Beany Brain: loving our jumping-bean brains!

Welcome to this issue of the Beany Brain! I hope today’s newsletter will bounce us up as we contemplate the upsides and challenges of being neurodivergent, a little beauty, some creativity, and just general yeehawesomeness.

Table of Contents

• Beany Brain: loving our jumping-bean brains!

  • Welcome to this issue of the Beany Brain! I hope t …

• Happier Trifecta

  • Ha Ha Haiku

  • Reframing a Dark Winter

    • Yeehawesome!

    • Quote of the Week

  • Wonderful Wednesday

  • Today’s Beany-full Summary:

Happier Trifecta

For the past five or so years, I’ve joined author and podcaster Gretchen Rubin and her sister Elizabeth Craft in their Happier Trifecta for the new year:

1. Pick a word for the new year. Do you want to focus on a theme? Pick a symbol to go with it? I keep a running list in Google Docs of my past words for each year and a running list of potentials for the future. I have already picked my 2026 word and symbol, but I want to take a bit of time and sit down to flesh them out a bit more in writing.

2. The annual challenge. This coming year will be Move 26 for ‘26. In other words, move your bod for 26 minutes each day in the year 2026.

3. Write down your 26 for ‘26 list: 26 things you’d like to get done this coming year. The beauty of the Happier list each year is that it’s not unattainable goals or nebulous ideas or strict resolutions. These are concrete steps or actions you can take—as easy or as difficult or as fun as you want to make them.

I also add in an Abigail 4th: Write down a list of things I’m thankful for in the year that’s ending. For 2025 I’ll list 25 things that I’m grateful for.

Thinking about the trifecta each year is a practical way to go into the new chunk of time with things written down. I can focus better, see them in black and white, and I get a dopamine hit each time I check an item off my list.

I never ever get all the items checked off every year. In fact, I got 9 out of 25 this year (but those 9 things are 9 things more than nothing).

And folks, that’s OK. You can roll them over into the next year or decide that they’re not worth keeping on the new list.

The trifecta wasn’t made with neurodivergent brains in mind (very punny, me), but it helps mine to zero in on three practical things: one word, one daily challenge, one list. 

New year, same me.

I can honor my own brain and how I function, get creative, and give myself 26 more units of grace in 2026.

Ha Ha Haiku

A funny haiku for you every week in every newsletter, whether it’s one of my own or one I curate for you. HA. Ha. Haiku.

Reframing a Dark Winter

“Good weather.”

A December 9 article about Russia and Ukraine made me rethink what I define as “good weather.”

Here’s a short excerpt:

I’m not saying the Russian attacks on Ukraine are able to be reframed as good.

I’m not saying that a dark Ishikawa winter is anything like being followed by a drone.

I’m not saying that death and destruction can be pretty-fied.

I’m not saying that we should even try to reframe some really horrible things or minimize any kind trauma.

What I’m muddy-thinking is this:

A dark winter day here in our area of Japan, known for its storms and snow and gray in this season, can remind me to pray and hope for storms and snow and gray for soldiers in a tough spot who actually need that kind of weather to survive.

That’s the kind of reframe I mean.

We don’t know where the mercies are, where the saving is. Maybe a flat tire means that we didn’t have an accident down the road 5 minutes later.

Maybe grayness could be a lifesaver.

Neurodivergent individuals can be more impacted by SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) than neurotypical people might be. I definitely get affected in the dark winters here on our western side of Japan. We get the prevailing weather patterns blowing over from Mongolia and China, which then dump on our area before it hits the Japan Alps down the center of the country.

I do use a “happy lamp,” which helps. I exercise and eat well, which are extra supportive for me. I intentionally make extra plans with friends if I can. We leave our fairy lights up in our dark living/dining/kitchen room all year.

Winter can still be tough.

But since I read this article, I’ve been seeing weather in a different light.

Good weather can be relative.

Yeehawesome!

Yeehawesome! is a happy-brain roundup in each issue of Beany Brain. What’s happening that’s good in brain land? What’s bringing me joy?

1. A few of my favorite yeehawesome things in that one picture above: my Thai fishermen trousers; bowling, of course; piccalilli (so delicious); a piccalilli play-on-words-with-Piccadilly-Circus T-shirt that my husband designed and had made for me for Christmas (including piccalilli veggies in the circle, just like the Tube image but healthier and tastier); and out of sight—bowling shoes.

2. This story from Wales about a family who took a homeless autistic man in one Christmas Day and he then lived with them for 45 years! Get the tissues ready.

3. My friend Allison told me about the fish doorbell in Utrecht! Check it out. When the fish are migrating, folks watching the watercam can actually click to notify the lock keeper to open the lock and let them through. It will reopen in March, so I’m sharing to help remind myself.

Quote of the Week

Beany Brownie Points and Extra Bonus Funniness

Wonderful Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday was a day once a year in college when they would suddenly and surprisingly call off all classes and we’d play all day. The cafeteria provided special fun food and we’d do stuff outside like slip ‘n slides and jello wrestling in sumo suits. This segment of Beany Brain is dedicated to that memory of silliness and fun—no words, just a photo from the week that I’ve taken or found that reminds me to let the joy in. Since Beany Brain is published on Wednesday every week (at least, Wednesday in Japan), I hope you enjoy this Wonderful Wednesday.

Today’s Beany-full Summary:

• Gretchen Rubin’s Happier Trifecta helps me focus on the upcoming year.

• “Good weather” can be relative.

• Go forth in Beany joy. What will help you feel yeehawesome this week?

Thank you for reading this installment of Beany Brain! You’re very welcome to hop on by any old time.

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