Weekly Jetsam 3.19.23
music that'll make you happy stomp (The Bengsons), help identifying emotions (Marc Brackett) and a quote from Byron Katie.
Happy Sunday! Last week was a fairly quiet one. Here are some of my personal highlights.
Tartar Sauce, my black lab, turned 5. I survived my first writer’s workshop after submitting the most vulnerable thing I’ve shared. There’s been a few amazing sunsets. I bellied laughed at a squirrel. I attend a virtual launch party for the new season of the Breathing Wind podcast. It was the first time I participated in a group activity based around grief and it was amazing in the best ways. I continued avoiding things like my taxes. Lastly, I spent some time writing things non-newsletter related. Maybe it wasn’t as quiet as I thought. See what happens when you give me an extra hour of daylight?
PS: One of the non-newsletter things I wrote this week was a blog post. Check it out if you feel inclined: Art History and Eulogies Taught Me How to Write
For fans of musicals, vocals that reach directly into your soul and lyrics that are simple but almost religious…I present The Bengsons.
I admittedly live under a little of a pop culture rock. Based off the YouTube comments proclaiming, “This is THE SONG for the pandemic”, I’m years behind on The Bengsons. But GOD I’m so happy that I’ve found them now.
You won’t really catch me dancing in public, but I sure know have to have a dance party when I’m alone. I’ve literally been stomping around my house with these two songs on repeat. When’s the last time you happily stomped!?
When I was a teacher, I worked for an amazing principal. One of the tools she encouraged us to leverage was Marc Brackett’s, Mood Meter.
Not only was it helpful for my students, but it changed my life. All I had to do was find where my energy level and pleasantness intersected and BOOM, more often than not I had an accurate emotion label sitting in front of me. I still use it when I feel off and just can’t quite put my finger on what’s going on.
I was sharing the value of the Mood Meter with a friend the other day and discovered the How We Feel app. While I’m not using it every day, I had a blast playing with it and LOVE that it offers definitions and suggestions on how to move through the emotions if desired. Check it out! Also as a bonus, if you want a good podcast to listen to that helps break down feelings and emotions, check out episode 13 of this one.
Are you enjoying what you are reading? Have ideas for what you’d like to see more or less of? Want to chat? Reach out.
My journal, Lessons from Nature is now out. You can find it here.
LOVE the bengsons!!