■ I lived on Wells, right above the blues bar down the street from Second City. So I was with those people all the time — Dave Pasquesi and Joel Murray and all those greats. But I am not a comedian at heart. I understood that quickly. I can be funny, but not on the spot. My funny comes out of playing it very truthfully.

■ Acting is what I was born for. I just feel like this is who I am, and so I never had to wrestle with that.

■ A lot of actors, once they’ve done a play, they understand what acting is. I’m talking about the Greek word “thespian,” which means “inspired by the gods.” Once a show has opened, the Equity union protects actors, in that the director [is usually limited on] giving any more notes. And so it’s yours. There’s autonomy. You get to flow with it. You’re there, unbroken, for two hours or however long, then you go back the next night and you figure it out.

■ I was in one of the first things Joyce Piven directed. She was very important to me. She said that acting can be about joy and play. It doesn’t have to be angst-ridden and self-centered.

■ One of my besties is Elizabeth Pryor, so I got to hang out with her dad, Richard Pryor, in his favorite place, Maui, where he had a beautiful house. By that time, he was older and had softened up. He was a deep, soulful guy, and you could see his thirst for knowledge. He was showing us books and things. It’s amazing when you get to see one of the greats as their true self. What a gift.

■ I get into ruts but then create a new path. It takes muscle. But too much effort isn’t healthy, either. That’s when I knew I needed some medication. It’s like when you need a splint for an injury. Why not use it? I knew my family’s [mental health] history, and I got that it wasn’t a moral defect. It’s chemistry.

■ Observing birds is a way out of myself. It’s a way into quiet, but not silence, because there’s a lot going on. You’re focused on something outside yourself, and that’s always a good thing for humans.

■ Especially in the natural world, there’s so much happening. I saw this fight going on with these two daddy longlegs the other day. It was a real life-and-death battle. I was up close and filmed it. I felt like I had gone somewhere for a bit.

■ So much of parenting is pretending — pretending you’re into something when you’re not. But I bombed sometimes. My daughter, Maeve, would say, “Mom, I know you’re acting right now.”

■ I was at this dinner with a friend when these people walked in, and I realized that she had set me up on a blind date. I left. But as I was going to my car, I said, “No contempt prior to investigation.” That’s a phrase I use daily, because I have a tendency to say no. So I turned around, and the blind date was Nick Flynn [the writer, now Taylor’s husband]. I don’t know why we say no. Fear? Because it’s easier? Who knows. But I’ve had a lot of experiences knowing that if I just sat through that uncomfortable moment, something was probably going to open up and get interesting.