1. RIP Jimmy Buffet.💔 Jimmy Buffett, Roguish Bard of Island Escapism, Is Dead at 76 on The New York Times and Jimmy Buffett, who sang of wastin’ away in ‘Margaritaville’, dies at 76. They shared this picture on the Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers Facebook page. 

2. Wisdom from Nick Cave: “It seems to me that it is the most human of things to love foolishly, that most love in the world is unrequited as we lose our hearts over an arbitrary gesture, a casual word, a chance look. We are propelled by some contingent mischief into a sphere of yearning, of imagining, of warm dreaming, directed at someone who is oblivious to the full nature of our longing. It is a madness of sorts, not unlike religious belief – so much desire and yearning directed at an entity that so often feels indifferent and withdrawn. But this unrequited longing poured into the universe is the energy that turns the world. Mad dreams of love cast in one direction and not returned.”

3. 10 Things That Fill Introverts with Joy.

4. Good stuff from Seth Godin: The absence of proof and Are you doing what you said you wanted to do? 

5. Erika Seshadri – Eviction Notice. “As gently and softly as the narrator of the poem relocates a spider, Erika Seshadri carefully places her quiet poem ‘Eviction Notice’ at our feet. Erika’s poem is centered around the theme of ‘ahimsa’, which is a respect for all living things and avoidance of violence toward others, in Buddhist and Hindu traditions.” This reminds me of one of my favorite poems from Rudy Francisco, Mercy. 

6. Wisdom from Morgan Harper Nichols: “I hope you know it is okay to grieve what was lost or what changed. I hope you know you are allowed to take the time to do the things that help you open your heart to love again or to dream again. And I also hope you also know that you are allowed to breathe deep and trust that your story will carry on, anyway.”

7. I Made a New Friend. And Then We Argued. On The New York Times. “https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/19/style/new-friend-children-conversation.htmlThe conversation was rolling along until it turned to the topic of having children.”

8. Man Called Fran. “Plumbing, the depths.”

9. Leaning Toward Light: A Posy of Poems Celebrating the Joys and Consolations of the Garden.

10. How To Declutter Your Home: 10 Tiny Tasks To Start from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.

11. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: Embracing the Bodhisattva Vow (“Noel Alumit reflects on the daunting commitment of the bodhisattva vows, and how his ordination bolstered his relationship with his mother and culture”), and 3 Questions That Bring Us Back to Now (“While hiking, Buddhist practitioner Leslie Davis suddenly found her mind miles ahead of her body. She offers a three-question meditation practice to reel your running mind back to the present moment”), and How to Be Kind to Yourself (“You have enlightened nature, says Pema Khandro Rinpoche. If you truly know that, you’ll always be kind to yourself”).

12. Activist Micro Action Dispatch from Omkari Williams: Mutual Aid.

13. Here’s What I Want A.I. To Do from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

14. The Arc of it All from Jami Attenberg, about her upcoming release 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round.

15. On The Small Things Where Hope Lives. “It’s hard to know the effect your actions will have over time. A child in a culture of immediacy, thinking long-term was not something I learned to do. But the plants are teaching me to imagine six months, two years, five. To have faith that what is small will establish, and what goes dormant could come back if given enough time.”

16. Daily Prayer For The Earth. A project from Satya Robyn of Gentle Buddhism.

17. Enjoy bushwhacking up the mountain from Patti Digh. “10 more lessons from my 27 years of solo entrepreneurship.”

18. Art advice with Beth Pickens from Austin Kleon. “A chat about death, deadlines, and doing your art no matter what.”

19. ‘Where Should I Live?’: In a terrifying summer, a search for safety.

20. “We Have to Teach Young People to Think”: Lessons from a James Baldwin interview with Studs Terkel.

21. Cutting Screen Time By 30 Minutes A Day May Ease Anxiety & Loneliness.

22. Why a stranger’s hello can do more than just brighten your day.

23. Doing Essential Things Makes Time For Everything Else. “I had indeed been putting off doing this kind of work because I didn’t have the time and energy, but once I was able to make space for it in my day, it became clear that it was an essential thing that I need to do so that I can create time for everything else.”

24. Old Japanese Lottery Tickets.

25. How to Be Pro-Life. This infographic came up in my Facebook memories today, and it’s worth another share, maybe even more so now.

26. What Is a Permaculture Garden? Plus 12 Tips for Planting Your Own.

27. 60 Second Docs: Dream Delivery Man and Dad To The Whole Internet. (videos)

28. My First Cult Was My Family. My Mother Was in Charge. By Maria Bamford. In related news, WTF with Marc Maron: Maria Bamford. (podcast)

29. I Slept On 2023’s Best Pillows For a Week Each – Here’s What Happened.

30. Kirkus Prize names Jesmyn Ward, Héctor Tobar among finalists for top literary award.

31. New poll reveals the top 20 things ‘that make us feel good’ in 2023.

32. Yoga Changemaker Magazine | Summer 2023 Edition.

33. Woman, 104, who swims laps every day shares simple tips for long life.

34. That Good News Girl on Instagram. “Fun & positive content every day.” So good.

35. I suddenly became a hit writer – but I felt my husband treated my career like an interruption of my domestic work. “When poet Maggie Smith’s Good Bones went viral, it helped to expose a faultline at the centre of her marriage. What happened when the true dynamic of her relationship was revealed?”

36. 30 Before & After Photos That Show How Good Design Can Really Transform A Space.

37. Fun products I didn’t buy this week but wanted to: Sam the Weighted Sloth, Green Tree Calendar 2024 with Lights, and these Tiny Treehouses.

1. Wisdom from Danny Gregory: “Money and value are not the same thing. You can be a billionaire and still be a miserable egomaniac who’ll never be satisfied. Or you can live simply, draw in a handmade sketchbook with a cheap pencil every day, and feel like the richest person who ever lived.”

2. Spell Against Indifference, a poem from Maria Popova.

3. Sunrise, sunset. “Being part of a place, witnessing the turn.”

4. Speaking up from Seth Godin. Also from Seth, The convenience fee.

5. The Wisdom of Respite.

6. The End of the “Social” in Media from Frederick Joseph. “How mainstream social media lured us with connection, then sold us out.”

7. Being with Love, Death and Grief: Tara Brach and Frank Ostaseski. (video) “Grief is our natural way of expressing loss for what we love, and learning to open to grief serves the deepening and widening of our loving. This event, given at the Upaya Zen Center on June 25, 2023, includes short meditations and talks by Frank and Tara, and powerful sessions of questions and responses.”

8. Poetry from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: When It Rains and This Land.

9. Celebrating 27 years without a net from Patti Digh. “I started my own business in August 1996. Here’s what I’ve learned about working as a solo entrepreneur since then. Part One.”

10. Pep Talk from Maggie Smith. “You’re not for everyone.”

11. The Door Opened. “Nancy Hamilton’s enlightening poem ‘The Door Opened’ revels in the glory of openness and emptiness, and overcoming illusions. A meditative narrative on overcoming barriers to inner peace and truth, this poem shows us that perhaps the obstacles we thought existed perhaps were never even there at all. ‘I wrote this piece inspired by an experience I had on retreat where what I was experiencing in meditation was mirrored by what I saw in the material world at the same time,’ Nancy informed The Dewdrop.”

12. 19 of Your Gardening and Landscaping Questions, Answered by a Plant Expert.

13. 99 Ways To Love Yourself A Little Better.

14. I only travel solo because I need to schedule nap time on vacation.

15. Melbourne’s trees bombarded with emailed love letters. “City council gives identification numbers to its 70,000 trees which allow admirers to write Dear Tree letters – and get replies.”

16. Recipes I want to try: Pasta with Tomato Pesto and Garlicky Breadcrumbs, and Zucchini Patties, and Korean Beef Bowl Meal Prep, and Brownie Bread.

17. Wisdom from Maya Angelou: “Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”

18. An Opulent Kintsugi Installation by Victor Solomon Gilds a Dilapidated Basketball Court in Los Angeles.

19. ‘I wanted to be small and not seen’: how Shallow Hal almost broke Gwyneth Paltrow’s body double.

20. Solitary confinement and $7,999 tickets: Inside the chaotic plans for Fyre Festival II. “The sequel literally nobody asked for.”

21. Women In Their 40s Need To Eat Differently, And I Promise It’s Not Just To Make Them Look Younger.

22. Maui Is Still in Crisis. Here’s How to Help. “Support the survivors of the wildfire by donating directly and by following these activists and organizations for real-time updates on what’s needed now.”

23. What to Read When You’re Seeking Wonder in Times of Grief.

24. Miley Cyrus Cried While Filming the “Used to Be Young” Video Because She Was Watching Her Mom on Set.

25. Cozy up in Tokyo’s ‘Midnight Diner’ for the TV version of comfort food. It’s a really good show.

26. ‘Trail of the Lost’ is a gripping tale of hikers missing on the Pacific Crest Trail, a book review.

27. Sidewalk Garden. I love this SO much.

28. Good stuff from Austin Kleon: Will this enlarge me or diminish me? and Writer’s block is trying to tell you something.

29. How Sensitive People Can Deal With the Pressure They Put on Themselves to Be ‘the Best’. Clearly I needed to hear this, because it made me cry.

30. Don’t check the clock! 15 ways to get back to sleep when you wake at 3am.

31. Wisdom from Kurt Vonnegut: “And how should we behave during this Apocalypse? We should be unusually kind to one another, certainly. But we should also stop being so serious. Jokes help a lot. And get a dog, if you don’t already have one,” (by way of Hugh Hollowell’s weekly Life Is So Beautiful list).

32. José González – El Invento (Official Music Video). This gorgeous video and song were shared in A Grace Full Life’s What I Kept August 2023 post, which is also worth a look. She always shares such sweet things.