1. Fall color. There’s all kinds of talk this time of year about going up into the mountains to see the aspens turn colors, and I agree, they are gorgeous. And yet, I don’t feel the need to travel to see the beautiful color because the cottonwoods and ash trees right in my own neighborhood are glorious.
2. Morning walks. I took so many pictures this week that I’m only sharing my most favorite ones here, and it’s still about 100 pictures. It’s just so pretty out right now. It has been taking Ringo and I two hours to walk the same routes that were taking an hour and a half because I stop so much. He doesn’t seem to mind, as long as I don’t make him be in the picture all the time.
3. The internet. When it works, the access it gives me is essential, especially as a highly sensitive introvert who spends a lot of time alone, a lot of time at home, communicates more effectively through writing, and dislikes talking on the phone. I recognize that it is also fraught with a tinge of the awful too, as those with bad intentions have the same access I do, but I’d say it’s mostly good and I am grateful for it.
4. Flowers. This has been a lifelong love of mine, (maybe an obsession?). I didn’t have many in the house over the summer, which is unusual for me, so I was so happy Eric brought some home for me this week.
5. My tiny family, tiny house, tiny life. I feel a bit like I’ve earned but also just lucky and so grateful.
Bonus joy: constant streaming access to all the content (TV, movies, videos, pictures, music, books, articles, yoga classes, guided meditations, and podcasts), other people’s dogs, other people’s kids and babies, strawberries, green tea, hanging out with Mikalina, texting with Chloe’, writing with my Wild Writing group, meeting new people, the hydromassage chair, the pool, the sauna, small group training with Shelby and the gang, making each other laugh, playing the same song on repeat because I love it so much, that corner of the couch, hoodies and wool socks, down pillows and blankets, my weighted blanket, cuddling with Ringo, “singing” with Ringo, clean sheets, laundry, grocery shopping, being able to rest, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.
8. When an Ancestry Search Reveals Fertility Fraud on The New York Times. “Starting in the 1960s, three physicians in Rochester, N.Y., began secretly using their own sperm to help women become pregnant.”
13. The Path Home, a new podcast from Jamie Greenwood, “self care and leadership coach, faciliator and teacher. In this inaugural episode Jamie sets the intention for The Path Home as well as sharing her own continual journey of finding home in herself. She also discusses upcoming topics for podcast including boundaries, finding joy, self compassion, naviagting self doubt, and how we live into a future we want to see.”
21. The Good Life Project podcast: Bessel van der Kolk, MD | The Body Keeps the Score. “These last few years have dealt a lot of blows to our state of mind, body, and health. On some level, it’s been hard to escape trauma. Even if you can’t point to a big capital-T thing that happened, we live in a perpetual sea of micro-moments that unsettle, upset and shake us in a way that leaves a mark. Whether we know it’s there or not, whether we realize or acknowledge it, it’s affecting us. You, me, pretty much everyone on some level. Question is, what do we do about that? This is the very question I explore with my guest this week, Bessel van der Kolk, legendary trauma researcher, psychiatrist, and author of a book that has been locked into the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list for years now.”
26. Children’s Author Tells the True Story of Columbus’ Exploits. “Oriel María Siu’s new children’s book explodes the myth of Christopher Columbus as a celebrated explorer and re-centers Indigenous narratives of how the Americas were colonized.”
37. The RomCom is Dead, Long Live the RomCom, “a rom-com revival has been in the works for years, slowly gaining steam on Netflix and Hulu and other subscription services, where algorithms can override old-fashioned industry wisdom about who watches movies and what sort of movies they actually want to watch.”
38. Russell Barkley Coined a New Term and I hate it!!!! “The newest term du jour is Deficient Emotional Self-Regulation, or DESR, invented by one of pharma’s favorite Key Opinion Leaders (and my archnemesis) Russell Barkley.”
39. FutureMe: Write a Letter to the Future. “Send your future self a letter. Might be a prediction, a goal, or a letter about something that happened today you don’t want to forget.”
40. Joy on demand: the three second fix. “In his book, Joy On Demand, Meng gives practical advice on how you can easily and quickly access joy. He believes you can train yourself to experience joy with a few simple exercises.
