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1. The Ten Commitments from The American Humanist Center for Education. “Each one of us is responsible for the collective welfare of humanity, other beings, and the resources of our shared planet…The Ten Commitments represents our shared humanistic values and principles that promote a democratic world in which every individual’s worth and dignity is respected, nurtured, and supported, and where human freedom and ethical responsibility are natural aspirations for everyone.”

2. 12 little acts of kindness: what friends and strangers did for each other in their hour of need. “From hot meals and thoughtful surprises to strangers who took the time to listen, you shared the ways people brought you light in your darkest hour.”

3. Give a Girl by Brittany Moore. (Facebook video) This is my new favorite song, and I just found out the specific dog she wrote the song about is a BLUE HEELER.

4. For the HSPs: 15 Simple Things That Make Highly Sensitive People Happy, and The Science of Calming the Heck Down (And Why We HSPs Can Struggle With It), and How Social Media Affects a Highly Sensitive Person’s Brain.

5. A Manifesto by Roxane Gay — 10 rules for loving and being loved well. “For Roxane Gay, love has no rules, but there are ways of loving well. A relationship is to be nurtured, worked on and appreciated; and contrary to common wisdom, it’s something to find joy in, not suffering. Here, the writer gives us a gentle guide—hand-drawn by her wife, the artist, writer and educator Debbie Millman—on how to navigate this most delicate of emotions.” I’m not sure I agree that love is “this most delicate of emotions.” I’d call it fierce if anything.

6. For the Love of Dogs…and All Beings with Tara Brach. “The focus of this conversation is on our relationships with dogs, and more broadly, all beings. We look at what Thich Nhat Hanh called interbeing, and what happens when we shift our attention from self to who are we together. Tara is joined by Mark Drucker, an animal lover who works in digital media and is founder of lovedog.com, and Drew Webster, a dog behavior consultant par excellence.”

7. Will The Rock’s Red One be the worst Christmas movie ever? “The trailer for Amazon’s reportedly troubled $250m action-comedy shows that it might just be weightless action mush.” I watched the trailer and it’s so ridiculous. I was cringing as hard as I was laughing.

8. How Much of This is True? On the Subtle Nuances of Memoir and Autofiction. “Everything is, on some level, fiction. Especially after it’s been filtered through individual experience. We are all unreliable narrators, recounting our stories through the filters of perception and memory. Mostly, whether someone believes you only has to do with how well you can tell your story.”

9. The paradox of self skepticism from Seth Godin.

10. To the People I’ve Lost Over Politics and Religion on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz. “I know you may believe this disconnection is about politics or religion, but I want you to know that this simply isn’t true. It’s nothing that small or inconsequential, or this space between us wouldn’t be necessary. This is about fundamental differences in the ways in which we view the world and believe other people should be treated. It’s not political stuff, it’s human being stuff—which is why finding compromise and seeing a way forward is so difficult.”

11. Good stuff on Be More With Less from Courtney Carver: 8 Mistakes We Make Over and Over that Make Us Feel Unhappy and 10 Little Tips To Help You Keep Your Cool.

12. 6 Common Fears About Starting Therapy on Psychology Today. “Going to therapy for the first time is a bold step and it might elicit some strong feelings. These apprehensions are expected, and they accompany the process of entering therapy.”

13. Our Mistaken Ideas About What Makes Us Happy on Zen Habits.

14. Ditch These 5 Unhealthy Habits to Unlock Your Best Life.

15. Feeling exhausted? Here’s how to fight the weariness. “Try these top tips for managing your energy more wisely.”

16. Grief Guides: Among the death doulas. “What it takes to become a death doula, someone who guides the dying and their loved ones through grief—from the logistics of closing a social media account to the experience of holding their hand as they pass.”

17. The poetry of Finn Butler. Such as “I know the heart is a heavy thing” and “Saltwater” and “What is the shape of your loneliness today?”

18. Abe Lincoln wax sculpture melts in brutal DC heat. Seems to be a metaphor for something in there somewhere.

19. Wednesday Poetry from Patti Digh: “Epitaph” by Merrit Malloy.

20. Pair of Sleeping Bees Wins Insect Photography Contest. I love how this title seems to imply that the pair of sleeping bees are the ones who took the winning photo.

21. Free to be you and me from Rita on Rootsie. “Or, what if you actually are creating what you need to be, right now?”

22. Embracing Mortality: The Conversation Live on Death, Dying, and Finding Peace on The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet. “In a recent InstaLive session, I had the pleasure of discussing one of life’s most profound experiences – death – with hospice nurse Julie. Known fondly as Hospice Nurse Julie, she has recently authored a book titled ‘Nothing to Fear,’ which has already made it onto the New York Times bestseller list. Our shared objective is importance of normalizing death and the significant impact it has on how we live our lives.”

1. Morning walks. I haven’t been taking as many pictures, partly because we’ve stayed away from most of the rivers and ponds (mosquito and tick season over here), and have spent more of our time walking around our neighborhood and the city parks. And yet, this is the list I made yesterday in my writing group after our morning walk, inspired by a line from a John O’Donohue poem, “For a New Beginning” — Then the delight.

“Then the delight — the light, the way it reflected off the clouds filled not quite full enough to rain, the rabbit that lives around the corner, that chair left out on the curb for whoever may claim it that I bless every morning we walk past it saying to the people inside that house “no one wants that chair,” the flowerbeds of the house where the person who used to work at Creekside Nursery lives, the house next door to that where at least two small kids live and the tiny pink table and chairs stacked on the lawn with not one but two play kitchens on the front porch, the two little libraries (one for adults and one for children) at the church on the corner, the deer in the front yard of the house next to the school, the four little dogs — two chihuahuas and two yorkie terrier mixes — that Eric has told me about but I’ve never seen who ran out to the fence to bark at Ringo, having to run to avoid the sprinklers watering the ball fields, the tiny dragonfly by the pond, the woman who walked by us with her cattle dog who said to the dog and not us “another blue heeler!” and I thought how strange it was that yes they were blue but they were actually both black rather than that gray we call blue, the way the wind brushed against that one tree while the sun kissed its back, all the tiny newly hatched grasshoppers, the ponds — yes previously gravel pits but now an unofficial bird sanctuary, the water rushing through the drainage ditch, the soft cluck of chickens in that one yard, the dog that came around the corner big as a deer, reaching the road when there was no traffic and not needing to wait or rush to cross over, the three dogs on their back deck so excited to see us, the trail they mowed through the field, the guy sitting in a lawn chair in his front yard listening to a podcast or audiobook, the way Linda’s yard is hers but also a little bit still Barb’s, the “ditch lilies” and newly bloomed delphiniums and the nest in our lilac bush, how it feels to walk in to the cool and quiet of our house, the sound of Ringo drinking water from his bowl, the text from Eric, the newly watered grass, the mug of hot green tea, and Ringo curled up next to me asleep.”

2. Practicing together. In particular, my writing sangha and Red Sage yoga class. I suppose I could also include my aqua aerobics class and small group training.

3. Feeding people. My niece texted me the other day to ask for my pasta slaw recipe and when Chloe’ visited, I was able to give her a pan of baked ziti so she didn’t have to figure out dinner that night. It’s my default response in a crisis or when I don’t otherwise know how to help, the one thing I know I can do and that people need.

4. Ice cream for dinner. Eric and I were both “in our feelings” yesterday, tired and sad and a bit anxious, so we skipped dinner and went to Dairy Queen instead.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I’m so happy that Ringo is doing so much better. And I’m so lucky to have a partner in this life like Eric.