When you can’t let it go — Have you heard a way to stop negative thoughts is to wear a rubber band around your wrist? Snap it when you overthink. Well, I found a less painful way to remind yourself to let go of the past. You may know the famous Zen story about the monk carrying…

Make sure they are the best people for you As writers, we’re always chasing something better, something more. We steal glances sideways at those scribbling beside us in the exam hall of life, trying to snatch a piece of their magic. But sometimes, we can get too caught up in…

You asked for less nihilism? Here’s 3 minutes of reading time to cheer you up. (Maybe.) — You don’t need to tell me it’s been quite a year. When people tell me to be positive, I say, “I am your pinch of salt.” (With the emphasis on the pinch.) Yeah, I can get a little salty sometimes. So let’s get it straight: Nothing wrong with balanced doom-scrolling. …

This ingenious tool shows you how plastic travels the world — When a freak storm overturned a cargo ship, one of the 62 containers contained 5 million pieces of Lego. Twenty-five years later, locals collect the Lego washing up on the beach — every day: Lego plastic flippers, Lego scuba gear, Lego spears, and tiny Lego lifejackets. Blue plastic octopuses in…

Wise words from the peace activist and Zen Buddhist — If you have been contemplating war and destruction more than usual like I have been, you would eventually come to a conclusion to make peace with the inevitable chaos that is unfolding – mine can be summarized in a quote by Zen Buddhist master, Thich Nhat Hanh. We have an…

Lessons for climate change drawn from Peter Pomerantsev’s fascinating book, ‘This is Not Propaganda” — Lenin said there are decades where nothing happens and weeks where decades happen. The latest IPCC report notes disinformation is slowing climate action in North America. In the same week, Putin shut media, jailed protesters and attacked Ukraine. You may also be feeling all the information flying around. It’s a…

We are about to find out — I heard a story about Larry David when he divorced his climate activist wife. He went home to his mansion in Pasadena and turned on every light in every room out of spite. I can still laugh about this sketch. Even though I have seen a nose-bleed high rise in…

Here is what you can learn from it. — In 2011, 20 undergraduates from Yale University’s Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry traveled to Ecuador with professor Scott Strobel on a research trip. Russia has attacked Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Ukraine and all I can think about is a crazy plastic-eating fungi found in a corner of Ecuador. …

New words for a brave new world — I can’t put into words what most of the world is feeling right now, but maybe these words can help. There has been a confluence of two historical events happening at the same time this week: the invasion of Ukraine and the latest IPCC report on global climate change. As the world comes to grip with what it happening and what it all means, three unfamiliar words have caught my…