1. Patrick got his stem cell transplant. They can still use support, as little or much as you have to give.

2. What Introverts Can Do When They Feel Overwhelmed by Life.

3. London Writer’s Salon #032: David Whyte — Poetic Imagination & The Way of the Poet. (podcast) “Internationally renowned poet David Whyte on his life and craft as a poet, writer, and speaker. We explore poetic imagination, how we might use poetry as a tool to engage more deeply with the world and balancing soul vs survival work. David reads his poems: Blessing of the Morning Light, Song for the Salmon, Your Prayer and Start Close in.”

4. R.I.P. Tyre Nichols. Instead of watching the video of his last moments (really, just don’t watch it), check out his photography website, or read more about his life and who he was, Tyre Nichols remembered as beautiful soul with creative eye or Tyre Nichols loved sunsets. People are sharing glowing skies in his honor, or support his family.

5. In ‘No More Police,’ Mariame Kaba and Andrea Ritchie Argue for Abolition. “Teen Vogue spoke to the abolitionist organizers about policing, gun violence, hope for the future, and more.”

6. Confessions of a Hungry Ghost on Lion’s Roar. “Sensei Alex Kakuyo knows what it’s like to live as a hungry ghost, constantly striving toward one more thing. He shares how Buddhist practice has helped him accept this endless hunger and find refuge in the present moment.”

7. From Seth Godin: The coming ubiquity and “What do you do around here?”

8. Suggestions for Making Your Dreams Come True from Jena Schwartz. And reason #212 why I love her so much is the “p.s.” she added in a newsletter after she posted it: “I made a list today of suggestions for making your dreams come true. I did not include the systemic and cultural barriers for so many people, and haven’t decided if I’ll write more about that, share the list as is, or not share it at all. believe in the things I listed, and also know that privilege is more often than not a factor when it comes to living one’s dreams. And the isms that infiltrate every aspect of life in the United States make it impossible to talk about things like making dreams come true without acknowledging inequity. So part of the both/and I’m sitting with is that I truly DO believe in making our dreams come true, and I also truly believe that we must simultaneously, continuously work to name and transform the toxic, inhumane, shitty norms and systems that make this easier for some people than others.”

9. Layoff Brain from Anne Helen Petersen. “You can reconcile yourself to Worker Layoff Brain, absorbing the blows each time they come, sitting with the cognitive dissonance of millions and profit and hundreds if not thousands of jobs cut, repeating the mantra ‘this is an opportunity,’ ‘this is an opportunity,’ ‘this is an opportunity.’ But again: that’s shouldering risk that shouldn’t be yours to bear. If we understand layoffs as irrational — and generally the result of imitative behavior, in which companies compete to signal most strongly that they’re tightening their belts and/or pushing back against employee power — then there is no strategy to avoid them. But you can mitigate their effects and their power over you, and not just by amassing a personal emergency fund.”

10. Six Months to Live from Summer Brennan. “The idea with pretending you only have six months or a year to live is, of course, that you never know. The bus or the aneurysm or the heart attack—they can come at any time. Sometimes there’s a bad decision involved, those slippery stairs at night, or the friend who’s had a few drinks behind the wheel, but other times it’s nothing to do with you. You’re checking the soccer scores and then, the next moment, gone. As for my six month mortality experiment, it’s possible that I simply forgot about it, the way we always forget. I don’t remember marking the end, some metaphorical demise where I was grateful to be alive, or whatever. I would forget, and then remember, and take my sunglasses off, and then forget again.”

11. Water Rabbit Year (2023): An Opportunity to Recalibrate.

12. Reclaiming resilience: Building in redundancy, complexity and diversity for systems change.

13. I’m an Organizer. This Is How I Use Social Media to Make a Difference. “Activist Eliel Cruz outlines seven strategies for using social media as a tool for promoting social and political change.”

14. No, You Are Not an Hysterical Female, and This Is Not Just Anxiety a reshare of this important post by Patti Digh seven years after the event. “I think there are many things you could call me. You could call me stubborn. You could call me opinionated. You could even call me anxious — when I am anxious. Just don’t let that be the benchmark for my health care, or a convenient thing to write when you can’t find anything else wrong, or are so intent on not listening to me that you can’t hear me.”

15. A Great Writing Companion from Jamie Attenberg, whose sweet pup Sidney passed last week. “This probably will seem obvious to anyone who has or had a pet themselves, but I can’t imagine a scenario where I would have stayed as sane as I did (the little I did) during the pandemic without my dog.” Amen.

16. Why Do Terrible Things Happen To Wonderful People? Why make a universe that hurts? from Andrea Gibson.

17. Don’t try to worry less. Worry smarter. “Try these steps to make worry less of a burden — locate it in your body, make it concrete, problem solve and let it go.”

18. 100+ Plants Fill a Beautiful, Brick-Walled 600-Square-Foot NYC Rental Apartment.

19. 11 Anti-Racism Educators & Activists To Follow And Support Online.

20. 15 Grounding Techniques To Soothe Anxiety, From Therapists.

21. Tiktok’s enshittification. “Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.”

22. Productive procrastination from Austin Kleon.

23. Michael Imperioli’s Apartment Looks Like a White Lotus Hotel. I had no idea how much I should like him as a person, a human. And his walk in closet converted to a meditation shrine in the Tibetan tradition? *swoon*

24. Marie Kondo revealed she’s ‘kind of given up’ on being so tidy. People freaked out.

25. Jane Fonda, 85, Says She Still Does Her Iconic Workout Videos Every Day to ‘Stay in Shape’. “The actress admitted that her fitness goals have changed over the years from focusing on her physical appearance to her health and well-being. ‘Now it has to do with how I feel,’ she said. ‘Also, because I’m old, I know from experience that if you don’t keep using your muscles and joints, you’re going to be in big trouble.'”

26. New owner of Yachats’ largest motel has big plans for upgrades and creating more rooms, shops and housing.

27. Saunas Are Filling Up, but Are They Actually Good for You? on The New York Times.

28. Spend Less Time on Your Phone with These 15 Little Tricks.

29. The Praying Mantis Moment: You’ll Never See This Again by Brian Doyle. He could write the most expansive essays about the seemingly smallest things.

30. The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance. “As Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and ecological systems to reimagine currencies of exchange?”

31. Recipe I want to try: Cream Cheese Pound Cake.

32. Mom’s heartbreaking post about her dying 5-year-old’s final days is a powerful lesson in what really matters.

33. Grief comes in waves, a poem from The Wandering Paddy. (video)

34. The Education of X González. “After the Parkland shooting, I became an activist, a celebrity, a ‘survivor’ — and the pressure almost killed me.”

35. Do Rapid Tests Still Work? on The New York Times. “They can result in false negatives, but they remain a valuable tool in stopping the spread of Covid-19. Here’s how to use them most effectively.”

36. “Sort Of” Season 2 Grapples With the Many Complications of Love.

37. Do you use these words when you apologize? It’s time to stop, researchers say.

38. ‘From this day forward, I will always be “Oscar-nominated actor Ke Huy Quan”!’ on The New York Times. “After mounting a major career comeback and losing his health insurance, the ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ actor said the news was surreal.”

39. Trader Joe’s 14th Annual Customer Choice Awards Winners.

40. Sam Smith says they finally love their body: ‘I have the opposite of body dysmorphia.’

41. 6 Things People Do Differently In Finland, The Happiest Country In The World.

42. Delicate Knots, Velvet, and Beads Entwine in Julia Shore’s Mossy Embroideries.

43. Laser-Cut Paper Coils Into Intricate Vessels That Contrast Human Touch and Technology. In related news, Dramatic Flora and Fauna Emerge from Maude White’s Exquisitely Detailed Cut Paper Sculptures.

44. Need Advice? Here’s Why You Should Seek Out an Introvert.

45. What I Kept | January 2023 on A Grace Full Life. I always find something good on Kari’s list, things that make me think, others that make me smile (I mean, HOW CUTE are her dogs?!). This list I especially like these two: How a Bit of Awe Can Improve Your Health on The New York Times and, in related news, The Emerging Science of Awe and Its Benefits.

Let this be the space where you embrace the beautiful reality that all around, there are slower rhythms that are calling your name. Even if it’s nothing more than a few trees outside your window, or the sky above, you are surrounded by beautiful, natural rhythms in the world that remind you that there is no need to rush.

~Morgan Harper Nichols

1. Still Life from Summer Brennan. “I went to an exhibit at the Louvre yesterday, about still life art throughout the ages. All those flowers and fruits and vegetables and dead birds. A still life painting from Pompeii, from 50 A.D., of a loaf of bread and two figs. The figs, exactly as they might be now, set in the light on the windowsill. The bread, like you or I might eat, sectioned, like a Roman tear-and-share. We have been ourselves for so much longer than we realize. Bread, and figs on the ledge of a window, and the Neapolitan sun beating down, and the sounds of the ocean not far away. In the distance, for all of us, the sound of the volcano.”

2. What Are The 7 Types Of Rest? (Plus, The Best One For You).

3. Practice Makes Purpose from Mindy Tsonas Choi. “I can feel myself trying to reach back for a certain kind of joy that was scattered and lost along the way. Complexity and truth are absolutely important and necessary, but I desperately could use more levity and light in my life — not the kind that bypasses and erases the difficult things happening in the world, but perhaps as a way to help hold it all in my heart.”

4. After Peeling the Beets, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

5. How it started; how it’s going on At The Wild Edges. I read these posts from people who have restricted or even quit their use of various social media and the impact it’s had on them with great interest.

6. There are no stupid mistakes from Seth Godin. This is a great reframe.

7. New Thich Nhat Hanh documentary “I Have Arrived, I Am Home” premieres January 21.

8. How to Stay Calm In the Midst of Chaos on Lion’s Roar. “Sharon Salzberg on the power of equanimity.”

9. Culture Study Challenge: One Small Community Thing.

10. 8 Things Introverts Do That May Seem Weird to Others (But Are Not).

11. Crows and Other Sentient Beings, art and wisdom from P Jean Oliver.

12. Four Types of Attention.

13. Wisdom from Kerri Kelly: “I realized I have been running away from the fatigue, from the fear that nothing will change, and from the truth that the systems we are trying to save are, in fact, not salvageable. This may sound depressing, but in fact, arriving at this conclusion – that there is no fixing this mess – has given me renewed hope. By accepting the conditions of our present reality, we become clear in purpose. That our assignment is to care for each other during the collapse of old systems, to reduce harm wherever possible, and to unleash our joy and art and imagination towards new pathways and practices of being.”

14. We Need Comrades. “For too long, the individualist rhetoric of ‘self-care’ has crowded out our sense of working collectively for shared goals. Comradeship is about our responsibility to each other — a responsibility that makes us better and stronger than we could ever be alone.”

15. What happened when we made space for harvest.

16. The disappointment of copy cats from Susannah Conway.

17. How To Stop Crying from Andrea Gibson.

18. Fear, a poem from Kahlil Gibran.

19. Why is Everyone Online Autistic Now?

20. What’s the #1 thing to change to be happier? A top happiness researcher weighs in.

21. Letters Against Isolation. “We fight senior loneliness one letter at a time. Through handwritten messages of love, hope, and joy, our volunteer community brings seniors connection and improves their mental and physical health.” You can volunteer to write letters: “Sign up to become a Letters Against Isolation volunteer and send seniors around the world handwritten letters filled with joy! Once you submit the form, you’ll receive an email from us with further instructions!”

22. Artists sue AI company for billions, alleging “parasite” app used their work for free. In related news, Art created by artificial intelligence: “Frightening and fascinating all at the same time” and Nuclear explosión gender reveal party from Weird AI Generations on Twitter.

23. The truth behind 10 of the biggest health beliefs. “Should we really be aiming to walk 10,000 steps a day, or drink two litres of water? Time to sift fact from fiction.” In related news, 10 Nutrition Myths Experts Wish Would Die on The New York Times. “We surveyed some of the country’s leading authorities to reveal the truth about fat, dairy, soy and more.”

24. How to Make a Caregiving Plan (So It’s Ready When You Need It) on The New York Times. In related news, Why writing a will and planning for your death is a ‘lifetime gift’ to loved ones.

25. I Lost My Dad. These Are The 7 Words I Wish I’d Never Been Told At His Funeral. “The loss was a part of my heartbeat, my everyday, and not to talk about it felt like withholding some essential context from whomever I was speaking to: family, friends, co-workers, strangers. My dad just died. Please act like it.”

26. Small Changes Introverts Can Make to Improve Their Lives.

27. Leslie Jones Set the Bar Incredibly High for Future Guest Hosts During her Run on “The Daily Show.” 

28. Artist creates stunning—but temporary—wildlife portraits with natural, foraged materials.

29. People Are Sharing The Adult Advice That Made A Real Difference For Them.

30. People Share Their All-Time Favorite Words In A Foreign Language. In seemingly related news, 35 Times Kids’ “Alternative” Names For Things Were Much Better Than The Real Names.

31. Precise Details and Architectural Contrasts Highlight Layla May Arthur’s Narrative Paper Sculptures.

32. Leaves, Insects, and Human Anatomy Converge in Delicate Pencil Drawings by Amahi Mori.

33. What Is Intuitive Eating? Meet The Duo Behind The Method on The New York Times. “Once considered radical, Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole’s method of intuitive eating has become the cornerstone of the modern anti-diet movement.”

34. The parallels between the messaging of diet culture and hustle culture, a Twitter thread from Amy Porto.

35. How To Slow Down In Life by Tammy Strobel on Be More With Less.

36. Beautiful art from Wole Langunju on Instagram. “Painter and installation artist interested in challenging and critiquing notions of imperialistic cultural idioms.”

37. Aja Monet – What I’ve Learned, a gorgeous poem and video.

38. Nakhane – New Brighton feat. ANOHNI (Official Music Video).

39. How to Avoid Being an Accidental Racist, a video series from Iyabo Onipede.

40. Recipes I want to try: Best Chocolate Cake Recipe, and Coconut Pound Cake, and Giant Molasses Cookies.

41. COVID PSA: (because I clearly didn’t understand the unpredictability of test results, etc.) Did you test negative when sick or exposed to COVID? Here’s what it means, and Is it time for a reality check on rapid COVID tests?, and Still testing positive after day 10? How to decide when to end your COVID isolation.

42. Dan Swygart called a ‘creep’ for dating Shauna Rae the 23-year-old stuck in 8-year-old body. I get why at first glance this might feel weird or creepy, and yet just because she had her physical growth altered in childhood and people mistake her for a child on sight doesn’t mean she doesn’t have the right to have a consensual relationship with an adult human — because SHE’S an adult human. She certainly has to more carefully vet her partners because of it to protect herself. Really, if you think this relationship is wrong, you must think all relationships between differently abled, shaped, and sized bodies isn’t either, and frankly that’s weird and creepy.

43. Is it enough? from Laurie Wagner.

44. Me and My Grandmother Play Truth or Drink. (video) This is so sweet. In related news, Cut (the creators of the video and game) makes a whole series of really fun videos: “Small questions have powerful effects when they go viral. Cut spreads stories for fun, for serious, and for real – bringing the internet together one awkward moment at a time.”

45. Why fans are horrified over Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘detox’ salad.

46. Aimee Mann Explores the ‘Therapy’ of Music on New Audible Podcast ‘Straw Into Gold’.

47. This Dystopian Sci-Fi Novel Puts a Queer Twist on 1984 and The Scarlet Letter.

48. Beyond BMI: A New Book Embodies Fat Liberation. “In her new book Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul, Dionne takes readers on a personal and political journey that begins with her own health issues and her resultant encounters with fatphobia in the medical establishment.”

49. Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space, (video) “an in-depth biography of the influential author whose groundbreaking anthropological work would challenge assumptions about race, gender and cultural superiority that had long defined the field in the 19th century.”

50. Get A Bowl Of World Famous Clam Chowder At This Newport, Oregon Restaurant. “Serving locals, visitors, and celebrities alike for the past 77 years, Mo’s and the world famous clam chowder served there have become a Newport, Oregon institution. It’s not a real trip to Newport unless you stop in at Mo’s for fresh mouthwatering seafood!” I’ve loved this place since I was a kid.