1. 20 Inspiring Winning Photos From The World Nature Photography Awards 2024. In related news, Striking Image of a Forest Filled With Monarch Butterflies Wins 2024 BigPicture Photo Contest and One Shot Photo Contest: Celebrating Outstanding Single Images in Black and White and The Most Hilarious Entries So Far in the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards.

2. This Is Your Brain on Grief. “When you lose someone, a neurological rewiring kicks in to help you through the shock and heartache.”

3. How Do You Stop Burnout as a Highly Sensitive Person?

4. Fly fisherman by day, comedian by night. “Stribling started his comedy career during his time at Colorado State University where he studied conservation and wildlife biology. Since then, he has made a living between his two passions working as an environmentalist by day and a comic by night. Rocky Mountain PBS recently spoke with Stribling about his career and the lasting impacts of his work.”

5. David Sedaris is an icon of indignation in a world that keeps on irking. “The American humorist delighted the Royal Festival Hall with characteristically disgruntled slices of life – including a brush with cancel culture.”

6. A Most Violent Nation by Frederick Joseph. “On preparing for the United States to be what it tells you it is.” In related news, They Not Like Us from Robert Jones, JR., (“Ruminations on the nature of despotic people, how they operate with a ruthlessness par excellence, and how the conditions they create affect art and the world”), and How We Get Through This from Ijeoma Oluo, (“Buckle up y’all. Shit’s about to get really rough”), and “With fear for our democracy, I dissent” from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds, and A Letter From Roshi Joan Halifax, (“July 4, Independence Day, interdependence day. What might this mean to us, as we face the increasing polarization in our world, in our country, and for many, in ourselves?”), and three posts from The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz: We The People Dissent, (“The eve our second Independence Day”), and July 4th, 2024: Freedom’s Funeral, (“Fascism is being born on the farce of July”), and Happy Interdependence Day.

7. Hugh Hollowell’s latest Life is So Beautiful newsletter, because this:

“I wish I knew something to say when it feels like the world is crumbling around you, but I don’t. At least not anything I haven’t said before.

Stay hydrated. Get plenty of sleep. No, more sleep than that. Eat good food, and preferably with people you care about.

Don’t let anyone steal your humanity – look for opportunities to help others, even if on the smallest of scales. Find the humor where you can, and laugh as much as you can.

Check in with your vulnerable friends. If you don’t have any vulnerable friends, please work to fix that.

In the midst of feelings of powerlessness, search for things you can still control, and do that. Feel everything you need to, but don’t stay there, because we have many years of work to do, and we need you in the fight.

Love always wins in the end. And if it seems like love didn’t win, it’s only because it isn’t the end.

Don’t give up, and don’t give in. And love each other really, really hard.”

Thanks, Hugh. Also be sure to read his latest blog post, Touching Grass.

8. Somewhere, Always. “A poem about how everything falls apart and also keeps going.” (Thanks to Rita for sharing this link in her latest post, “The pursuit of happiness“).

9. Gaylon Ferguson on the Intersection of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism on The Dewdrop Dialogues Podcast. “In this podcast episode, Vanessa chats with Gaylon Ferguson, author of Welcoming Beginner’s Mind: Zen and Tibetan Wisdom on Experiencing Our True Nature. The conversation explores the main subject of the book which are the ten images of the ox herding sequence and their progression from seeking the ox to returning to the world. Included in this is Gaylon’s Welcoming Practice and his personal journey with the ox herding pictures and how he abandoned the project of writing a commentary on Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. The conversation also touches on the importance of beginner’s mind, the challenges of not doing anything, and the power of sitting with difficult emotions.” P.S. I took my Buddhist Refuge Vow with Gaylon, and he gave me my Buddhist name.

10. Know Your Meme, “a website dedicated to documenting Internet phenomena: viral videos, image macros, catchphrases, web celebs and more.”

11. We’re lonelier than ever — and there’s one big reason. “Thanks to modern-day social media, it’s easier than ever to connect with the people you care about. But is this really the case? Professor Arthur Brooks discusses how social media is actually harming our ability to socialize, and proposes a way to fix it.”

12. 10 Easy Simple Living Tips That Will Transform Your Life.

13. The 7 Keys to Longevity on The New York Times. (gift link) “Ignore the hyperbaric chambers and infrared light: These are the evidence-backed secrets to aging well.”

14. The Best Shows to Binge Watch, From Timeless Classics to New Cult Favorites.

15. Emerge & Shine, a fun mix on SoundCloud from DJ Starshyne, also known as Jamie Ridler. “As a featured artist in Soul Art Day 2024, I worked on a mix with the intention of opening to guidance on the question, “How can I emerge from this transformational cocoon and shine?” This is the mix that emerged.”

16. What AI thinks a beautiful woman looks like. This is as fascinating as it is frustrating.

17. What It’s Like to Be a Highly Sensitive Person.

18. Mount Everest’s highest camp is littered with frozen garbage, and cleanup is likely to take years.

19. Native Plants Finder. “This website is designed to help you find the best species to attract the butterflies and birds in your area.”

20. Medicinal Media lofi: rain on windows. (video) “In the first edition of our #lofi series, creative director Jennymarie Jemison worked with Medicinal Media artist Annie McCall to bring us to a place of #mindful reflection through #rainsounds. Our wish is that this helps you to daydream, cool off, get cozy, cuddle up, sleep, breathe, listen… or perhaps practice niksen (which is Dutch and refers to the art of doing nothing).” Medicinal media is a new nonprofit committed to creating and elevating media that supports mental health.

21. At Four Forty-Six a.m. When I Can’t Sleep, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

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.”