Inspiration

Every week on Friday, I share a list of the most interesting and inspiring content I’ve read lately here on my blog. You can expect thoughts on productivity, happiness, balance, spirituality, politics, and more. Subscribe here to get updates. See archives here.

If you are a fan of Stranger Things the way I am, this will be 6 minutes of pure joy – I was smiling my head off. Start at minute 3:18 for the best part, which I have now watched three times. It led me to revisit this other clip from last year that I also find extremely funny.

As you may know, I am obsessed with The Wirecutter for all kinds of recommendations, so I was excited to discover a similar site called The Sweet Setup, which is for app recommendations.

On a related note, this past week I switched to listening to my podcasts on Overcast, which was no small undertaking! But it was 100% worth it, considering how buggy the native iPhone podcast application can be, and how annoying it was to navigate after the last update. Plus I love Overcast’s “Smart Speed” feature which trims long pauses automagically. More on this from Slate.

Almost every woman I know was talking about this short story either publically or in private chats this week, because there are so many pieces and themes within it that are relatable and resonate with us. I also particularly liked the interview with the author, where she unpacks the story a bit further. I did not particularly like the Twitter account devoted to men’s responses to the story, but it was, in a word, interesting.

Sharing here in case you, like me, hadn’t heard: Ridley Scott re-shot significant chunks of an almost-finished movie in two weeks (sticking to the original release date) in order to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer! Because, in his words: “You can’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that. We cannot let one person’s action affect the good work of all these other people. It’s that simple.” Thank you, Ridley Scott, for understanding that it matters. It matters. I love how he’s also just like, it’s no big deal. Amazing.

My friend Laura sent me a 70-page document on emotional labour compiled from the comment threads on Meta Filter. I am working my way through it slowly, slowly, because a) it’s a lot to handle emotionally, and b) it’s long, yo! I think emotional labour is one of the next big feminist battles we have to fight and it feels good to be informing myself.

I finished The Wisdom of Sundays this week – also a gift from Laura! It was a beautiful book both in terms of content and presentation, and a real treat to read cozied up on my couch. It affirmed for me that I am on the right path. It reminded me of what matters to me.

Homegoing was one of the best books I’ve read this year, so it was fun to read this piece by Yaa Gyasi about her writing routine.

Finally a normal week back in my normal routine! I really cherish these days where I get back to my rhythms and to the freedom to structure my time the way that I want to. It’s been really cold this week but I’m doing my best not to complain or be negative about it (per my winter resolutions!) and bundle up instead. Just one week left until the holidays! Lots of work and lots of fun planned between now and then. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too. xo.

Every week on Friday, I share a list of the most interesting and inspiring content I’ve read lately here on my blog. You can expect thoughts on productivity, happiness, balance, spirituality, politics, and more. Subscribe here to get updates. See archives here.

I have been seriously loving the Hurry Slowly podcast since I discovered it. I listened to Jason Fried’s episode on setting boundaries at work and Craig Mod’s episode on safeguarding your attention this week and loved both.

This article is so, so, so important: The myth of the male bumbler. “[We need to] shed our weird cultural blindness to manipulative male behavior. We must be smarter than our cultural defaults. We need to shed the exculpatory scripts that have mysteriously enabled all these incompetent bumblers to become rich, successful, and admired even as they maintain that they’re moral infants.”

Is it weird that I find this article about the end of the social media era extremely hopeful and comforting? Even though I do a lot of work in the social media world, I dislike it and more and more want to escape it.

On every episode of his podcast, Tim Ferris asks his guests what their best purchase under $100 has been within the past year – and then he compiled them all into a list! So helpful and my wishlist basically just doubled.

The tension between creativity and productivity. “She’s a naturally productive person who finds herself with some free time, yet she’s finding it difficult to not stay busy, even though she knows she needs the mind-wandering time to replenish her creative reserves.”

I was so into this post about daily logs (and that huge beautiful stack of notebooks!) that I immediately purchased one to start 2018 off on the right foot.

Like everyone else, I am so inspired by the choice of The Silence Breakers for TIME’s Person of the Year.

Another Friday after another whirlwind week! I had two interesting events for work this week – great opportunities to learn more about stress, energy and tension. And we’re moving into holiday season! Lots of fun plans on the horizon from now until the end of 2017. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too. xo.

Every week on Friday, I share a list of the most interesting and inspiring content I’ve read lately here on my blog. You can expect thoughts on productivity, happiness, balance, spirituality, politics, and more. Subscribe here to get updates. See archives here.

I was so inspired by how Gayle King perfectly embodied our human ability to hold two opposing ideas in our heads at once in the way she expressed her shock, disappointment, grief, and confusion regarding Charlie Rose. There’s a reason she’s best friends with Oprah – her grace and poise and articulation is astounding.

A simple way to develop more gratitude for your successes and joys in life. I love anything that helps move me out of scarcity and into appreciation.

What a beautiful concept, to write about a single day each year and compile them into a book. I might take a leaf from the author’s book and start this habit myself. I admire the simplicity and dedication.

My thanksgiving is perpetual. I hope yours is too! No other act brings me as much peace and prosperity as the act of practicing gratitude daily.

Would you like a big long list of books you might want to read? I sure did! Check out the NYTimes picks for notable books of 2017 here.

I’ve been using Grammarly as a Chrome extension for a couple of weeks now and have mostly found it helpful (though it is a bit annoying that it prefers American spelling of words like “favourite”). Definitely helps me with fixing grammatical errors on the fly.

I’m currently reading The End of Absence and loving it a lot. There’s something about Michael Harris’s writing that soothes me and reminds me what’s important.

This week has been hectic, to say the least! I knew it would be going into it, and it’s proven me correct. I’ve been helping out with finishing up a space for an interior design company, and it’s been a few days of non-stop go-go-go to get things done. I’m definitely looking forward to the weekend! I need a break and am excited to have one. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too. xo.