1. Jim Gaffigan is baffled by the mania over pumpkins on CBS Sunday Morning. “It’s October, which means we are officially in pumpkin season, the strangest of all made-up seasons.”
2. 50 ways to be ridiculously generous—and feel ridiculously good from Alexandra Franzen.
3. There is No Timeline to Grief.
4. ‘Cancer The Sequel’, One Star Review: Writing fake movie reviews for our personal dramas from Andrea Gibson.
5. Burnout Risk Factors – A Holistic View on Fried: The Burnout Podcast. The related infographic Cait Donovan made is really good too.
6. Climate anxiety is a normal response to an abnormal situation. Here’s what to do about it.
7. Brute Force from Summer Brennan, because this, “writing, especially something like a book, takes actual physical stamina. It is not some delicate thing that happens up in the mind and nowhere else. It requires actual brute force. Brute force. The brute force of writing a book. Anyone who has written a halfway decent book knows this, but it is good to be reminded.”
8. Fifty Years of Song on the Smarty Pants Podcast. “Joy Harjo celebrates her life in poetry.”
9. Sharon Salzberg – Metta Hour Podcast – Ep. 193 – Yung Pueblo. In related news, The Lion’s Roar Podcast: The Practice of Meditation with Yung Pueblo. “Diego Perez is the name behind the New York Times bestselling book, Clarity and Connection, written under the pen name, Yung Pueblo. His upcoming book, Lighter, promises a ‘radically compassionate plan for turning inward and lifting the heaviness that prevents us from healing ourselves and the world.'”
10. Oh wow! How getting more awe can improve your life – and even make you a nicer person. “Whether it’s the immensity of the Grand Canyon or the beauty of an intricate spider’s web, feeling awestruck is good for you. Here are 10 ways to get awed.”
11. A Genius Cartoonist Believes Child’s Play Is Anything But Frivolous on The New York Times, an interview with cartoonist Lynda Barry — “when it comes to self-expression, to making art, it’s fair to say that she’s an expert. But in many ways, not nearly as much of an expert as your average little kid, which is something Barry has been thinking about a lot lately. ‘Adults think that kids playing is some nothing thing,’ she says. ‘But play is a different state of mind, and it can help us do so many things if we just allow ourselves to get back to it.'”
12. “Autumn Anxiety” Is a Thing, and This Is How I Deal with It.
13. Stamps & Stamps design portfolio. In general I’m a bit sloppy and lazy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate and aspire to this sort of beautiful design.
14. The Hidden Invitation of Burnout. “How to practice ‘the antidote to exhaustion’ when rest isn’t enough.”
15. This Twitter thread from Alexander Hardy of grief + loss resources.
16. The Little Rituals That Keep Us Going on The New York Times. “Thousands of Times readers shared their wellness ‘non-negotiables.'”
17. ‘Grey rocking’ – how to bore a toxic narcissist out of your life. “Psychologists have suggested imagining yourself as an impenetrable grey rock when confronted with overbearing and manipulative people. The trick is to appear as uninterested, and uninteresting, as humanly possible.”
18. Medical Care Alone Won’t Halt the Spread of Diabetes, Scientists Say on The New York Times. “Researchers who study Type 2 diabetes have reached a stark conclusion: There is no device, no drug powerful enough to counter the effects of poverty, pollution, stress, a broken food system, cities that are hard to navigate on foot and inequitable access to health care, particularly in minority communities.” Amen.
19. Wisdom from bell hooks: “I am often struck by the dangerous narcissism fostered by spiritual rhetoric that pays so much attention to individual self-improvement and so little to the practice of love within the context of community.”
20. The diary of an Afghan girl killed in bombing reveals a list of unfulfilled dreams.
21. For Her Swan Song, Linda Ronstadt Turns to Recipes on The New York Times. “In ‘Feels Like Home,’ the singer, her voice taken by a form of Parkinson’s, tells her story through the border dishes of her Arizona youth.”
22. Recipe I want to try: focaccia onion board, “The pletzel is an Eastern European savory flatbread smothered in onions and poppy seeds with a chew similar to focaccia, but usually thinner and more crisp.”
23. The Longest Retreat: Ryan Lee Wong on the Intersection of Writing, Meditating, and Community.
25. Petting a dog is good for your brain, research shows. It’s me, I’m the research. 🙂
26. How to Adjust to a New Routine When You’re an Introvert Who Hates Change.
27. Spirit Rangers | Official Trailer. Now streaming on Netflix, “Native American siblings and Junior Park Rangers Kodi, Summer and Eddy have a secret — they’re ‘Spirit Rangers’ who can transform into their own super-powered spirits to help protect the national park that they call home!”
28. This adorable reminder from Kristin Noelle.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 