Monthly Archives: June 2015

Something Good

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thefarm1. The problem with holding a grudge, and Plenty more, and Abandoning perfection from Seth Godin.

2. Wisdom from Brave Girls Club:

It’s time to stop waiting. It’s time to become who you want to become and do what you want to do and learn what you want to learn and rest when you want to rest and take little pieces of time and do terrific things with them that are beautiful and personal and unique and true.

And,

We all have a proverbial basket of things that are in need of mending, all of us do! We have relationships, sweaters, cabinet doors, hearts, dreams, windows………..thing after thing in need of some attention and time.

Sometimes we get paralyzed by the amount of things in that basket, so we just start walking past it, pretending that it’s not there…but still feeling something deeply gnawing at us, and preventing us from feeling total peace.

Don’t be afraid to look in your basket, beautiful friend…..just start picking up one piece of mending and work on it a little….then another tomorrow. This can be real, physical things like sewing a button back on your favorite coat, to much bigger things…like sending a nice card to someone you’ve had a falling-out with but would love to patch things up with.

Don’t let your basket of mending steal any more of your joy or peace. Take an honest look at it today and then take a deep breath and make a plan to start mending things…..a little at time, and then let it go and be o.k. with it all.

And

What would a leap of faith look like?

That thing that’s been lingering on your mind, burning in your heart…..that scary beautiful thing that you can’t get out of your whole soul because it wants to be heard and acted upon……..guess what lovely? It’s not going to go away.

It’s not going to go away because it’s your deepest wisdom and authenticity…trying to get you on exactly the right track. It is your truth.

What is it that is holding you back? Would it be so bad just to take that first step? Would it be so bad to stop and really honor yourself and at least listen to that longing?

This is where the fork in the road just might lead to the place you’ve been praying to be.

Get quiet, dear friend…….listen closely….then be brave when you know exactly what to do next.

Live THAT ONE PRECIOUS LIFE OF YOURS….really really live it.

It is time.

3. Own our history. Change the story. from Brene’ Brown.

4. The Best & Less-than-Best Motivations for Learning from Zen Habits.

5. 9 Simple Yoga Poses To Help With Back Pain.

6. Magical Thinking, Yoga, And Internal Inquiry.

7. Good stuff on Brain Pickings: Pool: A Tender Illustrated Celebration of Quiet Curiosity and How We Find Our Kindred Spirits, and How to Own Your Story: Vivian Gornick on the Art of Personal Narrative and the Power of Textured Storytelling, and The Subterranean River of Emotion: Cheryl Strayed on Writing, the Art of Living with Opposing Truths, and the Three Ancient Motifs in All Great Storytelling.

8. Finding the Wisdom in Your Worrying & Whining from Jen Louden.

9. Online “Success” And “Failure” Don’t Look The Way You Think. (Thanks for sharing, Laura).

10. Is Your Purpose Frivolous? from Laura Simms.

11. Good stuff from Rowdy Kittens Happy Links list: On Working, A Lot and Paying Off a Mortgage in Seven Years.

12. The Truth Does Not Change According to Our Ability to Stomach It: A Southerner’s Perspective on the Confederate Flag.

13. Good stuff from Austin Kleon: To be a teacher and remain a student and Jenny Diski’s End Notes.

14. Shared on Susannah’s Something for the Weekend list: this amazing designer and The Beautiful Wooden Dome House In A Forest.

15. Every Day, I Draw One Animal Letter A Day To Teach My Son The Alphabet.

16. Good stuff from {Peacefulinks #9} Useful Resources Handpicked and Handcurated for You This Week from Peaceful Triumphs: Leadership With Simon Sinek: Serving Those Who Serve Others, and Quitting as a Productivity Tactic, and How Meditation Saved My Business.

17. ‘I Identify As Black,’ Rachel Dolezal Says In TV Interview.

18. 5th grade boys Synchronized Air Swimming Talent Show Skit W A Porter Elementary. So cute.

19. A Photo Essay: Orr Lake & Beyond on Rowdy Kittens.

20. SLIP | @PhillipChbeeb & Renee Kester | @ElliotMossMusic. Everything about this is so beautiful.

21. The Buddhists Who Are Speaking Out. “Buddhists in countries around the world are speaking out in an effort to rescue and protect tens of thousands of displaced people – many of them risking death in overcrowded boats – in Southeast Asia. TIME magazine this month called them ‘The nowhere people.'”

22. Latin proverb, “If there is no wind, row.”

23. Sara Seinberg on movement, the fallacy of willpower, and seeing the body as an opportunity.

24. Willpower: The Big Bullshit Hoagie from Sara Seinberg.

25. Scott Carver’s Bucket List Fund, on GoFundMe.

26. Hunter Treschl’s fundraising page on GoFundMe. Hunter says,

I’ve lost my arm obviously, so I have two options: I can try to live my life the way I was and make an effort to do that even though I don’t have an arm, or I can just let this be completely debilitating and bring my life down and ruin it. Out of those two, there’s really only one that I would actually choose and that’s to try to fight and live a normal life with the cards I’ve been dealt.

27. Rachel Dolezal Syndrome, (thanks for sharing, Patti).

28. The First Time I Was Called “Fat.”

29. Ricky & Doris: An Unconventional Friendship in New York City. With Puppets!

30. say something from Chookooloonks.

31. Charleston Church Shooting on The Daily Show.

32. The Perils of Father’s Day by Christine Mason Miller.

33. How to Figure out what’s Important When You Have too Much to Do from Be More With Less.

34. America is ready: Same-sex couples show how long they’ve been waiting for the freedom to marry.

35. Harriet Tubman Set to Be Honored with Face on $10 Bill.

36. The Roar Sessions: Patti Digh.

37. Dreamy Modern Loft Oasis : Portland. Too bad Pearl time doesn’t come with the rental.

38. Your mission: use your gifts, wisdom from Britt Bravo.

39. How I Reactivated My Creative Bone.

40. Fat Classics: Dieting, health, and the hijacking of Hippocrates by Helen Morales.

41. In A Relationship With A Highly Sensitive Person? Here’s What You Need To Know.

42. Wisdom from U Pandita, “In Buddhist practice, we work to expand the range of life experiences in which we are free.”

43. Why Our Culture Is Obsessed With Thinness.

44. Existing in the pause from Neil Gaiman.

Day of Rest: Father’s Day

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dadonthefarmI live 1200 miles away from my immediate family. We don’t talk on the phone that much because none of us really like it. My mom and I email back and forth, and I text and Facebook with my brother. My parents read my blog, keep up with me that way. I visit them in Oregon once a year.

To see it listed like that seems like we don’t have much of a connection. And yet, my family is part of every day of my life. My mom and I always joke because we are having this ongoing conversation with each other, but a lot of what we say is in our heads and we can’t remember which of the things we actually told each other. I might not talk to my dad directly very often, and yet he’s always there.

He’s there every time I write or publish something. My dad’s faith and encouragement is the one thing, besides my own drive, that kept me at it, kept me believing. When I finally finish the book I’m writing, it will be because of him as much as me.

He’s there every time I have to stick up for myself. He always told me to never let anyone tell me how to live my life, that it didn’t matter what anyone else thought about it. He gave me permission to love what I love, and the strength to stand up to people who are jerks.

He’s there when I’m getting shit done. When things get tough and I handle it, I learned that from him. Because of him, I can take care of myself.

He’s there every time I doubt myself. He’s always told me I could do and be anything I wanted. And he didn’t say it in that lovey dovey fake way a lot of people might. He really means it. He’s pretty skeptical of most things, but I think he actually believes it. His faith is an antidote to my doubt.

He’s there every time I struggle. By example, he showed me how to do hard things. It feels like it’s partly in my DNA and partly by watching him that I learned to never give up, to keep showing up and trying until I figured it out.

He’s there every time I’m sad. I watched him struggle with his own sadness, and it helped me to face my own. Sure, some of his example was how not to do things, but even in that way he helped me. I have this memory of being pretty young and waking up crying in the middle of the night. I’d probably had a bad dream, but I couldn’t stop crying. My dad sat in the dark next to my bed, rubbing my back and saying, “it’s okay, you’re okay.” Eventually, I fell back asleep, pretty sure that what he’d said is true. Because of him, I know it’s normal to be sad, and that it doesn’t mean your only option is to give up.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I love and miss you, and will see you soon. In the meantime, I’m going to get back to work on my book.