April | 2021 | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Morning walks. I’m actually kind of bummed that the sun is coming up so early now. This week I didn’t even need to use my headlamp, but that also means we are entering the time of year we have to share the trail with lots more people after having it practically all to ourselves for months and months.

2. Practice. I am especially grateful this week for The Open Heart Project and all its teachers and offerings, as well as all the dharma teachers who’ve taken the time to write books about the path. It’s so nice to be able to access dharma teachings on my own timeline even if my teachers are no where near me or even still alive.

3. Reading. This is something I’ve loved my whole life, even before I could read for myself. Besides life, the love of reading is one of the best things my parents gave me. And it will be one of the greatest regrets of my life that there’s no way I can ever read all the books I want to read.

4. Nourishment. In particular, good food that feeds ALL of me. This week we had a day that was almost 80 degrees, so Eric and I went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. Yesterday, I spend three hours cooking, made a bunch of salads (pasta slaw, broccoli slaw, and roasted sweet potato salad) and bran muffins, and right now as I type this, there are two loafs of glazed lemon zucchini bread in the oven.

5. My tiny family, my tiny house, my tiny life. I am SO lucky.

Bonus joy: the smell of citrus (lemon, lime, orange), a warm shower, that corner of the couch, shade when it’s hot outside, the early blooming flowers in my garden, raspberry plants from Janice’s garden, getting in the pool, sitting in the sauna with Eric, hanging out and writing and making plans for visiting Calyx, cooking for Chloe’, texting with Mom and Chris, other people’s dogs, the birds at the feeder, the shy tiny chickadees, bees, laundry, pay day, good movies (finally watched Nomadland and it was really good), good books, listening to podcasts while I cook, clean sheets, my laptop, my dining room “office,” my houseplants, good neighbors, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.

1. How Bisa Butler Went From Being a High School Art Teacher to an In-Demand Quilter. “We spoke with Butler about her whirlwind year, why finding success in her 40s has been a blessing, and how she recharges in stressful times.”

2. It’s Time to Defund the Causes of Suffering on Lion’s Roar. “Following the police killing of Daunte Wright in Minnesota, Constance Kassor examines how calls to defund the police can be linked to the Buddhist call to eradicate causes of suffering.”

3. Q: Why Blog? A: Blogs Are Great.

4. Poet Ross Gay Discusses How The Pandemic Has Given “The Book Of Delights” New Meaning.

5. Tressie McMillan Cottom on Angela Davis, Gwendolyn Brooks, and the Books She Re-Reads the Most.

6. Author Jenny Lawson Talks Humor, Depression, and the Underrated Virtue of Kindness.

7. Watercolorist Carries On Centuries-Old Tradition by Painting Ethereal Designs on Silk.

8. If You Find These 10 Things Overwhelming, You Might Be an HSP. In related news, Why Highly Sensitive People Are Attracted to Jobs That Burn Them Out.

9. A sign language performer, in the field of music, translates “Feeling good” by Nina Simone. (video) Make sure to turn the sound on.

10. What to do instead of calling the police. “These alternatives can help keep communities safe for everyone.”

11. LaDonna Allard Dies at 64; Led Dakota Pipeline Protests on The New York Times. “She started a resistance camp that turned into a movement that opposed fossil fuels while it embraced tribal sovereignty and environmental justice.”

12. After Growing Up In A Cult, Lauren Hough Freed Herself By Writing The Truth. In related news, Book Review: ‘Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing’ Isn’t Just A Cult Memoir.

13. The rare and unnerving reality of catching COVID after being vaccinated.

14. The Salvific Power of Writing Through Terrible Grief.

15. Moonlit Forests, Fish, and Branches Populate Kirie Silhouettes Cut from a Single Sheet of Paper.

16. Maslow Got It Wrong. “It’s time for us to let go of narratives like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the American Dream, which leave out any mention of participating in community well-being and tell a story only of individual flourishing. This is a profound distortion of reality and leaves us living in illusion, needing to wake up. As Daniel Suelo says in The Man Who Quit Money, ‘there’s not a creature or even a particle in the universe that’s self-sufficient. We’re all dependent on everybody else.'”

17. Flora and Fauna Intertwine in Delicate Mixed-Media Artworks by Teagan White.

18. There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing on The New York Times. “Languishing is a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if you’re muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield. And it might be the dominant emotion of 2021.”

19. There Can Only Be One: Battle Of The Joshes Brings Hundreds To Nebraska.

20. Prayers for India, a poem from bentlily. After you read this one, take some time looking around at her others. You won’t regret it, and if you do: why are we even friends?