1. Wisdom from Lucian James: “Every moment matters. In every moment you become the person you want to be, or you surrender to the person you were. In every moment.”

2. Poetry from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: Autumn Walk, Reasons to Weep, and Tumbling.

3. Good stuff from Seth Godin: A small shopping list (floss and more), and Fooling ourselves, and Evenly distributed, and Getting better at bucket management, and Getting it right the first time, and Possibility and opportunity.

4. From Courtney Carver on Be More With Less: 7 Surprising And Invisible Benefits of Simplicity and Prioritize Self-Care Practices With 10 Gentle Reminders and 5 Daily Habits That Are Causing You Pain (and how to let go), and 7 Life Mistakes That Make Us Feel Unhappy.

5. In related news, a ton of good stuff from Courtney Carver’s last two Weekend Favorites lists: Cinnamon Roll Overnight Oats recipe, and Why Kindness at Work Pays Off, and Mel Robbin’s 3-Step Routine To Target Negative Self-Talk & Experience More Joy, and How to advocate for yourself at the doctor’s office, and A guide to forest bathing, and The Best Documentaries of 2023, and Shut Up & Write!, and Use the ’20/10 Method’ to Clean Without Exhausting Yourself, and 99 Mindful Conversation Topics For Deeper Connections, and Take the visitor’s approach to exploring your own city, and Why ‘daily-ish’ habits can be better than everyday routines.

6. Conversation with a Friend from Jami Attenberg. “Another approach I have been thinking about is that when I sit down with my pen and journal, I am simply just catching up with a friend. I want that same warm, easy vibe as when you meet up with someone that you are close with but don’t see that often, maybe for coffee or lunch, in a sunny space. You know it’s just going to be a pleasant chat, filling in all the blanks and just checking in and catching up.” Also from Jami, The Questions I Would Ask You.

7. Good stuff from Regan Chastain: The Utter Ridiculousness of the 5-10% Weight Loss Recommendation and Not Blaming Fat People For Failed Weight Loss Isn’t Enough.

8. Good stuff from Introvert, Dear: How Introverts Can Master the Art of ‘Doing Nothing’, and How to Deal With Pushy People When You’re a People-Pleasing Introvert, and How Introverts Can Build a Peaceful Life in an Extroverted World, and 7 Tips for INFJs to Stop Overthinking.

9. Upaya Zen Center Podcast: Hope Is a Discipline – On Being Present and Committing to the Future with Rebecca Solnit. “In her talk, Rebecca Solnit explores the concept of hope and activism in the face of uncertainty, particularly relating to climate change. She discusses how even so-called ‘failed’ actions can have lasting, transformative impacts, changing the conversation and laying the groundwork for future successes.”

10. Women on the frontlines of climate change. (video) “Hear from the women who are reshaping climate leadership around the world as policymakers, scientists and activists on the frontlines…join Washington Post Live’s climate summit featuring conversations with USAID administrator Samantha Power and top climate leaders about innovative solutions to tackle a warming planet, the latest global efforts to curb carbon emissions and how women have been disproportionately affected by the climate crisis.”

11. Wisdom from Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse: “Becoming aware of how things change is a useful form of mind training. Letting go of all your attachment to planning, scheduling and expectation will reduce your fear of death considerably. If, during your life, you have never experienced disappointment or failure, when you find yourself at death’s door, you will be terrified. Of course, by then it will be too late for you to do anything for yourself.”

12. What will sustain. “I am a human animal in the autumn of my life and actually, it suits my soul. It’s my vibe. Autumn is older and wiser. She looks at summer’s daydreams and expansive visions, measuring up what she can make with them. What will keep. What will sustain.”

13. It’s Banned Books Week. Here’s how to fight for libraries.

14. Don’t Be A Buddhist from Satya Robyn. “Just be a person with a good heart.”

15. Nine Things That Make My Life a (Lil) Better.

16. Good stuff from Patti Digh: I talked to myself about what success and happiness means, and I forgive you. Now, stay far, far away from me, and (The Long and) The Short of Things.

17. Good stuff from Summer Brennan on A Writer’s Notebook: Oleander Leaves: a notebook entry and Introducing: A Writer’s Notebook Podcast.

18. Good stuff from Jena Schwartz: Serious Folly {a poem} and Friday Dispatch: Creative Conversations.

19. Minda Honey Tells Us About Putting Yourself in the Running on Cheryl Strayed’s Dear Sugar. “I’m pleased to share the fourth installment of an occasional series I do in which I invite an author to tell us five things—not only about their most recent book, but about their life too.”

20. Good stuff on For Dear Life with Maggie Smith: The Good Stuff and On Surprise & Gratitude.

21. Refuge, a video poem from David Whyte.

22. The Uncomfortable Truth About Truth from Frederick Joseph. “On self-awareness, societal change, and running from honesty.” I kept looking for a paragraph to quote here, but I ended up wanting to quote the entire piece. Also from Frederick, Individual Greedflation Is Destroying Us. “People wanting to become wealthy makes it difficult to hold the wealthy accountable.” In my opinion, Frederick Joseph is one of the most important writers of our time, as he tells the full and terrible truth from a tender heart. He’s also asking for donations to an important cause, Five for Families, because “In NYC, Black and Latino households face food insecurity at rates startlingly higher than white households. As inflation rises, more local pantries close and the need grows exponentially. Which is why this November, we are supporting The Lower East Side Girls Club (LESGC) to help address this crisis head-on.”

23. Ursula K. Le Guin on Change, Menopause as Rebirth, and the Civilizational Value of Elders.

24. Nick Cave on “this crazy thing called grief”: “you have every right to be a mess, but let me say this – don’t be a mess all the time, because this planet needs people like you. We need fierce souls with flaming swords that lay open the world to the truth of things – our perilous and impermanent mutuality, our ferocious resilience, and our acute and heartbreaking preciousness.”

25. grief is a wild thing and it’s also quite rude from Abigail Rose Clarke.

26. Reservation Dogs Was a Miracle. “The FX show could have been a near-perfect hangout sitcom. It did something much more interesting.” In related news, On Location: ‘Reservation Dogs’ Builds a Fictional Oklahoma Reservation One Last Time for Its Final Season.

27. Discovering aphantasia. I’m fascinated by this, as Eric has it. Knowing he did and what it was explained so much about him.

28. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: Learning From the Dead (“Carolyn Campbell shares how studying the famous Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France sparked an awareness of death that helped her wake up to life”), and Stop, Soothe, Shift: A 3-Step Practice to Do What Helps (“Zen teacher Vanessa Zuisei Goddard shares her simple three-step practice to stop, soothe, and shift in the face of suffering”), and Meditations on Buddhanature (“Four Buddhist teachers share concise instructions for recognizing the luminous nature of mind”), and You Are Already Dying (“The most profound meditation, says Joan Halifax, is contemplating the certainty of your own death”), and How to Be a Friend Until the End (“According to Frank Ostaseski, offering care to someone who’s dying is like meditation: there’s no one right way, but practice helps, and so do basic guidelines”), and Death: The Greatest Teacher (“The Buddha said the greatest of all teachings is impermanence. Its final expression is death. Buddhist teacher Judy Lief explains why our awareness of death is the secret of life. It’s the ultimate twist”).

29. We’re all lurkers now. “‘As more people have been confronted with the consequences of constant sharing, social media has become less social and more media—a constellation of entertainment platforms where users consume content but rarely, if ever, create their own,’ a recent Insider piece explains. ‘Influencers, marketers, average users, and even social-media executives agree: Social media, as we once knew it, is dead.'”

30. The Blessings of Obstacles and Diversions.

31. The Tree in our backyard: the other people who tended it and the mystery of its age. 

32. For When You Don’t Know What You’re Doing. I love these posts about Jesse’s gardening experiences, which are always about way more than a garden.

33. You Don’t Have to Be Complicit in Our Culture of Destruction on The New York Times, an interview with Robin Wall Kimmerer. “This beautiful gift of attention that we human beings have is being hijacked to pay attention to products and someone else’s political agenda. Whereas if we can reclaim our attention and pay attention to things that really matter, there a revolution starts.”

34. Slama Land Art on Instagram. “straw sculptures – art – nature – ecology – love – utopia – society – sustainable – movement – fire.”

35. A song of believing by Brian Doyle. “Look, I know all too well that the story of the world is entropy, things fly apart, we sicken, we fail, we grow weary, we divorce, we are hammered and hounded by loss and accidents and tragedies, we slide away into the dark oceans behind the stars. But I also know that we are carved of immense confusing holiness; that the whole point for us is grace under duress; and that you either take a flying leap at nonsensical illogical unreasonable ideas like marriage and marathons and democracy and divinity, or you huddle behind the brooding wall.”

36. Trying to find a good breakfast burrito recipe because I have too many potatoes. These are some of the contenders: Breakfast Burrito, Vegetarian Breakfast Burritos, The Best Breakfast Burritos, and Breakfast Burritos.

37. Attorney General Merrick Garland: The 60 Minutes Interview (video). “People can argue with each other as much as they want and as vociferously as they want. But the one thing they may not do is use violence and threats of violence to alter the outcome,” he said. “American people must protect each other. They must ensure that they treat each other with civility and kindness, listen to opposing views, argue as vociferously as they want, but refrain from violence and threats of violence. That’s the only way this democracy will survive.”

38. Sea Lion Escapes Central Park Zoo Enclosure During New York City Flooding.

39. This comedian says words often fail during tragedy. And that’s OK, an interview with Rob Delaney.

40. Losing a Dog Is the Hardest Thing. “For 38 months, Rowlf brought love, slow meandering walks, and dog ice cream cones into writer Brendan Leonard’s life. And now Rowlf is gone.” If you are one of those people who would say, “what’s the big deal, it’s JUST a dog” you probably should stop reading my blog.

41. 15 Ways to Rewild Yourself. “Nature has always been a place for me to self-soothe. Whether it’s been starting a garden and learning how to tend my heart in the same way I do my plants, or by going on walks in the forest to discover wild herbs and edibles. There’s no denying how therapeutic it is to escape into nature and recalibrate, or as I call it: Rewilding.”

42. Poetry: Nancy Shaffer: “Because We Spill Not Only Milk” and Yes by William Stafford.

43. ‘On stage, I could escape’: Sir Patrick Stewart on childhood trauma and acting success. “Sir Patrick Stewart is one of our most admired actors, a master of Shakespeare – and the universe. But his start in life was anything but starry. Here, he talks about writing his memoir, his violent father – and why he’d love to do more comedy.”

44. 9 Common Human Experiences That Can Be Traumatic (but are often seen as not).

45. BMI Is Outdated—Here’s Why Your Waist-to-Hip Ratio Is a Better Indicator of Health. It’s fascinating how many superficial shortcuts we are willing to apply to assess our health and wellness. It will never be as simple or universal as things like BMI or WHR try to make it seem. Which reminds me of this infographic:

46. I try to be a body-positive doctor. It’s getting harder in the age of Ozempic. “Sometimes I call myself a ‘body-positive doctor,’ but that isn’t it, exactly, because I don’t expect all of my patients to love their bodies at all times. With my students, I call it practicing ‘weight-neutral medicine.'”

47. England’s Beloved Sycamore Gap Tree Has Been Chopped Down. In related news, A week after someone cut down the iconic tree at Sycamore Gap, the police and local residents appear no closer to answering the most persistent question: Why? on The New York Times and Sapling planted at Sycamore Gap removed by National Trust.

48. I rest in love, a gorgeous poem from Gretchen Schmelzer. “Yet for all of the despair and pain, each morning comes and nature and people don’t give up, and this may be the most beautiful form of art.”

P.S. This is my 600th Something Good list!!!