5 Favorite Blog Posts to Revisit from 2018

December 20, 2018

As the Ruminate blog editor, I am grateful for the work our writers and artists share in this space. In 2018, the work featured here mirrored the destruction, beauty, lament, and delight of this year. For a review of the highlights, here are the top 5 most-viewed blog posts of 2018. I hope you enjoy these ruminations.

 

#5 I am Being Written

Usually, I explain that I don’t have much time for writing now. The monastery is a busy place. Gone are the borderless hours of graduate school when I spent the night’s whole silence searching for a single perfect word. Here, we rise before the sun and wake up our Deities who employ us in their service.

In her debut piece as a regular blog contributor, Ananda-mayi dasi speaks to the tension between creating and being created. Devotion, she says, is a most creative act. Ananda-mayi’s layered imagery invites you into the routine of service and a creative life.

 

#4 On Masculinity

Why is it that certain men feel they have an advantage over others? These questions I ask myself seem to be the kinds of questions many people are asking, and more publicly, these days. 2017, if anything, was a year in which masculinity itself was called into question, and for good reason…thanks to many brave people, we are starting to see a crack in the rigid misconception of what it means to be a man.

In this piece, Aaron Brown writes toward a restorative masculinity, one in which masculinity becomes more whole through integrating with the feminine.

 

#3 Greening our Golden Hour Grief: How Not to be Afraid of the End of the World

 When the smoke rolls in from the summer fires, it settles on the city thick and quiet: a gloved hand at the nape of the neck, an amber haze. The fires are burning north of the city, always burning this time of year, every summer a stronger and more unquenchable blaze that is, somehow, still far enough of a distance away to dull any sense of urgency.

In her debut piece as a regular contributor, Céline Chuang ruminates on climate change and ecological grief. This is a must-read for anyone concerned with the earth and our place within it.

 

#2 On Having a Baby in the Age of Climate Change

Our planet hovers in the perfect window of temperature and sunlight and water. And this, too, is a miracle. Which isn't to say I shouldn't make my own baby food and drive less and make my voice a nuisance in the offices of my state representatives (I'm looking at you, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker). I should. It's just with all the possible disasters, maybe life itself is the most shocking scenario of all.

Caroline Crawford Siegrist’s essay on climate change anxiety is a candid and charming view into life with a baby in the midst of ecological crises. A beautiful read for folks looking for small miracles in life.

 

#1 Friends for the Journey

I would prefer to work alone, to isolate, to become whole with only a pen and paper and write myself into being. The past few years have birthed formative friendships with a few fellow artists, and I see where their wisdom and experience have informed my life and work for the better. But, it is slow, quiet growth. Like all good things, these relationships take time.

Kimberly Coyle reflects on Madeleine L’Engle and Luci Shaw’s friendship, asking, “Who is the friend who will receive all of me?” A lovely read for contemplating friendship and creativity.

 

Don't forget to check out other posts from 2018, too. May your new year be full and may you find a slice of what you need in this space. Thanks for ruminating with us.

 

 

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

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