1. A tribute to Pittsburgh’s Jeff Oaks, a sensitive poet too young to leave. He’s still here, but he’ll be going soon. 
2. Holiday Help Fund. “Each year, as the festive lights twinkle and the city buzzes with holiday spirit, we embark on a mission to make Christmas Eve special for families in need. Our goal this year is once again: to raise $10,000 for holiday meals and gifts.” As Frederick Joseph says, “If you are in a position to help, we are asking that people consider giving $3 (or more), as that amount with enough people will help us quickly reach goal.”
3. Family Switch, streaming on Netflix. I’m adding this one to my regular rotation of holiday movies. If you enjoy the “Freaky Friday” genre of film, this is a good Christmas flick with a great cast.
4. Find Your Food Voice, a podcast from Julie Duffy Dillon RDN. “Join in as we ditch cookie cutter approaches, expose the lies that society feeds us, and rewrite the rules around food, eating and our bodies.” If you, like me, have a history of disordered eating, the holidays might be triggering you too, so it can be nice to have a “voice in your ear” reminding you to take it slow, be gentle, stay sane and true to yourself.
5. How the Hygge Philosophy Is Right for Introverts.
6. Wisdom from Omkari Williams: “Take some time, remember why you care about what you care about, and let that knowing deepen your commitment to making the difference you can in your unique way.”
7. Crowd-Pleaser! Maria Bamford’s latest album is now available on various streaming services.
8. How To Blow Up Your Writing Career from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.
9. Poems from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer: Talking to My Son at Night and The Small Stuff.
10. A word of the year practice from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks. “How to name your north star.” I’m not gonna lie, sometimes when I choose a word for my year, rather than guiding me, it seems like I’ve cursed myself.
11. Good stuff from Seth Godin: Eight marketing maxims and Focusing attention is a skill.
12. Our Own Life As Our Message on Gentle Buddhism.
13. On the Need For New Things—and its Opposite. “A meditation on consumption, a rundown of COP28, and more.”
14. How to Survive the Holidays When You’re a Highly Sensitive Introvert.
15. What is happening on the inside of us? from Patti Digh, who says, “healthcare should not rely on Google searches—we all know this. But it needs to be helped along by curiosity, by different kinds of relationships with doctors, and by a strong will to know and stay alive whenever possible.”
16. Landscapes Altered by the World’s Largest Statues.
17. 11 Simple Self-Care Habits for Kids. P.S. these are good habits for people of ANY age.
18. Holiday Practice from Austin Kleon. “Making time and space for your art this season.”
19. Finding the words and music for healing, in which Gretchen Schmelzer says, “some of the most powerful moments in healing are small, bite-sized moments. They are single steps: they are single steps repeated over and over. They are the daily journal entries, mindfulness meditation, and gratitude practices. They are the simple discussions of how you are feeling and giving the feeling a name. It’s time to find ways to make healing easier to begin, and easier to understand—while honoring the difficult and complex task that it is.”
20. Feeling Stuck with Your Writing? Here’s Some Practical Things to Try from Esmé Weijun Wang.
21. How ‘husky therapy’ is helping offenders to tackle their mental health challenges. “In Wales, an adventure leisure company has partnered with the NHS to offer canine-led therapy to offenders on a mental health unit.”
22. Recipe I want to try: Gochujang Buttered Noodles.
23. 5 Downsizers Show Us Their Smaller Homes.
24. How to Handle Holiday Burnout.
25. How To Mindfully Consume The News.
26. “Their joy, that’s the gift to you.” (Instagram Reel) “Inspired by the ‘Secret Santa’ story from @stevehartmancbs’s ‘On the Road,’ Derek Brown’s students in Phoenix, Arizona, formed a club to raise thousands of dollars to spread holiday cheer to strangers.”
27. This.
28. In American Fiction, a Black writer who “doesn’t see race” pens a race novel.
29. The Best Comedy Specials of 2023. “The best hours reached for transcendence through gravity and sheer goofiness, often at the same time.”
30. Manifesto for posting online in 2023.
31. The Best Books of 2023. In related news, The Best Songs of 2023.
32. The Hurtful Words Adults Use That Harm Children The Most.
33. Longevity: Is exercise the key to a longer, healthier life?
34. Joshua Smith Serves Up Slices of Main Street in Meticulously Detailed Miniature Buildings.
35. After 18 years living with cancer, a poet offers ‘Fifty Entries Against Despair.’
36. I Left Her: HER REACTiON. (video)
37. 27 Things You Do Because You’re a Highly Sensitive Person.
38. Finding Light in Winter on The New York Times. “Every day I remind myself that all over the world most people want peace. They want a safe place for their families, and they want to be good and do good. The world is filled with helpers. It is only the great darkness of this moment that can make it hard to see them.
No matter how dark the days, we can find light in our own hearts, and we can be one another’s light. We can beam light out to everyone we meet. We can let others know we are present for them, that we will try to understand. We cannot stop all the destruction, but we can light candles for one another.”
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 