Things of Beauty #10
Running, rock shows, kindness, & cranberries
This installment of Things of Beauty is truly just a random assortment of things that caused me to pause and feel a bit of quiet gratitude. No theme. No grand thoughts— just some good stuff I wanted to tell you about.
Enjoy! And please do feel free to share your own tiny joyful things in the comments below.
🏃🏻♀️ It’s taper week for my half-marathon on Saturday (this means less miles, more rest!). I ran across this article I had saved about life lessons from marathon running. I think the takeaways apply to training for any distance that feels like a big goal.
🎶 Stephen Kellogg has been a favorite of mine for a long, long time. While the shows he streamed from his basement studio were a bright spot in the thick of Covid, I was really excited to catch a live show again! He hopped down off the stage and walked through the audience, sitting next to people, looking audience members in the eyes, shaking hands or giving fist bumps while he sang this song:
As a funny side note, I also bought a t-shirt at the show, and realized in all my 45 years, and all my concert going, I’m not sure I’ve ever actually purchased a concert t-shirt. First time for everything, I guess!
☀️ SAVERS: My mornings had fallen off-track recently, falling down into a social media scrolling spiral. This happens occasionally. It starts with one morning when I’m especially tired and think, I’ll just have a little look at Instagram, which then seems to devolve into a series of days (read: weeks) where it’s suddenly time to get ready for my work day— and I’ve written no words and can’t even really articulate anything useful I’ve gleaned from staring at my phone. I was mentioning this to writer friends recently and one suggested the SAVERS method from Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning work. I’m just a few days in, but so far checking the little boxes on this chart has been a perfect gentle reminder and reset. (Thanks, Gina!)
🗳 Midterm elections are happened in the US this week. I always appreciate Reggie Hubbard’s thoughts on the intersection of mindfulness and politics and this post was no exception:
I said a prayer of thanksgiving to those who sacrificed for me as a black man to have this pedestrian sacred experience . . . I voted for my values and what I believe represents the type of government that can serve our needs and enable our dreams. I voted full of hope and not driven by fear nor cynical rhetoric - on either side of the political spectrum.
(click below for the full post)
I also think of those who sacrificed for women’s rights to vote every time I go to the polls. (Also speaking of awesome t-shirts!)
🥧* One of my favorite things about the November/December holiday season is that cranberries make a prolific appearance at the grocery store. I’m excited to make this crisp again this year. (*There is no cranberry emoji, clearly an oversight.)
What’s bringing you rest, calm, and joy this week? Or maybe you have an amazing cranberry recipe to share. Bring it on!
Have a great time running Saturday! The weather forecast looks great for running!