Welcome back to the . . . Sanctuary . . . where once a week – on Fridays – I aim to preserve my sanity. And maybe yours, too. If you missed my inaugural Sanctuary post (the one where I explained all this), you can find it here.

So. What have I got for you this week?
Three things . . .  Two of them are rather list-ish, but also may provide some food-for-thought for you. And the other is a “virtual visit” to an interesting museum (of sorts).

Ready?

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List-ish Something Number One

Several years ago, I started following Molly Burford on Instagram. Molly . . . is a writer-of-lists. Really lovely, thoughtful lists. Lists that read like poems. I always find her lists inspiring. They bolster me. And I thought I’d share one with you today. This one is called “What To Keep in Your Back Pocket,” and when she posted it on Instagram last week, Molly included the simple caption . . . “Essentials.”

Indeed. We should all carry our “essentials” with us every day. Maybe this list from Molly will inspire you to think about the “essentials” in your own back pocket. (I know it inspires me.)

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List-ish Something Number Two

Alright. I’ll just admit it . . . I am in a reflective sort of mood these days. Filling the holes in my world/the world with poetry. (And, I guess, with lists.) I subscribe to Maria Popova‘s blog called The Marginalian (some of you may also know it by its former name, Brain Pickings). I’m sure a lot of you are already familiar with Maria’s work — and many of you likely subscribe to The Marginalian yourselves. It’s a bit of a . . . thinking kind of space. Maria is known for her interesting “takes” on the literary arts, philosophy, culture, books, science . . . and the juxtaposition thereof. She’s also a poet.

Anyway (and speaking of juxtaposition) . . . Maria recently wrote a poem (I think it would be fair to call this a poem) based on words and phrases spoken by guests appearing on Debbie Milman‘s podcast Design Matters over its twenty year history. The reasons and process for . . . all this . . . is described in Maria’s blog post (which you can find here), so I will not even try to explain it further for you. If you are interested, you can read more about it for yourself. And if you are not, you can just read this . . . Maria’s absolutely lovely piece, strung together from bits and pieces of advice from other artists

TWENTY WAYS TO MATTER
Maria Popova

Excavate the truth beneath the truth beneath the truth —
the deeper you go, the simpler it gets:
the longing, love, insecurity, rage, loss —
all of it part of the same fabric,
all just a story
emerging from the quantum foam.

Move through the world
knowing that everyone around you
is doing the best they can,
that humanity is capable
of the Moonlight Sonata
and the concentration camp,
that you are a piece
of the same puzzle.

If you are longing for
the world to be more perfect
do something about it:
become a kind of translator
between reality and possibility,
cast a light on a parallel world,
that little speck in the distance —
it is the hope, it is the struggle, it is the reward.

Let go of the future
but hold on to the beautiful things
that, like music, exist outside of time —
the sense of wonder and love and light.

When the chord changes on you
what if you harmonized it?

The black hole of your devastation
is a wild strange expansive place.
We are really good at coming up
with reasons to not go there.
Go there.
You will find the seeds
that become galaxies of growth.
You will find
what the soul and the spirit and the heart
need to know.

Be on the inside of your heart,
make a home inside yourself,
for to keep other people happy
is distraction from the real work of being
in which there is no final test
for how to be human —
only the open question
of how to be yourself
which you must answer daily
with all the strength and kindness
that you’ve got.

And remember
that life is an extraordinary creative collaboration,
that if we keep shining a light
on the things that mean and matter the most
the light overcomes the darkness,
that love is the oldest light in the universe
and when you live and work and listen
with open-hearted love
everything
     everything
          everything
is possible
for your life.

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The “Virtual Visit”

Okay. So that’s probably enough of The Thoughtful, The Reflective, and The Poetry-Adjacent for today. Let’s do something fun! Let’s visit . . . Japan . . . for a minute or 3. Join me as we step into the world of Chichibu Chinsekikan (Hall of Curious Rocks) . . . a museum filled with rocks that look like faces!

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And that’s it for this week. I hope you found some sanctuary here today.
At least for a few minutes.

Enjoy the weekend!
Find some joy. Protect your peace.

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Screenshot

And . . . because I know some of you are concerned. Yes. We had a massive weather “event” last night in Michigan. As you can see by this screenshot I grabbed before all hell broke loose, ALL of Michigan. North to south. West to east.

We actually headed home when we heard about the storm. Because, really. It’s frightening enough to be at home in a basement . . . let alone in a bathroom in a cabin (in the freakin’ forest!) when all hell breaks loose. So we were safe and (relatively) comfortable throughout the “event.”

Today, we’ll be doing a lot of clean-up in the yard . . . and I’ve got a call in to our tree people (because a massive old tree lost a lot of BIG limbs and probably has to go) (unfortunately it took out a newer tree on its way down). And we are one of the few people in town with power. How that happened I’ll never know. Because it’s just a little strip of people-with-power this go-round. (I think the storm-gods know we have a generator now?)

Anyway. We are safe and sound.