what I’m into [dec 2019 – jan 2020]

A bit late, I know, considering we’re already a week into February. But a lot of Jan was filled with life changes, including moving back to Montreal – and so now that I’m firmly in routine (oh how I love routines!), this is my first time actually sitting down to write in this space.

Ideas for my next post on work are still percolating in my brain (if you would like to submit your thoughts and haven’t yet, there is still time!!) which is the next installation fo the micah6.8 series.

Meanwhile, here is a roundup of my curation of the web over the past two months:

Books

For such small creatures as we: rituals for finding meaning in our unlikely world – Sasha Sagan (4/5)

She’s Carl Sagan’s daughter, the famous astronomer who was an atheist but also had this spiritual wonder about him. Sasha writes in a lyrical style on the power of rituals and the wonder of being small and human. Enjoyed this read (although I still don’t think it’s possible to divorce the physical act of the ritual from the meaning/style behind it, which is what she aims to do by repurposing spiritual rituals for atheists)

So good they can’t ignore you: why skills trump passion in quest for work you love – Cal Newport (3.5/5)

Cal Newport’s books are straightforward and super practical. I liked the premise of this being that the passion hypothesis is unfounded, and instead of finding your passion, you should be developing skills that become your passion. But it got repetitive after a while…

The accidental creative – Johan Henry (4/5)

This book is a quick read – on how to be maximally creative by leveraging your hours, energy, relationships and focus to be “brilliant under pressure”. Not too revolutionary, but a good reminder of simple practices to implement!

The Laws of Medicine – Siddharta Mukharjee (4/5)

Listened to this one on audio as our family was driving through Morocco. I love Siddharta’s writing (he also wrote “The Emperor of Maladies”) and my mom commented in the car on the recent rise of amazing Indian medical writers (Azra Raza, Atul Gawande, Siddharta).

I love the stories that are weaved throughout the book that show the very human side of medicine – and yet how it exacts perfect decisions in the face of imperfect information. But it ended a bit sooner than I thought it would, perhaps because I was primed from the Emperor of Maladies, which traces the whole history of cancer.

The year of magical thinking – Joan Didion (3/5)

So I’d heard a lot of good things about this book, which is why I decided to borrow it. Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting through it.

It is an auto-biography of Didion as she struggles to make sense of her grief – beginning with the death of her husband. The book started out gripping and I was drawn into the way her stammered prose mirrored her shattered internal state. But as it continued in this ethereal, disjointed kind of writing, I found it hard to follow. Perhaps I need to improve in my appreciation of different literary techniques.

What the Chinese don’t eat – Xinran (3.5/5)

Xinran is one of my favorite writers on the space between Western and Asian culture. She also writes a lot about Chinese women, and adoption (my first book by her was an investigative journalism work that interviewed Chinese mothers who abandoned their babies).

This book is a collection of columns she wrote for the Guardian that covers topics such as gender inequality, parent overprotectiveness and sex education. It was an insightful reflection on my culture but I prefer her longer narratives.

The secret thoughts of successful women: why capable people suffer from imposter syndrome and how to thrive in spite of it by Valerie Young (3/5)

I’ve been particularly interested in imposter syndrome lately. This book looks at it from the perspective of women – the psychology behind why women struggle more with it, and perspective re-frames to overcome many of the mental blocks associated with it.

I thought it would be more useful/content-filled than it was (as you can see, fluffy books that are more like a pep-talk than anything don’t make it super high on my list…) but still, it was fine.

To know as we are known: a spirituality of education – Parker Palmer (4.5/5)

AND. for my favorite book from this round up and also an author that has now made it onto my favorite list of authors: Parker Palmer!

OK, so this book is way old. In fact, it’s as old as me (written in May 1993), but it is SUCH a classic. It reads like philosophy at times, at other times an education primer written for professors, and then also for those who are spiritually seeking (all things I love!).

But it is the the exact opposite of a fluffy book – and how I love it when books make me stop and ponder just one sentence.

I won’t spoil it for you, but it talks the flaws of our current educational model and how an education shaped by Christian spirituality should be different.

Let me share a little teaser from the book for you to chew over:

In Christian tradition, truth is not a concept that ‘works’ but an incarnation that lives.

Where conventional education deals with abstract and impersonal facts and theories, an education shaped by Christian spirituality draws us toward incarnate and personal truth.

In this education we come to know the world not simply as an objectified system of empirical objects in logical connection with each other, but as an organic body of personal relations and responses, a living and evolving community of creativity and compassion.

Education of this sort means more than teaching the facts and learning the reasons so we can manipulate life toward our ends.

It means being drawn into personal responsiveness and accountability to each other and the world of which we are a part.

Articles

• Faith

  • Lore Ferguson Wilbert: This is your body today

    • Discovered Lore’s blog – Sayable – recently and I really love the way she writes. This piece is about coming to terms with the body we have been given.

  • Christianity Today: Loving your neighbour in the new year

    • On how replying to emails/texts is a way of loving our neighbour. I’ve been thinking a bit about how I use the Internet/emails and this one resonated with me!

• • Desiring God: Let not food destroy the body

    • With all the diet trends and pushes to eat clean/vegan/paleo etc., I thought this article was a healthy theological look at how we view food (similar to my blog post on food)

• Science

  • Nature: Black hole pictured for the first time

    • Apparently it’s possible to take a picture of a black hole – pretty amazing stuff.

  • Medium: 5 steps to a minimal waste lab

    • I wrote this piece for Science and Policy Exchange on their blog that covers sustainability. I haven’t heard much about lab work and plastic usage (people mostly talk about plastic bags as I’m throwing out tons of plastic pipettes each day), and writing this piece was eye-opening in seeing how many green lab initiatives there are out there!

• News

  • Economist: France’s complicated relationship with Christmas

  • NY Times: How to help climate change – a good primer to start understanding it and our role

• Life

  • Atlantic: Every place is the same now

    • On how smartphones have changed the way we view space, loved this thoughtful piece and so did my partner in web-curation Nahrie 😉

  • The Good Trade: How to cultivate healthier relationships based on your Enneagram type

    • Yes, I do love the Enneagram – but also recently stumbled upon this website run for women interested in sustainability, fashion, psychology etc.! Loved the practical tips it offered.

  • Alto Mag: Hersister album release!

    • Super proud of my good friends Rafaela and Valentina, who are singer-songwriters here in Montreal and recently released the single “No one will like you” – good memories of the first time they performed it for me on their living room couch 😀

Videos

Sermon from Transformation Church “Single but not Alone”

Honestly, the whole series “Relationship Goals” is so good, but this one on singleness was especially hard-hitting!

TED talk by Barry Schwartz: The Paradox of Choice

Songs

On my playlist lately…

“Remembrance” by Hillsong

Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s album “Elgar” – reminds me of how much I LOVE Elgar!!

Other things that have been encouraging me:

Funny things I find on Twitter that deeply resonate (read, has happened to me before XD)

Quote from Theodore Roosevelt on why we should never keep trying:

What I’ve been loving lately

And since coming back to Montreal, I’ve just been loving the soft silence of new snowfall, the feeling of connecting with old friends, trying out the new French recipes I acquired (had a French-themed 27th birthday party which was so fun!) and flashbacks (there’s a thing with decades that just makes you nostalgic and want to flashback to old times).

So for your flashback pleasure, these are a few photos I dug up 🙂 Till next time!

And on my 20th birthday!