Something Good

1. Pecan tree decorated for Christmas draws visitors from hundreds of miles away. (video) “Christmas has come and gone, but there’s one tree in a small Texas that will remain decorated this week to the delight of its many fans. Janet Shamlian traveled to Bartonville, Texas to find out why some travel from hundreds of miles away to see it.”

2. Man Gets Baby Bunnies to Come Out Of Bushes. (video) So cute!

3. Watch this bushbaby discover a locust for the first time. (video) So much cute!

4. IF Official Trailer (2024) Ryan Reynolds Movie HD. (video) “Follows a young girl who goes through a difficult experience and then begins to see everyone’s imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up.” In related news, Behind the Scenes of IF. (video)

5. GOOD GRIEF Trailer (2024). (video) This movie is going to wreck me, but I’m totally going to watch it anyway. In related news, Good Grief’s Dan Levy on queer loss, single life and getting intimate with Luke Evans.

6. Our 23 Favorite LGBTQ+ Movies of 2023. In related news, Critics recommend their must-see movies of 2023 and These Are the 60 Best Books of 2023—According to Real Simple Editors.

7. The Unique Emotional Intelligence of Highly Sensitive People.

8. Resurrecting stuffed animals from 60 Sec Docs. (video)

9. Top 10 Moments of 2023 from The Happy News Paper. (Instagram reel)

10. The pet I’ll never forget, “stories about incredible animals,” a series from The Guardian.

11. How to Forget About Someone You Hate [19 Powerful Tips].

12. Mumbling actors, bad speakers or lazy listeners? Why everyone is watching TV with subtitles on.

13. The Three Books That Taught Me How to Survive. “Read these and start thriving outdoors.”

14. For introverts: 5 New Year’s Resolutions for Introverts to Be More True to Themselves, and 9 Things You Should Indulge in on World Introvert Day, and 5 Things Introverts and Sensitive People Can Do When They Feel Emotionally Flooded, and 7 Things Introverts Can Do to Find Peace in an Extroverted World.

15. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: 4 Better Ways to Relate to Money (“There’s a lot of neurosis around the subject of money. Financial expert Spencer Sherman on four states of mind we can cultivate to improve our relationship with it”), and Ani Trime’s 10 Affirmations for a Peaceful and Open Mind (“The late Tibetan Buddhist nun Ani Trime developed a series of simple, straightforward affirmations to teach people to plant seeds of positivity in their minds. Here are 10 affirmations from her toolkit for cultivating a freer, more open mind”), and Holiday Blues (“Zen teacher Karen Maezen Miller on enjoying the holiday you’re having, not the one you were hoping for”).

16. Write Words, Make Marks: Working with intentions (without the pressure) from Jena Schwartz. Also from Jena, New Year’s Eve 11s.

17. Staying Alive, Staying Alive, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. Also from Rosemerry, Questions for the New Year.

18. On choosing a college from Seth Godin. This seems like a good strategy for choosing any new “community” you are considering joining.

19. “Taming Your Inner Critic” with Neal Allen and Anne Lamott, a Sounds True podcast episode.

20. Of Wonder, the Courage of Uncertainty, and How to Hear Your Soul: The Best of The Marginalian 2023.

21. Art for All and The Creative Mind, podcast episodes from Danny Gregory. “Creative inspiration and advice to help you stop procrastinating and start making stuff. Any kind of stuff.”

22. New Year’s wisdom from Patti Digh: Time passes slowly and then very, very quickly and In 2024, let’s keep the promises we make to ourselves and let some of those external ones go.

23. How to Recover When Socializing Has Totally Drained Your Battery.

24. Frugal vs. Independent.

25. 10 Ways to Support Your Mental Health in 2024 (gift link) on The New York Times. “These simple and proven strategies will help you manage stress and find meaning in the new year.”

26. Decision-Making 101: How To Be Decisive And Confident In Your Choices.

27. Prompts for the New Year from Austin Kleon. “Questions for reflection and setting your course.”

28. ‘Afterwards I would feel blissful’: how exercise convinced a psychotherapist to become a personal trainer. “Therapists and gyms are working both brain and body as the full benefits of fitness are increasingly recognised.”

29. It’s a new day from Maya Stein.

30. Writer’s Resolution 2024: : Pretend Trends Do Not Exist (Or, “Fuck It, This One Is For Me”) from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

31. Caring for our Tender and Growing Fires in the New Year.

32. Courage from Esmé Weijun Wang.

33. It Has Certainly Been A Year from Frederick Joseph. “Reflecting on 2023’s pain, joy, and way forward.”

34. a new year’s wish from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks.

35. This wish for the new year from Megan Falley.

Merry everything and happy always, kind and gentle reader. ❤

1. Rest in peace, Jeff and Andy. An update to the obituary, which states, “In addition to his husband, Jeff is survived by his brother, Steven Oaks of Canton, MI.; and beloved Andy, the black lab,” is that sadly, Andy passed the day after Jeff. Andy was a distinguished gentleman and it wasn’t a surprise to his family that he passed or that he would follow Jeff, but it was still double the heartbreak. So many of us are experiencing this holiday season for the first time without someone we really love, and our hearts are so tender. In related news, What Grieving People Really Want During The Holidays This Year.

2. 5 Survival Tips for Introverts Attending Big, Crowded Events. In related news, How Highly Sensitive Introverts Can Soothe Holiday Stress and Why Naps Are an Introvert’s Best Friend.

3. Working Out, Working In: Applying the Six Principles of Athletic Training to Writing and Creative Work.

4. This is 54: Author Elizabeth Gilbert Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire.

5. Sinéad O’Connor remembered by Gavin Friday. “The artist and musician on his long friendship with an extraordinary vocalist whose courage helped so many raised in Catholic Ireland.”

6. Pine View Graduate Zander Moricz Challenged His School and His State Over LGBTQ Rights. In related news, Student Gives Mic Drop Speech About Why Moms For Liberty Co-Founder Should Be Fired From School Board.

7. How to Be Less Emotionally Sensitive, According to 7 Experts.

8. Here’s a dozen books from 2023 you should read, critics say. In related news, Favorite Books of 2023 from Maria Popova.

9. 4 Daily Habits that Held Most of Us Back Over the Past Year.

10. 5 Signs The Stress You’re Dealing With Isn’t ‘Normal’ Stress.

11. 9 Things HSPs Need Their Partners to Understand.

12. 380 Artists, 51 Countries, 14 Years: A Community Embroidery Project Connects Women Around the Globe.

13. How mindfulness went mainstream. “Americans embraced meditation. So did corporations.”

14. Tenement Museum to Feature a Black Family’s Apartment for the First Time on The New York Times. “The museum has shared the stories of immigrants and migrants who lived in New York City in the 19th and 20th centuries for nearly four decades. For the first time, a Black family’s apartment will be included.”

15. Kah-Nee-Ta Hot Springs Village Resort Reschedules Reopening, Targeting Early Next Summer.

16. Amazingly intricate and colorful vertical tattoos by Jing.

17. Klepper’s Wildest Moments With Trumpers in 2023 | The Daily Show. (video)

18. Winter poems from the Poetry Foundation. “Perfect for snowy days and long nights by the fire.”

19. Gabor Maté: Healing Principles to Embody in a Traumatized World, a Sounds True podcast. “Why do we suppress our authenticity? How do we reconcile the need to accept things as they are with a desire to change them? What is the pathway to healing in a world that’s breaking our hearts? In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with renowned physician and author Dr. Gabor Maté about these profound questions, and how the approach he calls Compassionate Inquiry can help us find the answers within ourselves.”

20. On Gentle Buddhism: Your Word for 2024 Will Work Magic and A Buddhist approach to self-care.

21. Good stuff from Nikita Gill: Why “You cannot love someone until you love yourself” is the most unhelpful saying in the world (“On self-love, self-hatred and embracing being a work-in-progress”) and On preserving vulnerability and human connection in the time of social media (“More reflections on loneliness, the loss of human connection due to social media, why I do not share my private life online anymore, a writing prompt and a photo prompt”).

22. 52 things I learned in 2023.

23. How long will you live, according to statistics. My results (based on country where you live, your birthdate, and gender): “We estimate you will live until age 86.8 years.” 30 more years — that is, if the planet and culture remain habitable.

24. Lost on Purpose from Seth Godin.

25. I love this story J shared in her recent newsletter about how a small shift in focus when it comes to setting goals makes a big difference. “None of us can control how other people receive what we put out into the world, so our goal has to be about production – putting good stuff out there, whether it’s art, or expertise, or activism, or love.”

26. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar: Winter Blues (““Perhaps,” says Sylvia Boorstein, “these days of less sunlight are opportunities for more contemplative time, more looking deeply to see what can only be seen in the dark”), and Have a Very Buddhist Christmas (“Joy, giving, family, and peace—people of all faiths can celebrate these values of the holiday season. Seven Buddhists offer their take on yuletide dharma”), and You Don’t Have to Know (“John Tarrant shares how he discovered that not knowing is the best — and maybe the only possible — response to suffering”), and Joyful Giving (“In the spirit of the holidays, six Buddhist teachers share why generosity is the starting place of all the virtues”), and ‘Tis the Season of Compassion (“Author and interfaith spiritual director Janice Lynne Lundy explains how a simple question helps her to keep her heart open – to others, and to herself”).

27. How can activists change the world? Experts offer seven strategies.

28. The secret ingredient for optimum health? Kindness, says this fitness expert.

29. What went right in 2023: the top 25 good news stories of the year.

30. The dumbest and best productivity trick.

31. Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special. (video)

32. 11 Things You Can Do for Yourself That Only Take 60 Seconds a Day.

33. The Weird Holiday Nowheretimes (And Why Knowing Thyself Matters) from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

34. Letter From 35,000 Feet from Summer Brennan. “Hello from a fellow time traveler, plus an art mystery in progress.”

35. Poverty is not a choice from Patti Digh. “Instead, life was designed this way. If you give, give freely and without conditions.”

36. Solstice Blessing from Jena Schwartz. In related news from Jena, Listening to the Body, Listening to the Soul, “11 things that culminate with ‘keep going’.”

37. Anatomical Details Emerge From Found Coral and Shells in Gregory Halili’s Intricate Sculptures.

38. Wisdom from Anam Thubten: “Every human being is sacred. Can you imagine how amazing it would be if humanity suddenly woke up and realized and treated each other accordingly? We would live in a very different world, a much more loving, peaceful, and joyful world.”

39. Why You Should See Your Introversion as a Gift.

40. 10 Simple Japanese Habits That Will Make Your Life So Much Better.

41. celebrating the light from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks. “So here’s my point, my friends: whether or not you celebrate Christmas, or honestly, any of these celebrations, I hope you take a moment during this, the darkest days of the year, to celebrate the light. I hope, whether you’re surrounded by friends and family today, or are instead enjoying sweet solitude, you are reminded of the good in the world. Of the way that love, inevitably, must win…And I hope you remember despite the darkness in the world, with a little effort, we can always find the light.”