1. Poetry: To Begin With, the Sweetgrass by Mary Oliver, Mess Is Evidence of a Life Being Lived by Georgie Jones, A New Year; A New Pantoum by Pádraig Ó Tuama, How It Comes Out and How We Momentarily Become the Moon by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, One-Way Gate by Jenny George and Puzzle by Randall Mann and White Hot Star by W. Todd Kaneko shared by Maggie Smith on The Slowdown, This New Year and Prescription for Wonder by James Crews, The Moment I Asked Spirit by Julie Barton who is back from her break, The Death of a Migrant Worker by Gil Arzola, New Year by Carol Ann Duffy shared by Patti Digh, Happy New Year by Donna Ashworth on Heart Poems, A Different Way to Begin by Isabel Abbott, look at us, being so human by Maya Stein, I Face East (Ars Poetica) by Carlina Duan, and A Fabulous Night for … Brue Weigl.

2. Wisdom from Tracy Cochran: “Mindfulness is a movement of return to the present moment. It is an action of remembering — not a memory of the past, but a direct and wordless experience of presence. Mindfulness is not a thought, but rather attention itself. It is open and without agenda…It is that gentle tug or the wordless call we feel to be more present, to stop missing our real purpose here, which is to really be here. Mindfulness is not an answer to suffering in the sense of being an intellectual formula that will help us skip over difficult feelings and experiences. It is the energy of awareness that allows us to see and participate in reality, to be with what is arising in a way that is compassionate and open.”

3. Stay With The Gorgeous Nothings, “Emptiness as Foundations During Winter’s Waning” on The Wonder + The Haunting by Anne Marie Vivivienne.

4. The Things That Right Us, “And what has always been my medicine” by Andrea Scher.

5. I am, “I write these words all the time. They help me see what’s true” by Josie George on bimblings.

6. Hello 2026, please be kind. “Year-End Poetry Review + Photo Journaling prompts” on Earth & Verse.

7. Re-Resolution, “Make the familiar strange, appreciate what you used to want, keep up the good work, and more” on The Art of Noticing from Rob Walker.

8. More Cheese in 2026 by Jenny Lawson.

9. Against resolutions, “Suleika Jaouad on ritual, repetition, and the fantasy of starting over.”

10. What a long year this week has been, “How I’m planning for the weeks ahead” by Brad Montague.

11. 26 Ways To Simplify Your Life In 2026 by Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.

12. Twelve Red Grapes by Jamie Etheridge on Short Reads. “Wishes for a new year.”

13. Most Trump Supporters Aren’t Stupid, and That’s the Most Terrifying Thing on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz.

14. Writer Resolution 2026: Wield The Weapon That Is You from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

15. An Existential Guide to: Standing at the Edge of Your Own Life on The Shadowed Archive.

16. how i broke my phone addiction this year, “embracing inconvenience, delay and boredom” by Vera Hester.

17. Make This Your Year of Connection. “Connecting with others (and yourself) will pay mental health dividends” on Psychology Today.

18. Digital Detox Detour on The Art of Noticing with Rob Walker. “What I learned from my (involuntary) ‘sabbatical.'” 

19. Giving Our Bodies Back to the Earth: The Rise of Natural Burial. “What if your body could nourish the land long after you’re gone? As the founder of Larkspur Conservation, a conservation burial site, John Christian Phifer is replanting our relationship to death.”

20. The secret to being happy in 2026? It’s far, far simpler than you think. “Stop stressing about self‑improvement or waiting until you’re on top of everything. This year give yourself permission to prioritise pleasure.”

21. The Secret in the Sugar Bowl. “I wasn’t saving for a rainy day; I was building a raft to escape a flood.”

22. What are you still carrying? by Patti Digh. “We arrive as continuations of ourselves, not replacements.”

23. How Grief Made Us More Creative Than Ever, “On Chaos and the Turning of the Year” from Elissa Altman.

24. 10 Nutrition Takeaways for a Healthier New Year on The New York Times. (gift link) “We have guidance on protein, full-fat dairy, breakfast and more.”

25. 7 Questions to Ask Yourself for a Happier New Year on The New York Times. (gift link)

26. The hill I will die on: Online shops, please, I beg – stop with endless post-purchase emails. “You really want me to review my buy? Yes, it was fine. But that is where I would like our relationship to end.” No kidding! Sometimes you don’t even buy anything and just because you visited their website, they put you on their mailing list.

27. Don’t stress, do less: 52 ways to make your life easier in 2026. “We asked experts in fields from homes to health to horticulture for advice on tasks we can simply stop doing and problems to take off our worry plates.”

28. The perfect way to do nothing: how to embrace the art of idling. “We are often so busy and yet when the opportunity arises to do nothing, we can find it uncomfortable. Here’s how to lean into boredom – and unlock the imagination.”

29. Cats with attitude. (YouTube short) So funny! Another short, one of my favorite current memes, That Feeling!

1. Poetry: Traveler by Sarah Satterlee, Confession 151: On Becoming Ceramic by Furkan Pinar, We Speak of August by Valentina Gnup, Information Only by Dale E. Day-Hudson, The Opportunities Pantoum by James Valvis, Solstice Pantoum by Deema K. Shehabi, Going Back by Roger Mitchell, Old Tree Woman by Jena Schwartz, Baking Cake on Dec. 27 (In Honor of Kyra Kopestonsky) and Space Exploration and The Dream Rink and Six Glimpses of Christmas Eve and Lit and Because by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Everything That Is Divided and In Times Like These by James Crews, Power by Maya Stein, and How the Light Comes by Jan Richardson on Heart Poems. Bonus joy in poetry this week is “Peace, Please” a FREE poetry anthology “made possible by the generous voices of the community,” foreword by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and edited by ZenJen Brown.

2. Good stuff from Patti Digh: The world narrowed to a blade (“A meditative experience of reversal”) and White lights and train dreams (“a life can be ordinary and still be enough”) and Two celebrations in one (“Pausing before Christmas day rushes forward”).

3. The quiet pressure at the end of the year from The Tiny Joy Project. “On living a year instead of summarizing it.”

4. The 8 most wholesome internet moments of 2025. Add to that list Brit’s story in her latest post about her dog Billie giving “her favorite toy to the vacuum cleaner yesterday, play-bowing to it, ready to tumble,” and Kevin the Peacock. This one also seems to belong here, To the Young Couple Building a Snowman on the Aspen Loop.

5. Return, a January yoga series with Adriene, “a special four-part series inspired by my Saturday mornings as a child and now, Sunday mornings as an adult. That once-a-week ritual that offers an opportunity to return to what matters most.”

6. 21 days of pen to page with Laurie Wagner. “If you’re craving clarity, honesty, and a deeper connection to your natural writing voice, you’re in the right place. For 21 days, you’ll receive poems, prompts, short daily videos, and a simple 15-minute invitation to write — all designed to help you land on the page exactly as you are.”

7. Letting the path hold the answers on Yoga Humans.

8. Object-ives #16: The Inheritance I Bought. “A dead woman’s milk glass collection became the family heirloom I never had.”

9. Seven Sacred Moments (plus a baby camel), “& the actor Rainn Wilson on holy spaces” on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad.

10. What’s Your Party Trick? from Jamie Attenberg. “On the cookbooks we use.”

11. Follow your inner moonlight from Alix Klingenberg on Earth & Verse.

12. From Seth Godin: Building blocks of marketing and Your best work and All bananas are the same and Popular new ideas.

13. Life After Instagram: What Happens When You Delete Social Media.

14. The Small Gestures That Help Us Navigate Grief on The New York Times. (gift link) “Readers share the small, practical acts of kindness that made a difference.”

15. Learning to Feel Safe Resting After a Lifetime of People-Pleasing.

16. ‘The sight of it is still shocking’: 46 photos that tell the story of the century so far on The Guardian.

17. Things That Leave from the Heart from Jena Schwartz.

18. 7 Little Ways to Embrace and Enjoy The Moments That Matter from Courtney Carver on Be More With Less.

19. From Danny Gregory: What I wish for you this Christmas and How to get rich making art.

20. I Don’t Want To “Get Through” This from Megan Falley. “Loving the holidays after losing a partner.”

21. it’s okay to write a things-I’m-loving-list when the world is falling apart from Elissa Altman.

22. These are Dark Days. Don’t Lose Your Light on The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz.

23. Letting Love in Gretchen Schmelzer. I love this so, so much.

24. On these in-between days I’m ‘growing down’, sinking into the present moment and savouring small delights. “My centre of gravity has shifted. The holidays are no longer something to construct but something to receive” on The Guardian’s Making sense of it, a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life.

25. Speak the Truth in Love from Bill Johnson of Bethel Church. (YouTube short) 

26. More “best of” lists: 7 Podcasts for Bookworms on The New York Times (gift link), Here are some fantastic nonfiction ‘Books We Love’ recommendations from NPR staff, The 20 best podcasts of 2025, and Guardian readers’ best films of 2025.

27. Neuroscience Explains How and Why Humans Should Hibernate a Little in Winter You’re not just lazy or tired in winter. “Your body wants you to slow down and recharge. So go ahead and (semi-) hibernate.”

28. Boulder artist creates nature-themed stickers to cover new National Park Pass design. “A Boulder artist is creating removable stickers featuring her nature paintings to cover the 2026 America the Beautiful annual pass…The Department of Interior recently announced the 2026 annual passes would feature President Trump’s face next to George Washington’s.” McCarty said the goal is to refocus attention on nature.