1. Think yourself better: 10 rules of philosophy to live by. “From Aristotle to Iris Murdoch: what the greatest minds of the past 2,500 years have to tell us about the good life.”

2. How do you take a picture of happiness? We asked photographers to surprise us. Today is International Day of Happiness.

3. I Love You, Now Leave Me Alone: What Friendship Means to an Introvert on The New York Times. “It can be hard to reconcile the need for close connections with the urge to cancel plans. Experts say it’s a matter of taking control and finding your comfort zone.”

4. Time doesn’t have to be money. “Two new books, Jenny Odell’s Saving Time and Pooja Laksmin’s Real Self-Care, offer a framework for thinking about the world beyond capitalism.”

5. Good stuff from Seth Godin: Is it possible to care at scale? and Conspicuous (non) consumption.

6. Healing the Heart, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. 

7. Ms. Petersen Went Up the Mountain Herself. “What matters, I think, is this continual work of constructing a life that ultimately feels chosen. That doesn’t necessarily mean controlled; there is so much in life we can’t schedule, change, manage, or even anticipate, all manner of disappointments and disasters and swift left turns. But we can choose how we navigate those obstacles and valleys, how we move towards and through and away from others, how we cultivate precious corners for ourselves and also feasts of connection and intimacy.”

8. Weight Watchers Expands Their Harmful Model – Adding Prescription Drugs.

9. Learning to hold sorrow. Because, “if our hearts are working, sorrow is unavoidable. Or, more to the point, sorrow is the sign that we are connected to what is important to us—that we are connected to our desires, our love, our hope, our integrity. Sorrow is the loss of something we hold dear.”

10. Whiteness is a Hungry Ghost.

11. You have to really love your idea from Austin Kleon.

12. How to Escape ‘Faux Self-Care’ on The New York Times. “Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, a psychiatrist who specializes in women’s health, says you don’t need bubble baths to beat burnout. Here’s what she says to do instead.”

13. The Best Foods High in Fiber. I’m currently obsessed with fiber, understandably so.

14. Wellness, bootstraps, and gurus: the new toxic mental health cheerleaders. “Toxic positivity, the sunny side up mindset that has a dark side.”

15. Yoga Has a Body Shaming Problem…Still. “We all need to take an honest look at where we actually are and commit to moving past it.”

16. A veterinarian says pets have a lot to teach us about love and grief.

17. More on The Whale: The Whale’s Point of View (“The Oscar-nominated film is not just cruelly fatphobic; it is irredeemably juvenile”), and Fat Suit Fart Attack: The Whale (“I Deserve $120,000 for Watching This Movie”), and Brendan Fraser Deserves The World, But The Whale Deserved Nothing.

18. How Introverts Can Overcome Limiting Beliefs.

19. Ghost Story by Maggie Smith on Brevity. She has a memoir coming out and this piece is part of it. I am looking forward to reading the whole book because, as I’ve always said, poets write some of the best memoirs.

20. Five things you thought were “normal” that were actually emotional neglect. (Instagram reel) *sigh*

21. Fear is not necessarily a “no” from Andrea Gibson. (Instagram reel)

22. ‘There was cruelty and unpleasantness’: Emily Watson on school, stardom and sex scenes in her 50s. “The actor grew up in an alleged cult and was expelled after her explicit role in Breaking the Waves. She discusses method acting, the #MeToo movement and mixing work and family.”

23. 6 early entries we love from the 2023 NPR Student Podcast Challenge.

24. Covid has not affected people’s happiness around world, study reveals. “World Happiness Report finds higher levels of benevolence in all global regions than before the pandemic.”

25. Woman lives in a tree for two years to save it from loggers. “Julia Butterfly Hill’s two-year tree sit was an admirable act of environmental activism, but it is important to acknowledge the work of marginalized communities too.”

26. New music from Furns, one of my favorite groups. “FURNS is the name of the Danish power couple with the distinctive logo. With their airy minimal electronic soulful vibes they have captured the hearts of millions of listeners around the globe. Monika Faludi and Mathias Dahl Andreasen AKA. FURNS write, compose, record, produce, mix and master all of their work in FURNS Studio, based in the outskirts of Copenhagen.” If you don’t have Spotify, you can also listen to them on YouTube.