Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Poetry: Rumi speaks of war and love (“Translation from Haleh Liza Gafori’s Water”) by Pádraig Ó Tuama, The Quiet World by Jeffrey McDaniel on The Slowdown, Origami by Meg Yardley on Rattle, After the Chickadee Hits the Window and Why I Write Every Day and Sharing Our Humanness and In Broad Daylight and After I Fell in the Canyon of Grief by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, The map of human life (“The roads that become life”) by Jasmine on The Tiny Joy Project, Continue by Maya Angelou (wow, this one hits hard), Our Mutual Tender Existence by James Crews, After Escher by George Bilgere and [And isn’t everything risk?] by Gregory Orr on poets.org, Yes, Thank You by Julie Barton, Something Rather Than Nothing by Moudi Sbeity on Heart Poems, and Practicing by Marie Howe shared by Patti Digh.

And, an extra extra special mention, this poem from my dearest beloved friend, A Little Advice by Chloé Leisure.

2. In Defense of the Irish Goodbye, “Leaving a party without saying goodbye may not be bad manners at all.” I am a HUGE fan of the Irish Goodbye. 🙂

3. The Continuous Creative Act of Holding on and Letting Go: 10 Beautiful Minds on the Art of Growing Older by Maria Popova on The Marginalian.

4. It’s the Tiny Things – The Secret Adventure. “I spied one of my favorite magical creatures” on Looking For The Magic. What a perfect birthday.

5. The Practice of Making Space, “A small ritual for writers who feel a little crowded lately” on Earth & Verse.

6. Our Most Important Work by Anne Butera on In an Artist’s Garden and Studio.

7. Learning to Get Out of Your Own Way with Lauren Lewis on the Dear Humans Podcast. “In this episode, Lauren and I talk about the long arc of becoming a yoga teacher. The early days when you feel like you’re spinning a hundred plates at once. The awkwardness of standing in front of a room and wondering if you belong there at all. The slow process of building confidence, finding your voice, and eventually learning how to get out of your own way. What I love about Lauren’s perspective is how grounded it is. In a time when the yoga world can feel loud and performative, her approach is refreshingly simple: show up, care about people, keep learning, and trust that your humanity is enough.”

8. W.A.I.T. a Minute: A Practice to Pause Before You Post on Social Media. “A simple mindful practice that can slow down emotional reaction, invite a breath, and encourage you to pause before you post.”

9. Why I Broke Up with Facebook. “On personal branding, burnout, and beginning again” from Jena Schwartz.

10. 6 Simple Tricks for People Who Overthink Everything.

11. 40 (Mostly) Free Things to Do When You Want to Get Offline.

12. Everyone keeps posting “Year of the Horse” like it’s some cute aesthetic thing or just another zodiac graphic from Ash and Ember on Instagram.

13. 11 reasons not to make art. “And 11 reasons to ignore them” from Danny Gregory.

14. Rejoicing in the Good: Reflections on the Monks’ Walk for Peace from Kaira Jewel’s March 2026 Newsletter.

15. What We Make Against the Dark. “Poetry comics and wisdom quadrants for living through uneasy times” on Trackless Wild with Janisse Ray.

16. The Art of Grieving in Public. “What happens when grief is not private?” from Megan Falley.

17. The Things We Should Never Find. “The Grief Chronicles: On Discovering My Mother’s Papers” by Elissa Altman on Poor Man’s Feast.

18. The Opposite of Doomscrolling #3 from Britchida.

19. Does It Matter If This Was Made By A Human Person? “What do you get when you buy stuff from a real human?” by Lori Roberts from Little Truths Studio. She makes some of my favorite stickers. 🙂

20. Come See Me in the Good Light Is a Bright Queer Spot in a Very Straight Oscars Season. Our critics discuss the Andrea Gibson documentary and its impact on the future of queer nonfiction filmmaking.

21. The moment Marc Maron became a swiftie, one of my favorite clips from his latest comedy special.

22. “Yes, thank you,” from Pete Holmes, philosopher comedian. (Instagram reel)

23. Jacob Collier Improvises With Orchestra (Live in San Francisco). Really cool. (Youtube short)

24. Miyu Matamiyu is an amazing dancer! (Instagram account) She’s a “world-reowned, world-class house dancer, holding numerous titles in both domestic and international competitions, including being named the world champion at the world’s most prestigious battle competition JUSTE DEBOUT 2017 WORLD FINAL.” In this video, she was only 10 years old, and she might have been even younger in this one.

25. Joan and Doug forever. (Instagram reel from SNL)

26. Recipes I want to try: Everything in this section of Single Serve Recipes, Caramelized Beef and Peanut Noodles, Kale Apple Salad with Crispy Shallots, and Honey Butter Tofu Crumble (Facebook reel).

27. Lessons in Ink and Pressure. “On block printing and life} by Patti Digh.

28. And finally, this small collection of random things I saved to my phone.

1. Morning walks. Taking it slow, even though if Ringo had his way I think we’d be back up to 2-2.5 miles. We’ve been leaving a bit later so that we can still see the sunrise, but we’ll only have to make that adjustment for another week or so before things “even out.”

2. New bed. Our new futon mattress got delivered this week, and we already had the wool topper and “bunkie board” so after some wrangling we got things all set up. So far, we are loving it. And seeing our old mattress leaned up against the house, the way it looks like it’s melting and has to be braced by our grill to keep it semi-upright, it’s clear that it was past time to replace it.

3. Anti-anxiety support. In particular, my Friday morning writing group (and their suggestion I stop waiting to watch “Come See Me In The Good Light“), Marth Beck’s new book Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose, poetry, listening to music and podcasts, watching movies 20 minutes at a time, therapy, naps, crying, yoga with Red Sage, texting with Chloe’ and Chris, letting myself eat what I want, drinking lots of water, talking to Eric, sitting in the backyard with him and Ringo, making each other laugh, and working with my anxiety like it’s my new full-time job (because it sort of is).

4. Lowering the bar. I’d initially added this to the above list, but the more I think about it, it deserves its own spot. I typically push myself really hard to do all the things and do them “right” and it’s a standard I can’t possibly live up to so it doesn’t lead to any sort of satisfaction but more than likely adds to my anxiety, so whenever I can consider my “to-do” list and ask myself “does this really need done right now, or at all?” and give an honest and loving answer and follow that with wise and compassionate action, it’s a good thing.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. Eric is on spring break next week, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with him. He’s been helping me so much lately to cope with the shift in my energy and I am so grateful for that. I’m also so happy that Ringo is feeling himself again and we have a solid plan going forward.

Bonus joy: oranges (although, I wish they were more predictable, because some look SO good from the outside and seem like they are going to be tasty when you cut them open but end up being not at all what you were hoping for), gummy vitamins, that Ringo is so good about taking supplements and meds (just put the pills in with his food and he eats them without even noticing), that after teaching yoga for almost 15 years I can put together a class plan that is as simple as thinking the morning of “start on our bellies and do lots of shoulder stretching as in ‘thread the needle'” and it totally turns out and magically is just what someone in class needed, anticipating the pool and sauna tile work being done and being able to use them again, grapefruit Bubly, grocery shopping, indoor plumbing, white noise machine, pizza for dinner — and being able to order online and having a coupon code, my mom’s scratch paper pads, pens with ink refills, stickers, reading, libraries and librarians, poetry and poets, comedy and comedians, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.