As I read the internet, peruse my emails, and get lost down endless trivial rabbit trails of fascinating information, I collect and save some interesting stuff. Today I thought I would share with you some this n that potpourri of maybe useful but probably not material that has caught my attention lately.
How do you organize your books?
I see photos all the time of other people’s bookshelves compiled by color. All the yellows on one shelf; reds on another. Not me. I want to find the book I am looking for. In my little brain and way of thinking there is only one way – alphabetized by author’s last name! Apparently, I am not in the majority as one study revealed:
The vast majority of you are nuts. How can you live in the sheer chaos?
• Topic: 39.5%
• My own particular method: 28.7%
• Vibes: 16.4%
• Alphabetically: 7.6%
• Color: 6.8%
• Acquisition date: 1%
Great New Word
Susurration – meaning A whispering sound; murmur. It comes from the Latin “susurrare,” meaning “to whisper.” It might be the sound of rainfall or wind whipping through leaves. Anything with a low, rustling sound can be a susurration. It’s onomatopoetic — the “s” and “sh” sounds of the word echo the meaning.
Overwhelmed
Usually, I use this word in a negative fashion. “I have so much to do, I am overwhelmed.” But recently I am reminded that can convey positive emotions too – “I am overwhelmed by God’s goodness or a beautiful sunset.” And don’t forget good overwhelm is hidden in plain sight on your hardest days, too, if you learn to look for it.
When you dwell on the good kind of overwhelm, you actually flush out the bad kind of overwhelm. There is a power to using this word in an update fashion.
Healthier Brain Management
A study published in PNAS Nexus was recently featured in The Washington Post, with a headline that got a lot of attention:
“This detox may erase 10 years of social media brain damage, researchers say.”
For two weeks, participants used the Freedom app on their phones to block the internet. They could still make calls and send texts, but apps and web access were cut off.
What the study found was remarkably interesting and surprised even the researchers, as they note in the Washington Post article. When mobile internet access was removed, participants cut their time online nearly in half, from 314 minutes to 161 minutes per day. By the end of the study, they showed measurable improvements in attention, mental health, and overall well-being. On some attention measures, the gains were comparable to about 10 years of age-related decline, with similarly strong effects on depression symptoms.
Grief
I thought I was holding grief.
Tonight I see grief is holding me.
Not with a vice grip. Not with a fist.
More the way gravity
holds the earth to the sun—
a force without which our planet
would lose all warmth, all life.
Love has many names. Grief is one,
and I am grateful tonight for the way
it tethers me not only to pain but
to beauty, goodness, connection.
Tonight I see grief not as a problem
to be solved but as an energy to explore,
to move with, to circle what is beloved.
There is some comfort even in knowing
it will never let me go. It is right that it
should hold me, even as I turn and turn.
—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Encouraging Quote
“Your first attempt might not be very good, but nobody’s early work is good. There will always be a gap between where you are and where you want to be. And the bridge between that gap is courage. The courage to look foolish in the beginning. The courage to show up again when your early work is criticized. The courage to look yourself in the mirror and say, “I realize I’m not good enough yet, but the only way to get better is to keep working on it.” James Clear
The practice of noticing to what grabs your attention is healthy, fulfilling, fun and nurtures curiosity. Looking around today – what are you seeing with new eyes that lifts your soul?
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