Meaningful Gatherings in this Time

Priya Parker shares tips on how to approach and reframe how we gather in this strange time of social distancing.

The Great Ones

“The great ones do not set up offices, charge fees, give lectures, or write books. Wisdom is silent, and the most effective propaganda for truth is the force of personal example. The great ones attract disciples, lesser figures whose mission is to preach and to teach. These are gospelers who, unequal to the highest task, spend their lives in converting others. The great ones are indifferent, in the profoundest sense. They don’t ask you to believe: they electrify you by their behavior. They are the awakeners. What you do with your petty life is of no concern to them. What you do with your life is only of concern to you, they seem to say. In short, their only purpose here on earth is to inspire. And what more can one ask of a human being than that?”
— Henry Miller

Thin Slices of Anxiety


From Catherine Lepage’s Thin Slices of Anxiety.

Absurd Times

I feel this.

Stay Home

Starting tomorrow all schools are closed in NYC. For weeks, if not months.

Wow! I can’t help but feel as if the earth is resetting itself.

So many are suffering, but I also see so much humanity in action. People opening their hearts and helping each other, finding moments of joy.

Humans are resilient. We will be ok. All will be ok. But for now, let’s stay home.

Stress Reducing Guided Meditations

So many good answers in this thread. Feel free to add your tip below in a comment.

Feelings Wheel

How am I seeing a Feelings Wheel for the first time? This is so helpful in understanding emotions. (Also comes as a print to put up on the walls!)

The Case of the Missing Hit

This latest Reply All episode is *delightful*. It’s about a man in California who is haunted by the memory of a pop song from his youth. He can remember the lyrics and the melody. But the song itself has vanished, completely scrubbed from the internet. PJ takes on the Super Tech Support case.

My Love Language

Better Conversations With Your Kids

Little Talk Conversation starters helps you have better conversations with your kids.

In The Presence Of Truth

Half of Your Heart

Wake Up To Your Patterns

This post by Brianna Wiest stopped me in my tracks.

YelloPain: My Vote Dont Count

Thank you Kottke, for finding this: In his new music video, My Vote Dont Count, rapper YelloPain provides an excellent 4-minute summary in the sprit of Schoolhouse Rock of the importance of voting, particularly in midterm elections and with a focus on Congress and state legislatures.

Thank you Body

Thank you body,
for teaching me how to love, me
for showing me my deepest depths
also my soft light
for holding me even when I am
kicking and screaming.
thank you body,
for giving me permission
and the courage
to keep showing up
to keep saying yes.

— Maribeth Helen Keane

Practices in listening

Yes, Please!

This Question:

I found so many gems in the answers to this Tweet.

Brené Brown — Strong Back, Soft Front, Wild Heart

Brené Brown says our belonging to each other can’t be lost, but it can be forgotten. Her research has reminded the world in recent years of the uncomfortable, life-giving link between vulnerability and courage. Now she’s turning her attention to how we walked into the crisis of our life together and how we can move beyond it: with strong backs, soft fronts, and wild hearts.

Real Religion

“Real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.”
— Alan Watts

Two-Mountain People

“The basement of your soul is much deeper than you knew. Some people look into the hidden depths of themselves and they realize that success won’t fill those spaces. Only a spiritual life and unconditional love from family and friends will do. They realize how lucky they are. They are down in the valley, but their health is O.K.; they’re not financially destroyed; they’re about to be dragged on an adventure that will leave them transformed.”
— David Brooks

Thank you Jocelyn for reminding me of one of my favorite reads of 2019: Two-Mountain People

We Have To Stand Up To Evil

“If our leaders are evil, what does one do? . . . If God gives us free will, we are responsible for what we do or what we fail to do . . . . I can’t do what I believe is wrong. We have to stand up to evil.”

Timely quote from the stunning movie A Hidden Life by Terrence Malick

Are You Satisfiable?

On my walk home from work yesterday, I listened to the most recent Hurry Slowly episode. It completely stopped me in my tracks, to the point where I would catch myself standing on a street corner, completely immersed. The minute I came home, I sat down on my couch and started the episode right over again, taking in all of Adrienne Maree Brown’s thoughtfulness and questions. Are you satisfiable? What does it mean to be satisfiable? How do you recognize when you have “enough”? Questions central not just to our own well-being but to attaining a more just and equitable society. Have a listen, it’s nourishing and thought-provoking.

The Ultimate Touchstone of Friendship

”But no matter the medicinal virtues of being a true friend or sustaining a long close relationship with another, the ultimate touchstone of friendship is not improvement, neither of the self nor of the other, the ultimate touchstone is witness, the privilege of having been seen by someone and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another, to have walked with them and to have believed in them, and sometimes just to have accompanied them for however brief a span, on a journey impossible to accomplish alone.”
— David Whyte

How to Build a Sobriety Toolbox

This post by Holly Whitaker is full of useful tips on how to build a sobriety toolbox.

I have been on a journey of cutting down on alcohol for a good year now and Kava tea has really helped me substitute that glass of wine at night.

I also started tracking days where I didn’t drink any alcohol at all to have a visual reminder of how I am shifting my habits. I use an app called DONE for that. Besides ‘not drinking’ I track when I meditate, do something physical, dance, didn’t eat sugar.

My goal is not to cut drinking alcohol all together but to be more aware why I am drinking. When I am with friends and I am having a good time, I totally want to enjoy a glass of wine. When I am home alone and want to “numb” with alcohol, I now stop myself. I replace that glass of wine with tea, meditation, a bath, etc. Small steps.