Author Archives: jillsalahub

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About jillsalahub

Writer & Contemplative Practice Guide holding space for people cultivating a foundation of a stable mind, embodied compassion and wisdom. CYT 500

Gratitude

1. Morning walks. Eric’s foot is better so he came with us this week on all our walks. It’s strange because most of the places near the water we typically have to avoid this time of year have remained accessible, only a few mosquitoes and plenty of dragonflies doing their work eating them.  

2. Books, reading and writing them. I am still amazed how almost every book I read is a good one, hardly any stinkers. I can only think of one or two in the last year that were disappointing. And every time I sit down to work on writing one of my own, I’m amazed how much I’ve already written, how the process now is like piecing together a quilt. It’s also strange how now that I’m actively working on that, it matters less to me if I ever finish, because if I don’t it will only be because I ran out of time, not that I didn’t try.

3. Practice. I adore practicing with the women and sometimes dogs of Red Sage. I’m grateful that I’ve found practices that work for me and so lucky to have such good people to share them with.

4. Mom. We still send selfies to each other. As she gets more confused, I’m so grateful she hasn’t forgotten me and am eternally grateful for the good care and company she has where she’s at.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I love it here, with them.

Bonus joy: being able to start over or change my mind or cancel plans, naps, libraries and librarians, poets and poetry, my primary care doctor’s nurse practitioner, being able to opt out when they want to weigh me — and knowing that change in that office was at least partly because of me and a nutritionist who advocated for me and in so doing shifted the perspective of that practice, texting with Chris, the yellow mums Eric got for me, the whole house fan and a/c, other people’s dogs and kids and gardens, watching TV, listening to podcasts, new to me music, cooler temperatures, sharing reels and memes with Shellie and Kari and Carrie, ice cream, fresh corn, the value of doing absolutely nothing, opting out, fresh eggs, the ways Eric and I help each other, not being alone in “this,” photo magnets, afternoon storms, cooler temperatures, online shopping, grocery shopping, HRT, heating pads, vaccines, prescriptions, gummies, green tea, a handmade mug, stickers, birds in my feeder, butterflies and hummingbirds in my garden, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

Something Good

Image by Eric

1. Poetry: In Harsh Times and Sacred Pause from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, At Strawberry Creek and Only Slightly Under Water and Tiny Little Joys and The Kids Are Not Alright from Julie Barton, and A Defense of Joy by Mario Benedetti translated and shared by Maria Popova.

2. Live in the Whole of Time, with Joy Harjo: Hope Portal, Session 6.

3. Don’t Let Anyone Keep you Small, “how old wounds can keep us from writing our story” on Writing At Red Lights.

4. What do we do when our government says that it hates us and doesn’t care if we die? “Just two things (in a million different ways)” by Garrett Bucks on The White Pages.

5. Why write (or draw or build or play or think) if a robot can do it for you? “I like you more than I like the machines, and I’d like to keep it that way,” also from Garrett Bucks on The White Pages.

6. WTF?! Conversation With Author Omkari Williams on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz. (video) “Though she has an affinity for supporting activists who identify as introverted or highly sensitive, as she does, she welcomes all people into the world of micro activism, a sustainable path to change-making based upon honoring the inherent dignity of all people.”

7. You Will Never Be Completely At Home Again. “Some things I’ve learned about how to create a life” from Amanda Sandlin.

8. The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves.
“The original meaning behind the cards, first created 500 years ago, still remains elusive. But that didn’t stop our reporter from traveling to Milan in an effort to find out” on Smithsonian Magazine.

9. Thumbs up: good or passive aggressive? How emojis became the most confusing kind of online language.

10. A Failed Experiment, “A morning to myself & revenge bedtime procrastination” on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad. This line in particular got me: “I still forget, more often than I’d like to admit to you (maybe even less to myself), that my value does not lie in my output.”

11. In the Wake of the Big Beautiful Bill. “On being dealt a devastating blow by Trump, but not being beaten” by Frederick Joseph.

12. Going for Bronze from Danny Gregory. Because this, “I used to think my worth came from making great things. But I’ve slowly come to believe that my worth comes from making things, period. The judgment comes later—if it comes at all.”

13. Pep Talk (Ok, not really) from Maggie Smith. “I have seen plenty of terrible this week. So have you. I have seen cruelty and greed beyond comprehension. I have also seen and felt love, gratitude, generosity—and I hope you have, too. We need the beauty if we’re going to keep fighting the terror, and we have to keep fighting. What choice do we have?”

14. Journaler’s Routine. “Part one of a new summer series” on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad, “in this summer series, I’ll be asking writers and artists from The Book of Alchemy to share their journaler’s routine. Today we begin with mine.”

15. Acting because you don’t have to from The Imperfectionist. “So you don’t need to choose between peace of mind and the thrill of pursuing ambitious goals. You just need to understand those goals less as vehicles to get you to a future place of sanity and good feeling, and more as things that unfold from an existing place of sanity and good feeling.”

16. The Key to Longevity Is Boring on The New York Times. (gift link)

17. the fundamental tangle of joy and pain*, “The Summer the Roses Died” by Elissa Altman’

18. NPR staffers pick their favorite fiction reads of 2025 so far.

19. If you want to move forward, there are four people you need to forgive. (Facebook reel)

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