1. The most empowering changes you have made in your lives on Positive News. “We asked readers: what have you done to empower yourself in these strange times? This is what you said.”

2. A new podcast examines the perils of intense meditation. “Meditation and mindfulness have many known health benefits, including helping to process trauma and manage anxiety, improve eating habits, and ease chronic pain. While many participants say Goenka retreats changed their lives for the better, The Retreat tells the stories of individuals whose mental health deteriorated during a 10 day retreat – or for some, after several 10-day retreats.”

3. Nick Cave on love, art and the loss of his sons: ‘It’s against nature to bury your children’. “In the past nine years, the musician and artist has lost two sons – an experience he explores in a shocking, deeply personal new ceramics project. He discusses mercy, forgiveness, making and meaning.”

4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus Thinks Youth Is Overrated on The New York Times. (gift link) “The actor wants you to start listening to older women — and not just because they’re guests on her podcast.”

5. Earth, Head, and Heart: Six Deeply Researched Eco-Memoirs.

6. Elaborate Still Lifes Erupt with Vivid Color in Eric Wert’s Oil Paintings.

7. There Is No Point in My Being Other Than Honest with You: On Toni Morrison’s Rejection Letters.

8. Join the Wild Writing Family. Registration closes at midnight, Thursday, April 4.

9. Project 2025 and the End of America from The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz. “PROJECT 2025 outlines in precise and sickening detail, the Republican Evangelical plan to swiftly thrust America into full-on theocracy and dismantle every legislative protection and democratic process put in place to prevent the marriage of Church and State. Project 2025 seeks to immediately establish a police-state, permanently stripping away decades of civil and human rights.” In related news, and also from John, Christians Should Condemn Christian Nationalism and Evangelical Theocracy. Jesus Does. In other related news, on The New York Times (gift link), The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity Into His Movement. 

10. On making art from Danny Gregory: “When you’re free from the ‘shoulds’ and ‘musts,’ what you create transcends art—it becomes discovery, revelation, epiphany. Those internal critics, with their relentless commentary on realism, style, and technique, amount to nothing more than noise, pulling your focus away from what’s genuinely important. The goal isn’t to rack up a stack of techniques. Rather, it’s about reducing everything to its essence, approaching the world with the awe of someone seeing it for the first time.”

11. Generative A.I. For Writers: An Unfolding (But Not Inevitable) Nightmare! from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

12. Interview with an Artist: Helena Wurzel On Becoming Visible on For Dear Life with Maggie Smith.

13. Good stuff from Seth Godin: Boyle’s Law and Kinds of courage, which suggests that, “Generosity is a great antidote to fear.”

14. Embracing Vulnerability: A Reflection on Tears and Truth from Andrea Gibson.

15. Why Introverts Hate Last-Minute Plans. P.S. Don’t rush me, either!

16. The Toxic Mix of Grief and Burnout from Nikita Gill. “Why rest is urgent, important and revolutionary.”

17. Don’t it always seem to go… from Rita Ott Ramstad on Rootsie. “Learning how to know what I’ve got before it’s gone.”

18. 5 Questions With Chrissy King an interview by Ragen Chastain.

19. Prompt 289. A Contagion of Blessings “& Mavis Staples on counting them” on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad.

20. Trapped in routine? Here’s how to “dishabituate” and rediscover joy. “Neuroscientist Tali Sharot recently spoke with Big Think about a two-step method for escaping the dark sides of habits.”

21. “Floor Time” Is the Relaxing Habit You Need To Try During the Work Day.

22. Break Free from Busyness and Uncover the Magic of Life.

23. How two lost and lonely ducks found friendship. (video)

24. Shanbai on YouTube and Instagram. “A cameraman records his nephew producing handicrafts with traditional methods in the countryside.” These videos are so beautiful and relaxing.

25. In Sand and Stone, Jon Foreman Sculpts Hypnotic Gradients and Organic Motifs.