August | 2016 | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

A watermelon, from my garden!

1. Truth: I’m back at work at CSU. *sigh* Students are moving into the dorms today and tomorrow, but classes don’t start until Monday, so it’s still relatively quiet — unless you count the construction on the new stadium and elsewhere. I am always amazed in the first days back how tired I get working. My days are full up just taking care of the regular stuff — meditating, writing, blogging, walking and training the dogs, doing my physical therapy, going to the gym or yoga, doing laundry, paying bills, making and going to various appointments to care for my body or car, grocery shopping and cooking, cleaning and maintaining the house, tending the garden, cultivating a marriage, etc. Add eight hours of intensiveness mental, creative, social work to that, and by the end of the day all I want to do is eat dinner and go straight to bed.

2. Truth: It doesn’t help that I take on extra things. This semester, I have a Wild Writing class, am getting certified as a meditation instructor through the Open Heart Project, am doing a Canine Parkour class with Ringo, got a trainer for both Sam and Ringo to come and do private sessions at our house and am doing lots of extra work with them in general, am subbing some yoga classes, got the crazy idea that I could do a Wild Writing, Crazy Wisdom class at my house once a month with a smaller group of women, am the officiant of a wedding next month, and want to start running and weight training again now that my foot is better. And I need to paint our house and have a couple of smaller trees in the backyard taken out and hopefully plant a new tree before it gets too cold. *sigh*

3. Truth: Maybe rather than trying to refine my effort, I should consider surrender. There’s a calm, a confidence I generate during the summer, a certainty about what needs done and what can wait, about who I am and what matters to me and what I want, a general and overall well-being that is so clear and easy — and somehow begins to erode as the semester wears on. Instead of feeling bad about that, I’m going to get curious about it. I’m going to lower the bar. I’m going to ask for help. I’m going to eat and rest and exercise even if it means other things don’t get done.

One wish: No matter our circumstances or particular struggles, may we relax with what is, not forget ourselves, not give up, and most importantly maintain our sense of humor.

Gentle breeze, image by Benny Jackson at Unsplash.

1. Resilience Is About How You Recharge, Not How You Endure. Who cares about work or productivity, this is an important distinction for your life.

2. These Eerie Photos Show The Ghosts Of Olympics Past. “When the medals have all been won and the people leave, aging Olympics villages become otherworldly.”

3. Pioneers of Television: Robin Williams Remembered. You can watch the full episode online for free.

4. Kohl’s and Mudd – stop stealing the work of independent artists. Sign the petition. In related news, Copyright infringement by KOHL’S.

5. High rents force some in Silicon Valley to live in vehicles.

6. Aug. 8, 1971: Enchanted Forest Opens. I spent many hours here as a kid, and took my nieces and nephews there, still have such fond memories of it.

7. Martial Arts School Teaches Kids It’s OK to Cry. Good stuff.

8. Recipes I want to try: Cheesy Chicken Quesadilla Pie, and zucchini parmesan crisps (cause we’ve got zucchini coming out of our ears, our garden is crazy with it), and Blooming Potato Bake, and all of these Simple Salad Recipes.

9. Flight attendant adopts stray dog after he waited outside her hotel room every night for four months. I’m such a sucker for these stories where the dog chooses their own human. Here’s a short video about the same, and one more.

10. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön, “There is a teaching that says that behind all hardening and tightening and rigidity of the heart, there’s always fear. But if you touch fear, behind fear there is a soft spot. And if you touch that soft spot, you find the vast blue sky. You find that which is ineffable, ungraspable, and unbiased, that which can support and awaken us at any time.”

11. Seasons from Austin Kleon, about how creativity has seasons.

12. The alchemy of grief from Andrea Scher. I can’t stop thinking about what she shares here that Francis Weller says, that we have “undigested sorrows.”

13. Mythical Beasts: Photographer Captures The Majestic Beauty Of Maine Coons. Beautiful.

14. Amy Winehouse: 10 Great Unreleased Songs. When I was in Oregon this summer, my 17 year old niece was listening to “Back to Black” and it made me stupid happy. But also so sad — she was so amazing and she’s gone.

15. eShakti, possibly my new favorite online store. Because this: custom sizing!

16. Giving beds to homeless dogs. The first one reminds me so much of my Sam when he was little. In related news, this puppy stalking a toy lion is ridiculously cute.

17. Love story keeps Rainbow Restaurant running. And, they have the best falafel.

18. Nurture Your Whole Self, “a 4-week program designed to awaken your truest expression of well-being.” This looks really good. Register by August 22nd and receive an extra 30 minutes of coaching FREE!