1. Poetry: A New World by Julia Fehrenbacher, Every Poem by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Faint Music by Robert Hass, Spell Against Indifference by Maria Popova, and Two-Factor Authentication and Whispering Yes and Morning Run and Touchstone, Taproot from Julie Barton. In related news, Ada Limón reflects on her tenure as the poet laureate and bringing us back to wonder. Also, check out my dear friend Michelle’s new book of poetry: “Between Latitudes, Michelle Latvala’s remarkable debut collection of poetry, is rooted in both the practice of forging a life in the boreal forest of Alaska and finding footing in contemporary California. The collection provides a window into our complex human experience through Latvala’s vast emotional and poetic range as she explores interior and exterior lives across generations, latitude lines, and a changing climate.”
2. Why America Desperately Needs PBS by Frederick Joseph. “On Truth, Our Collective Memory, and the Potential Loss of PBS.”
3. Meditation and Strong Emotions by Susan Piver. “Meditation is not a Path to Peace. It’s Something Better.”
4. Good stuff from The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz: Please, Don’t Forget to Live Today, and When The Worst Person is Leading the Greatest Nation, and Was This Worth It, Trump Voters?
5. A prayer from Jena Schwartz:
May we open doorways to thanks & walk through in wonder.
May we pay attention to where we are paying attention.
May we remember that beauty is never a waste of time.
May we listen to the silences where wisdom blooms.
May we remember the power of a few words.
May we marvel at the tenacity of the weeds.
May we make space for each other’s voices.
May we let our hearts be known.
6. Petals in the Wind: Belonging with Everything by Mindy Tsonas Choi.
7. The Cult Of The American Lawn. “Manicured grass yards are ecological dead zones. So why are they being forced on people by their neighbors and homeowner associations?”
8. 15 must-see movies in theaters this summer.
9. How To Shop In A Recession, “What I learned about myself on a recent shopping trip,” a comic from Connie Sun.
10. 7 benefits of creativity (and easy ways to be more creative).
11. I saved $36,000 by not buying anything new – here are seven reasons you should do the same.
12. When Your Cup is Empty on Zen Habits.
13. 13 Habits That Will Make Your Life Lighter and Happier.
14. 4 Things That Are Not Your Responsibility — Even If Your Anxiety Says They Are.
15. 20 Ways to Look After Yourself and Simplify Your Life.
16. Happy birthday, David Attenborough! 99 ways he has inspired us.
17. The Intrusion, “on psychic noise, creativity, and silence-as-luxury” by Elissa Altman.
18. “Hotel, motel, Holiday Inn” by Jonathan Edward Durham. “The sublime frustration of staying away from home.”
19. No such thing as bad weather? by Rita Ott Ramstad on Rootsie. “I want to thrive not as an act of resistance, but simply because I am 60 years old, and I don’t want to give away what’s left of my life waiting for some better time that might not come before I go.”
20. How to Be at Peace with Whatever Happens by Elizabeth Kleinfeld. Spoiler alert: “It doesn’t mean there’s no grief.”
21. What country am I in, again? by Patti Digh. “Why I no longer want my son to fly.”
22. New and Improved by Danny Gregory. “Instead of trying to be better, we can try to be different, iterating new approaches to new conditions, a fresh start every new day. Instead of fretting over self-improvement, we can accept that we’ll never solve things perfectly and permanently, and that’s not the goal. We don’t get to start life over. But we do get a fresh page. Again and again.”
23. One Hundred Reasons Not to Die, “Finding resilience amidst these many storms” by Nickole Brown.
24. What’s that rash? Put some thought into asking Google for medical help.
25. Spread Courage. “What can you do to build morale in these unsettling times?”
26. Building community is a joy (except when you don’t want to, or you’re tired, or you’re in your own head, or other people have let you down one too many times…) on The White Pages. “On dragging your feet (forward).”
27. A new documentary checks out the many ways libraries are a ‘Free For All’.
28. And finally, a few random things I saved to my phone this week.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 