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

1. Where we live, on a quieter street. There was an early morning this week when I came from the back of the house and could tell from the light in the living room that it was a pretty sunrise, and it was, so I stepped out on the front porch and took some pictures. After about three, a black cat ran in front of me and under my car. To make sure Ringo didn’t see it, I turned around and pulled the door closed but not all the way shut. As I turned around and raised up my phone to take another picture, I heard a growl from behind me (Ringo had smelled the cat and nudged the door open) and before I could even turn around Ringo took off after the cat, into the neighbors yard then across the street and two houses down where the cat climbed a tree and Ringo couldn’t get to it. I was following, in my socks, running after him yelling for him to stop, and when he treed the cat, he trotted back towards me, so proud of himself, then past me and right back into the house. I told him to not do that again because it was a good way to get hit by a car but he thought it was the best day of his life. So, I’m grateful that both the cat and Ringo were safe when it was finished.

2. Our fall into winter front garden. What needed cleared out and cleaned up has been, and I love that the giant birch behind our house had a chance to turn it’s full color this year — I haven’t seen it that vibrant in at least ten years. Maybe this will be the year I finally repaint the outside of the house? It’s supposed to be a much darker green but is faded by the sun.

3. Practice. Meditating in the morning before the sun comes up. Writing at my desk with my HappyLight and a hot cup of coffee. Wild writing with my Friday morning sangha. I’m really struggling with my yoga practice, but I’m grateful even for that.

4. Morning walks. We’ve been going later and later to be able to be there when the sun comes up rather than walking in the dark. I was so sure with the wind this week all the leaves would be on the ground and the trees bare but was surprised when even today still there was a whole other layer of color. Once again, I took so many pictures, I chose my very favorites instead of loading all of them here because there were just so many.

5. My tiny family, my tiny home, my tiny life. I’m so happy, content, and I try not to spend too much time thinking about what it would be like if I didn’t have Eric and Ringo here with me.

Ringo found a toy at the park and insisted on bringing it home

Bonus joy: How big Ringo’s personality is — his enthusiasm and his strong opinions, having Eric home for the weekend after he’s been working all week, training with Shelby, getting in the pool, sitting in the sauna, roasted sweet potatoes, green grapes, hanging out with Calyx, texting with Chloe’ and my mom & brother, naps, watching TV, listening to podcasts, clean laundry, a big glass of cold clean water, how much Ringo loves his physical therapist (he thinks he goes there just to play), getting the results of my sleep study back already (mild sleep apnea, I see my doctor next week to figure out what I might do about that, but it might explain my recent fatigue and blood work and answers are always appreciated), health insurance, vaccines, a warm shower, clean sheets, good neighbors, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

1. 5 Gentle Rules To Help You Feel Good from Be More With Less. Maybe your rules (those things that are fundamental to your wellbeing, the ones you can’t skip or do halfway) are different, but knowing what they are and honoring them is essential. What makes you feel good?

2. A state of flow from Austin Kleon. Just a few days ago I was thinking about the states of drift and flow, writing about it, and it turns out that was only a few days after Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, known for his work related to the concept of “flow”, died.

3. Come Home to Yourself on Lion’s Roar. “Your true home is this body. This mind. This moment. There, says Kaira Jewel Lingo, you’ll find peace and freedom. From her new book We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons on Moving through Change, Loss, and Disruption.”

4. Art with intent from Seth Godin.

5. Maezumi’s Three Teachings on Lion’s Roar. “Wisdom teachings are fascinating things. They may not appear to be special. They are never complicated. They can sound so ordinary that we don’t even hear them or grant them consideration. But like seeds, they burrow into us and one day surface in full bloom. Only then are we ready to appreciate them.”

6. The Truelove: Poet and Philosopher David Whyte on Reaching Beyond Our Limiting Beliefs About What We Deserve. Because this, “if you wanted to drown you could, but you don’t because finally after all this struggle and all these years you simply don’t want to any more, you’ve simply had enough of drowning and you want to live and you want to love.”

7. Recipes I want to try: The Best Apple Crisp and Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette. I tried this recipe for Broccoli Parmesan Fritters and it was delicious.

8. Eating Disorders and Social Media Prove Difficult to Untangle on The New York Times. “Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram try to monitor for content related to the problem, but it is not always clear what to do about it.”

9. Worker Exploitation, Capitalism, and The “Normal” We Can’t Return To. In related news, The Pursuit of Rest Under Capitalism.

10. Why Pay Full Price, If You Already Know How it Ends? by Megan Falley. “Another excerpt from my memoir-in-progress [perhaps even the first chapter?] was just published in Midway Journal, about the first time I saw the movie Titanic. What I don’t say in the story is that the woman seated behind me suggested my mother remove me from the theatre because of how hard I was crying, and how I shouted, ‘No!'”

11. Ross Gay Demands Our Attention (in a Pandemic or Otherwise).

12. 4 Grief Blogs We Love. “We have no real criteria other than we just like them and consider them to be informative, contemporary, open minded, thoughtful, and social.”

13. Alan Cumming | Making Peace & Claiming Joy on The Good Life podcast. “What sounds like a near-magical life on stages, television and the big screen, though, has also seen its share of profound pain, loss, grief, existential struggle, and eventually a series of reckonings, and awakenings to who and what matters, and a certain reclamation of joy and life. Now in his 50s, he reflects on these moments along this journey in his new book, Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life, and we dive into all of it, along with his take on current culture, in today’s conversation.”

14. 50 years ago, The Electric Company used comedy to boost kids’ reading skills.

15. Artist Hides Clever And Funny Signs Around His City For People To Find.