1. Building a Mindful New Year, a FREE online program, “6 Transcendent Themes / 6 Buddhist Teachers / 6 Meditations to Guide You into 2021, December 26 @ 3:00 pm – December 31 @ 3:45 pm EST.”

2. Write About Now Podcast, “A thoroughly human, often humorous, glimpse into the lives and stories of successful writers. How they got there, what they’ve learned, and what you need to succeed.”

3. Tony, thank you for delivering Wow on GapingVoid. “We always remark to ourselves that we are in an incredible position, where we are able to learn and experiment all while we deliver our services for our closest clients. This was especially true at Zappos, and so we thought it fitting to list ten insights we gained from our work with Tony.”

4. A Letter To All White Yoga Teachers.

5. Are you doing enough for the world? (video) from the amazing Andréa Ranae Johnson. Also from Andréa, How to Avoid Burnout While Trying to Make a Difference (And Recover From Burnout if You Do) (video).

6. COVID related news: @covid19quilt project (“a global craft project instigated by Melbourne based artists…to share Covid-19 experiences of isolation, community and care”), Vaccines against the coronavirus will have side effects – and that’s a good thing, and Oregon doctor’s license revoked over refusal to wear mask during pandemic, and A 19-Year-Old Found Out She Had COVID While Filming A TikTok Taste-Testing A Starbucks Drink, and Find Your Place in the Vaccine Line on The New York Times.

7. Reading lists: NPR’s Best of 2020 and The Best Books We Read in 2020 from The New Yorker.

8. Kaavan, the ‘World’s loneliest elephant’ just had his first contact with another elephant in 8 years.

9. David Chang risked it all to win $1 million for restaurant workers.

10. Precisely Arranged Stones Coil and Surge Across the Land in Jon Foreman’s Mesmeric Works.

11. A Practical Guide to Taking Back Your Power from Social Media (Without Deleting It).

12. In America, Is Power in the Hands of Too Many ‘Mediocre’ Men? on The New York Times.

13. Man Who’s Very Much Not an Artist Draws Hilariously Bad Pet Portraits to Raise Money for Charity.

14. Wild Cockatoo And His Girlfriend Visit Their Favorite Person Every Day.

15. Australian Family Surprised After Returning Home To Find Koala Hanging Out In Their Christmas Tree.

16. Sobering Realities: Women Write Their Way into the Addiction Canon.

17. Magical ice-skating video from northern Finland wows viewers. “Photographer Esko Liukas and figure skater Tiina Pakkanen created a video in which she appears to be gliding across the water of a lake in the Finnish far north.”

18. “How to Be Alone” by Pádraig Ó Tuama, A Poetry Film by Leo G Franchi, “part of our ‘Poetry Films’ series, which features animated interpretations of beloved poems from our archive.”

19. The difference between helping and Helping.

20. ‘Hunger Like They’ve Never Seen It Before’: US Food Banks Struggle as 1 in 6 Families With Children Don’t Have Enough to Eat. If this isn’t a sign of screwed up priorities, I don’t know what is… How can so many be so wealthy when there are so many who don’t even have enough to eat?!

21. Beware going ‘back to normal’ thoughts – normal gave us Trump.

22. There is no finish line from Austin Kleon.

23. Good Vibes Only in this Burning House, Please.

24. 4 Questions to Ask Yourself to Find Meaningful Work.

25. On working with limitations. “Writer Esmé Weijun Wang on the social and artistic benefits of a writer’s group, building a strong reading foundation, and re-envisioning what it means to leave a legacy.”

1. Giving Back During the Holidays Is *So* Important — Here’s How To Do It During a Pandemic.

2. The Birds Are Outside on The New York Times. “One bird feeder became two, then three. Months passed.”

3. Social Reproduction and the Pandemic. “The coronavirus crisis has made clear that care and life-making work are the essential work of society.”

4. The pandemic is starving us. Communities — not the government — are stepping up. “26 million Americans now report not having enough to eat; 16 percent of households with children report not having enough to eat.”

5. Turns Out It’s Pretty Good: Fall. “Why are we so skeptical of the things right in front of us? ‘Turns Out It’s Pretty Good’ is a series that examines the path from resisting the well-known to wholeheartedly endorsing it.”

6. New York Bodega Worker Gives Free Snacks To Customers Who Solve His Math Problems. Love these videos, happy to know the back story.

7. Sorting Through a Hoarder’s Lifetime of Clutter, We Learned the Meaning of Love. “When my boyfriend took a job helping a widow clean out her house, among the urine-soaked rugs and years-old piles of laundry, I saw our relationship in a new light.”

8. President-elect Biden Adds Navajo Nation Health Director, Dr. Jill Jim, to His Transition Team’s Coronavirus Task Force.

9. Wisdom from Krishna Das: “Our lives are the path. There is no ordinary life and spiritual life.”

10. The Thanksgiving Myth Gets a Deeper Look This Year on The New York Times. “For many Native Americans, the Covid-19 toll and the struggle over racial inequity make this high time to re-examine the holiday, and a cruel history.” In related news, 6 Native American and Indigenous Charities to Donate to for Indigenous Peoples’ Day & Thanksgiving.

11. Less Than A Year To Develop A COVID Vaccine – Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Be Alarmed. This is a case where “fast” doesn’t mean lazy or sloppy or careless, it means “this is urgent because people are dying so we have to work really hard and get this done asap.” In related news, Moderna released more Covid-19 vaccine results. They’re very encouraging.

12. Chef David Chang On Depression, Being A Dad And The Burden Of ‘Authenticity’.

13. 7 Great ‘This American Life’ Episodes for Thanksgiving on The New York Times. “From family mysteries and Native American history to stories that delight, here’s what the show’s host, Ira Glass, recommends to get you through the week.”

14. The Losses We Share on The New York Times. “Perhaps the path to healing begins with three simple words: Are you OK?”

15. The Dog Journal That Became a Diary of the Sky.

16. TikToker finds her 2020 goal list from January and well… It’s hilarious.

17. ‘In My Room’ With Aimee Mann. “Aimee Mann celebrated the 20th anniversary of Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo by playing tracks for Rolling Stone’s In My Room.”

18. Wisdom from David R. Hawkins: “Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others.”

19. Mary Lambert Debuts Breathtaking Holiday Song ‘Seasonal Depression’. Her cover of Joni Mitchell’s “River” is also gorgeous.

20. Normal People Official Playlist on Spotify. As much as I’m enjoying the story, the acting, the visual mood; I’m loving the music.

21. You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes: Hannah Gadsby on Spotify, (podcast).

22. December Reflections with Susannah Conway. “The idea is simply to take a photograph (and share it if you wish) every day in December while reflecting back over the year. I’ve provided a list of daily prompts with a mix of things to photograph — for example: star, red, ornament — and things to ponder.”

23. Charlie Mackesy’s lessons in kindness. If you don’t already know his work, go find out (links are included in the article), it will be SO worth your time.

24. Solitude Is a Life’s Work, a poem by Belén Atienza.