1. 5 Reasons to Meditate on Lion’s Roar, by Pema Chödrön, which starts with this:

The mind is very wild. The human experience is full of unpredictability and paradox, joys and sorrows, successes and failures. We can’t escape any of these experiences in the vast terrain of our existence. It is part of what makes life grand — and it is also why our minds take us on such a crazy ride. If we can train ourselves through meditation to be more open and more accepting toward the wild arc of our experience, if we can lean into the difficulties of life and the ride of our minds, we can become more settled and relaxed amid whatever life brings us.

2. Soto Zen Buddhist Association releases statement responding to Capitol attack on Lion’s Roar, because this:

Although countless conditions led to the attack at the capitol, we see that the violence at the capitol was deeply tied to the white supremacy that has characterized this nation since its inception.

White Supremacy was a founding principle of the United States, and remains one of the hierarchical conditions on which this nation operates. Until this country fully acknowledges and repairs the damage of the horrific violence and day to day inequities of its racist systems, we will continue to reap its fruit. We must recognize the poison of racism not as an evil committed by terrible people, but as a part of the fabric of our collective karma which we must unravel together if we want to be truly free.

3. my word of the year practice from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks.

4. Healing Takes Time, And Healing Is Painful on Terrible Minds by Chuck Wendig. “That’s how we fight the trauma, I think. By acknowledging it, seeing that it’s real, by mourning what was lost — and then getting to work, the constant work, the diligent work.”

5. 4 Ways Introverts Can Benefit From Using Their Writing Superpower.

6. 46 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2021. In related news, Four Hundred Souls: A Landmark Anthology Announces a Star-Studded Audiobook Cast.

7. The Biden-Harris Administration Immediate Priorities on The White House official website. There are people who are untrustworthy, reckless enough that when you ride in a car with them, you can’t relax. In your hypervigilance, you find yourself doing things like slamming your foot into the floor pumping the imaginary brakes or yelling “watch out!”. There are others who when they are at the wheel, you can actually stay calm, maybe even take a nap. This list feels like that second one.

8. Trump’s Final Lie Count Is Insane and More Than 10,000 Came in the Final 5 Months.

9. Bernie Sanders turned his Inauguration meme into a sweatshirt and all the money is going to Meals on Wheels. In related news, This Lady Created A Crochet Bernie Sanders Doll And It Is Everything!

10. 7 Ways to Create Peace in Your Home as an HSP.

11. Lost touch: how a year without hugs affects our mental health.

12. 7 Nosework Games for Dogs.

13. This week in COVID-19 news: Why Vaccines Alone Will Not End the Pandemic on The New York Times, and Fauci on What Working for Trump Was Really Like on The New York Times, and Dr. Anthony Fauci: Divisiveness has failed America “in every single way”, and Fauci threw a lot of shade at Trump in his first comments as a Biden adviser, and U.S. Will Remain In WHO, Fauci Announces, As Biden Reverses Trump Move.

14. Indigenous Beaders Are Getting Dropped by Instagram With No Explanation.

15. Amanda Gorman reads inauguration poem, ‘The Hill We Climb.’ (video) In related news, Amanda Gorman’s poetic answer to pandemic grief: ‘Do not ignore the pain’, and Amanda Gorman Delivered An Achingly Moving Poem In Response To BLM Protests Over The Summer, and Amanda Gorman | Roar | Moth GrandSLAM (video).

16. The pro-Trump inauguration protests at state capitols were complete duds.

17. Recipe I want to try: Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken. I also want to try this: This Viral TikTok Tortilla Hack Will Change Your Snacking Forever.

18. Folks In Awe Of Georgia Fire Captain Who Both Recited And Signed Pledge Of Allegiance During Inauguration.

19. Relief, but Lingering Rage on The New York Times in which Charles Blow says:

There is the feeling of releasing resistance, of allowing the tension in the neck to relax and the shoulders to drop. It is the feeling of exhaling. It is the feeling of returning to some form of normalcy — a normal presidency, a normal news cycle, a normal sleep habit.

But embedded in that feeling is the knowledge that normal is a removal of Trump’s outrageous behavior and incompetence, not a return to fairness, equity and equality. Those things didn’t fully, truly exist before the Trump presidency. Normal wasn’t working even then.

20. Nikole Hannah-Jones on “The 1619 Project’s” Genesis, Backlash And What’s Next.

21. 400 Lights, For 400,000 Dead, Illuminate Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. In related news, On Ceremony by Wendy Videlock.

22. Listing: Body-positive, fat-positive, inclusive and accessible yoga teachers.

23. The Blue Hour: Lyrical Illustrations Catalog a Menagerie of Specimens in Earth’s Rarest Pigment.

24. Day care friends. (video) “Every day that 91-year-old Gene McGehee steps outside his house in Vidalia, La., he discovers a bunch of kids from the day care across the street, eager to include him in their fun. And because McGehee has severe dementia, every day brings a wonder of discovery. Steve Hartman reports on how youth brings sunlight to the elderly living in shadows.”