HOW TO LIVE

But what if — as I am convinced — a fully formed person is not about optimizing productivity but rather about understanding and even embracing the messy inefficiencies of life?

Opinion | I Teach Memoir Writing. Don’t Outsource Your Life Story to A.I.

Wash every bowl, every dish as if you are bathing a baby - breathing in, feeling joy, breathing out, smiling. Every minute can be a holy, sacred minute5. Where do you seek the spiritual? You seek the spiritual in every ordinary thing that you do every day. Sweeping the floor, watering the vegetables, and washing the dishes become holy and sacred if... See more

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Sleep is fine (but it has to be “productive” deep sleep, no naps!!); self-care is fine (so long as it also involves buying things, resisting aging, etc. etc.); exercise is great (disciplining and regimenting the body). But truly doing nothing, not even birding, not even gentle walking, not even organizing , where’s the moral value in that?

Anne Helen Petersen • Bed Rotting and Loud Quitting

If you observe a sabbath, this feeling is not unfamiliar. You are well-acquainted with what others think of as the awkward restraints of just being . You understand its essential, restorative purpose — and marvel at others’ allergy to it. Why are we so terrified of stillness? To be still is an invitation to reckon with our smallness, our powerlessn

Anne Helen Petersen • How Do You Fall in Love With the in-Between?

The goal is not to be better and better. The goal, every day, is to simply feel where you are and accept it. What is happiness, after all? Happiness is enjoying yourself as you are right now and connecting to other people as they are . That’s it. You don’t have to change anything. You don’t have to win anyone over. You just have to savor this day.

I... See more

How to Stop Trying to Be Better

It’s easy enough to share the sweet bits. Hey guys I saw some birds and considered compassion, also here’s a poem. Easy. It’s harder to say I’ve been frightened, furious, and frail—it is not exactly how I want to be, but it’s how I’ve been, and it’s changing, because everything does in time. Everything. Even the weeping. Maybe writing gets easier a... See more

Kristin Lueke • Isn't the moon dark too

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