Author Archives: jillsalahub

Unknown's avatar

About jillsalahub

Writer & Contemplative Practice Guide holding space for people cultivating a foundation of a stable mind, embodied compassion and wisdom. CYT 500

Gratitude Friday

Leave a reply

1. Love. The above might just be the biggest kitchen counter love note Eric has ever made me, (that’s an 8 x 10 sheet of paper). My present to him was pretty good too – an entire case of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies. The joke is that my friend is a troop leader so she has a full wall of cookies in her dining room and Eric finds that hilarious, and that for Eric a serving size of Thin Mints is a full sleeve, so I got him a whole case in the original box. Our favorite thing to gift each other is something that can be a joke at the same time it’s an awesome present, like the year I bought him a case of 700 dog poop bags or when he bought me a tiny wireless keyboard to use as a “remote” for our TV, (it has a computer hooked up to it and that’s how we watch “TV” on Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube).

2. 11 and a half weeks left at CSU!!! It’s going so fast. And I’m so ready, so done.

3. Teaching yoga. Because the one place I teach regularly is a veterinary clinic and one of the other places I sub is a gym that doesn’t really take yoga that seriously, I need to supply most or all of the props, which means at this point I have a portable yoga studio. I got to teach twice during Valentine’s Day week, and that was extra fun, to focus on the love and attention we give ourselves as we practice, and how that follows us off the mat and we are softer, kinder to others because of it.

4. Flowers in the bathroom. When it’s tulips, once they start to get all droopy is the best.

5. The amazing vet care in Fort Collins. I had a few reasons to think about this recently – Ringo had to go to the emergency vet for medicine for pink eye (our regular vet couldn’t get him in until the end of the week and we didn’t want to wait), he also had to go for his check up at the CSU vet hospital (getting the medicine for his ears sorted, he has a tiny allergy), and it was the anniversary of when Obi was diagnosed with lymphoma ten years ago. I have access to some of the best care in the country for my dogs, whether it is their regular vet, emergency vet, physical therapy vet, hospital, cancer care, or end of life care. I feel really lucky.

He has pink eye, was giving me the stink eye.

Hiding under the table at the dermatologists.

Sweet Obi, on one of his last hikes after he got diagnosed with lymphoma.

The very last picture of Obi. After I took this, I dropped and broke my camera (this was before smart phones), and he died the next day.

One of the last pictures of Sam and Dexter together.

6. My tiny family. We get on each other’s nerves sometimes, but we would rather be together than apart.

Sam sometimes helps me meditate.

I got up to go to the bathroom and they stole my spot.

From our walk this morning.

7. Morning and afternoon walks. I only got to do one morning walk this week, but I got to go in the afternoon a few times.

Bonus joy: my infrared heating pad, good TV (I just finished Russian Doll on Netflix and Pen15 on Hulu, both really good), a tall glass of clean cold water, getting the laundry done on Friday, a whole weekend off (with my yoga teacher training, these have been few and far between), computer glasses, hanging out with Mikalina, walking with Chloe’, texting with my brother, emails from my mom, napping, molasses, being able to work from home, sweet potatoes, down pillows and blankets.

Something Good

Leave a reply

1. Hummingbird feeding her babies. (video)

2. The Practice of Letting Go from Zen Habits.

3. Misty Copeland And Calvin Royal III Become The First Black Couple To Dance Lead With The American Ballet Theatre.

4. Hi I became obsessed with amanda chantal bacon the inventor of moon juice “and what she eats in a day because of this article …so i made a video to exorcise it.” (video)

5. I’ve No More F***s To Give. (video) This is my new theme song.

6. “Why can’t I stop dreaming of waffles?” (video)

7. Ellen DeGeneres Awards $50K To Good Samaritan Who Paid For Hotel Rooms For Homeless Chicagoans During Polar Vortex. “She plans on renovating and furnishing properties around the Chicago area to give homeless individuals a permanent home.”

8. 3 Ways To Improve Education About Slavery In The US. “When it comes to dealing with slavery, textbooks often use inadequate or inaccurate descriptions.”

9. At least someone is enjoying all this snow. (video) I feel like this tells you everything you need to know about having a cattle dog.

10. Just me over here, feeling my feelings. (video)

11. Jessica Nabongo is on her way to becoming the first Black woman to travel to every country in the world. (video)

12. Allison Mae has a new website! She’s my favorite local pet photographer. Check out her portfolio to see why.

13. This marathon runner picked up a stray puppy at mile 7 and carried her past the finish line. (video) In related news, Woman Finishes Marathon Carrying Puppy She Rescued Along The Way.

14. This is what millions of monarch butterflies look like. (video) In related news, National Butterfly Center to file restraining order to stop border wall construction.

15. ‘I’m mad, y’all!’ “Ocasio-Cortez wipes away a tear as she vows to defund ICE over death of 7-year-old migrant and claims Trump hates ALL immigrants – while saying Latinos can’t be illegals because America is ‘native land.'”

16. ‘We bought this good boy a shell bath the other day… I think he likes it’ (video)

17. Wisconsin Boy Is Hooked On Crocheting And Giving Back.

18. I Wrote a Letter to a Nightclub That had Hindu Gods on its Bathroom Walls. Here’s What Happened Next.

19. 100+ Books by Black Women That Should Be Essential Reading For Everyone.

20. Redbone ~ Come And Get Your Love ~ The Midnight Special 1974 (video)

21. Pipe Cleaner Puppets (video)

22. The National Parks’ iconic typeface has never been digitized–until now. “It’s part of designer and professor Jeremy Shellhorn’s Design Outside Studio, which takes on design projects in Rocky Mountain National Park.”

23. This video of a girl singing into a well has gone viral because, well, just listen. (video) Sometimes I feel like all our efforts are just singing into a well, hearing our own echo.

24. ‘If our union is strong, it is because of its resilient people who have succeeded in spite of, not because of, the actions of this administration.’ (video) In related news, Read Stacey Abrams’ full response to the State of the Union.

25. A dam collapse killed more than 60 people and ruined this Indigenous tribe’s home — now they blame the ‘white man’ and corporate greed. (video) As they should.

26. “Who’s Behind Dieting’s Rebranding as “Wellness”? Men.”

27. First bison calves born in Banff National Park in over 140 years.

28. Colorado Runner Kills Mountain Lion In Self-Defense. You know how people sometimes give themselves a goal to train towards? Mine is now “be able to fight off a mountain lion attack and then suffocate it with my bare hands and walk away, drive myself to the ER.”

29. Camille Dungy on Race, Motherhood and the Guidebook to Relative Strangers. In which Camille shares a very important question for us to consider: “How are we personally doing in terms of treating the people around us with equity, care, honesty, grace, support and genuine kindness?”

30. A Dying Mother’s Letter to Her Daughters. “Many may disagree, but I have always believed, always, even when I was a precocious little girl crying alone in my bed, that our purpose in this life is to experience everything we possibly can, to understand as much of the human condition as we can squeeze into one lifetime, however long or short that may be. We are here to feel the complex range of emotions that come with being human. And from those experiences, our souls expand and grow and learn and change, and we understand a little more about what it really means to be human.”

31. Dismantling White Feminism Masterclass with Layla F. Saad. “How white womxn can become allies to BIWOC* (*Black, Indigenous, Womxn of Colour).”

32. The struggle is real, this past week’s newsletter from Paul Jarvis, one of the only humans who gives advice about business that I listen to and trust.

33. Yoga for All Podcast with Jessamyn Stanley, “her Yoga Journal cover, setting boundaries, representation & more.”

34. 14 Stunning Illustrations That Perfectly Capture The Introvert’s Love Of Books.

35. don’t follow your passion from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks.

36. Write to Get Free with Melissa Toler. February 17 – March 24, 6 weeks of reflective questions and prompts.

37. The difference between Validation and Hope, and Toxic Positivity. “Here are some positive sayings I found on Pinterest. Alone, they’re pretty benign. But for someone who is really struggling they can sting. I translated them into some different variations that I think still inspire hope, but are validating. What do you think?”

38. Here’s How To Love Each Introverted Myers-Briggs Personality Type.

39. “Real but Not True”: How These Four Words Can Help With Strong Emotions on Lion’s Roar. “‘Real but not true’ gives us space to both notice thoughts and emotions and acknowledge that they might not correspond with reality. It’s an antidote to our habit of trying to escape uncomfortable emotions. It alleviates the suffering that is caused by futile attempts to avoid what actually is.”

40. This week in People Behaving Badly: “They Say We’re White Supremacists”: Inside the Strange World of Conservative College Women (alternative title: This is What Willful Ignorance Looks Like”), and Nick Sandmann’s Lawyer Plans To Sue Nathan Phillips For Defamation, and This Republican rep. tried to kick Parkland parents out of a hearing on gun reform and said building the wall would do more to protect our country than gun legislation (video) (This is the kind of thing I think about when someone argues for civility, tells us we need to try and get along with those who disagree with us. THIS kind of violence and perversion of the truth is not something we should entertain under any circumstances), and CSU sells Hughes Stadium land to home developer; 600-700 homes planned, and We fact-checked Trump’s State of the Union address — he averaged one false claim every 2 minutes (video), and Liam Neeson Explains Why There’s No Such Thing as Racism, and Investigation: Shambhala leader Sakyong Mipham likely committed sexual misconduct.