1. How to Live a Miraculous Life: Brian Doyle on Love, Humility, and the Quiet Grace of the Possible. “This is what I know: that the small is huge, that the tiny is vast, that pain is part and parcel of the gift of joy, and that this is love, and then there is everything else. You either walk toward love or away from it with every breath you draw. Humility is the road to love. Humility, maybe, is love.”

2. Revealed: the best Christmas gifts you’ve ever received. “Looking for festive gift inspiration? Then take a cue from Positive News readers, who reveal the most meaningful Christmas presents they have received.”

3. Underrated ways to change the world. “How to get a good heart unstuck.”

4. Poetry: Yellow Roses by Julie Barton, and One on Thanksgiving and Letter to the Parts of Me I Have Tried to Exile from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, and A Prayer for Every Day from Julia Fehrenbacher. And, this poetic wisdom from Christian Wiman when he was editor of Poetry Magazine, “Let us remember…that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both.”

5. Defying Gravity: Wicked and the Weight of Social Justice from Frederick Joseph. “A spoiler-free reflection on Wicked, fascism, Black womanhood, and white feminism.”

6. Pep Talk from Maggie Smith, “On Taking a Red Pen to Your Life.”

7. “Thank you” is a complete sentence from Seth Godin.

8. The 25 Most Influential Cookbooks From the Last 100 Years on The New York Times. (gift article) “Chefs, writers, editors and a bookseller gathered to debate — and decide — which titles have most changed the way we cook and eat.”

9. An I.V.F. Mix-Up, a Shocking Discovery and an Unbearable Choice on The New York Times. (gift link) “Two couples in California discovered they were raising each other’s genetic children. Should they switch their girls?”

10. Mind, Body, Spirit, FOOD podcast with Abigail Rose Clarke. “In this episode we dive into Abigail’s new book, Returning Home to Our Bodies: Reimagining the Relationship Between Our Bodies and the World. Abigail shares tips and tools for finding grounding and support within our very own bodies, especially during times of overwhelm, stress or turmoil. Abigail and I explore the power of awe and curiosity, we discuss what it means to be in relationship with the world around us, and Abigail offers tips for how we can stay rooted in love, even when our lives are challenging.”

11. When No Thing Works with Norma Wong on How to Survive the End of the World Podcast. “adrienne and Autumn sit down with great teacher, Norma Wong, whose new book, When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse, was released the day after the election. Wong brings her years of organizing, electoral work, and spiritual practice to bear on this moment of collapse, with wisdom, wit, and deep care for all life.”

12. Interdependence is a Survival Skill, But Shouldn’t Feel Like Building a Bunker. “Channeling urgency into commitment, not panic.”

13. I Want You To Be Both Gentle and Tough With Yourself from Jamie Attenberg. “I want you to be both gentle and tough with yourself. I want you to notice what you need and then take care of it. I want you to love yourself and challenge yourself. And I want you to make your goddamn art.”

14. Episode 126: Creativity in Dark Times on Emerging Form. “How does creativity help us meet a difficult time? In this episode, co-hosts Christie Aschwanden and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer talk about ways that creative practice can nourish us, how it can help us envision a way forward, how it helps us to widen the lens and see beyond the moment, how it helps us embrace paradox, opens us to connection, and more.”

15. Healing, Grief & Learning From The Bees: Michelle C. Johnson – Into Healing S2, Ep.7. “Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher, practitioner, racial equity consultant, and intuitive healer. In this episode, she shares her powerful journey through grief, healing, and transformation. Michelle explores the deep traumas rooted in societal injustices and offers insight into the spiritual practices that have guided her work with individuals in crisis. She emphasizes the vital role of community, nature, and ancestral wisdom in personal and collective healing. With a passion for beekeeping, Michelle draws meaningful parallels between the lives of honeybees and human experiences, reflecting on adaptability, collective responsibility, and the quiet strength of selflessness. Through her story, she invites listeners to reflect on the importance of communal healing, spiritual connection, and the unseen ways we contribute to a better world.”

16. 6 Ways To Be Kind To Your Body During The Holidays.

17. Bye, Bezos: People Are Leaving Amazon’s Goodreads For A New Book-Reading App.

18. 100 Notable Books of 2024 on The New York Times. (gift link) In related news, NPR 2024 Books We Love.

19. After Beloved Pilot Dies in Crash, 2 Rescue Dogs Rescue Themselves on The New York Times. (gift link) “Seuk Kim was transporting three rescue dogs from Maryland to Albany, N.Y., when his plane crashed in the Catskill Mountains. Two of the dogs managed to survive.” In related news, The life and work of Seuk Kim, pilot and animal rescuer.

20. In The Fight Against Tyranny, Don’t Let Your Happiness Depend On Big Wins.

21. Ira Glass admits he plays a ‘nicer version’ of himself on the radio.

22. 15 LGBTQ+ Movies With Guaranteed Happy Endings. “From Big Eden to Bound, we curated a list of films that won’t leave you in tears. The sad kind, anyway.”

23. My friend was a popular, promising artist – how did he end up on the streets of Portland, addicted and dangerous? “When I first met Evan B Harris he was fizzing with talent and kindness. So I was shocked to hear he had become homeless and out of control. What happened to him is a story playing out in cities across America.”

24. Rare Interview ⭐️ Charlie Mackesy on ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’ 5th Anniversary. “Bestselling author and Academy Award winner Charlie Mackesy joins the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with The National Lottery for a very rare interview about the special 5th anniversary edition of ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.'” 

25. And finally, this random collection of things I saved on my phone this week.

1. Poetry: One Impatience from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, The Weight of a Cloud and Homesick for Another Decade from Julie Barton, and Advice To Myself #2: Resistance by Louise Erdrich, and Where I’m From by Hugh Hollowell. And finally this one from Vicki Rivard: 

2. Why Introverts Are Happier With Fewer Friends.

3. Compared to what? from Seth Godin.

4. Dope Kitchen has a new website, with lots of good recipes to try.

5. Bluesky is growing so fast it’s racing to get hold of more servers, its COO says. You won’t find me there, because this:

6. Why so many families are “drowning in toys.” “America is in toy overload, and it might just be ruining fun.”

7. The 25 Most Important Recipes of the Past 100 Years. “A century of American braising, baking, and imbibing, in one nation-spanning list.”

8. A $12,000 Surgery to Change Eye Color Is Surging in Popularity. “Keratopigmentation could be dangerous, doctors warn. Patients say it’s worth the risks.”

9. Wisdom from The Tyranny of Tidiness, “& the artist Anna Brones on the fertile mess of a creative spaceAndréa Ranae” from The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad.

10. Gratitude for Difficult Things from Satya Robyn on Going Gently. “What I am sharing is that sometimes, after months or years or decades, we do begin to see glints of treasure in the darkest of our times. We find that, afterwards, we feel more tenderness towards others. We see that our troubles gifted us the ability to finally speak up for ourselves. We see that by showing us our edges they encouraged us into the arms of something vast, wise and loving.”

11. It’s OK to Skip the Holiday Gatherings This Year on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz.

12. Playful, intricate Japanese leaf art – in pictures. “Almost every day for the past five years, the Kanagawa-born artist Lito has drawn an image on to a leaf – usually a jaunty scene from the animal world involving, say, a biker-dude rabbit or a frog in a phone box – and carved it out with a scalpel before posting a photograph to social media. A painstaking process, it nonetheless suits Lito’s ‘propensity to devote long hours to detailed work’ – a diagnosis of ADHD aged 30 was what prompted him to quit his corporate job and start carving leaves for a living. And a living it is: he’s sold 300,000 copies of his leaf-art books to date and exhibits his work throughout Japan. The combination of playful Studio Ghibli-esque imagination and exhaustive attention to detail is central to the appeal.”

13. Guided Somatic Meditation for Emotional Release. (video) “‘Movement itself is a great tool for expressing emotion.’ Join dance psychotherapist and somatic practitioner Jennifer Sterling for an eight-minute immersive movement oriented meditation. Here she uses Simon Hantaï’s Untitled [Suite ‘Blancs’] as an entry point to building somatic awareness. ‘There’s no right or wrong way…We learn to use our bodies as a tool for information gathering.’ As Sterling invites you to orient, meditate and move with her, reflect on what feelings are present in your body. Artful practices are tools that can translate to everyday life to help soften distress, increase joy and support overall well-being.” 

14. Rest as Resistance.

15. How we can meet the challenges of authoritarianism. “This is not our first rodeo with authoritarianism. Americans have collectively risen to seemingly impossible challenges in the past, and we can do so again.”

16. The great Facebook unfriending of 2024 from Rita on Rootsie. “Applying the idea of ‘fewer, better things’ to online life.”

17. 7 Gentle Permission Slips to Help You Reset, Let Go and Thrive from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.

18. ‘I couldn’t look away!’ The rapid, runaway rise of ridiculous Christmas romcoms. “It’s that season again, when the streamers bring us hot snowmen and heroes who still believe in Santa. Why are they competing to make the most ludicrous movie possible – and why do we keep watching them?”

19. 99 Ways To Show Love Besides Gifts This Holiday Season.

20. Winter is coming … but don’t panic! 54 expert tips on getting through the cold, dark months ahead. “How to survive the season – with mood-lifters, skin-savers, life-changing layers, and ways to have fun in the rain.”

21. Inside Job: An Exhibit of Staff Artwork at the Met.

22. Are you tired all the time? Me too – but I think I’ve worked out why. “Biting back anger, holding in tears: we use a huge amount of energy trying to avoid our emotions. And it’s exhausting.”

23. No One Ever Said You Must Wear Tight Pants…“and 49 other lessons learned during my half-century on earth!”

24. 10 Things We’ll Regret When We’re Older If We Don’t Stop Now by Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.

25. Forget ‘flattering’: comfortable clothes make me feel most like myself. “In midlife, I prioritize roomy designs that helped me move with ease. I had been searching for that freedom all along.”

26. Why Introverts Retreat to Their Bedrooms.

27. Without a Doubt, the 70 Weirdest & Most Genius Things Under $30 on Amazon.

28. Percival Everett wins the National Book Award fiction prize.

29. How France uncovered the mystery of the forbidden photos of Nazi-occupied Paris. “‘It’s the story of a normal man who tried to fight, even if he was in front of the biggest army of that time, in front of colleagues who could be traitors,’ he says. ‘It’s the story of courage, of the love of his wife who wanted to know what happened to him. So it’s a universal story.'”

30. I thought when my mother went into aged care my daily work would be over. I was wrong. “You can be as diligent and thorough as you like when you visit a facility but there are things you cannot know until your loved one is in there.” *sigh*

31. And finally, this random collection of things I saved on my phone this week.