1. How to help Texas during winter storm blackouts. In related news, How to Help Texans Recover From the Winter Disaster, and How to help, and what to do if you need it, during Texas’ historic freeze, and When a busy H-E-B lost power, store told Texans gathering supplies to ‘go ahead’ without paying.

2. The ‘Heart’ of Heart Mountain: Japanese American Internment Through The Eyes Of A Child And His Unlikely Friend.

3. This 108-year-old artist proves that age is just a number! (video)

4. When Death Comes: An Oncology Nurse Finds Solace in Mary Oliver.

5. Recipe I want to try: Snowball Cookies.

6. What you’re feeling is grief. “The layers of cultural trauma we experience on top of our personal losses can feel all-consuming. We are isolated. We are lonely. And we are all, in some way, grieving.” 🥺

7. Inseparable gay penguin couple hatch new egg to become dads for a second time.

8. We’ll Have Herd Immunity by April. “Covid cases have dropped 77% in six weeks. Experts should level with the public about the good news.” Look, I realize that no one really knows what’s going to happen until it happens, and this is just another opinion in a vast ocean of opinions, and I can’t do anything more than I’m already doing to change the outcome, but this is the kind of opinion piece I need in my life right now.

9. What to do when you want to keep the slower pace of quarantine.

10. 21 Day Anti-Anxiety Challenge. “Here are twenty-one simple things you can do to help you cultivate a calmer, stronger, healthier mental state.” In my humble opinion, one step got overlooked: don’t call it a “challenge,” it’s too stressful.

11. More Creating, Less Hamster Wheel from Jena Schwartz.

12. Why “Gentle Writing Advice,” Exactly? from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

13. There can be no more waiting. “For almost the entire time that I’ve been self-employed I told myself that I would rest…later.”

14. The 7 types of rest that every person needs.

15. Fire and Ice from Rita’s Notebook.

16. This Is What It’s Like For Men With Eating Disorders. Diet culture sucks for EVERY BODY.

17. 5 Tips for Spiritual Activists on Lion’s Roar. “Bill Aiken offers five Buddhist insights to be a more effective agent of change.”

18. Austin Kleon interview by Rob Spillman. “The author of Steal Like an Artist talks about his popular, eclectic weekly newsletter where he shares 10 ‘things’ which can include music, TV, movies, poems, and even update s on Coconut the Owl, who has taken up residence in his backyard.” In related news, David Eagleman’s Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives and A house for Coconut.

19. ‘Somatic Exercises’ Stretch the Stress Right Out of Your Poor, Aching Body.

20. The Story of ‘Team Molly’ on The New York Times. “While her daughter was hospitalized, one mother built more room for our national grief.”

21. Beautiful Embroidery Captures Stunning Star Trails With Shimmering Beads.

22. Third graders write letters to God with some very important questions and they’re adorably innocent.

23. Is That the Cosmos or India on Diwali? NASA’s Image of Human Cell Leaves Twitter Bewildered. Our tiny insides are so beautiful.

1. Sustainable Activism for Introverts & HSPs. “Join activist Omkari Williams as you engage your senses and develop a master plan for turning your story, vision, and strengths into action…If you are a Highly Sensitive Person, an Introvert, or both, this class will help you find your sustainable way of activism.” I’m all in.

2. 6 Mindset Shifts for Introverts That Bolster Inner Peace. In related news, Why Being Lonely as an Introvert Looks Different.

3. Recipe I want to try: Black Bean and Sweet Potato Stew.

4. Closet Detox: 10 Steps to End Closet Chaos from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less. I’m tempted to go big and do this, but I’m worried that doing it during a moment in time when all I wear is pjs might be bad timing.

5. How to make a zine.

6. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: Too Much Criticism (“Someone in your life who’s too critical or confrontational can undermine your self-worth and enjoyment of life. Psychologist Lynn Monteiro suggests four ways you can take care of yourself”), and Confessions of a Hungry Ghost (“Sensei Alex Kakuyo knows what it’s like to live as a hungry ghost, constantly striving toward one more thing. He shares how Buddhist practice has helped him accept this endless hunger and find refuge in the present moment”), and Are We In a Global Rite of Passage? (“Can we thrive in the midst of this pandemic? Last year as the Covid-19 era began, Roshi Joan Halifax asked attendees of Lion’s Roar’s ‘Re-Awaken’ summit to consider whether the pandemic — despite its horrors — might offer us new possibilities, new horizons, and more meaningful connections with each other”), and Life is Tough. Here Are Six Ways to Deal With It (“An ancient set of Buddhist slogans offers us six powerful techniques to transform life’s difficulties into awakening and benefit. Zen teacher Norman Fischer guides us through them”).

7. Rachel Ricketts: Unplugging from the Matrix of White Supremacy. (podcast) “Tami Simon speaks with Rachel about the intersection of spirituality and activism, racial justice work as a form of healing across time and space, actively participating in work that challenges systems of oppression and the status quo, the connection between racial justice work and personal shadow work, becoming a ‘genuine ally,’ and much more.”

8. Wisdom from Andre Henry: “I hate hearing people speak with resignation about the course of history. They talk about future oppression and social decay as though they’re inevitable! As though we’re merely bystanders and victims of the rich and powerful.The foundation of our movements for social progress is the belief that the future is undecided and we get a vote. We must believe that, or else we forfeit the future unnecessarily. A new world is possible. It doesn’t have to be this way.” I really really really needed to hear that today.

9. Black History Month: 4 Ways to Virtually Participate and Learn This February and Beyond.

10. It’s Not Just You. A Lot Of Us Are Hitting A Pandemic Wall Right Now.

11. ‘I get better sleep’: the people who quit social media. “Soo Youn is considering giving up the apps. She speaks to those who have already taken the plunge – with liberating results.”

12. Rashida Jones On Becoming A Mom, Losing Her Mom, And The ‘Big Chapters’ Of Life.

13. Art and Activism Collide Throughout Montréal in Playful Street Interventions by Roadsworth.

14. People Are Hilariously Roasting ‘Target’ Fashion Designers By Taking These Pics Wearing Their Dresses.

15. sharkk heartt, “work fires.”

16. Pockets of Landscapes and Still Lifes Adorn Subjects in Lavish Portraits by Aniela Sobieski.