Moon lists, healing the mind, journaling, reading, watching, and more
Seven thin(g/k)s I explored this week
Hello dear reader,
I hope the transition point between the old and the new offers you a moment to reflect on the absurdity of Life, and its magic. I am wishing you a whimsical new year.
Here are seven links to bits of the world I explored this week, shared with the hope that you will find them to be an inspiring springboard for deeper thinking.
Moon lists — I found this pearlescent guided journal at a local boutique shop in Silver Lake last week, and promptly began filling it in with self-reflections from this cozy month. As a tradition-hopeful, this year I’ll also add to each family member’s dinner plate a printout of this away/toward guide, as a way to prompt each individual toward greeting the new year attentively and mindfully.
On journaling — How to take notes like Joan Didion.
On reading — This year I read the story of William Stoner, whose life touched me somewhere deep between my rib cage, in chords of sympathy I didn’t know existed within me; I acquainted myself with the poetry of Mary Ruelfe, who wrote about the obscurity of daily life; I tackled Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and failed, miserably, at unraveling her meandering, deciding to save it for another day; nestled in bookshops once hidden to me, I discovered Clarice Lispector, rediscovered Nietzsche, and admired anew the works of Irish writers; Goethe kept me afloat; and a contemporary writer, Tabitha Carvan kept me entertained; I sobbed in public thanks to Rules of Civility.
On watching — Cillian Murphy, along with Christopher Nolan, blew me away; I watched Christian Bale in Pale Blue Eye and need to rewatch, and followed it up with his stellar performance in Ford v. Ferrari; Ragnar captured my heart as I blazed through a million episodes of Vikings; and memorable in-flight films for me were The Wind That Shakes the Barley in addition to Leap Year.
A tango lesson between nature and nurture.
Benjamin Franklin’s notes on productivity.
See you next year, friends ;-)
Warmly,
Ani
affiliate links: sometimes, I include links to my Amazon storefront (often for books or other recommendations around the home/self I’ve found useful and hope you will, too). This means I make a few kopeks whenever someone makes a purchase using the link. It doesn’t detract from my recommendations coming from a place of a genuine desire to share with you. It just helps provide a few tangible tokens for my effort.
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