I have curated a delicious list for you this week… any by delicious I do not mean all pleasant. The reason I have decided to include some not-so-favorite things on this weekly list is because life is not all sweet. But the contrast adds to the sweetness of the other parts, you know?
I have discovered that celebrating and expressing gratitude for the people, things, and circumstances that conjure shitty feelings is very important. Because we couldn’t grow without them. Chew on that for a moment.
Now onto this week’s Directory of Deliciousness:
- When the truth is animated. Wanna know how to be perfectly unhappy? Take a look at this. How about a little insight on creativity? Got it right here. This one is for the grammar police. And this is how to have a difficult conversation about selfies.
- There is a tangerine tree that stands outside my bedroom window, her name is Whispers. She and I have the best conversations. In fact, Whispers recently helped me get through one of the most challenging experiences of my adult life. She’s the strong and silent type, she doesn’t say much… but she communicates with me through her way. It’s in the way that she allows her leaves to dance in the wind. The way she stands strong when it’s gusty out. She is unapologetic about the sweetness of her fruit. And she is resilient, growing new limbs even when her old ones were brutally severed. You can learn a lot from a tree. As you can see I totally have a thing for trees… check out this post for some amazing pictures of some of the most beautiful trees on the planet.
- Last week I cleaned out some shelves in my closet that I’d been avoiding for the better part of 5 years. It was like digging through a sealed tomb! So many long forgotten treasures. Including several book jackets, for books that I likely donated to the library years ago. Anyway, I happened upon the jacket for a book that left a huge impression on my heart. It’s called The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.. It’s basically about a woman whose friend, Elizabeth, died suddenly in a car accident. Elizabeth leaves a trunk of artifacts to her friend and the contents reveal a very different woman than the one she thought she knew. The book really speaks to how impossible it really is to know someone fully and completely. To how we only reveal what we feel comfortable sharing. How unfulfilled desires can gnaw someone from the inside out. I don’t want to give it away, so I will stop there. But you should totally read it for yourself.
- This cartoon from New Yorker Magazine made me chuckle:
- If you’re into wine but don’t know how to choose what you like, this quiz is like wine for dummies. Not that I’m calling you a dummy, but you know what I mean.
- I was having lunch the other day in a not-so-swanky Mexican restaurant that has great chips and cheap-drinks-that-taste-good-without-rotting-your-gut, when I noticed a UFC fight playing out on the tele. Two women hitting one another until one of them falls. Watching it not only made me queasy, but it also made my pussy ache. I have this viceral reaction to most acts of violence now that I am more awake. But that’s not the curious part. The reason this struck me so much, it wasn’t the fight itself or my reaction to the fight. It was more about the fact that I couldn’t stop looking. And I’m not the only one, that’s the response hat many of us have. We continue to cause ourselves to suffer when we continue to do, watch, and participate in things that do not feel good to us. So I invite you to think about the areas of your life where you won’t stop looking.
- Hemingway is famous for a lot of things, but one of them is his six-word story “For sale, baby shoes, never worn.” 6-word stories are a favorite writing prompt that have circulated long before the internet was streaming 24/7. Joseph Gordon-Levitt invited people to share 6-word stories on Twitter the other day. The results are interesting, funny, and sometimes outlandish. You can give them a read here.
What’s your 6-word story?
Share it in the comments below!
This post contains affiliate links. You can read my affiliate policy here.