1. Heart advice from Pema Chödrön: “For us, as people sitting here meditating, as people wanting to live a good, full, unrestricted, adventurous, real kind of life, there is concrete instruction that we can follow, which is the one that we have been following all along in meditation: see what is. Acknowledge it without judging it as right or wrong. Let it go and come back to the present moment. Whatever comes up, see what is without calling it right or wrong. Acknowledge it. See it clearly without judgment and let it go. Come back to the present moment. From now until the moment of your death, you could do this.”
2. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: A More Present Life Starts Now (“Life and practice don’t need to be separate, writes Emily Horn. She shares how we can integrate moments of meditation into the routine experiences of our every day lives”), and How to Practice Bearing Witness (“A three-step practice to connect with and serve those who are suffering”), and What I Wish I’d Known When I Met My First Spiritual Teacher (“Scott Edelstein, author of ‘The User’s Guide to Spiritual Teachers,’ shares 19 points to consider when beginning to engage with a teacher on the dharma path), and Loving-Kindness for All Beings & All Bodies (“Metta meditation is healing and heart-opening. Arisika Razak leads us through the practice”), and Silent Illumination: The Method of No-Method (“The practice is to be fully here, with this body and mind, in this space. Rebecca Li on silent illumination”).
3. The Anti-Airbnb-Space on Culture Study. “When people talk about warmth, or comfort, or coziness, they’re not actually talking about blankets or fires or throw pillows. They’re talking about the undeniable, absolutely irresistible evidence that a place is beloved. That feeling has no defined aesthetic. It resists trends and appears at all price points. An algorithm can’t sense it. It often doesn’t come across in photos. But that feeling, the feeling I have in this space right now, writing on this window seat? It feels like a home. Maybe not my own. But someone’s.”
4. Reading recommendations from Robert Jones, Jr. A list of books and online articles from the authors of one of my favorite quotes (“We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist”) and one of my favorite novels (The Prophets).
5. How to Feel Better About Yourself (and why that will help everyone else too) on Going Gently from Satya Robyn. Also from Satya, Buddhas & Gentleness Everywhere.
6. The Power of Living from Essence from Julie Colwell. “Here’s my 2024 challenge for you: Would you be willing for relationship to be the vehicle for your own smelting, extraction, purification? If so, there are very specific steps you can take. These aren’t one-and-done; if you’re going to bring all of your golden being out for us to see, well, get ready to jump into an ongoing process of letting your old defense be (hopefully, gently) crushed. But your baby self is in there. Waiting to be seen, heard, known, and yes, even cherished.”
7. NearbyWiki.org. “Explore interesting places nearby listed on Wikipedia.” This was fun to look at in terms of where I live, but I think it could also be useful when traveling.
8. The Productivity Boost Missing From Your To-Do List. “It’s the small, everyday wins that can motivate us to do bigger things—so long as we take stock of them,” on making a “ta-da” list. In related news, I Tried the “Reverse To-Do List” Method and I’ve Never Been Less Stressed (It Brings Me Joy!), on making a “done” list.
9. ‘We just held hands and jumped!’ How one of Britain’s happiest, healthiest communes was built. “It took 13 years of dreaming, peril and hard graft before the first residents moved into Cannock Mill – an eco-village that tackles both the climate crisis and loneliness.”
10. Declutter (In a Big Way!) by Asking Yourself One Simple Question. This is an older post (2016), but when I read it, I was amazed. How had I never thought of this before!
11. New Eyes, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.
“And
I felt myself open,
naked as a winter tree,
tender as a woman
just learning to see
how everything invites us
to meet what is holy.”
12. Niching up from Seth Godin. I love this perspective, “To niche up, identify the smallest group of people that would be enough to sustain the project. That group, the group you get to choose, what do they have in common? What do they want?”
13. In the Flow or Out of Sync from Jena Schwartz. “We make things and we unmake things. We discover things and we lose the plot, lose the keys, and sometimes we even lose our minds. We get glimpses of something exquisite, even divine, when we hear a baby laughing or see a murmuration of starlings carving shapes into sky. Our bodies become emblems of the most stunning systems and also the most excruciating breakdowns. Growth and decay, regulation and disregulation, harmony and dissonance. It’s all part of it.”
14. The artist who refused to sell from Danny Gregory.
15. World Central Kitchen reaches milestone, serving 22 million meals in Gaza.
16. We expect the art. What shows up is a human. from Patti Digh. “Let us keep the art on whatever pedestal we need for it and let the humans who created it remain on solid ground, just like us. The humans we can hold accountable for their actions, yes. But perhaps with a modicum of understanding of how very hard it is to be fully human.” This is most likely always going to be a dilemma for me, one that never gets solved: Can we still love and honor the art when the artist is utterly unlovable?
17. The Possibilities of February from Austin Kleon.
18. Imbolc, Groundhog Day, and Brigantia All Celebrate the Coming Spring. “Whatever you call it, early February’s cross-quarter day reconnects us with ancient astronomical timekeeping traditions.”
19. An Exciting Time: On the Tension Between Making Art and Sharing It. “There’s a crucial difference between the need to be paid attention to and the desire to connect—it’s the difference between trying to one-up someone else’s story and telling one of your own to commiserate, to empathize; between saying Look at me, everybody and You’re not the only one.” In related news, Everyone’s a sellout now. “So you want to be an artist. Do you have to start a TikTok?”
20. Why Strategic Slowness Is the Next Big Trend for 2024, According to a Stanford Management Professor. “I’m hoping this Stanford expert is right, that 2024 is the year we realize slowing down leads to more success.”
21. Become Quiet So You Can Listen on Zen Habits.
22. How to Be More Present in Your Daily Life. “Think about this: we often get lost in memories or worry about what’s next. But the secret to really living, to really feeling alive, is being totally in the moment, right now. Imagine not missing out on the little joys and the big moments because you’re really there, not lost in your head. This article is all about why being in the now matters and how you can do it.”
23. Why Having a Little Hobby Is So Good for You, According to Science.
24. CrashCourse on YouTube. “At Crash Course, we believe that high-quality educational videos should be available to everyone for free! The Crash Course team has produced more than 45 courses on a wide variety of subjects, including organic chemistry, literature, world history, biology, philosophy, theater, ecology, and many more!”
25. Phoebe Waller-Bridge on Her “Surreal” Journey From Fleabag to Indiana Jones on Vanity Fair. In the article, she says of acting school, “I just got really scared of getting it wrong. I’d always thought that the whole point was to kind of get it so wrong that it ends up being original…I think that’s basically what my career has been attempting: Just keep getting it wrong until it’s original.” I utterly adore her.
26. Meet Our Poet Laureate Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer from Evermore, “dedicated to making the world a more livable place for bereaved people. We are changing policies and practices within our communities — and across our nation — so that all bereaved individuals can achieve a healthy, prosperous, and equitable future.”
27. Hard Seasons and Wild Hearts from Brené Brown. “People are hard but, damn — there are so many folks doing such amazing awkward, brave, and kind things in the world. If you pay attention, it’s enough to make your heart go wild.”
28. Tired of ‘hacks?’ Here are 20 of the best life tips sourced from 21.9 million real people.
29. Kate Yeager Is in Her Vulnerable Era. “Her upcoming EP explores ‘love and self-discovery,’ and today, she’s dropping ‘Fat,’ a slow-burning single that digs into body image, self-acceptance and the formative experiences that shape our view of ourselves. The New York-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter describes her upcoming releases as ‘a whole lot of light with a whole lot of bite,’ pointing to her pop meets Country crooner sensibilities.”
30. Are insects drawn to light? New research shows it’s confusion, not fatal attraction.
31. Distracted By The Dopamine Slot Machine on Sluggish, “dopamine dispatch #5: “digital fentanyl,” technology panic, and what’s really wrong with the internet.”
32. Butterfly, Flying Home & the poet Monica Rico on superheroes and song lyrics on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad.
34. The Gnome Trail: An Open Secret on Culture Study.
35. 004: What we talk about when we talk about pain on Rootsie. “Searching for words both hopeful and true.”
36. Sounds True Podcast | Chip Conley: Midlife: From Crisis to Chrysalis. “Tune in for a very honest and hope-giving podcast on: The phoenix phenomenon; the anatomy of transition; the metaphor of the chrysalis; cultivating a growth mindset; the components of high ‘TQ’ (or transitional IQ); creating space for something new; the great midlife edit; the dark night of the ego; radically shifting how you want to live your life; vulnerability and accepting help; ‘dancing backwards in high heels’; developing a friendship with your body; letting go—but also welcoming in; the alchemy of curiosity and wisdom; goosebumps as a sign you’re on the right path; and more.”
37. Pep Talk: On Not Stopping from Maggie Smith.
38. on creating welcome and belonging: a mindset shift for changing the world from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks.
39. 7 Compliments to Give an Introvert.
40. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman performed in duet with Luke Combs at the 66th Grammy Awards. This is just a clip, but every time I watch it, I start crying.
41. An affordability crisis is making some young Americans give up on ever owning a home.
42. I Want to Grieve Normal Things Again from John Pavlovitz. “The unnatural grieving of these days.”
43. Grief is hard. Not talking about it makes it even harder. from Elizabeth Kleinfeld. “I miss my husband every day. Being able to open up about the pain of losing him helps me remember the best of who he was and who we were together.”
44. If You’re Contemplating Suicide, We Have Some Messages for You.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 