March | 2025 | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Poetry: Nothing To Hold On To from Julia Fehrenbacher, and Instead of doomscrolling, I will from HannahRoWrites, and Another Reason to Love Trees and Succulents by Julie Barton, and By What Strange Truth and The Minimum and One Persistence from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, In English We Say by Larson Langston, and At Albany Bulb with Elaine by Alison Luterman, and a cool visual poem by Madeleine Jubilee Saito, It Is Very Good That You Are Here. In related news, Free Little Poetry.

1. Hope is a Verb: an Active Verb from Patti Digh.

2. Synonyms for Hope from Abigail Rose Clarke. “But hope can also be a synonym for belonging. This hope is alive. This hope strengthens. I belong to a future where we care for each other, I hope we all live to see this. I belong to a future where all people are safe in their homes and in the streets, I hope we live to see this. I belong to a future where all people are free to love who they love and live in their most liberated expression, I hope we live to see this. I belong to a future where the lands and waters are protected, and the more-than-human world is honored as teachers and kin, I hope we live to see this.”

3. How Dementia Defies Our Expectations: and How Caregivers Can Cope from Elizabeth Kleinfeld on Here for All of It.

4. So many ways to call it, “Noticing that worldviews create worlds” from Erin Geesaman Rabke on Seeds of Possibility.

5. KNOW WORRIES #17 – “Six Gay Guys Walk into a Bingo Hall” from Jonathan Edward Durham.

6. A publisher asked me to write the book I thought the world needed. Here’s what we made. Introducing Letters From Wonderland from Josie George.

7. Silencing the Inner Critic to Get Your Words on the Page. An excerpt from ‘Seven Secrets to the Perfect Personal Essay’ by Nancy Slonim Aronie.

8. Consciousness Strength Training* *especially for white progressives from Julie Colwell on You are Here for This.

9. Get a load of all these stickers. “Collective action, even on the tiniest scale, is still pretty damn terrific” from Garrett Bucks on The White Pages.

10. who you were back then: On Memoir, and Remembering My Former Me from Elissa Altman.

11. Wisdom from The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz: The Grief of Sharing a Country With Trump Supporters, and It’s Too Bad the Pro-Life Right is So Violently Anti-Life, and Here’s Why You Need To Be An Activist — Right. F*cking. Now.

12. An unofficial guide to block printing, “Lessons from an amateur” by Austin Kleon.

13. Slacker for a Day, “When ‘nothing’ is the most urgent something of all” from Jena Schwartz.

14. My Perpetual Motion Machine from Danny Gregory.

15. The Imperfectionist: Three ideas for turbulent times.

16. The resistance is alive and well – and our research shows it. “Street protests today are far more numerous and frequent than skeptics might suggest.” And just to be clear, they aren’t being paid to be there, by anyone.

17. Division is easier than connection from Seth Godin.

18. ‘It was revenge for our movie’: Oscar winner says soldiers helped settlers attack him in West Bank. “Hamdan Ballal says Israeli soldiers beat him with their rifle butts and threatened to kill him.” In related news, Press freedom groups condemn targeted killing of two journalists in Israeli strikes. “Israel Defense Forces has confirmed it killed Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour, claiming they were terrorists.” Telling the truth can have consequences, but in most cases, NOT telling the truth or even staying silent is worse. I’m so grateful to those who continue to speak out, regardless of the risk.

19. ‘Plot twist – I’m still a fat person!’: meet the people proving you can be fit at any size. “In the age of Ozempic and extreme dieting, slimness is still prized over any other body shape – but you don’t have to shrink your frame in order to be powerful, supple and healthy.”

20. Wisdom from Britchida: “I used to think that the more I did, the more I’d be able to do. But it didn’t work that way for me. Living without edges just led to me bleeding out my energy, unable to tell where other things ended and where I began.

Now, my life is smaller. I can hold it in my hands. I say no to opportunities, I rest when there are still things to do. There is no one I am trying to become. I might be missing out on some ‘best’ life, but I am not missing out on me.”

21. British Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 Winners. In related news, World Press Photo 2025 Winning Images.

22. Disenfranchised Grief, “When society says you shouldn’t mourn.”

23. Little Altars Everywhere. “An invitation to assemble the sacred and activate the good” from Sara Saltee.

24. A Tender Guide to Grieving a Pet for Highly Sensitive Introverts.

25. Why I’m Embracing Stillness In The In-Between Moments.

26. “Taking in the good”: A simple way to offset your brain’s negativity bias. “Psychologist Rick Hanson’s HEAL method encourages people to dwell on positive experiences to offset the brain’s negativity bias. It’s based on the idea that repeated mental habits can shape the brain over time through neuroplasticity. While the science remains preliminary, the method is a safe and accessible tool that could extend the shelf life of life’s good moments.”

27. Recipes I want to try: Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake, and Sheet Pan Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and One Pot Pizza Pasta Bake, and Raspberry-Rhubarb Slab Pie.

28. Watercolor Artist Creates Stunning Large-Scale Canvases Filled With Lifelike Flowers.

29. Delicate Ecosystems Converge in Sonja Peterson’s Intricate Cut Paper Compositions.

30. 11 Brilliant Bird Murals That Bring Nature to the Streets.

31. And finally, this random collection of things I saved to my phone this week.

1. Morning walks. This week we saw the horses, some deer, and a flock of wild turkeys, which Ringo squealed at, sounded like a monkey — it was very exciting for him. We also had one particularly glorious sunrise.

2. Practice. I published a post yesterday that reaffirmed for me that when I’m writing in my journal and practicing with my Friday morning group, that’s “real” writing that can add up to something shareable. This week, I meditated and did yoga on my own, and it felt just right.

3. A quiet week. I needed it, so I let myself have it. Other than a Pilates class on Sunday and a much needed trip to the grocery store and lunch out with Eric, I mostly stayed home — which just so happens to be my favorite place.

4. How well Mom is doing. It felt a bit like whiplash to go from “she only has another week or two” to her doing so well, but I am so grateful for it. Whatever time she has left, I’m glad she’ll be spending it at Tokarski Home. She’s been getting lots of visitors and eating good food and getting lots of rest and they are taking such good care of her there. When I was texting with my brother the other day, he told her I said “hi” and she told him she wished I was there. I wish I was too, wish I could be two places at once.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. Ringo got to meet the neighbor’s dog the other day — so cute! He’s been spending a lot of time in the backyard since it’s been so nice. He lounges in the sun until he gets too hot, then moves to the shade, and when he cools off, goes to a sunny spot again until he gets too warm and has to find the shade again, over and over and over. Everything is getting so green and we have our first flower bloom. Eric and I keep telling each other how glad we are that I’m home.

Bonus joy: Reese’s eggs (I’m a big fan of way more peanut butter filling than chocolate), getting the laundry done, pay day, watching TV, listening to podcasts, sitting in the backyard with Eric and Ringo, texting with my brother, more light, grocery shopping, Pilates, a warm shower, clean sheets, KIND nut clusters, waffles and pancakes, strawberries, carrots, comedy, poetry and poets, libraries and librarians, the riot of bird song in the morning, things blooming and budding and turning green, worms, two new birdfeeders (let’s see if I can keep the squirrels out), Ringo “singing” (howling), old pictures, my Shakti mat, my infrared heating pad, down pillows and blankets, that particular color of blue, the sky, naps, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.