It’s been years since I’ve been able to claim the official title of Student, but I still consider myself a curator of ideas. One way I do this is by keeping an ongoing collection of articles, blog posts, and other internet findings that have spoken to me in some way. I periodically return to this list for my personal edification, and I draw from this collection to compose my monthly list of Links I Love. When compiling this month’s list, I had a hard time narrowing it down to just five! Here are the five that rose to the top.
1. The “Other Side” Is Not Dumb // Medium
“When someone communicates that they are not ‘on our side’ our first reaction is to run away or dismiss them as stupid. . . [This] is a fundamental rejection of the possibility to consider that the people who don’t feel the same way you do might be right. It’s a preference to see the Other Side as a cardboard cut out, and not the complicated individual human beings that they actually are.”
2. Living With Kids: Nathan of Wand’rly // Design Mom
“Together, we’re a family of travelers, adventurers, and makers. We’re at our best when things are at their most difficult. Our days are spent together, always together, and though every day is not a happy-go-lucky romp in the wild, we practice patience and love as much as we can. Our current home is a 1978 Champagne Edition Volkswagen Bus.”
3. How Clutter Affects Your Brain (and What You Can Do About It) // Life Hacker
“Researchers at Yale recently identified that two areas in your brain associated with pain, the anterior cingulate cortex and insula, light up in response to letting go of items you own and feel a connection towards: This is the same area of the brain that lights up when you feel physical pain from a paper cut or drinking coffee that’s too hot. Your brain views the loss of one of your valued possessions as the same as something that causes you physical pain. And the more you’ve commited emotionally or financially to an item, the more you want to keep it around.”
4. When Conversion Is Slow // Emily P. Freeman (Guest Post by Ed Cyzewski
“Rather than thinking of conversion as a moment, I’m starting to see it as a lifelong process that is slow and challenging at times. The steps backward that used to feel like catastrophic failures, completely undermining my profession of faith, have become detours—serious detours at times but detours nonetheless. I can finally understand why Eugene Peterson called his meditations on the Psalms ‘a long obedience in the same direction.’ We are converted throughout our lives as we learn what it is to abide and to receive the life and transformation that God slowly brings.”
5. Dear Parents of Young Children // Austin Moms Blog
“There are just as many days when you think your heart might explode from all the joy and love that consumes you. But the hard days sometimes seem to consume us even more. They make it harder to enjoy the good. It’s hard to be present and sing all the nursery rhymes when you are sleep deprived. It’s hard to stay patient and intuitive when you feel like you’re going insane in the mom brain. It’s hard to give grace when you give all of yourself, all of the time.”
I hope that these articles resonate with you, as they did with me. Feel free to leave a comment sharing a link to something that has touched YOU this month!