Nourishing Rituals

We all have rituals and habits, whether we’re aware of them or not. How you rise each morning to enter and greet your day, is your ritual. How you prepare yourself for sleep is your habit.

Some of these rituals are macro, like looking at the big picture of a year or life. Some are micro-rituals, like how we eat, exercise, and self-care. 

Each year, around this time, I have a year-end process of reflecting on the year that’s coming to conclusion, and look ahead to the horizon of the next year. It’s a process I’ve honed over time through experimentation, leading workshops, and learning from others’ similar rituals.

And, like you, I also have rituals on how I enter each day. My rituals include daily mediation, some journaling, and reading.  

And, just like most people, I get seduced by the scrolling through social media feeds. Of course, scrolling isn’t particularly nourishing for the mind, body, and soul. While it’s nice to check-in on people’s curated lives and wish them a happy birthday, I usually feel unfulfilled by social scrolling.

If I catch myself on rested mornings, I’ll avoid social media altogether. And, instead feed on more nourishing information and insight, beyond the New York Times, Washington Post, or wherever you might get your news.  

If you’re anything like me, you want to be inspired by new insights from smart and good-hearted thinkers. And, you want to feel free to explore your curiosities, and maybe find nuggets of wisdom to improve the quality of life. 

With this, I’m sharing a few of the more nourishing resources that enliven my information rituals.

The Marginalia (previously known as Brain Pickings)

Maria Popova has a seemingly insatiable curiosity for picking through and making distilled sense of the works of great thinkers. Maria refers to her curatorial passion as a “human-powered discovery engine for interestingness.” 

 The Marginalia delivers distilled insights from topics that range from poetry and philosophy, artistry and psychology, children’s books and novels, and nature and science. Ultimately, her curations explore the creative, spiritual, intellectual, psychological intersections of leading a meaningful life.

OnBeing

Led by Krista Tippet, OnBeing is part radio show and podcast, part blog, and part being-centric media house for the exploration of what it means to be human. The organization started as an NPR radio show and has grown to a societal powerhouse that explores the “fault lines of human hearts and well-being — pain and fear and dreams and hope.”  

As the show’s title suggests, it’s a kaleidoscope exploration of the array of human experiences and expressions.

In addition to the beautifully produced OnBeing podcast, I recommend the poetic immersion of Poetry Unbound, hosted and guided by Pádraig Ó Tuama.

You Are Not So Smart 

David McRaney created and curates this blog meets podcast meets book reviews to combat his own “smarty pants” self delusion.

As he states on his About page, “I used to forward sensational news stories without skepticism and think I was a smarty pants just because I did a little internet research. I didn’t know about confirmation bias and self-enhancing fallacies, and once I did, I felt very, very stupid. I still feel that way, but now I can make you feel that way too.”

Big Think

Should we trust science? Are we alone in the universe? Do we have free will? These questions and much more are explored by some of the greatest thinkers of our time. Contributors to this curated blog and video collection include Steven Pinker, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michio Kaku, Zena Hitz, and Helen Fisher. 

In particular, I recommend this insightful four-part video series entitled “Your Brain on Money.” Hosted by Michael Norton, Harvard psychology professor and co-author of “Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending.”

Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from An American

As the saying goes, if we cannot learn from history we’re destined to repeat it. But, making sense of what’s happening in the news, and especially in politics is not easy. Heather Cox Richardson is an American historian and professor of history at Boston College. She writes insightful commentary on the political happenings of our day through the lens of history. 

Her writings have helped me and thousands of others gain contextual insight on what’s happening in our times and the historical underpinnings. You can dive into her insights on her blog “Letters from An American” or follow her on Facebook.

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