Happy Friday! It has been a wonderful, insightful week of learning and doing. I'm looking forward to a few free days and a trip to my favorite place in the world. Wishing you a breezy summer weekend too. Here are a few things that caught my eye this week:
- Having an OnBeing podcast binge. A few recommended posts include conversations with yogi and activist Seane Corn, hilarious Jesuit priest James Martin, and chef Dan Barber.
- Loving on my new konjac sponge, which has been really keeping my summer skin clean and my pores nice and tight.
- Being fascinated by more research into gut bacteria and its impact on mood with this NY Times article "Can the Bacteria in Your Gut Explain your Mood?" Also running to the fridge to continue my daily sauerkraut habit (I move between a local MA brand and these mixes by Wild Brine).
- And finally, a lovely poem by Mary Oliver to take us into the weekend:
"Every Day
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It is what I was born for—
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world—
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant—
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these—
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?"