1. A Tiny House Like A Zen Forest. (video) I want to go to there.

2. Japan Cherry Blossoms 2023. (video)

3. The Kō Strategies: Shunbun | Spring Equinox. I love what Lucian has to say in this installment about balance between compassion and courage.

4. Mental Health Benefits of Spending Time Alone as an Introvert.

5. Craft Tip: Be a ______ in your ______ from Maggie Smith.

6. Resistance to Atlanta’s Cop City Ramps Up. In related news, Why Fatal Police Interactions Are Avoidable.

7. The answer to every question from Seth Godin.

8. The Dewdrop Podcast Episode #1: Turning Words With Hozan Alan Senauke. “Vanessa Able talks with Hozan Alan Senauke, Abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center in California and author of the new book Turning Words. In Zen tradition, ‘turning words’ are words that can help one turn towards awakening or change a person’s direction. Alan shares various examples of turning words he has encountered in his life, including a powerful encounter with his teacher Sojun Weitsman Roshi, whose lasting teaching has been to ‘let things fall apart’.”

9. Wisdom from Kerri Kelly: In the latest newsletter from CTZNWell, Kelly says that we must cultivate “a capacity that inspires us to go beyond pessimism and despair towards courage and creativity. We can appreciate small steps in the right direction while also holding healthy dissatisfaction for what more needs to be done to reduce harm. And we must practice every single day becoming who we need to be in order to meet the moment and shape the future.” There are also some great links in this edition, such as Woke Is Just Another Word for Liberal and The High Cost of Being Poor.

10. Wingspans, a gorgeous post from Gretchen Schmelzer about our shadows and cultivating a state of awe.

11. The World Is Not Better Off Without You from Andrea Gibson. 

12. GoFundMe: Patrick & AMML Diagnosis.

13. Essay Camp with Summer Brennan starts today.

14. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: A Spring Prayer (“Shozan Jack Haubner presents a prayer for the chaotic awakening of nature that is spring”) and First Light (“Diane Ackerman, best-selling author of A Natural History of the Senses, offers a series of meditations on dawn and decay, koans and creation”).

15. Wisdom from Danny Gregory: “Becoming an artist doesn’t mean quitting your job or renting a studio or buying supplies or taking a workshop or getting a degree. It doesn’t mean slogging or suffering either. It means showing up. Day after day. Step after step.” Read more from Danny’s Essays here.

16. Planning a garden? Here’s a step-by-step guide to start off on the right foot. In related news, Tips for Sowing Seeds Indoors This Spring.

17. Recipes I want to try: 7-Day No-Sugar High-Fiber Meal Plan and Lemon Cupcakes. Because it’s all about balance.

18. Slow Learning from Austin Kleon.

19. Poetic Sculptures by Valérie Hadida Cast Composed Women with Coiffed Hair in Bronze.

20. Whatever the Problem, It’s Probably Solved by Walking on The New York Times.

21. The seven types of rest: I spent a week trying them all. Could they help end my exhaustion? I’m almost positive I shared this when it was first published, but for me it was worth a second look.

22. We asked to see your pet artwork — you unleashed your creativity. The black dog curled up in the leather chair could totally be my Sam.

23. The Making of the Cranberries’ Haunted Farewell. “Dolores O’Riordan’s band and family talk about her troubled last days, the songs she left behind and the creation of the band’s final album, ‘In the End.’”

24. Manliness, a hilarious Instagram Reel from Nicolas Lacroix.

25. The rise of the TikTok scold. “Why advice-peddling influencers are so into shaming you right now.”

26. 24 of The Best Coming-of-Age Novels. One of my favorite genres.

27. 20 Things You Need to Stop Wasting Your Time On. 

28. 6 things to know about U.S. teacher shortages and how to solve them.

29. Our Film Critic on Why He’s Done With the Movies on The New York Times. “After 23 years as a film critic, Mr. Scott discusses why he is done with the movies, and what his decision reveals about the new realities of American cinema.”

30. A photographer’s intimate view of Denver’s ever-changing landscape.

31. What if we exist exactly as we are supposed to exist, and we don’t need to spend our precious time on this planet trying to change. (Instagram Reel) In related news, another similar reel, Heal It Up.

32. Queerness Is Messy, I Am Messy and That’s a Very Good Thing.

33. Honoring the Full Range of Grief: staying open to meet the moment with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer on the Breathing Wind podcast. “In this week’s episode, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer cries and laughs her way through an expansive and nourishing conversation about grief, creativity and love. We talk with her about poetry as a practice for meeting each moment, her unfolding journey through devastating loss and where those experiences of creativity and grief intersect. She also shares how she’s been carried by an immensity of love since the death of her son Finn, in the same year that her father died, and how grief has deepened her trust in that love while inviting her, over and over again, to say yes to the world.”

34. The State of Women… Isn’t Working. “Our 2023 State of Women Report, a study of 4,500 women conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of theSkimm, discovered that, while women are exhausted and disappointed, they have not given up. They have simply given up on the illusion of external support. The findings show that women are making seismic changes to how they live, finally prioritizing their own needs because no one else will. Instead of resignation, they are exhibiting agency, and a willingness to make tough choices to secure their own futures. Here’s a glimpse of just how disenchanted women are with the unfulfilled promises of equity and societal support, according to our study.”

35. The Average Woman Is No Longer A Size 14.

36. How to foster your purpose wherever you are in life. “A non-stressful approach to figuring out what guides you.”

37. The Signature Story Quilts of Artist Faith Ringgold. “An appreciation for the 92-year-old African American mixed media artist, activist and role model who continues to live creatively.” In related (quilting) news, Pieced Together—African Quilts of India. “Learn about the tradition of Siddi quilts and how well-worn and discarded clothing becomes the visual history of a family and helps provide a source of income for women of the Siddi communities in India.”

38. Monday Meditation, from Jena Schwartz. I don’t know which I love more: the picture, the words, or Jena herself. Yeah, who am I kidding — it’s Jena.

39. A wise reminder from B. Alan Wallace: “The problem is that when we focus on mundane concerns as a means to happiness, life becomes a crapshoot. There are no guarantees. If you aspire to material wealth, you may not get it, but if you do, there is no guarantee you will be happy. If you aspire to pleasure, once a stimulus is over, so is satisfaction. There is no lasting happiness in scurrying after praise. People who are respected and famous tend to have the same personal problems as everyone else. The fatal shortcoming of the eight mundane concerns is that they are counterfeit Dharma, misguided ways of seeking happiness, and by habitually mistaking mundane concerns for genuine Dharma, our efforts to achieve genuine happiness are continually undermined.”  The eight mundane concerns are also referred to as the eight worldly concerns (or truths, winds, preoccupations, attachments, or dharmas) or the eight hardships or the eight vicissitudes. They are: gain and loss, pleasure and pain, praise and blame, and fame and disgrace.

40. This Is the Most Surprising Trait Introverts Have. It’s a good one. 

1. Think yourself better: 10 rules of philosophy to live by. “From Aristotle to Iris Murdoch: what the greatest minds of the past 2,500 years have to tell us about the good life.”

2. How do you take a picture of happiness? We asked photographers to surprise us. Today is International Day of Happiness.

3. I Love You, Now Leave Me Alone: What Friendship Means to an Introvert on The New York Times. “It can be hard to reconcile the need for close connections with the urge to cancel plans. Experts say it’s a matter of taking control and finding your comfort zone.”

4. Time doesn’t have to be money. “Two new books, Jenny Odell’s Saving Time and Pooja Laksmin’s Real Self-Care, offer a framework for thinking about the world beyond capitalism.”

5. Good stuff from Seth Godin: Is it possible to care at scale? and Conspicuous (non) consumption.

6. Healing the Heart, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. 

7. Ms. Petersen Went Up the Mountain Herself. “What matters, I think, is this continual work of constructing a life that ultimately feels chosen. That doesn’t necessarily mean controlled; there is so much in life we can’t schedule, change, manage, or even anticipate, all manner of disappointments and disasters and swift left turns. But we can choose how we navigate those obstacles and valleys, how we move towards and through and away from others, how we cultivate precious corners for ourselves and also feasts of connection and intimacy.”

8. Weight Watchers Expands Their Harmful Model – Adding Prescription Drugs.

9. Learning to hold sorrow. Because, “if our hearts are working, sorrow is unavoidable. Or, more to the point, sorrow is the sign that we are connected to what is important to us—that we are connected to our desires, our love, our hope, our integrity. Sorrow is the loss of something we hold dear.”

10. Whiteness is a Hungry Ghost.

11. You have to really love your idea from Austin Kleon.

12. How to Escape ‘Faux Self-Care’ on The New York Times. “Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, a psychiatrist who specializes in women’s health, says you don’t need bubble baths to beat burnout. Here’s what she says to do instead.”

13. The Best Foods High in Fiber. I’m currently obsessed with fiber, understandably so.

14. Wellness, bootstraps, and gurus: the new toxic mental health cheerleaders. “Toxic positivity, the sunny side up mindset that has a dark side.”

15. Yoga Has a Body Shaming Problem…Still. “We all need to take an honest look at where we actually are and commit to moving past it.”

16. A veterinarian says pets have a lot to teach us about love and grief.

17. More on The Whale: The Whale’s Point of View (“The Oscar-nominated film is not just cruelly fatphobic; it is irredeemably juvenile”), and Fat Suit Fart Attack: The Whale (“I Deserve $120,000 for Watching This Movie”), and Brendan Fraser Deserves The World, But The Whale Deserved Nothing.

18. How Introverts Can Overcome Limiting Beliefs.

19. Ghost Story by Maggie Smith on Brevity. She has a memoir coming out and this piece is part of it. I am looking forward to reading the whole book because, as I’ve always said, poets write some of the best memoirs.

20. Five things you thought were “normal” that were actually emotional neglect. (Instagram reel) *sigh*

21. Fear is not necessarily a “no” from Andrea Gibson. (Instagram reel)

22. ‘There was cruelty and unpleasantness’: Emily Watson on school, stardom and sex scenes in her 50s. “The actor grew up in an alleged cult and was expelled after her explicit role in Breaking the Waves. She discusses method acting, the #MeToo movement and mixing work and family.”

23. 6 early entries we love from the 2023 NPR Student Podcast Challenge.

24. Covid has not affected people’s happiness around world, study reveals. “World Happiness Report finds higher levels of benevolence in all global regions than before the pandemic.”

25. Woman lives in a tree for two years to save it from loggers. “Julia Butterfly Hill’s two-year tree sit was an admirable act of environmental activism, but it is important to acknowledge the work of marginalized communities too.”

26. New music from Furns, one of my favorite groups. “FURNS is the name of the Danish power couple with the distinctive logo. With their airy minimal electronic soulful vibes they have captured the hearts of millions of listeners around the globe. Monika Faludi and Mathias Dahl Andreasen AKA. FURNS write, compose, record, produce, mix and master all of their work in FURNS Studio, based in the outskirts of Copenhagen.” If you don’t have Spotify, you can also listen to them on YouTube.