jillsalahub

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.

1. Morning walks. I hardly get to go right now, as I’m still healing, but I’m hoping to get back out there regularly in a week or two. Until then, sometimes Eric comes back home mid walk and we go out for another few miles together and when I don’t go, he shares pictures with me so I don’t miss it altogether.

2. Time to rest. There are actually seven types of rest, (check out this Ted Talk from board-certified internal medicine physician Saundra Dalton-Smith, in which she “reveals the real reason why we are chronically tired despite getting the requisite amount of sleep and the 6 other types of rest” or this interview with CNN, 7 strategies for truly restorative rest): physical, mental, emotional, sensory, creative, social, and spiritual. Honestly, in the past six months, I’ve needed ALL of them. So much so, I feel like I’ve paused just about everything I can in order to do just that: REST.

3. Good food. This week, there was cake. I find that when I try to satisfy a craving for something sweet with something at the grocery store, it never works, because what they have is never as good as I can make at home. So this week, that’s what I did — made my own. These are two of my favorite recipes: Vanilla Snack Cake (I do a buttercream frosting that is powdered sugar, butter, and cream cheese) and Chocolate Zucchini Bread.

4. Books. I’m reading some really good ones right now: When You’re Ready, This is How You Heal by Brianna Wiest and A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I’m kind of obsessed with both these authors right now, am working my way through everything they’ve written.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. This week Eric and I went to two shows, both comedy but very different kinds. One was Mike Birbiglia, who is currently touring and working out his new show, and who is one of my favorite storytellers, podcasters, film makers, comedians, and writers. The other show was aggressively sexual and while he was pretty funny, it was also mildly uncomfortable. Both were fun and time I got to spend with my favorite person, so win/win.

When Eric and Ringo were out walking this morning, two Spanish speaking men called Ringo a “pequeño [little] coyote.” They weren’t wrong. 🙂

Bonus joy: brunch with Carrie, texting with Chloe’, sharing memes and reels with Sherrie and Kari and Carrie, texting with my brother and mom, naps, dinner and a comedy show with Stefan and Shaun, tortillas, blue sky, movies, listening to podcasts, healing and knowing that it takes time, being able to get in the pool and the sauna again, the chance to start over as many times as necessary, spring flowers starting to bloom, a warm shower, that the neighbor’s dog now barks more than Ringo so I don’t feel so bad about all the times he goes in the backyard and yells because he’s bored, slowing down, being able to honor what I need, celery and peanut butter, hot honey roasted carrots, potatoes, a big glass of cold clean water, getting a refund on our state taxes that’s more than what we owed to federal, dreaming of the beach, practice, libraries, down blankets and pillows, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.