1. Wisdom from Robin Wall Kimmerer, from her book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, “Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, the feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street to a sacred bond.”

2. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: Ask the Teachers: Is happiness really the central goal of Buddhist practice? (“Anushka Fernandopulle, Ven. Thubten Chodron, and Kaira Jewel Lingo discuss the real meaning of ‘happiness’ in Buddhism”), and Becoming the Ally of All Beings (“A teaching by Sharon Salzberg on the interconnectedness of all things”), and The Four Noble Truths (“Buddhist teacher and scholar Jan Willis on the Buddha’s central teaching — his diagnosis and cure for suffering”).

3. Stop postponing your life until you lose the weight by Amber Karnes.

4. 5 Ways Weight Stigma Harms Fat People’s Health by Ragen Chastain of Dances with Fat.

5. Restoring Indigenous Systems of Relationality. Because this: “The vision we have described here is a vision that ultimately focuses on life, that values and prioritizes the dignity and respect of all living beings. It teaches our children how to co-exist in respectful, reciprocal relationships with diverse communities, including lands, waters, atmospheres, plants, and animals, and it believes in and works towards a more honest, just, loving, and sustainable future for all of us.”

6. Andrea Gibson – Homesick: A Plea For Our Planet (Official Video).

At the beginning of the summer, the sun burning apocalyptic in the Colorado sky, I began writing a poem titled, HOMESICK: A PLEA FOR OUR PLANET. It was written to highlight the earth’s deep love for all she creates, in hopes that humans might requite that love with their actions, choices, and vote. As humans, it’s easy to forget that we are, ourselves, nature. There are so many horrific losses of climate change––and it is, by itself, enough reason to reevaluate everything about our care for the planet. What needs to happen for us to stop ignoring the fact that the earth is, everyday now, scattering her own ashes? It’s crucial to presence the question, ‘What kind of planet are we passing down to our children?’

7. Beaver eating cabbage. (video) It’s even better with the sound on.

8. Tis the season: 30 Fall and Winter Soup Recipe Ideas.

9. The Log 2: Another year. (video) “This peaceful log bridge video, filmed in the Pennsylvania wilderness by Robert Bush, captures just how many wild animals cross over and under this log, day and night in every season…The August 2019 video, filmed in 2018-19, was the second of Bush’s log videos. His first, The Log Movie, was filmed in 2017-18 and includes curious baby bears, a snowy winter scene or two, and a few small surprises.”

10. 10 newsletters I love to read that you might, too from Austin Kleon. I, of course, would include Austin’s weekly newsletter to this list.

11. Working from home can be a nightmare when you have a pet. (video)

12. The messy politics of Nextdoor. “Want to see how polarized America is? Look no further than Nextdoor.” It really can be awful.

13. What we know Sunday: Snow stalls Cameron Peak, East Troublesome fires; Estes Park protected. We got 14 inches here yesterday, and were all so happy to see it.

14. #YouCanBeABCs from Sam – 6 year old raps about careers A through Z. (video)

15. Salute to this parents! preserving our culture & art. (video)

16. Alicia Keys-Good Job | Cover by One Voice Children’s Choir | A Tribute to Covid19 Heroes (video)

17. Parents Of 545 Children Separated At U.S.-Mexico Border Still Can’t Be Found.

18. I Am Watching My Planet, My Home, Die on The New York Times. “Every single issue that matters to me — education, social justice, women’s rights, affordable health care, criminal justice reform, gun control, immigration policy etc. — won’t mean a single thing if the planet becomes uninhabitable.”

19. Adrian Brandon paints portraits of Black lives lost to police violence. “I just want people to stop and remember these lives and to honor them in the way that they should be honored.”

20. This Is The Backstory Of The Viral Photo Of A Black Woman Holding Her Son While Waiting In Line To Vote.

21. Bunky Echo-Hawk: The Resistance. “Filmmaker Ben-Alex Dupris explores how the reality and resistance of Native Americans inspires the work of Pawnee artist Bunky Echo-Hawk, igniting discussions about environmentalism and Native American rights, among other topics.”

22. Nadiya Hussain: ‘I want to blend in. But the truth is, I’m never going to blend in’. “Five years after winning [Great British] Bake Off, she’d love to just talk about baking and cookbooks. But then there’s diversity in TV, mental health, the pandemic…”

23. Apparently, a corgi crossed with another breed looks like a corgi disguised as the other dog. “These stumpy-legged pawsters seem to be so near perfect that even genetics don’t want to hide their corgi-esque traits when crossing them with other dog breeds.”

1. Man Escapes Cougar: ‘Dude, I Don’t Feel Like Dying Today.’  Just to clarify, No, That Mountain Lion Wasn’t “Stalking” a Runner.

2. This might be your most important flu shot ever. “We don’t need people with the (largely preventable) flu flooding our hospitals in a pandemic.”

3. This Gay Man Surprised His Husband With a ‘Stupid Love’ Wedding Dance. “So a gay couple got married over the weekend, and while the two were walking down the aisle for the first time as husband and husband after confirming their vows to each other, one of them decides to bust out their choreography skills and goes into full-on popstar mode with a routine to none other than Lady Gaga’s 2020 bop ‘Stupid Love.'”

4. Unlearning the shame we feel about being out of breath. “Being out of breath during exertion is normal. Yet many people of all shapes and sizes have told me they avoid physical activity because they don’t want to feel shame for being out of breath.”

5. Billionaire wealth rises to more than $10 trillion for first time ever amid pandemic: analysis. Because, this:

“Extreme wealth concentration is an ugly phenomenon from a moral perspective, but it’s also economically and socially destructive,” Luke Hilyard, the executive director of the High Pay Center, a think tank that focuses on excessive executive pay, told The Guardian. “Anyone accumulating riches on this scale could easily afford to raise the pay of the employees who generate their wealth, or contribute a great deal more in taxes to support vital public services, while remaining very well rewarded for whatever successes they’ve achieved. The findings from the UBS report showing that the super-rich are getting even richer are a sign that capitalism isn’t working as it should.”

6. Why the Cameron Peak Fire is unlikely to reach Fort Collins or Loveland. I live in Fort Collins, and as of Sunday (when we thankfully got the tiniest bit of rain and the wind died down), The Cameron Peak Fire was 203,253 acres and 62% contained, growing by nearly 3,900 acres on Saturday. While wild fires in the summer and early fall are “normal” here, the rate at which things burn is new — thanks, climate change!

7. Nathan Apodaca: Everyone’s new cousin. “Nathan Apodaca, Northern Arapaho, talks to Indian Country Today about his newfound fame and message to Indigenous communities.”

8. Trump Attack on Diversity Training Has a Quick and Chilling Effect, on The New York Times. “A presidential executive order banning the ‘malign ideology’ of racial sensitivity training has rippled through government into academia and corporate America.” In related news, from Dr. Justin P. Cowan, an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at Western Connecticut State University, who said, “In case you missed the White House’s Proclamation on Columbus Day, 2020. I fixed it.” 9. Cover of Let Go by Frou Frou from Audrey Assad. Gorgeous.

10. Which ‘Milk’ Is Best For The Environment? We Compared Dairy, Nut, Soy, Hemp And Grain Milks.

11. Author Laila Lalami shows us her bookshelf. (video) From the “Show us your shelf” series by Soul Pancake.

12. The Keep Going Song (Live from Our Home at the End of the World) by The Bengsons. (video) In related news, “The Bengsons made this song and we’ve been listening to it on repeat… Trav and I have been life long dancer/singers (respectively) so there hasn’t been a lot of opportunity to crossover collaborate, this is somewhere in the middle of our two worlds.” (video)

13. This Teen Ballerina is Challenging Stereotypes About Dancers’ Bodies. (video)

14. They don’t want you to vote because they are afraid, wisdom from Elizabeth Gilbert.

They are afraid because they know that if everyone in this country could easily and fairly vote, they would ALWAYS lose elections. They are afraid because the country is getting younger and more diverse and more progressive, and their “values” are more out of touch than ever. They are afraid because it’s getting stupider and crazier by the day to keep pretending that climate change isn’t real, or that Black lives don’t matter, or that tax breaks for the rich will “lift everyone up.” They’re afraid because their bullshit story doesn’t hold up anymore. They’re afraid because the unholy alliance that they have forged over the last decades between religious fundamentalists, the greedy, the racist, and the furious STILL does not constitute a majority of Americans — no matter how hard they try to make it so. They are afraid because they sold their souls and their country to a sociopathic con artist who is bankrupt in every single way that a human being can be bankrupt — and while he has trashed all decency the way a drunk rock star trashes a hotel room, they either rallied behind him, or stayed quiet in order to protect their jobs, their investments, or their privileges. They are afraid, because there are more of us than there are of them. There’s still more decency then there is depravity, and that’s why they can’t win a fair fight. THEY ARE AFRAID OF YOU, and that’s why they’re making it as difficult as possible for you to vote. They are cowards. They will always cowards. Shame on them.

15. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: Why Mindfulness Isn’t Enough (“Scholar Sarah Shaw explains why mindfulness must work together with ethics, compassion, and wisdom — in Buddhism and in life”) and Welcoming the Life That’s Yours (“In this excerpt from their new book, Opening to Grief, Claire B. Willis and Marnie Crawford Samuelson share how when you allow and accept all of life’s experiences, you can fully open to the life that’s yours to live”).

16. This Kind of Hard Work, a recent newsletter from Gapingvoid Culture Design Group. “It’s good to want to be successful, and do whatever it takes. But even better, is to be a complete human being.”

17. I Miss Restaurants, So I Opened My Own…for a Chipmunk.

The existential dread of a global pandemic is pervasive. I find myself often caught in a state of hopelessness and helplessness, unable to celebrate newborn babies, birthdays, graduations, and marriages. Unable to properly grieve losses or sit with a close friend undergoing chemo. Worried about the chefs and restaurant workers who rely on our collective ability to go out to eat. News is bleak and we are all feeling physically and socially isolated. But every day, there is also Thelonious, a chipmunk who sits down to eat in a world without a doomful election and a deadly virus. This is how I am coping, laying out a picnic, watching tiny hands hold my tiny food. It’s silly, yes, but sometimes silliness is needed.

18. Insights at the Edge Podcast — Elizabeth Stanley: Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness.

In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Elizabeth Stanley about her 8-session online course, Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training: A Trauma-Sensitive Online Course to Build Resilience and Thrive During Stress. They also discuss why MMFT is a practice we can all benefit from; the value of expanding our “window of tolerance”; the relationship between personal agency and trauma; the “thinking” brain versus the “survival” brain; when stress becomes trauma; the importance of recovery from stressful situations; and more.

19. God’s Promise by Elana Miller. This post is about Dr. Miller’s cancer journey, but what she says at the end applies to all of us:

Every action I’ve ever taken, and ever will take, and every action that has been taken for me, creates an energy that expands out into the entire universe. And energy can never be destroyed, but only transformed, so even after I die, the energy of every good thing I’ve done and every good thing done for me will continue to ripple out forever, into eternity. There it will exist for everyone, always.

20. Recipe: Simple Cauliflower Tacos.

21. Do I Need To Tell You To Vote? Vote. Vote! on Terrible Minds, a compelling argument for why you should vote and for whom from Chuck Wendig, who consistently makes me laugh about even the worst of things.

22. Thirty Everyday Phrases that Perpetuate the Oppression of Indigenous Peoples.

23. Embracing the Gifts of Conflict for Social Change.

As a collective, we are living in unprecedented times. The triple pandemic of COVID-19, white supremacy, and capitalist-driven climate crisis has intensified survival fears and made the structural oppression we are living under more palpable and unbearable. We are coming face to face with the fact of our interdependence, and the stakes are high. Either we as a species learn to live well with each other and the earth now, or die trying.

24. Unlocking Us Podcast: Brené with Emily and Amelia Nagoski on Burnout and How to Complete the Stress Cycle. Their book is one of the best I’ve read about burnout, and when I started listening to this podcast the other day, I realized I needed to stop and listen when I had my notebook and could write stuff down.

25. We love because we care from Austin Kleon.

26. 30 Journal Prompts to Start Your Day Feeling Inspired.

27. Skater Jasmine Moore Says Roller Skating Is All About Black Joy.

28. How Do You Survive A Pandemic? These Women Have Lessons For Us All. “Over the span of three weeks in September and October, NPR photographed and interviewed 19 women around the world. They shared their challenges and fears — and how they are overcoming them.”