Things that make you go Hmmmm

Thumbnail of This is 54: Author Elizabeth Gilbert Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

Elizabeth Gilbert • This is 54: Author Elizabeth Gilbert Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

A paradigmatic act of mansplaining consists of a man presuming to “explain” something incorrect(ly) to a more expert female speaker or set of speakers—and in an overly confident, arrogant, or overbearing manner, which often results in his not backing down or admitting to his mistake after it has been authoritatively pointed out to him.

Kate Manne • Entitled

I have a question. Why do we typically reserve the function of a “conscious” relationship for romantic shapes only?

A New Type Of Conscious Relationship

Ursula K. Le Guin — The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

Thumbnail of Interdependence is a Survival Skill, But Shouldn’t Feel Like Building a Bunker

Elise Granata • Interdependence is a Survival Skill, But Shouldn’t Feel Like Building a Bunker

In any bond of depth and significance, forgive, forgive, forgive. And then forgive again. The richest relationships are lifeboats, but they are also submarines that descend to the darkest and most disquieting places, to the unfathomed trenches of the soul where our deepest shames and foibles and vulnerabilities live, where we are less than we would... See more

Maria Popova • 18 Life-Learnings From 18 Years of the Marginalian

Found on Cosmos

One of the smartest thinkers on the subject is an author named Sonya Renee Taylor. She argues that self-love is our natural condition. Babies, she says, don’t enter the world criticizing their thighs. They learn to do that via our toxic culture.

Next time you notice yourself in a toilet vortex of self-recrimination, bring to mind this slogan from... See more

Dan Harris • A way to cut through self-loathing

When I began to embrace selective silence—when I learned that I don't need to explain myself to everyone—I found something more powerful than expression. I found discernment in the spaces between words. I found boundaries in the power of pause. I found myself in the sanctuary of silence.

I don't over-explain myself as often now, nor chase after... See more