Renewed Resolve

There’s this lovely newsletter called The Moon Lists that arrives in my inbox sporadically, always just when I need it. It’s a list of prompts, topics for journaling, ideas for reconsidering how you’re living or not living. One prompt from a recent dispatch: “PHANTOM LIMB: Name something you miss but — if offered — you don’t actually want back.” A curious provocation! Missing without longing, a new way of considering the things and people and ideas we leave behind.

People have taken in recent years to posting “More/Less” lists and “In/Out” lists on social media at the end of the year, itemized declarations of things they’re going to embrace and eschew in the coming months. Take inventory: What stays, what goes? The Moon Lists’ version of this is “Away/Toward” lists, and for the past couple of years I’ve loved filling these out. What am I moving away from (gorgeous but sad acoustic folk music that inevitably leaves me feeling depressed; diseased houseplants) and what am I moving toward (lowering the stakes; abbondanza!). The problem so often with these lists is that you fill them out and then you forget them. You set intentions and then you get back to going about things unintentionally and the next thing you know it’s February and your well-considered plans are buried in a drawer.

What if these New Year traditions became New Month traditions? What if we started each month with an Away/Toward list or a Yes/No list or a Loving/Losing list and kept it front and center all month, stayed accountable? What if, today, Feb. 1, you scrawled down a few things you want more of and a few things you want less of and set a couple of alerts in your phone to remind you to look at it throughout the month, and maybe set aside a half an hour on Feb. 28 to assess how you did?

A lightweight ritual. An experiment for the month that reminds you at intervals that the project of living is not just the business you have to carry out day to day. It’s not just the things to be done or the headlines or the weekend plans or the future and its endless what-ifs. It’s also — maybe principally? — you, an interior process, who you are and who you’d like to be and how are you doing in your efforts at being and becoming that?

So soft, right? So self-helpy, and maybe you’re reading this on a particularly busy or stressful Saturday morning when you have things to do — who even has the time for this? Maybe you already have practices that remind you of your larger goals, or you never forget them in the first place. But if you are anything like me, underneath the rational voice that just wants to accomplish, you’re craving a little more ritual, something brief and self-contained that for a moment derails the inexhaustible locomotive of living and reminds us we’re still here, people with desires and ambitions and complicated hopes and tender needs that we’re always forgetting to check in on.

For more

• “Rituals often mark doorway moments, when we pass from one stage of life to another. They acknowledge that these passages are not just external changes but involve internal transformation.” David Brooks on why there should be more rituals.

THE WEEK IN CULTURE

Film and TV

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• For the first time since 1978, all five nominees for best actress at the Oscars come from films also nominated for best picture. It’s proof that this is the strongest best actress lineup in years, our awards columnist writes.

• “Atropia,” a satire about performers playacting war with American troops, won the top prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

• “Love Me,” an inventive techno-romance starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, is one of five new movies our critics are talking about this week.

• We rarely see rom-com heroines age. In her own messy way, the character of Bridget Jones — who is returning in a new movie — is a trailblazer, Esther Zuckerman writes.

• Chuck Todd, the former “Meet the Press” moderator, is leaving NBC after nearly two decades with the network.

Music

• At 85, the renowned conductor Marek Janowski is finally making his New York Philharmonic debut.

• Only three Black women have won album of the year at the Grammys. On Sunday, Beyoncé will, once again, try to become the fourth.

• Billie Eilish’s album “Hit Me Hard and Soft” is nominated for seven Grammys. She shared the albums, movies and even video games that inspired its creation.

More Culture

• “Onyx Storm,” the third book in Rebecca Yarros’s Empyrean series, is the fastest-selling adult fiction title of the past 20 years.

• The Louvre will move the Mona Lisa to a newly created exhibition space as part of the museum’s renovation plans, Emmanuel Macron announced.

• Idina Menzel is returning to Broadway in “Redwood,” a show about a grieving woman’s search for sanctuary.

• The Smithsonian announced it would close its diversity office and freeze hiring to comply with President Trump’s recent orders.

THE LATEST NEWS

Trump’s Tariffs

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• President Trump’s tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China are set to go into effect today.

• Goods from Mexico and Canada would be subject to 25 percent tariffs, and those from China 10 percent. Experts predict the tariffs would be bad news for North America’s economy.

• More than half of the crude oil the U.S. imports comes from Canada. The tariffs could cause gas prices to rise.

More on the Trump Administration

• The Trump administration plans to examine thousands of F.B.I. agents involved in Jan. 6 investigations. It could lead to a purge of rank-and-file agents.

• The Justice Department fired more than a dozen prosecutors at the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington who had been hired to investigate the Jan. 6 riot.

• “Everyone’s walking on eggshells”: Federal health agencies rushed to remove references to equity and gender from databases and websites.

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would divest his stake in lawsuits over an HPV vaccine and give the proceeds to his son.

• Trump froze billions in international aid. The decision is already worsening humanitarian crises, including one in Sudan, where soup kitchens that serve nearly a million people have shut down.

Plane Collision

• Crews have recovered the so-called black boxes from the Army helicopter and the passenger jet that collided over the Potomac River. The data inside could help explain how the two aircraft collided.

• At the time of the crash, the flight tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was understaffed. It’s a chronic problem: More than 90 percent of the country’s air traffic control facilities operate below the F.A.A.’s recommended staffing levels.

• There had been at least 10 close calls at Reagan National in recent years.

Other Big Stories

• A small medical plane carrying six people crashed in Philadelphia, engulfing vehicles and homes in flames. Officials believe everyone on board was killed.

• Gaza’s border with Egypt is reopening to allow sick and wounded Palestinians to leave the territory. The crossing had been closed for the past eight months.

• Hamas released three more hostages. One is an American citizen, Keith Siegel, who lived on a kibbutz near the Gaza border.

CULTURE CALENDAR

🎬 “Companion” (out now): A movie produced by the team behind the delightfully unhinged horror “Barbarian,” starring Jack Quaid and about the perils of technology? Sold. This dark comedy is about a couple — Iris and Josh — who get away for the weekend with friends. A tip: There’s a twist at some point in the film, so Quaid suggests not watching the full trailer.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

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Mushroom Barley Soup

Chilly February days keep me close to the kitchen, which is easily the coziest room in the house. Simmering a pot of Yasmin Fahr’s mushroom barley soup gives you a perfect excuse to hang out there, chopping, cooking, then letting the mix slowly bubble on the stove. It’s on the lighter, brothier side of the soup spectrum, but the starch from the barley gives it body and a satisfyingly nubby texture, ready to warm you through and through.

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ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER

The best timeless jewelry

Over the years, Wirecutter’s experts have recommended hundreds of rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. Tastes vary and trends come and go, but if you’re looking to give someone a piece of jewelry, it’s hard to go wrong with something classic, like a signet ring or a curb chain. We’ve happily gifted or worn each of these sparkly pieces ourselves. And while none are holiday-specific, if you’re searching with a valentine in mind, we think a heart locket is a good choice. — Samantha Schoech

For more handpicked gifts and expert advice, sign up for Wirecutter’s weekly newsletter, The Gift.

GAME OF THE WEEK

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North Carolina vs. No. 2 Duke, men’s college basketball: As the college basketball season ramps up to March Madness, Duke is setting itself apart. The Blue Devils have won 14 straight games. Their star forward, Cooper Flagg, isn’t just the best freshman in the country; he might be the best player at any age. Over seven games in January, he averaged 25 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. That included a 42-point explosion against Notre Dame, a record for a Duke freshman. Today at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN

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