensure that each day didn’t feel like the last. Knowing that I had a dose to open each morning was something to look forward to. Checking in with my friends to see how their dosing had gone was another. The whole experiment was a delightfully artificial way to add some excitement to an otherwise dreary winter.

• If you need something else to get you through these months, try the poet Donald Hall’s essay “The Third Thing,” about how he and his wife Jane Kenyon found joy and meaning in the everyday.

• Or check out this compilation of actors and others sitting in silence while film crews capture “room tone” for Criterion Collection supplemental interviews.

• And here’s Tejal Rao on the Sichuan flavor that reignited her appetite after she had Covid-19.

Tell us.

This past year has weighed heavily on many of us. As the pandemic limps on, the small moments of joy that catch us off-guard have tremendous power to lighten the load.

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, we’d love to ask you: When did you unexpectedly witness an act of love? It could be something you saw on the street, or a show of care from someone in your life you hadn’t counted on before. It could be a grand gesture between lovers, or a moment of kindness between colleagues or kids in the playground. Tell us about it here.

As always, more ideas for leading a full and cultured life at home appear below. See you next week.

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Sign up to receive the At Home newsletter. You can always find much more to read, watch and do every day on At Home. And let us know what you think.

Welcome. As people around the world begin to receive the coronavirus vaccine, our thoughts may turn — tentatively, still, but more frequently — to hopes for the time when quarantine restrictions are lifted. “The important thing about imagination is that it gives you optimism,” the psychology professor Martin Seligman told the reporter Tariro Mzezewa. Imagining what we’ll do, who we’ll see and where we’ll go when things open up — these fantasies sustain us while we are, for now, still mostly apart and inside.

Last month I asked about your dreams for the post-pandemic future, what’s on the list of things you’ll do first, as soon as you’re able to — the things large and small that you find yourself longing for. So many of us can’t wait to see loved ones, relatives who are far away, grandchildren we’ve never met in person. We’re excited to see unmasked faces, to crowd into public spaces, to grocery shop at leisure, to browse the library, to hold hands and to hug. Here’s some more of what readers are fantasizing about:

• “I want to see a movie in a theater, sticky floors and stale popcorn and all. I miss the whole experience of going on opening night, when we all clap in unison during the credits and stay until the lights come back on.” —Kristina, Chicago

• “Seeing people’s faces again. Their whole faces. The white of their teeth when they smile or how they chew their bottom lip when deep in thought.” —Laura B., La Crosse, Wis.

• “I want to see live performance again — whether it’s dressing up and sitting in the symphony hall listening and watching as the performers tune up and start playing, sitting on the lawn seeing Shakespeare in the park or dancing to a Tom Petty cover band.” —Lynne M., Coppell, Tex.

• “I am most eager to spend time with my grandchildren again, to hug them tight and read to them and discuss dinosaurs and assemble Lego sets with them again.” —Patricia S., Maitland, Fla.

• “Flying to California and hugging my 90-year-old mother.” —Phyllis F., Kittery, Me.

• “I’m looking forward to hugging. My father, the kids I teach, my adult son, I want to hug them all then have a great big dinner party where our friends come and gather and linger and watch each other smile, maskless.” —Sarah F., Natchez, Miss.

You can check out more post-pandemic plans from Times readers here and here.

When I’m not dreaming of jogging without a mask or having friends over to try all the recipes I’ve perfected during quarantine, I’m trying to memorize some of my favorite poems. I recently committed to memory the tongue-twisty “Spelt from Sybil’s Leaves,” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and now recite it to myself like a mantra, in the shower, while walking home from the supermarket, interior music.

• I read Jericho Brown’s “Inaugural” and immediately knew I wanted to memorize it, too. “Grown up from the ground,/Thrown out of the sea, fallen from the sky,/No matter how we’ve come, we’ve come a mighty/Long way.”

• Here are 393 videos of different groups, all over the world, dancing Pina Bausch’s Nelken Line.

• And there’s a second season out of the wonderful YouTube series “Group,” about a bunch of New Yorkers in group therapy, inspired by Irvin Yalom’s novel “The Schopenhauer Cure.” Check it out.

Tell us.

What’s on your mind? What are you thinking about, wishing or wondering? Write to athome@nytimes.com. We’re At Home. We’ll read every letter sent. More ideas for leading a good life at home appear below. See you on Friday.

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Sign up to receive the At Home newsletter. You can always find much more to read, watch and do every day on At Home. And let us know what you think!

Welcome. Before weekdays and weekends were indistinguishable, we left the house. Now, we’re inside, many of us, most of time. With the same people and pets, or on our own; the same routines and rooms; and, everywhere we turn, the same stuff, so much stuff. What used to be décor is now clutter. What once was cozy is now claustrophobic. This is when I turn to The Annoying Bag.

The Annoying Bag is any paper or plastic bag I have lying around, or — when disposable shopping bags are scarce, as they have been in my apartment lately — a clear produce bag or threadbare reusable tote. Annoying Bag in hand, I prowl my apartment, dropping anything I deem “annoying” at that moment into it. I collect half-burned candles and stray socks; broken sunglasses, old magazines, jars of condiments that have been squatting in the fridge so long I forgot they’re not on the lease.

The Annoying Bag is an exercise to be performed quickly, impulsively. This is not a closet overhaul or cupboard clean-out. You don’t hold an item close and ask if it sparks joy before it goes in the Annoying Bag. The KonMari Method, spring cleaning — those are thoughtful, sustainable processes in which clothes get donated and yogurt containers get recycled. The Annoying Bag is all remorseless id: You might throw away the T-shirt you’re wearing because it’s annoying you. Three pennies that have been gathering dust on the counter, waiting to be put into a coin jar? A set of cake-decorating tips that you’ve used once but are taking up half a drawer? Don’t think about it. Throw them in.

After about ten minutes of snatch-and-toss, I knot the Annoying Bag and take it to the trash — not my trash can, but the trash on the curb, permanently out of the house. I have never once missed anything that left the house in the Annoying Bag. The impulses for disposal that occur in these feverish bursts of decluttering are always correct. The relief is instant and exhilarating.

Online shopping has been tempting during the pandemic. My usual thinking goes something like, “Stores are risky, distractions are limited, I’m feeling blue, better buy this teakettle.” A friend told me once that everything you buy makes each thing you own a little less valuable. I’m trying to keep that in mind, trying to buy less and keep annoying stuff out of the house in the first place. “Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers,” wrote Wordsworth, exhorting us to dispense with materialism and get back to nature, which seems like a worthy pursuit right now.

Or, if you’re not feeling outdoorsy, consider Marie Kondo’s advice: “Use this time at home to take inventory of your possessions — and to re-evaluate your relationship with them. Cultivate an awareness of what you have. On a practical level, this will prevent overbuying things, but I hope it will also bring a renewed appreciation for all that you do have.”

• Instead of stress shopping this weekend, check out “The Essential Octavia Butler,” our guide to getting started with the science-fiction writer.

• The Hold Steady has a new single, “Heavy Covenant,” and it’s a good one for nostalgia. When Craig Finn sings, “It seems a single body is a couple different people in this one life,” it’s nearly impossible not to be transported to 2006.

• And the community Ask MetaFilter has some excellent ideas for dealing with pandemic fatigue.

Tell us.

How do you contain your clutter? What are your best strategies for keeping your home tidy and organized? Write to us: athome@nytimes.com. Include your name, age and location and we might publish your response in a forthcoming newsletter. We’re At Home. We’ll read every letter sent. More ideas for how to spend your time this weekend appear below. See you next week.

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Sign up to receive the At Home newsletter. You can always find much more to read, watch and do every day on At Home. And let us know what you think!

Welcome. When I was 22, I was a factotum at a nonprofit theater in New York City. I made fundraising calls and addressed envelopes. The job was pretty humdrum, but it had one massive perk: I’d frequently get free tickets to shows I’d never be able to afford otherwise: Cherry Jones in “Pride’s Crossing”; “Art,” with Alan Alda, Victor Garber and Alfred Molina; musicals like “Ragtime” and “The Lion King.”

I thought about that era of constant theatergoing — of sitting in the dark of the audience, overwhelmed by the grandness of the spectacle onstage and my luck at getting to experience it — while reading the critic Jason Farago’s suggestions for what the Biden administration can do to provide relief for the arts. He argues that the country is in urgent need of Aristotelian catharsis — of art, music, drama and the emotions they summon:

You go to the theater, you listen to a symphony, you look at a painting, you watch a ballet. You laugh, you cry. You feel pity, fear. You see in others’ lives a reflection of your own. And the catharsis comes: a cleansing, a clarity, a feeling of relief and understanding that you carry with you out of the theater or the concert hall. Art, music, drama — here is a point worth recalling in a pandemic — are instruments of psychic and social health.

Farago advises Biden to create a new Works Progress Administration-style program treating artists as essential workers, and to make it easier for artists to receive unemployment benefits, among other recommendations.

We’re all waiting for things to open up so we can resume what we think of as normal life. Considering what that will take is daunting, but it makes the promise of going to a play, hearing live music or standing awed before a painting that much more exciting to anticipate.

In the shorter term, I’m anticipating “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain,” George Saunders’s close reading of Chekhov. Parul Sehgal wrote, in her review of it, that Saunders “offers one of the most accurate and beautiful depictions of what it is like to be inside the mind of the writer that I’ve ever read.” Who could resist?

There’s also a new Sally Rooney novel coming in September. (Rooney’s last novel, “Normal People,” which was adapted into a popular Hulu series last year, gets more attention, but I’m partial to her first book, “Conversations with Friends.”)

And if it’s sunny where you are, or even if it’s not, you might find it thrilling, as I did, to take a stroll and listen to this episode of the podcast “Grounded with Louis Theroux,” in which Theroux interviews his friend and rival, the writer and filmmaker Jon Ronson.

Tell us.

When was the last time you had a strong emotional response to a play or film? The last time a book or painting freed you from “the feeling that there’s only one way to live, or only one way to go about your day,” as the writer Ben Lerner put it? Write to us: athome@nytimes.com. We’re At Home. We’ll read every letter sent. More ideas for leading a full and cultured life at home appear below.

Like what you see?

Were you forwarded this newsletter? Sign up to receive it yourself! You can always find much more to read, watch and do every day on At Home. And let us know what you think!

Here is a sampling of the week’s events and how to tune in (all times are Eastern). Note that events are subject to change after publication.

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Monday

Immerse yourself in the natural flora of Florida, with an introduction to the state’s native ferns. In a live presentation hosted by the Cuplet Fern Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, Jennifer Possley, the South Florida conservation program manager for Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, will talk about the common and rare ferns in the state, as well as the ancient lineage the plants share. This event is free.

When 7 p.m.

Where youtube.com/channel/UCFUrLQz1A2ymKCNYmx6hyTg

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Tuesday

Stop by the first event in the Olympic runner Alexi Pappas’s book tour for her new memoir “Bravey”: a talk with the runner Mary Cain at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington. Ms. Pappas, who competed in the 10,000-meter track race at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, recently discussed mental health in sports in a video for The New York Times’s Opinion section. The book touches on her battles with clinical depression and how she’s overcome obstacles during her life and career. Tickets are free for the first 100 registrants or with a book purchase; the rest are pay what you can.

When 6 p.m.

Where politics-prose.com/alexi-pappas

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Wednesday

Spend the afternoon with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s clouded leopards as part of a virtual field trip from the National Museum of Natural History. Juan Rodriguez, a zookeeper at the zoo, will introduce its population of clouded leopards and answer questions about their special characteristics and natural habitats. This event is free and suited for children of all ages.

When 1 p.m.

Where naturalhistory.si.edu/events/clouded-leopard-virtual-tour-juan-rodriguez

Hear the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jane Smiley discuss her new book, “Perestroika in Paris,” with the writer Margot Livesey at the Harvard Book Store. Ms. Smiley’s latest — deemed “a feel-good escape” in a recent Times review — recounts the friendship between a racehorse, a German shorthaired pointer and a boy named Etienne. This event is free, with a suggested $3 donation.

When 7 p.m.

Where harvard.com/event/virtual_event_jane_smiley

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Thursday

Listen to new music from the string quartet Ethel, in a recorded concert and live conversation presented by The Greene Space and WNYC’s “New Sounds.” The Grammy award-winning band, which is the resident ensemble at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Balcony Bar, will be joined by John Schaefer, the host of “New Sounds,” who will lead a discussion about working as a quartet and making music from a distance. This event is free.

When 7 p.m.

Where thegreenespace.org/event/new-sounds-presents-ethel/

Grab your favorite perfume and learn about the basics of fragrance with Jessica Murphy, an art historian, educator and frequent contributor to the perfume blog “Now Smell This.” In this introductory class, hosted by Brooklyn Brainery, Ms. Murphy will conduct smelling exercises and cover both the history of perfume and useful terminology. This event is intended for adults 18 and older. Tickets are $7, and attendance is capped at 100.

When 7 p.m.

Where brooklynbrainery.com/courses/perfume-101-fragrance-basics-online

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Friday

During Martin Luther King’s Birthday weekend, catch a discussion with the actor and director Regina King and the screenwriter Kemp Powers about their new film, “One Night in Miami.” The movie, which comes out on Amazon Prime Video on Jan. 15, is a fictionalized account of an evening when Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown all convened to talk about the civil rights movement. This conversation appears as part of the Cinematters N.Y. Social Justice Film Festival, a weekend of movies and events emphasizing social action and activism.

When 7 p.m.

Where watch.eventive.org/cnysjff

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Saturday

Explore the Enclosed Garden, an immersive online art exhibition from Heroines Wave — an international online center for research and creation — that brings together the work of 30 female artists from 23 countries. With text, images, audio recordings and video, the exhibit is divided into virtual “rooms,” where viewers can observe and interact with each artist’s work. Entrance is free, but donations are suggested.

When Anytime

Where heroineswave.com/online-enclosedgarden

Spend a night at the theater and cue up the play “Julie,” a contemporary adaptation of the August Strindberg play “Miss Julie.” The actor Vanessa Kirby, who has received plaudits for her leading role in the new film “Pieces of a Woman,” stars in the title role of this 2018 production. It beams into your living room as the latest offering from the National Theater at Home. Tickets are $9.99.

When Anytime

Where ntathome.com

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Sunday

Check out “Another Round,” the latest film from the director Thomas Vinterberg and the actor Mads Mikkelsen, who previously collaborated on “The Hunt.” In the new movie, a group of four schoolteachers decide to experiment with constant, low-grade intoxication as a route out of middle-age doldrums. “Another Round” is $12.99 to rent inside the United States, available from the Angelika Film Center’s Angelika Anywhere site.

When Anytime

Where angelikaanywhere.com/film/another-round