1. Looking Back, Moving Forward: Alaska Native, Suicide Prevention Advocate and Ultra-Runner Carol Seppilu. “Some may go through such dark moments to the point where they feel that they can’t go on anymore. I’ve been there many times before and still get to that point to this day. As long as there is even just one particle of light in your life, hold on to it because even the smallest amount of light outshines the dark. I’ve seen it turn as bright as the sun in the sky. When I go through those dark moments, I just have to get through it because I don’t want to stay there, and I know it’ll get better again. I’m always grateful to be here still. Keep going.”
2. Artist Jon Foreman, whose canvas is a beach on CBS Sunday Morning. “Artist Jon Foreman finds inspiration in nature and a receding tide, using rocks that he finds, or raked sand, to turn the beaches of Wales into spectacular designs that are destined to be washed away.”
3. Thrift shopping: Fashion that’s more sustainable on CBS Sunday Morning. “Secondhand shopping, also known as upcycling, is one of fashion’s fastest-growing trends. Correspondent Serena Altschul looks at how getting new use from unwanted clothes is becoming a $35 billion market.”
4. Sweetest pittie gains foster kittens’ trust by letting them nurse on her from The Dodo, (video).
5. Christine and the Queens Opened Up About His New Pronouns and Expanded Artistic Moniker. “The artist will also release a new album in September.” His song Tilted is one of my favorites, all the various versions, including this from Better Things.
6. Living Myth Episode 293 – Thresholds of Change. (podcast) “On this in-depth episode, drawn from an event recording, Michael Meade suggests that because we live in a time of change, if we can allow ourselves to participate in the change, then we can find meaningful purpose that awakens the heart and leads us in the right direction in the world. The idea of a threshold is something that exists before one state and another, before one place and another. Most of us are collectively on that threshold betwixt and between the letting go of the old view of the world and the full stepping into the new world.”
7. Artist Penny Thomson on Instagram. This article about her showed up in my Facebook memories and I was surprised I hadn’t immediately followed her on Instagram — fixed! “Fish writhing through the ocean, colorful butterflies taking flight, and owls leaving their perch are a few of the creatures featured in Penny Thomson’s miniature ecosystems. The Sheffield-born artist deftly captures marine and land animals’ movement in her kinetic sculptures that operate with simple hand-cranks. Coated in moss, sprawling branches, and other foliage, the whimsical works are tiny renditions of their real-life counterparts.”
8. The Forgotten Story of Pixieland: The Oregon Coast Amusement Park. (video) “The Oregon coast was once home to an amusement park that promised to be the Pacific Northwest’s answer to Disneyland. Despite the talent and heart that went into its development, the park shut down within just a few years. This documentary tells the full story of the defunct Pixieland park, from its earliest inspiration to its long-lasting impact on the local community.”
9. Wisdom from Zoe Whittall on Twitter.
10. Wisdom from Thaís Sky on Twitter.
11. Masaka Kids Afrikana + Harry Styles = Joy. (video)
12. Ecosystems of Fungi and Coral Inhabit Vintage Books in Stéphanie Kilgast’s Intricate Sculptures.
13. Active Shooter, a heartbreaking nonfiction piece by Debby Thompson, one of my favorite dog humans.
14. The Most Heartbreaking Animal Deaths in Movies, Ranked. I can still remember being in a dark theater watching Eight Below when I realized what was going to happen (I didn’t know much about the story before seeing it) and losing it, swearing I’d never ever ever watch another movie if I knew something bad would happen to the dog. At that time the website Does The Dog Die didn’t exist, (“Crowdsourced emotional spoilers for movies, tv, books and more”).
15. The Top 5 True Crime Channels on Youtube.
16. Cheryl Strayed on the 1995 Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike That Changed Everything. “Ten years after the publication of ‘Wild,’ the beloved author shares her thoughts on the haters who thought she was unprepared, the transformative power of doing big things, and where Monster is now.”
17. I Went Viral On TikTok For Being Fat-Shamed — Here’s What I Learned From The Response. “My comments section confirmed this: It didn’t matter how much evidence they were given; it was almost as if thin people needed to believe that I was making this up. They had to know, beyond a doubt, that strangers were kind to them because they deserved it, rather than because of what their bodies looked like.”
18. Black Girl Songbook podcast from Danyel Smith: Donna Summer Deserves (Chapter 27).
19. Call your abandoned self home from Amy Oscar. “If I could offer you one piece of advice, it would be: Go and find the parts of yourself that you rejected as too fast, too loud, too quiet, too much, not enough, too big, too small, too young, too old, too … anything and call them home.”
20. Fried, The Burnout Podcast: Guided Meditation for Grounding, Filling up, and Protection. “Guided meditation is a great way to center yourself by reconnecting with your body and the Earth around you. Meditation provides a safe space for your body to heal and replenish itself while keeping your mind clear enough for you to receive messages from your heart. In this week’s #straightfromsarah episode, FRIED Burnout Coach Sarah Vosen guides listeners through a meditation for grounding, filling up the body with energy, and creating a protected space.”
21. How To Stop Waiting And How To Start Living from Andrea Gibson.
22. What Comes After Ambition? “Hustle culture is dead. Did American women’s drive go away, or has it morphed into something new—and maybe better?”
23. Do More Things That Make You Forget to Check Your Phone. “Here you’ll find six activities to help you do more things that make you forget to check your phone, and live a more present life.”
24. 5 Habits of the Happiest Women I Know.
26. Labor and wait from Austin Kleon.
27. All communication is lossy. “Adopting the mindset that lossiness is a fact of life has another benefit: that of beginning to see communication not as simply a transference but as a generative space. That is, we often think of communication as simply moving understanding from one place to another, the way we might move electrons from a substation to a home. This assumption is behind a lot of otherwise well-intentioned efforts to reduce or even eliminate synchronous communication, as it can seem wholly inefficient compared with other methods. But the best communication makes way for something new to emerge in the exchange. It’s not passive but generative, not mere delivery but a creative transformation.”
28. No Self, No Suffering on Lion’s Roar. “The Buddha made a big promise — that if we know the cause of suffering we can end it. Melvin McLeod breaks down the Buddha’s four noble truths — including his unique insight into the real cause of our suffering — and argues it’s not only the ultimate self-help formula, but the best guide to helping others and benefiting the world.”
29. #43. Magnolia tree flower (from my book, Goodbye, again). “And of course everything will not be fine. But I believe that what defines us, in part, are the things we draw ourselves to that make us believe that they might, for a brief moment, be okay.”
30. Breaking Is Part of Healing by adrienne maree brown.
31. The Bridge Project: Reframing the Prevailing American Narrative for 2052. “The Reframing the Prevailing American Narrative for 2052 report details the findings of over a year and half of research and analysis. We are sharing these findings with organizers, movement leaders, storytellers, and cultural influencers in the hope that you will help us imagine a future in which the prevalent story of American identity is untethered from white supremacy.”
32. In the Middle is a Pile of Words, on writing and grief.
33. Climate change, Covid, and the Arctic Refuge. “A first-person account of long-delayed, on-and-off-again rafting through arctic tundra during times of global and personal stress.”
34. Walking around Kamo-jinja Shrine and Keihoku-cho Area. (video) This creator has a whole collection of gorgeous videos on YouTube of scenic places in Japan.
35. Animals Evolve into Islands Teeming With Coral, Succulents, and Tropical Fish in Hyperrealist Paintings by Lisa Ericson. Her work is so beautiful, joyful and gorgeous.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 