Author Archives: jillsalahub

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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

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1. Snow. Everyone I know in Oregon was posting pictures of snow, and it was so weird because they never get snow, and we usually do yet we’ve had so little this winter. A few days later, we got about six inches and it’s been pretty cold for the past few days, and I’m so happy about it.

2. Puppies. They never fail to make me smile. In particular this week, some friends brought home a new baby (five months old, so maybe more of a toddler than a baby). Her first family had her for just two months and then brought her back – she’d been their first dog and it was too much for them, (puppies can be hard, not just cute, and some people don’t realize that). I can’t wait to meet her, hope she loves Ringo and he loves her, (Sam prefers to have no more new dogs in his life, thank you very much). I think puppies are just the best. If you don’t believe me, look at these four.

The day we adopted Obi, April 20, 2002

Baby Dexter. We called him Batman when he was this little because he had such a dark mask.

Sweet Sam the baby bear

A baby dingo in the snow

3. Rest. I’ve needed a lot of it this past few weeks. I’ve been super busy and had a cold. Sometimes, when that happens and my anxiety starts peaking, it gets hard to rest. My brain won’t calm down enough for my body to relax. It’s a horrible state, to be so tired but unable to sleep. It makes me appreciate it even more when I can.

Sam decided I needed help meditating this morning

4. Ringo and Sam. The weekend before the snow came, we had a stretch of days where it was in the upper 50s. The boys took advantage of it and lounged in the sun in the backyard, one of their very favorite things to do together.

5. Thirteen weeks!!! That’s all I have left to work at CSU before I “retire.” This week we did interviews and hired two new interns to work with me (one I hired last semester stayed on, so there are three total). That’s the last time I’ll ever interview for that position, and the last two I’ll ever hire. Every day I work there now there’s at least one thing that reminds me why I’ve loved being there for so long, why I stayed, and at least two things remind me why it’s time to go, why it’s the absolute right decision to leave.

Brrr… from their walk this morning

Bonus joy: orange juice, West African Peanut Stew (Eric made this in our Instapot this week and it was SO good), good TV (I just finished Sex Education on Netflix and am going to start Russian Doll), teaching yoga, aqua aerobics, sitting in a 200 degree sauna on a morning when it’s -4 outside, good hand lotion (Aveda’s Hand Relief Moisturizing Creme is my favorite, smells so yummy), computer glasses, a clean bathroom, a warm shower, clean pjs, the blanket my niece made me years ago that turns out to be the best lounging on the couch blanket ever, writing with Chloe’ and Mikalina, Pilates with Carrie and Ashley, being done with another module of yoga teacher training (two more to go!), naps.

Something Good

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Sunrise on the Poudre River

Sunrise on the Poudre River, image by Eric

1. New Study Finds Yoga Significantly Reduces Depression in Male Veterans.

2. This young artist didn’t have a home for 10 years. Now his art is selling for thousands. (video)

3. 50 Adorable Pics To Celebrate Hedgehog Day.

4. Artist Delicately Crafts Colorful Insects From Freshly Cut Flowers.

5. My Favourite Photos of 2018 from photographer Lola Akinmade.

6. I Couldn’t Get the Right Medical Care Because I’m Fat. “Doctors can be biased against larger-size patients—so much so that it changes their treatment plan. Advocates are calling for an end to the judgment and less-than-equal care.” In related news, How The Way Doctors Approach Body Weight Is Killing Women.

7. L Word Revival Will Premiere in 2019.

8. I Couldn’t See What Dieting Cost Me Until I Gave It Up.

9. 12-week-old German Shepherd puppy arrives in Colorado for life-saving surgery. Not gonna lie, a primary reason I love living in Fort Collins, Colorado is the quality of care and life in general available for my dogs.

10. This 13-Year-Old Indigenous Girl Has Been Nominated for a Global Peace Prize.

11. Abandoned as a baby, meet 16-year-old Tjili who is deaf and has cerebral palsy – she is winning acclaim for her art. (video)

12. Is it OK to do Yoga? (video) “Some South Asians are calling out Scientific American for promoting ‘cardiac coherence breathing exercises,’ which have been known as Pranayama in yoga practices for thousands of years.” In related news, Why Your Downward Dog Isn’t Necessarily Yoga. “Yoga teacher Carola Lovering left YJ LIVE! New York with some existential questions about the practice of asana. Here she breaks down how a modern-day yogi can make sense of what we’re really doing on the mat.”

13. Borderlands Critter Cam. (video) “Welcome to the wild borderlands connecting Arizona and Mexico, where puma, coati, javelina and foxes meander a creek bed that is at times dry, then snow covered, then running with precious water. Our borderlands in the U.S. Southwest and Mexico are one of the biggest ecosystem complexes in North America, with some of the most remote and important wildlife habitats remaining on the continent.”

14. Why Mindfulness And Trauma-Informed Teaching Don’t Always Go Together.

15. This man left his Wall Street job to start a nonprofit that curbs food waste and feeds the hungry. (video)

16. How to Do Metta on Lion’s Roar. “Jack Kornfield on beginning this time-honored, heart-opening practice.”

17. Stacey Abrams To Deliver Rebuttal To Trump’s State Of The Union Address.

18. Baby hyenas rescued by volunteer who took them home after they were orphaned. (video)

19. Germany’s oldest tree was also suffering from the record heatwave rocking the country – so residents from the small town around it came together to the rescue! (video)

20. People Are Sharing The Nicknames They Call Their Pets And It’s Relatable AF.

21. Chef Fatima Ali Has Died of Cancer at Age 29; This Is Her Essay from Our Upcoming Issue. “She dreamed of opening her own restaurant. Then she learned she had a year left to live.”

22. A Therapist Shares The Secret To Better Alone Time.

23. February is Black History Month. here are some articles, videos, and reading lists to get you started celebrating:

This week in People Behaving Badly: No Heat for Days at a Jail in Brooklyn Where Hundreds of Inmates Are Sick and ‘Frantic’ from The New York Times, and Portland Police Sergeant to Cops: ‘If You Come Across a Black Person, Just Shoot Them’, and Some of the lowest-paid workers affected by the shutdown aren’t eligible for backpay (video), and Racist Website Faith And Heritage Is Closing Up Shop, (and yet, “While Faith and Heritage is gone, the underlying racial resentment that animated the development of Kinism more than a decade ago is alive and well in the racist right”), and This mother was finally reunited with her 18-month-old after the baby girl spent a month in a Texas shelter (video) (I DO NOT support ICE in any way, shape, or form. It should be abolished. They are not protecting anyone. They are causing harm), and Police Say ‘Empire’ Actor Jussie Smollett Attacked In Possible Hate Crime, and It Could Take Joshua Tree 300 Years to Recover From the Government Shutdown, and $11 toothpaste: Immigrants pay big for basics at private ICE lock-ups.