This week’s #InterestingThings: a hearty and simple #potato soup to nourish your #soul, welcoming #jazz #music with vocals to inspire, the deepest places on #earth, #cadejos, enchanted #creatures made of #wool, deep listening, rock wrapping and more #ContentCatnip.
Open This Wall – Berlioz
Berlioz’s jazzy house cuts are really inspiring, warming and timeless. This album could have been made 50 years ago or yesterday, it has a classical feel to it. If you want to feel uplifted and like you just walked into a breezy Matisse painting, you will enjoy this. The cover has a lovely Matisse vibe to it as well.
Healthy and comforting potato soup recipe
The deepest places on earth
Cadejos symbolise the light and dark creatures of our psyche
The Cadejo is a mythical creature from Central American folklore, often described as a large, dog-like animal with glowing red eyes and sometimes with the ability to become invisible. They are said to appear at night to wayward travellers, with two main variations: the white Cadejo, which is considered benevolent and protective, guiding travellers safely through the night, and the black Cadejo, a more malevolent force that leads people astray, or causes them harm.
These contrasting creatures represent the struggle between good and evil, with their stories serving both as cautionary tales and cultural symbols of protection and danger in the night. Via Jussi on Twitter
Portrait of a young Berber woman
Berbers of North Africa were colonised by, interacted with and outlived Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines. Recorded history of these civilisations hardly mentions women. Indeed, history of pre-Islamic women is mostly recorded in funerary steles that were erected in their honour. This is in contrast to Berber culture, in which women play a prominent role. Found via Archeohistories on Mastodon
Portrait of a young woman, Tagounite, High Atlas, Morocco 1989. (Photo by Dominique BERBAIN / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images).
“Early Hours of the Day”, 2024, Francisco Fonseca
How to become more shame resilient by Dr Damon Ashworth
- Understand shame.
- Recognise what triggers shame for you, both externally (e.g., other people’s critical messages) and internally (e.g., your unrealistic expectations).
- Check to see if these criticisms or expectations are realistic or accurate.
- Realise that being imperfect does not mean the same as being inadequate or unworthy of love.
- Reach out to people who have earned the right to hear your shame experiences.
- Talk about what makes you feel ashamed and whatever else you may be feeling about the experience.
- Ask for the type of support that you need from them. It could be some kind words or reassurance. It could be something they can do for you (even if it is turn up and listen). It could be some hand-holding, back rubbing, or a hug. Or it could be some quality time, something to cheer you up, or a fun outing to help you change focus and move on.
Once our previously shameful experiences are out in the open, we begin to own our story and realise that we are loveable and worthy, just the way we are. Although it is easier to experience this if our closest relationships provide us with unconditional acceptance, love, and belonging, we only need one person we can open to for shame to reduce and improve. If there is no one in your life that you would feel comfortable talking to about your shame, then a psychologist you feel safe with can help.
From Dr Damon Ashworth’s blog, he is a Clinical Psychologist.
Deep listening by Buddhist philosopher and monk Thích Nhất Hạnh
Nhất Hạnh emphasized the importance of deep listening, or what he called “compassionate listening.” He was referring to deep listening and compassionate listening interchangeably, because compassion is needed to listen to others deeply.
For Nhất Hạnh, deep listening means understanding the other person, and listening without judging or reacting.
In his book The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, he wrote:
I am listening to him not only because I want to know what is inside him or to give him advice. I am listening to him just because I want to relieve his suffering.
He also explained that compassionate dialogue is composed of loving speech and deep listening, making mention of what’s known as “right speech” in Buddhism, which advocates abstaining from false, slanderous and harsh speech along with idle chatter:
Deep listening is at the foundation of right speech. If we cannot listen mindfully, we cannot practise right speech. No matter what we say, it will not be mindful, because we’ll be speaking only our own ideas and not in response to the other person.
When we listen deeply to better understand others, including their suffering and difficulties, we feel with them and compassionate speech comes more easily.
Compassionate listening also requires refraining from being judgmental while we listen. That doesn’t mean giving up engaging with what others say. Instead, it involves switching the focus from self to others.
Trying to understand when it’s difficult
Compassionate listening also involves a tension between the attempt to understand others and the acknowledgment of the limited ability to do so.
It requires a willingness and effort to understand others. As Nhất Hạnh put it, compassionate listening happens when we listen with the sole purpose to understand others. Underlying genuine deep listening is the genuine concern for others’ well-being: If we don’t care about others’ suffering, why would we listen to what they have to say?
In Buddhist philosophy, every being is interdependent and interconnected. In this light, caring for others is also caring for ourselves since our own well-being is interrelated to the well-being of others.
When we show compassion for others and help relieve others’ suffering, we actually help relieve our own suffering as well because in changing our focus from self to others, we start to see and learn to transcend our previously under-recognized greed, hatred and ignorance — in Buddhism, the three root causes of dukkha (suffering) that arise from self-centeredness.
Rock wrapping by Caroline Kahler
The Thing Is by Ellen Bass
A hillarious electro ballad about the world’s richest man, chrome dome overlord of Amazon, Jeffrey Bezos
How photos were cabled across the Atlantic ocean in 1926
Some vintage and nostalgic steampunk vibes going on here. Via Lori Emerson on Mastodon.
Bewitching forest sprite sculptures made with loved by Georgian artist Polina Nol
I was delighted to discover the enchanting world of Georgian artist Polina Nol, a masterful artist who creates mixed-media sculptures that weave magic and reality.
She uses a blend of steel wire, polymer clay, faux fur, acrylic, and glitter, brings to life whimsical creatures straight out of a fairy tale. A highlight of her work is ‘The One Who Collects Summer Lights,’ a captivating sculpture of a squirrel-like creature.
Step into Polina Nol’s extraordinary universe where fantasy meets the tangible – continue the journey on her Facebook page. Found via Inspiration Grid on Mastodon.
Did you enjoy this collection? let me know what you think of it below. Thank you for reading my dear friends!
Content Catnip 
I’ve bookmarked the Berlioz, as you’ve made some great music suggestions over the years!
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I’m so glad to hear it Kev 🙌 ☺️
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