1. Wild Rooster Walks Into Couple’s House And Decides To Stay. (video) I think I shared this when it first came out, but it’s too silly to not share again. The Dodo consistently creates and shares some of my favorite content.

2. OuiSi game sets, “award-winning sets of visually-connecting (‘this looks like that’) Photo Cards, with games and activities that ignite creativity and curiosity, regardless of age.” These look fun.

3. Recipe I want to try: Perfect Starbucks Grilled Cheese (copycat recipe). 

4. Leslie Jordan, Comic Actor and Instagram Star, Dies at 67 on The New York Times. In related news, these three videos: Weeks before his death, Leslie Jordan reflected on his career and unexpected turn to country music, and Comedian Leslie Jordan, known for his roles on “Will & Grace” and “American Horror Story,” dies at 67, and In Memory Of Leslie Jordan.

5. What To Do About Twitter? from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds. “Most of our avenues of information — again, The Media, writ large — are gripped tightly by the hands of right-wing capitalist assholes who view and treat media less like it’s a vehicle for truth and more like it’s a vehicle ultimately for money. Yes, also a vehicle to further agenda, but ultimately, that agenda is to cycle more money. It’s always money. Making it. Laundering it. Occasionally setting it on fire.” In related news, Shonda Rhimes Says Bye-Bye to Twitter After Elon Musk Takeover, “‘Not hanging around for whatever Elon has planned. Bye,’ she wrote curtly.”

6. How to cope with SAD or seasonal affective disorder.

7. Rogan Brown – Paper Sculptures. “My work comes into being in the space where science fact and science fiction meet and merge…Paper, my chosen material, embodies the paradoxical qualities that we see in nature: its fragility and durability, its strength and delicacy; there is a pleasing poetic symmetry in taking this material that was cut from the forest and by cutting and transforming it once again returning it to its origins.” These are amazing.

8. Fortune Feimster Jokes Being ‘Obsessed’ with Her Dog Leaves No Time for Kids with Wife Jax Smith. In related news, Comedian Fortune Feimster’s star on the rise. (video)

9. After the First Snow Storm, a poem by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. 

“And so this cold morning,
driving on ice
when I feel the slip of the wheels
as they lose traction,
the heart resonates
with the skid.”

10. TikTok influencer Isaiah Garza was once homeless. Now he gives back to people in need: “I was born to do this”. (video) I have seen his videos but never knew the backstory, his origin story.

11. A canine psychologist with a new puppy explores ‘how dogs become themselves’. “Between the humanness of the human and the dogness of the dog lies a sublime mystery. Many of us call it love.” 

12. Wisdom from Priscilla Long by way of Jena Schwartz: “Sustaining creative work requires respecting yourself, honoring your life, and the humility and faith to keep going despite the ambiguity of creative work and the lack of guarantees regarding either artistic outcome or recognition. Honor yourself and your work as if the world depended on it. The world does depend on it.”

13. How 3 Buddhist Teachers Work with Difficult Emotions on Lion’s Roar. “Working with difficult emotions is a lifelong practice. Three Buddhist teachers [Susan Piver, Karen Maezen Miller, and Norman Fischer] open up about their own struggles.”

14. The Pattern of Pretendianism, “And the sort of nuanced analysis you can’t have on Twitter.”

15. Thank you. I love you. I release you with great love. from Amy Oscar. “Listening to who I was then is helping me become who I am now.”

16. Fear-Mongering at The Grocery Store, and More of “Wellness’” Greatest Tricks.

17. Prepping for the Apocalypse Means Building Community On Movement Memos, a Truthout Podcast. “‘Our mutual investment in one another’s survival is our greatest resource, and our greatest hope,’ says Kelly Hayes. In this episode of ‘Movement Memos,’ Hayes talks with anthropologist and survivalist instructor Chris Begley about the lessons of his book The Next Apocalypse: The Art and Science of Survival, and why many of us might be preparing for the wrong apocalypse.”

18. We Need to Talk About Women and ADHD.

19. No More Grind: How to Finally Rest with Tricia Hersey on We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle. (podcast)

20. This American Life Ep. 779: Ends of the Earth. (podcast) “An exploration of the very upper limits of what you do for someone you love.”

21. 50 Worst Things That Waste Your Time – Guilty or Nah? “Whether you use or waste the moments you have, you always face the consequences and results accordingly. In this blog post, we’ll discuss 50 of the most common things that waste time and how to avoid them.” 

22. In a poetic mood. “Poetry ruminates and reflects, explores thoughts and emotions, or a snapshot in time, without necessarily being linear.”

23. The Art of Dying by Peter Schjeldahl. “I always said that when my time came I’d want to go fast. But where’s the fun in that?”

24. 3 of the Things I Love Most About Getting Older. My favorite thing about getting older? Still being here.

25. 5 Reasons I Don’t Want a Bigger Home. “And five reasons I do want more space!”

26. 99 Free (Or Affordable) Self-Care Ideas For Your Wellness Routine.

27. 102 Best Random Acts of Kindness Ideas.

28. 30+ Gratitude Journal Prompts.

29. 10 ways not getting enough sleep is killing you. This “‘unrecognized epidemic’ is about more than just feeling tired — it can actually lead to a number of entirely unnecessary, chronic conditions. Here are 10 things sleep deprivation can do to you.”

30. Landed, “is not a dating app or friend finder, but a one-time, meaningful interaction with a different person each week. It is social media that supports your life, not the other way around.” This looks really interesting.

31. Landed Just 22 Of The Best Fall Shoes In Existence, No Big Deal. Transitioning back to needing to wear something other than flip flops or going barefoot is always hard for me.

32. The 13 Things That ‘Horrify’ Introverts the Most.

33. Feast of Losses: A Communion of Grief and Gratitude. “Jami Sieber (composer, cellist) and Kim Rosen (spoken word artist) have created a transformative convergence of music and poems that emerge from the heartbreak, gratitude and wake-up call of this moment in our lives and in the life of our world. The words of Langston Hughes, Stanley Kunitz, Marie Howe, Ellen Bass, Lucille Clifton, W.S. Merwin, Deena Metzger, Mark Nepo, Yehuda Amichai, and Mary Oliver, spoken by Kim, rise and fall in the evocative waves of Jami’s original music.” I just downloaded this. I feel like I need a little nudge to fully open up to my grief and after listening to the “Adrift by Mark Nepo” track, I think it’s just the thing for it.

 

1. A Reason To Stop Worrying – Watch This Whenever You’re Stressed Or Anxious. (video)

2. What Does My Anxiety Mean? “I need to know what it means, to understand its purpose more deeply. Not to package and sell it — I won’t be writing an inspirational memoir about the invaluable lessons I learned from my anxiety and here’s how you can, too. I just need to make sense.”

3. Vintage Illustrations of Flora and Fauna Are Superimposed into Surreal Portraits by MUMI. 

4. Returning to the Whole. “To heal ourselves, we must remember that we are a small part of a much greater whole, writes adrienne maree brown in their June column.”

5. ‘You Don’t Look Anorexic’ on The New York Times. “New research shows that our assumptions about eating disorders are often wrong — and that many larger-bodied people are starving themselves.” For me, my health issues for the most part are about three things: chronic stress, insufficient rest, and starving myself — for years. It’s easy to see why so many of us suffer when healthcare and wellness culture pretend the fix for everything is to “lose weight” and assume that the size of your body is the most accurate measure of health.

6. Ditch the hearse, bring the kids, have a picnic: an alternative undertaker’s tips for a better funeral. “Rupert Callender didn’t know what to do with his life until he realised he could help people mark the deaths of their loved ones. Just don’t mention pallbearers and the other traditional trappings.”

7. What Our Devotion to “Wellness Cures” Costs Us. “‘Wellness’ is not merely a vague and noble goal but is a growing $4.4 trillion industry seeking to influence women’s spending habits and capture as much of our money as possible.”

8. 9 Relatable Things That Drain Highly Sensitive People.

9. 3 Emotional Regulation Practices for People Who Feel Too Much. “How to avoid going into emotional overload and triggering your flight and fight response.” In related news, 5 Self-Soothing Techniques for Introverts Who Feel Overstimulated.

10. What to Know About Seasonal Depression on The New York Times. “If you notice drastic shifts in your mood during certain times of the year, you could have seasonal affective disorder. Here are answers to your top questions about the condition.”

11. Depression can make tasks as easy as showering feel impossible — here’s how I dealt.

12. Burnout was supposed to get better. It hasn’t. “It’s not just you: Almost half of American office workers feel burned out at work.” In related news, Beyond burnout: What helps—and what doesn’t.

13. Hackers stole $13,103.91 from me. Learn from my mistakes. “Here are three simple ways to protect yourself from common hacks.”

14. A therapist says most women have ‘mother hunger’ that affects their relationships — here are 2 signs you have it.

15. ‘PEN15’ was a masterclass in working through adolescent angst. “The final season offered a profound answer as to why it was unlike anything else on TV.”

16. ‘Slash/Back’ Review: Inuit teens battle aliens in a groundbreaking thriller. “Slash/Back may be a spiritual successor to The Thing, but it carves out a unique space as a sci-fi horror flick made for Indigenous young adults.”

17. What to Watch: 7 (Actually Good) LGBTQ+ Rom-Coms to Stream.

18. Rosie Thomas – Fly Little Crow (feat. Iron & Wine). (video)

19. Mary Karr on Navigating Memory While Writing Memoir. “A single image can split open the hard seed of the past.”

20. I Love Lists, a fun collection on A Grace Full Life.

21. A Simple Wish on Craft Talk. Also from Jami Attenberg on Craft Talk, What Writers Need.

22. 16 Life-Learnings from 16 Years of The Marginalian. “Reflections on keeping the soul intact and alive and worthy of itself.”

23. @englisheccentrichome on Instagram. Dreamy interiors posted by Nikki Renshaw. “I am an Interior Designer. This is my inspiration board.”

23. Good stuff from Jena Schwartz: Wild Thing and Homecoming.

24. The Ultimate Productivity Hack is Saying No. We don’t have to care about productivity to recognize the power of no.

25. America’s problem is White people keep backing the Republican Party. “A clear majority of White Americans keeps backing the Republican Party over the Democratic Party, even though the Republican Party is embracing terrible and at times antidemocratic policies and rhetoric. The alliance between Republicans and White Americans is by far the most important and problematic dynamic in American politics today.”

26. 10 Slow Living Books To Help You Simplify Your Life.

27. Why Every Introvert Should Have an Exercise Routine.

28. Training The Mind To Transform, on the podcast from the Upaya Center, a nine part series in which “Reverend Angel Kyodo Williams, Roshi, gives a Dharma talk introducing the practice of Lojong or mind training” and “Through personal investigation, creative confrontation, and rigorous practice, we will train our mind toward unshakable compassion together.” 

29. Your autobiography from Seth Godin.

30. On Being Foundations, a special, four-part series. “On Being Foundations are words and ideas – ways of seeing the world and walking through it – that have emerged through 20 years of conversations which have come into conversation with each other and the life of the world. Think of these as tethering understandings towards our shared callings for inner life, presence to the world, and life together…Every session comes with an invitation that you can weave through the ordinary interactions of your life, your every day. You’ll find notes beneath each session posted on this page, with prompts to support that.”

31. #Blocktober from Mason Currey, which begins with #Blocktober begins here, (“A fog, a phobia—ennui, impotence, insanity—powerlessness, horror—and other attempts to describe the dreaded block”), and goes on to offer The perfect conditions for a creative block.

32. Comedian and actor Leslie Jordan dies after car crash at 67. This makes me so sad. He’d just lost his mama. “‘The world is definitely a much darker place today without the love and light of Leslie Jordan,’ a statement issued by the actor’s representative, David Shaul, said. ‘Not only was he a mega talent and joy to work with, but he provided an emotional sanctuary to the nation at one of its most difficult times. What he lacked in height he made up for in generosity and greatness as a son, brother, artist, comedian, partner and human being. Knowing that he has left the world at the height of both his professional and personal life is the only solace one can have today.'”

33. I Weigh Podcast: Holding and Understanding Grief with Megan Devine on Spotify. “Psychotherapist and author Megan Devine joins Jameela this week to discuss what grief is, how it can affect us physically, what we can say to those in our lives who are grieving, and how we can actually help, and then wrap things up by answering your questions about grief and healing.”

34. The existence of the last slave transport ship was denied. A new documentary reveals the truth. “Descendant tells the true story of the ship and the descendants of the enslaved people who have fought hard to establish the truth of the Clotilda’s existence, both to better understand their own roots and to prove to the world that the crime actually happened. It declares that history cannot be brushed aside because it makes some people feel bad to remember it.”