Some years I dive in to what feels like a fast-flowing stream headfirst in the early days of January. Other years, I chart a careful course in the final days of December and set off around January 2, working with the wind, hand steady at the rudder of my ship of intentions. This 2019 year has required me to slow way down, enter a certain stillness that I can all too easily judge as inaction, breathe, and basically chop wood, carry water.
My copy of Velocity of Being arrived over the holidays. 121 letters “from contributors as varied as scientists like Jane Goodall and Janna Levin, musicians like Yo-Yo Ma and Amanda Palmer, writers like Jacqueline Woodson and Neil Gaiman, artists like Marina Abramovic and Chris Ware, to philosophers, composers, poets, astrophysicists, actors, a 98-year old Holocaust survivor, Italy’s first woman in space, and many more remarkable humans…”
My intention is to read one letter a day until I finish, but I notice I have gotten sidetracked easily. Maybe one a week would be achievable…or alternatively, put that big old book right in the middle of my desk every night so that when I start my day, I have to either read it, or move it out of my way…we shall see.
I am also reading: The Horn Book’s Instagram, Neo.Life, Science Daily, the awesome set of board books for little humans, House, and Mary Oliver’s book of selected essays, Upstream. Thank you for decades of inspiration, Mary.
What I’m viewing: Regular readers know I often write about our relationship with birds. My friend Nanda Currant, a filmmaker and educator, sent me this film she made—Winter Shorebirds, La Selva Beach, California. If you don’t know your Curlew from a Godwit (I don’t), this is a great way to learn.
UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS
Parenting Children in a Digital Age—Foundations for a Mindful Digital Life, Jan. 27, Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany, CA, 3 pm. An interactive presentation for parents & caregivers. Free.
Mindful Parenting in a Digital World, Jan. 30, Oakland location, 7–9:30 pm. For parents of teens and young adults. $20/registration required. For tickets & info, visit FamilySanity.org (scroll down the page).
“I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.” ~Mary Oliver, from Upstream
