GM!1 ☕️
This issue is dedicated to Nex Benedict and all who loved and mourn them. May they be at peace. 💞
Here are this fortnight’s 5 things to consider:
A moment of gratitude for folks who provided rest and healing to justice workers in the Southern Freedom (Civil Rights) Movement. Here, I’m learning about Vincent and Rosemarie Freeney Harding of Mennonite House in Atlanta and the farmers who provided campsites along the march from Selma to Montgomery. Social justice icon and public theologian Ruby Sales put it this way: “They created hope zones, and their work was so significant that it brought down an empire without firing a shot.”
Jane Goodall’s definition of awe is ”being amazed at things outside yourself.” It’s a feeling she believed to observe in chimpanzees and which she took as evidence of their spirituality. Psychologist Dacher Keltner cites this story in AWE, a book that maps the dimensions of awe and urges readers to seek it. (His Nautilus interview on “the dark side of awe” complicates things nicely, too.)
Maya Popa‘s lovely poet’s take on atomic habits has me revisiting James Clear’s famous framework. Popa’s interpretation incorporates some welcome flexibility. For those of us who can get stuck in perfectionism if we aren’t careful (hi 🥰), consider how writer Mandy Brown highlights a process of return, not optimization:
If there’s anything I know about practicing it’s that it isn’t about rules or consistency or scarcity or god forbid optimizing: it’s about coming back. A practice is built on the movement of return. —Mandy Brown, “Fifteen, or one-third”2
I’m loving the line dancing and all the delight for Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em.” If you haven’t heard, the song features North Carolina banjo and viola player + singer-songwriter, musical historian, and activist Rhiannon Giddens. After Giddens excelled as a folk artist with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, was selected for a MacArthur Fellowship, and won a Pulitzer for her opera, Omar, she defied expectations by venturing into pop. “My mission is never far from who I am and what I do, but there’s also different ways of doing it.” After all, “tradition is a guide, not a jailer.”
Sci-fi legend Octavia Butler’s self-talk was next level. I admire this and find it takes real courage to name big ambitions, even in the privacy of a notebook. “So be it! See to it!”
Thank you for reading! This newsletter is a labor of love. 💌 To support it, you can upgrade to a paid subscription (coming soon), share this post, or engage my services. You can learn more about my work at jenniferlphillips.com.
Jenny
P.S. ⚡️perspective shock⚡️👇🏼
“Meet Me at the Creek” is a song by Billy Strings.
Via Austin Kleon, “The Joy of Repetition.”
That notebook!