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

1. Our garden. I really should call it a habitat because when I say “garden” I’m guessing people imagine something manicured, controlled, and contained when what is actually out front is wild, chaotic, and filled with birds, bugs, and bees. Our current harvest is cucumbers, zucchini, basil, and lettuce. My favorite things are how much the bees love our flowers and the goldfinch love the sunflowers.

2. The pool. I’ve been able to get back in more often and I love it so much.

3. Practice. Meditation in particular feels especially supportive right now.

4. Peach season. One of my favorite parts of summer. Ringo’s too. 🙂

5. Reading. The time I am no longer spending on social media I’m using to read more and I’m really enjoying it. I just finished How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, and while it was a bit more academic than I’d hoped, it was really good.

6. My tiny family, my tiny house, my tiny life. It’s the final weeks of Eric’s summer break so we’ve been enjoying and appreciating this time together before he goes back to work. Ringo is on restriction because of a pulled muscle in his shoulder but we are confident he’ll heal with rest, and we have the best support from Teri, Lindsey, and Jess at Red Sage.

Bonus joy: the huge murder of crows at the school this morning, gummy vitamins, sitting in the sauna with Eric, getting the laundry done before it gets hot, a/c, working out with Eric and Shelby, afternoon rain storms, writing and hanging out with Calyx, texting with Chloe’ and Mom and Chris, lunch with Carrie, birds at the feeder and in the bath, good neighbors and their dogs, having a tiny house that also allows for space to practice and work, sitting in the late afternoon shade of our backyard, naps, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.

1. Why People Are So Awful Online by Roxane Gay on The New York Times.

2. New York Bodega Worker Gives Free Snacks To Customers Who Solve His Math Problems.

3. New Documentary Seeks to Understand Anthony Bourdain and His Death on The New York Times. In related news, The new Anthony Bourdain doc is ethically thorny but worth watching, and AI Brought Anthony Bourdain’s Voice Back To Life. Should It Have?, and Bourdain Documentary’s Use of A.I. to Mimic Voice Draws Questions on The New York Times, and Hoax Diaries Were the Original Deepfakes.

4. The spiritual bankruptcy of bottled water. “Selling out a national resource, at 75 billion bottles every year.”

5. The Hidden Costs of Dollar General. When we were in Oregon, I noticed every small town we went to either had one or was building one.

6. What It Feels Like to Lose Your Favorite Season. “I’m so sad for us, for the story that we’ll have to tell ourselves and whatever generations remain: that the opportunity for change was and there, and we failed to take it every day, even as our understanding of the world, the parts that made it most precious and sustaining, crumbled before us.”

7. What Item Is Giving You Joy In A Pandemic? Your Beautiful And Quirky Answers.

8. If You Hate Meditating, Try These Alternatives. Then, read The Truth About Mindfulness: 6 Things You Need to Know and try meditating again. 🙂

9. But seriously on Rita’s Notebook. “Action is not always our best option; if we find ourselves lost in the wilderness, the best thing we can do is stop.” Amen.

10. Take more outdoor walks: Neuroscientists say they’re great for your brain.

11. The Lisa Congdon Sessions, “a podcast for creative folks about living and working with more intention, curiosity, and joy. Most interesting to Lisa is what happens at the intersection between life as an artist and life as a human, with all our baggage, aspirations, hopes and dreams. From big questions to practical ones about business, social media, time management, and finding your way through the winding creative path- each episode Lisa will share stories, tips, insights, and conversations from the heart.”

12. A depressed comedian does a mental health podcast. The punchline is a profound hour of radio.

13. Why It Feels So Damn Good to Laugh at a Funeral. “When my brother died too young, an unexpected dark joke helped my family deal with the grief.”

14. How To Wrap Using A Furoshiki. (video)

15. Recipe I want to try: Breakfast Burritos.