1. Poetry: French Chocolates by Ellen Bass, Primary Hue by Katie Kingston and It’s Not Your Beeswax by Kat Lehmann on Rattle, The Well by Jena Schwartz in her recent Friday Dispatch post, In Dark Times and A Piece of the Dream by James Crews, Song at Capri by Sara Teasdale and Dusk After Your Passing by Ada Limón and How to Continue Loving the World Despite Years of Impediment by Marcus Wicker on poets.org, Southern Constellations by Brandon Kilbourne and Go by Kathleen Ossip and Different Kinds of Sadness by Jenny Molberg on The Slowdown with Maggie Smith, A Surprising Wholeness and In the Noticing by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, A Slice of Actual Light by Deborah Tremont shared on Heart Poems, and Meanwhile It Rains for Two Weeks and the Heat Never Breaks by Morgan Parker shared by Patti Digh.
2. “Sara Bareilles: Good Grief” Documentary Trailer. (video) This looks amazing.
3. The recipe of your longings and a list of recents by Lisa Olivera on Human Stuff. Also from Lisa Stay fog and welcoming the blur.
4. Smoke Days are the Opposite of Snow Days by Britchida on Play is the Opposite of Survival Mode.
5. On Description by Alfred Jung Lee. “If a depiction only distinguishes one thing from another, what else is lost?”
6. Are We all Looking at the Same Moon? “What curiosity teaches us about writing” by Laura Lentz on Writing at Red Lights.
7. Rejected! by Elizabeth Kleinfeld. “On the apologies we hand out for things that are not ours to apologize for.”
8. rowing for years on the midsummer pond* “On Being Neither Young Nor Old by Elissa Altman on Poor Man’s Feast.
9. Why older people are happier and what we can learn from them by Xianmin Gong and Natalie Wong, lifespan psychologists. “Around the world, happiness tends to peak later in life. It has more to do with balancing priorities than elderly wisdom.”
10. Let’s stop talking about A.I. on The Imperfectionist by Oliver Burkeman.
11. Beating yourself up by Seth Godin.
12. You’re capitalism-ing wrong on the Awkward Yeti by Nick Seluk.
13. Ann Patchett and Jenna Bush Hager Share 5 Modern Classics You Need to Read Right Now. “From dark academia to literary fiction, their recommendations span a variety of genres.”
14. The Office actor Lucy Davis says she has incurable stage four breast cancer on The Guardian. “I’m not scared of whatever comes next. I’m at peace with it. I’ll see my Gracie [her late dog] sooner than expected, and for me leaving my physical body just means going home. Any and all grieving is for my family; it’s far harder for them than for me.” *sob*
15. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar on sleep: How to Practice Deep Relaxation (“Relaxing the mind is a big goal of Buddhist practice, but to do that you need to relax your body as well. Sister Chan Khong teaches us a three-step practice to access a deep restfulness that rivals sleep”) and What to Do When You Can’t Sleep (“Meditation and mindfulness can help you get the shut-eye you need. Joseph Emet on how to feel more rested”).
16. 67 Things I Know For Sure by Patti Digh.
17. How Love Comes to You by Maria Popova.
18. Siri Hustvedt on Grief, Memory, and the Marriage That Doesn’t End, a recording from Amanda de Cadenet’s live video.
19. It’s not just the Odyssey effect: poetry is booming because it’s the only language for these times of violence and chaos by Charlotte Higgins on The Guardian. “From Homer’s epic to conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, we can see how poetry fills the gap when ordinary ways of writing or speaking aren’t enough.”
20. Back on track: Matt Haig on finding acceptance. “Best-selling author of The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, has made his career addressing regret and mental health. Now, at 50 years old and with the release of his new book The Midnight Train, he explains why acceptance descended on him.”
21. How to Use Social Media to Amplify Your Joy—Not Your Anxiety from Camille Styles.
22. Nine life lessons from the happiest man in the world: from embracing tiny changes to not overthinking meditation on The Guardian. “Stressed out, endlessly scrolling and never satisfied? Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, the Buddhist monk with off-the-charts levels of contentment, may have the answers.”
23. How to think clearly when everything feels like an emergency. “People whose jobs deal with actual emergencies are trained to slow down first. Here’s how to borrow their strategies.”
24. It’s OK to Hate Summer on The New York Times. (gift link) “If you need help staying positive in the midst of heat waves and out-of-office disruptions, start with these tips.”
25. Five Reasons We Self-Sabotage by Sara Kuburic on Notes From My Phone. “The gap between the life we want and the one we keep choosing.”
26. Radhika Chitalia’s Late Father’s Passport Transforms into a Memory Capsule.
27. The Language of Things by Josie George. “Handmade brushes, ink and my deep fascination with a question. Can we ever really let things speak for themselves?”
28. Finding My Way Back: Rituals of Remembering by Danusha Laméris. “And so I arranged a pot of begonias to keep on our patio. I offer it here as show and tell even though it has not yet filled in. It’s a beginner. And its beginning makes me feel new again. Such a small thing. Which now I remember is a big thing. However bad it gets out in the world, or whatever dire straits––or mere discomforts–– I find myself in, these things seem to matter. Tending a rose bush. Planting some tomatoes and watching the red fruit ripen. Surely you, too, forget and remember what feeds you. Consider this an invitation to remember.”
29. And finally, a few random things I saved to my phone this week.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 