Bongo/led Nightlights/turning Toward Sadness

Daily word game obsession

For Wordle fans who want more strategy, try Bongo (free online). It’s a daily puzzle where you place letter tiles on a grid to create words across five rows, with a bonus word snaking down through them. Each puzzle also contains the guest creator’s hidden “purple words.” It’s become part of my evening routine, right after Wordle and Connections. — MF

Cheap nightlights

I’ve spread these ultra-cheap Uigos LED nightlights throughout our home. They are bright enough to guide me in the dark, but not too bright to use any measurable energy. A six-pack is $10. — KK

Turning toward sadness

This article, written by clinical psychologist Beth Kurland, shifted my perspective on the necessity of processing raw emotions. She describes sadness as “a bit like food that needs to be digested in order to move through you. When left undigested, it can sit there for a long time and cause unintended consequences”. The author provides six powerful “views” or vantage points to help process these heavy emotions. The one that works best for me is the Audience View, which helps to loosen the grip of the story I’ve attached to the emotion. The practice involves imagining yourself as an audience member observing your experience and then distinguishing between your raw emotions and your thoughts. For example, you might say: “There is sadness, and I am aware of thoughts telling me that I should be over this by now.” This helps me label emotions as emotions and thoughts as thoughts, recognizing that neither of these are facts, but rather “food” to digest. — CD

Back lotion applicator

As someone with dry, itchy winter skin and unfortunately non-gibbon-length arms, this 17-inch wooden lotion applicator has become an essential tool. I squirt moisturizer onto the applicator pad at the end of the stick and can easily reach every spot on my back. It’s low-tech but solves the problem — no more asking family members for help or leaving patches of dry skin unreached. — MF

Tree Spirit Wisdom

This website was made by the creator of the Tree Spirit Tarot and shares the historical significance and symbolism of 78 different trees across many different cultures, as well as psychological and philosophical insights and messages from each tree. It’s interesting and educational, and it makes me feel connected to the ancient wisdom of trees. — CD

Sweet watching

Netflix is showing a sweet, gentle, sometimes funny, series about old age and a nursing home. A Man on the Inside is created by Michael Schur who did The Good Place, The Office, and Parks and Rec, but this one is quieter, and less edgy. There are 8 very short episodes that are easy going. It’s the most heartwarming thing we’ve watched since Ted Lasso. — KK