October | 2020 | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Anti-Racism Archives, this is an extensive group of resources on topics about which we should all learn as much as we can, do what we can.

2. The Real Life of a Highly Sensitive Introvert.

3. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: Calm in the Midst of Chaos (“Sharon Salzberg on the power of equanimity”) and The Four Immeasurables Leave Nothing Untouched (“If you don’t want your happiness to impede that of someone else, says Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, practice the four immeasurables. It will help you make space for others in your mind and to see others as yourself”).

4. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön, “The ego wants resolution, wants to control impermanence, wants something secure and certain to hold on to. It freezes what is actually fluid, it grasps at what is in motion, it tries to escape the beautiful truth of the fully alive nature of everything. As a result, we feel dissatisfied, haunted, threatened. We spend much of our time in a cage created by our own fear of discomfort.”

5. How to Nourish Your Resilience in a Time of Trauma. “It is essential to connect trauma healing and movements for social justice. They are interdependent. Together, they let us become whole and build a just and sustainable future. “

6. Going with the flow. “When an artist couple had the chance to build their dream home, they discovered that living sustainably provided a lifetime of inspiration.”

7. ‘What are we so afraid of?’ “Tony Green, on dismissing, denying, contracting and spreading the coronavirus.” We have so much power, and yet so little control.

8. HS Finally Calls White Supremacy ‘The Most Persistent And Lethal Threat In The Homeland’ In Delayed Report.

9. I was in the pro-life movement. But then, widowed with 6 kids, I prepared for an abortion. “My story is heartbreaking. Telling it is tender. But I need you to understand that real people like me are living real stories.”

10. Prince Was One of the Loneliest Souls I’ve Ever Met. “Neal Karlen on His Complicated Relationship with an American Icon.”

11. Modern Love Podcast from The New York Times.

12. Good Life Project: The Year of No Grudges | Andrea Gibson.

13. More Than This official music video – Sharkk Heartt ft. Na-il Ali Emmert.

14. Proclamation on Columbus Day, 2020 because he is never not disappointing. In related news, Trump: Racists Call It Columbus Day, So I’m Calling It Columbus Day!

15. What is Indigenous Peoples’ Day? In related news, How To Support Indigenous Communities On And Beyond Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and Indigenous Peoples’ Day resources, and The Native History of Indigenous Peoples Day, and Honoring Indigenous Peoples: 20 Recommended Reads, and Story Corps: Voices to Honor for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and 8 LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit Native Americans Changing the World, and New Poetry By Indigenous Women: Looking Back at 2018.

16. My friend left this world – and I learned to let him go. “Ojibwe traditions said we should celebrate – mirror joy – so he could pass to the spirit world. This time I wouldn’t let him down.”

17. Enola Holmes | Official Trailer | Netflix. Eric and I watched this over the weekend, and it was really good.

1. 27 years. This is the biggest reason I forgot to finish this post yesterday. It was our wedding anniversary. This year was a little different since we didn’t want to go out, risk getting sick. Instead we ordered pizza, (appropriate as it’s the same thing we did for our “wedding reception”, went out for pizza and beer), and watched a movie, (Elona Holmes streaming on Netflix, which was really good). 27 years ago we eloped to Evergreen, Colorado, and a few weeks later we went on a three day backpacking trip for our honeymoon. The picture on the top right is us in our tent on our honeymoon after getting caught in a huge thunderstorm and the one below that is us in our backyard a few months ago. I have a second chin now and Eric’s got a lot more gray hair, but I think we’ve earned it.

2. Morning walks. What I said last week about those being the last pictures for a bit since it was getting so dark was wrong. This week, Ringo and I waited and went just enough later to get some light when we got to the ponds and the river. Everything is turning color so fast right now, had changed so much in just a few days. One day we saw three owls, and of course Ringo got mad because they wouldn’t fly away when he yelled at them.

3. Fall. The days getting cooler, which means Ringo gets more cuddly.

4. Love notes. Eric found another spot besides the kitchen counter and by the coffee to hide them this week, (on my meditation shrine), which made my practice all the sweeter.

5. My tiny family. Eric plays D&D once a week with a small group of friends (all super successful adults that are secretly and not so secretly big nerds), and this past week they had an event where they did cosplay. Eric’s costume was pretty cool and they all had a good time. Ringo got to play with Teri this week and especially liked balancing on the peanut. He’s also enjoying the shift in the “no toys in the house” rule — he and Sam used to occasionally fight over them if they were left out, so they only came out at certain times, access had to be controlled. The first time I told Ringo to come in so he dropped his toy and I told him it was okay, he could bring it inside, he looked at me in such disbelief. And this morning, I was meditating when he got back from his walk and he came to find me, say “hi,” just like Sam used to do.

Bonus joy: sweet comments from readers, how Eric snuck across the street this morning and left two pumpkins for the neighbor’s kids, how green our backyard stayed this year, clean sheets, having all the laundry put away, tangerines, the people who load my groceries into my car and the ones who shop for me, a new baby boy in the family and the fact that he and his mama are safe and healthy after a bit of a scare, writing and hanging out with Mikalina, knowing something you made and shared was good because they ask for the recipe later, two jars of jam from Auntie T, a big salad, onion buns, how hard Ringo sleeps at night when we watch TV if he’s on Sam’s couch, living somewhere where I’ve seen four Trump yard signs but close to 50 signs that are all about love and progress, eye drops, Wild Writing, sitting in the sauna with Eric, clean water, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.