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.

 

1. Why I Write from Laurie Wagner. There’s still time to sign up for Five Days of Wild Writing with her, one of my most loved practices with one of my most beloved teachers.

2. I Talked to 150 Writers and Here’s the Best Advice They Had. This is an older post (2017) but still relevant. “Joe Fassler on Seven of the Most Common Writing Tips.”

3. Can Dogs Make Us Better Writers? “Anna Bruno on How Canines Make Humans More Human.”

4. 5 Things We Should Do in Our Lifetime as Introverts.

5. Ambition, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

6. The Dewdrop, “a digest of reflective and powerful writing focused on reading, writing and being. We are immersed in poetry, essays and book excerpts that draw on classic texts as well as contemporary writing. Grounded in Zen Buddhism, The Dewdrop is interested in every faith background as well as writers who don’t identify with any formal tradition.”

7. Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower: Rilke’s Timeless Spell for Living Through Difficult Times.

8. You are not behind, an important message from Jes Baker.

9. When Did Fitness Become a Luxury Item? 

10. Study Finds Doctors’ Weight Loss Advice Is Rarely Effective from Ragen Chastain. 

11. Recipes I want to try: Magic Cookie Bars, and Whole Wheat Chocolate Oat Cookies, and Donut Sticks, and Chewy Ginger Cookies, and Homemade Taco Seasoning. In what seems like related news, Margarine and butter prices are soaring. Here’s why. and Egg prices have soared 60% in a year. Here’s why.

12. Joel Cross “Shake It Off.” (video) “Joel Cross performing Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, Oct. 3, 2015.” I love it when musicians take a song someone else did in a distinctive way and make it their own, recognizable but also something new.

13. A Reading List on Being a Black Man in Contemporary America. “J.M. Holmes, author of ‘How Are You Going to Save Yourself,’ on books that portray African American men in complex and nuanced ways.”

14. Job interviews are a nightmare — and only getting worse. “Employers are constantly finding new hoops for candidates to jump through.”

15. A Fake Death in Romancelandia on The New York Times. “A Tennessee homemaker entered the online world of romance writers and it became, in her words, ‘an addiction.’ Things went downhill from there.”

16. There Will Be Pain, There Will Also Be Loss. “Kindness is a warmth that cannot be replaced. I believe that kindness is love in action.”

17. Why Highly Sensitive People Are More Resilient. 

18. A decade on, the ‘This is fine’ creator wants to put the famous dog to rest. Quite possibly my favorite meme, cartoon ever.

19. Making Black Literature More Accessible Could Help Literacy Rates. (video) “‘Access is the only thing that can influence literacy rates’ — Semicolon is a bookstore and gallery focused on Black literature. Here’s how it’s making a difference for BIPOC communities.”

20. A Wake from Robert Jones Jr. “For most Americans, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a day of dreaming. For me, it is a wake.”

21. If I Were… on A Grace Full Life. This looks fun.

22. Some things I didn’t know about The Body Keeps Score and its author. You always hear how important this book is, and I’ve tried to read it multiple times but have only ever gotten less than halfway through.

23. Why your new diet is antiblack. “Da’Shaun Harrison on the violent intersections of anti-Blackness and anti-fatness.” More important than being certain in the rightness of your opinion is being aware of all the possible perspectives on an issue because I’ve found that no matter what I think, I’m always missing something.

24. Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower: Rilke’s Timeless Spell for Living Through Difficult Times. As beautiful as Rilke’s poem is Maria Popova’s introduction to it here: “There are times in life when the firmament of our being seems to collapse, taking all the light with it, swallowing all color and sound into a silent scream of darkness. It rarely looks that way from the inside, but these are always times of profound transformation and recalibration — the darkness is not terminal but primordial; in it, a new self is being born, not with a Big Bang but with a whisper. Our task, then, is only to listen. What we hear becomes new light.”

25. For some without a home, the airport is a source of shelter.

26. ‘Schoolhouse Rock!,’ the iconic children’s show that made learning fun, celebrates its 50th anniversary.

27. New York Expands Green Burial Options With Human Composting. “The Empire State becomes the sixth in the US to legalize the eco-friendly burial alternative.”

28. Lisa Congdon Sessions Podcast Episode 34: What I Learned In 2022 That Changed Everything.

29. I Needed to Stop Apologizing for My Authentic Self. “Keeping my head in the clouds helped me bypass the shame that kept me in the closet.”

30. AI’s Best Trick Yet Is Showering Us With Attention on The New York Times Magazine. “Face filters and selfie apps are so compelling because they simulate limitless interest in what we look like.” In related news, AI can’t kill anything worth preserving.

31. Watch a rescued beaver meticulously build an indoor ‘dam’ out of random household items. 

32. Raise your hand if you kind of loved withdrawing from society during quarantine.

33. I Have Arrived, I Am Home – Documentary About Thich Nhat Hanh (Trailer). (video) “Made specially for the first anniversary of the passing of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, ‘I Have Arrived, I Am Home’ is a new documentary from filmmaker Max Pugh (A Cloud Never Dies, Walk With Me). The film includes footage and commentary on Thich Nhat Hanh’s return to his native Vietnam, where he lived from 2018 until his passing on 22 January 2022. The international Plum Village Community is making this film available to everyone on January 21st for free to honor our dear teacher and inspire viewers to walk the path of mindful living.”

34. Oversized Paper Flowers Bloom in Lush Bunches by Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen.

35. How Influencers are Killing a Sacred Tradition. (video) “White Sage is a sacred plant to Southern California’s Native people. It has been swept up in the wellness craze thanks to social media and celebrities like the Kardashians. This is the story of what happens when a marginalized culture’s sacred tradition goes viral – including the birth of a black market.”

36. Leslie Jones Is Bringing “Black Woman Ass Whoopin'” to the Daily Show | The Tonight Show. (video)

37. Jennifer Coolidge Won this Year’s Golden Globe Awards, Plus 13 Feminist Moments From the Ceremony that Made Us Smile.

38. Allison Mae Photography has a new website. Her dog photography makes me so happy.

39. The Madwoman in the Other Apartment. Because this: “Sometimes grief is like a water balloon. You carry it around all the time, shift it from hand to hand, and sometimes you drop it, and sometimes it breaks. Always this awkward, breakable, explodable thing that you have to juggle. You get good at it, so you almost forget it’s there. But then, oops, splat. There goes another one. You can never put it down. Can you feel it, the water balloon, in your hand even now?”

40. Nature’s Diversity is Captured in Minuscule Detail in the 2022 Close-Up Photographer of the Year Competition.

41. Wisdom from Ram Dass: “When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying, ‘You’re too this, or I’m too this.’ That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”

42. Three signs you need a digital declutter (and how to do one).

43. We need boredom to live better lives. But social media is destroying it. “When boredom creeps in, many of us turn to social media. But that may be preventing us from reaching a transformative level of boredom.”

44. Tree Abraham on Designing the Cover of Her Own Book, Cyclettes.

45. Good stuff from Austin Kleon: How to write a book and Letting books talk to each other.