This week’s list of things worth reading, watching, listening to, contemplating, and sharing.
1. To read poetry like a poet, don’t worry about ‘getting it’. In related news, The Healing Power of Poetry. Here’s a whole bunch of poetry to get you started, most posted to Instagram: Life is Soup, I am Fork, and This Spring, and An Aspirational Self Portrait of a Woman in Savasana, and what to do when your heart breaks, and Giving Notice, and Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America.
2. Andrea Gibson – Finding Me. “Now two-and-a-half years into an ovarian cancer diagnosis, they’ve never felt more grateful for the clarity on life, fear, joy—and, yes, impermanence—that their diagnosis has offered. And this revelation is something they want to share; something Andrea believes we all have access to. They offer us a reminder that facing our own mortality is perhaps the simplest truth about life—Andrea says, ‘I will not fight against what is.'”
3. Lama Rod describes himself as a Black Buddhist Southern Queen. He wants to free you from suffering.
4. Yoga and the Maintenance of White Womanhood.
5. How wildlife crossings protect both animals and people on CBS Sunday Morning.
6. Get your broken items fixed for free at a Repair Café. “Adrianne Ferree and her daughter Lauren Bash discuss why providing tools, resources and Makerspaces to all communities is vital to people and the planet.”
7. As Above Astro on Instagram. I’m loving their most recent series.
8. What anti-ageing discourse forgets by Nikita Gill.
9. From Embracing Vulnerability to Finding Joy – Let’s Do It. “The human mind is a relentless engine of thought, constantly producing ideas and emotions without an easily accessible off switch.”
10. From Seth Godin: Dreams, plans and contradictions, and Other people’s problems.
11. Time’s 100 Most Influencial People of 2024.
12. 20 Delightful Idioms From Around the World. “Idioms like Mandarin’s ‘take your pants off to fart’ make no sense to English speakers—at least, not to English speakers who haven’t read this list.”
13. Wisdom from Robert Henri: “The object isn’t to make art. It’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”
14. Sojourn: The first new essay from the forthcoming ‘Consolations: II’ by David Whyte.
15. a cadence of self-compassion from Karen Walrond. Also from Karen, reaching toward creativity.
16. 10 Unconventional Ways To Practice Real Self-Care from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.
17. This beautiful thought from Hugh Hollowell: “We live in a world animated by magic.”
18. Eight ways to transform a walk in the forest into a wellbeing immersion.
19. In Praise of Freshness AND Routine on Going Gently.
20. Wisdom from Nick Cave: “As far as I can see the secret to a successful and enduring marriage rests entirely upon both participants believing in, wishing for and working toward the good of the other.”
21. Consistency without misery.
22. A chat with Stephanie Zacharek and Dwight Garner, a conversation hosted by Austin Kleon. “We had a good time talking about honesty in criticism, having a sense of humor, the writing process, our favorite books and movies, how to develop your personal taste, and much more.”
23. Why Uncertainty Is Good for Us. “Most of us want to avoid uncertainty, but the latest scientific research is showing that uncertainty may be essential for our overall well-being. Here’s how mindfulness can help us unlock its beneficial potential.”
24. 6 ‘Therapy-Speak’ Terms You’re Probably Misusing. “Here’s what they actually mean — and why it matters.”
25. Hope and Rosemerry Trommer | Of Ink & Earth: The Poetic Gifts of Grief, Love, & Wonder. “In the second episode of Wild Heart Revival, Rosemerry Trommer beckons us into a grounded exploration of the plentiful well of possibility that is poetry, inviting us to draw from its depths and discover the richness therein. Where Earth, Heart, and Spirit converge, the wild and rugged beauty of cave-like love exists, alongside the graceful flight of rough-legged hawks, and the radiant warmth of the sun. With sincerity and transparency, Rosemerry unveils the poetic gifts nestled within grief, love, and wonder, inviting us to embrace the simplicity that underlies each moment. Join us as we wander through the tangled landscapes of language and poetry, with bewilderment, curiosity, and a reverence for the mysteries that surround us”).
26. Earth Day: How one grocery shopper takes steps to avoid ‘pointless plastic.’
27. Wisdom from Ban Hass: “‘Listen to your body’ may be unhelpful for those who are scared of their bodies. You can’t ‘listen to your body’ when you don’t speak the same language. You can’t listen to your body’ when you have spent years ignoring it. Perhaps the first step should be, ‘Be curious about your body: What is it trying to tell me?’ & then, ‘Become more familiar with your body’ & finally, ‘Learn to develop trust with your body’. Underlying all of this should be: “Understand that you will sometimes get it wrong’.”
28. ‘It’s totally unhinged’: is the book world turning against Goodreads?
29. My Mental Health Drastically Improved When I Stopped Posting on Social Media. “How I’m moving past being online every waking moment and finding peace in my offline life.”
30. How Scam Calls and Messages Took Over Our Everyday Lives on The New York Times. (gift link) “Digital life is cluttered with bogus text messages, spam calls and phishing attempts. You can try to block, encrypt and unsubscribe your way out of it, but you may not succeed.”
31. ‘Catfish,’ the TV Show That Predicted America’s Disorienting Digital Future on The New York Times. (gift link) “For 12 years, the MTV reality series ‘Catfish’ has traveled the U.S., presenting hundreds of intimate snapshots of what can go wrong when the heart mixes with technology.”
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 