Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Good stuff from Seth Godin: Closed/open (“it’s almost impossible to pick up something when your hand is in a tight fist”), and Goals and expectations, and Appropriate tension.

2. My Health and Wellness Plan? Icelandic Horses. “Serious illness gave our writer an urgent need for physical and spiritual rebirth. She found both by bonding with a unique riding breed that seems touched by Viking spirit.”

3. In Praise of Transparency from Jena Schwartz. Also, the poem at the end of this post is SO GOOD, especially this ending:

“She walks away
and you step into the water
Exit, entrance

You glide towards the reflections
of tree trunks
the clouds as your witness

All the ugliness washes away
All the fight quiets
All the questions calm down

And for a few minutes
you remember to be carried”

4. Poetry from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: Above Treeline, and After a Difficult Day, and One Evesdropping.

5. Wisdom from Henry Miller: “To be silent the whole day long, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself.” Yes, please.

6. Panic Attacks: 11 Tips to Flip the Switch.

7. Old complaints and grievances from Austin Kleon.

8. Seriously… from BBC Radio 4, “A rich selection of documentaries aimed at relentlessly curious minds. No subject is too strange, no idea too weird. Released twice a week, this podcast is introduced by Vanessa Kisuule.”

9. Everything is talking on Instagram. “Stories are everywhere. Everything is talking.”

10. Street Art Frankey, a 60 sec doc on Instagram, “a street artist from Amsterdam whose urban interventions give everyday street elements an extraordinary upgrade. He transforms mundane objects into creative art installations, injecting a delightful twist into the concrete jungle.”

11. Activist Micro Action Dispatch: Support Your Public Library from Omkari Williams.

12. what to love when you’re running out of things to love, a 10-Line Tuesday poem from Maya Stein.

13. Wisdom from Lion’s Roar: The Buddha’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness (“Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi unpacks the Buddha’s original mindfulness manual”), and This Moment is Perfect (“No matter what we experience when we’re meditating, it only has meaning when we take it out into our daily lives, shares the late Thich Nhat Hanh. There is nothing we experience that we can’t approach with the mindfulness and compassion we develop in our meditation”), and My 49-Day Journey Through Grief (“After the devastating loss of her son, Karen Wallace Bartelt sought solace beyond the practices of her Christian faith. Finding inspiration in Buddhism, she shares how she learned to sit with her grief and create a sacred space within for transformation to unfold”).

14. Please Help Adanne Bookshop Relocate. “A Black woman-owned bookstore is in need of our help.”

15. How Your House Makes You Miserable. “What do you truly love in a house — not because it’s current, not because it’s on HGTV, but because it makes it feel like you, a person in the world, live there? And how different would it feel to look upon your space not with the harsh eye of the market, but with the warm, gracious lens of home?”

16. 3 Surprisingly Tiny Habits That Will Help You Feel Happier from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.

17. An Introvert’s Survival Guide to Navigating Parties.

18. A Small Spiritual Tweak, “The extraordinary power of realistic rituals & routines” from Satya Robyn. Also from Satya, What Is Gentle Buddhism?

19. You do you: Essays on being creative, a new book from Danny Gregory. “My goal is to help you realize your amazing creative potential and to clear the crap that’s getting in the way of having an authentic, creative life. You can do this. I can help.” My copy is on its way.

20. Do Feel Free to Have an Unexpressed Thought from “Cranky” Patti Digh, “The power of wow and silence.”

21. 35 Things I’ve Learned (About Relationships) In 35 years.

22. No, Public Education Isn’t Too Woke. It’s Barely Even Awake. “Some politicians are invoking a false narrative for political gain.” In related news, Teach The Truth.

23. Barack Obama’s 2023 summer reading list.

24. The Brief, Wondrous Life of Little Leo. “When Leo Babler was born with a rare and deadly genetic disorder, his parents reshaped their lives, moving to the mountains, building out an adventure van, and making sure their son experienced the most beautiful wild places in the country during the time they had.”

25. What Not To Say To A Grieving Person When Someone Dies.

26. Miles Music Kid. (video) “Miles is proficient on a slew of instruments, and plays them on his own recordings, mixing them with his own vocals, or even recreating hits by other artists note-for-note. And other notable artists are recognizing the talent of this young musician, who’s just turned seven.”

27. I’m Not a Mourning Person: Braving Loss, Grief, and the Big Messy Emotions That Happen When Life Falls Apart. “From New York Times bestselling author Kris Carr, comes a transformational book about love, loss, and all the life-changing insights we receive when we embrace them.” I pre-ordered my copy.

28. The former news anchor at the center of the mindfulness movement.

29. Extraordinary tattoos of realistic still-life figures by Makkala Rose.

30. 135-Pound Mastiff Becomes Obsessed With A Tiny Kitten | The Dodo Odd Couples. (video)

31. This was posted on Facebook and I can’t find where it came from originally but it’s good.

32. Inner Eclipses: Waiting for the Return of our Hidden Suns. “The way to safely view an eclipse is through goggles or a tiny hole. You need protection so you aren’t hurt. And holding despair may be the same. You need the ability to take in just a small view of something so big. The things that happen that bring forth despair in us are things that are not only big–they are what makes us human. Despair is the ultimate experience of being mortal—of knowing that in that moment our biggest power is the power to witness what is true, even if the truth is hard, or awful or unbearable.”

33. Wild Crow Becomes Best Friends With This Family | The Dodo Wild Hearts. (video)

34. Red Rebel Armour, “a collective of urban Indigenous storytellers sharing their experiences through streetwear fashion…creating a signature and powerful style that celebrates Indigenous identity, resilience, and pride.” Their Someone’s Good Medicine hoodie and Hummingbird Joy hoodie are my favorites.

35. Elon Musk looks to rebrand Twitter with the letter X. He is such a buffoon. Every news item about him seems like something from The Onion.

36. I Love Coffee, but I Gave It Up for MudWtr. Don’t Make My Mistake.

37. Bucolic landscapes painted on the surfaces of cut tree trunks by Alison Moritsugu.

1. Morning walks. I went along the river for part of our walk one day this week, and there were WAY too many mosquitoes. Just like everywhere, we’ve had the weirdest weather this summer. At this point in late July, there shouldn’t be that much water in the river, and things shouldn’t be as lush or as green. The above picture is one I took just after we watched a deer disappear into the brush on the other side of the river and just before we turned the corner and startled two more.

2. Curly hair cut. In the past four years, I’ve had a total of two haircuts, and really it would be more accurate to call them a “trim” because there was no real style there and I prefer to do as little maintenance as possible, wash and wear. As happens, my hair has been changing as my hormones and body do, and it had gotten more flat and fuzzy the way I was wearing it so I decided I wanted to get a haircut and learn a routine that would highlight my curls and lead to healthier hair. I can’t believe how much hair I let her cut off and am amazed I let her do layers but I’m more than happy with the results. Still don’t know if I’ll be able to make it look quite as nice as she did all the time but it feels so much better.

3. Little book and art libraries. Books and art, creativity and play and sharing, are so important and while it seems like the political world would prefer to burn it all to the ground, I’m happy that individual homes and humans in my neighborhoods are committed to keeping those precious things available and accessible.

4. Practice. If I could, I’d spend most of my days meditating, doing yoga, reading, and writing — but then who would do the laundry, go to the grocery store, pay the bills? Adulting is hard, being human is hard, and I’m not sure how I’d stay strong and sane without practice to support me.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I’m so grateful that currently everyone is healthy and happy.

Image by Eric, a lily I didn’t even realize we had in our garden

Bonus joy: texting with Chloe’, texting in general (as an introvert, it may just be my preferred mode of communication), Ringo rolling in the grass, zucchini and tomatoes and basil from our garden, HRT, prescription glasses, birds at the feeder, sunflowers, the way green grass feels under my feet, naps, listening to podcasts, watching TV and movies, Aunt Monica’s taco salad, knowing that the choice to not do the thing was the right decision, my in-laws, other people’s kids and dogs, a plane ticket to Oregon to visit family and see the ocean, having the laundry done by 10 am, a/c that allows for baking and laundry even in the summertime, electric cars, bread, lemonade, clean water, clean air, other people’s gardens, good neighbors, poetry and poets, calendars, tape, glue stick, thrift stores, the produce section at the grocery store, not needing to be right, gummies, electric fans, soft clothes, a couch that is more than comfortable enough to spend the night on, the sound of Ringo coming down the hallway, his sighs and dream barks, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.