image by Eric
So great to be partnering with Wanderlust to share this list with a larger audience.
1. Unfold: An Introduction to Art Journaling from the Heart, my dear friend Susie’s new online class. I’m taking it, and if you want to join us, register by September 27th for the early bird pricing. Class starts Sunday, October 11th.
2. How to Love Yourself (and Sometimes Other People), a new book by Lodro Rinzler, co-authored by Meggan Watterson. “This book is a smart, hip guide for spiritual seekers who want to experience more love and stability in all forms or relationships.”
3. Unicorn farts & big breaks from the amazing Paul Jarvis, in which he explains two very important things. One, what looks like an overnight success usually is not, because “Achievement is never the result of a single action, it’s the build-up of all of our actions.” And two, that the joy should come in the making, the doing, the process, because “The sweat, research, trials and failures, dead ends and unknowns are exactly what makes things great…The process can be enjoyed as much or more than the outcome because otherwise, why bother?” Paul sends out an email to his list every Sunday, but also created an archive of those messages on Medium. It’s worth a look.
4. Tell Me Your Story, Not Your Status. “You are living a story. What is it?”
5. Giving Up The Need To Be Perfect from Kute Blackson. A great argument against perfection, because “Trying to be perfect is a sure recipe for suffering.” This guy knows how to preach. Whenever I watch one of Kute’s videos, I feel so energized, so inspired. Do yourself a favor and watch. Also, don’t forget to read the post that goes with it.
6. Everything Is Awful and I’m Not Okay: questions to ask before giving up. Everyone needs a copy of this list on hand, every single human.
7. 8 Ways to Change Your Habits (And Actually Get What You Want) from Sarah Kathleen Peck, a really helpful, simple list. #3 and #5 are my favorites.
8. Rejection-seeking as a form of hiding and When did you give up? from Seth Godin. Oh, snap!
9. Wisdom from poet Mary Oliver, “Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.” Her new book, Felicity, comes out next month, and has been described as an “inviting collection of love poems that celebrates the divine as much as it does the natural world or human relationships,” and “an eloquent celebration of simple joy from one of America’s most beloved poets.”
10. Something-for-Everyone Cookies, a recipe from SouleMama.
11. The Dieting Habit I Just Couldn’t Break, a brilliant post from Isabel Foxen Duke.
12. An Open Letter to People Who Use Hashtags. #gigglesnort #thisisgreat #youshouldreadit
13. 36 Things To Do For Those In Grief: I made a list when it happened to me.
14. The Art of Not Dying: A Story for Suicide Awareness Month.
15. Good stuff from Austin Kleon’s weekly newsletter: the first draft is always perfect and Give it five minutes.
16. Do people still read blogs?, and interesting conversation on A Design So Vast, which includes links to pieces by Vikki Reich and Nina Badzin.
18. Scott Dinsmore, creator of Live Your Legend, died in a freak accident on Mt. Kilimanjaro this past week. He was only 33 years old. I’m Going Off the Grid: Therapy for an Addicted & Over-Connected World ended up being his last blog post ever. In it, he said, “The pause is disappearing. That priceless space that allows us to think big, to reflect, to plan, to create – it’s becoming harder and harder to find. Which means our responsibility to save it is greater than ever.” There have been some really great tributes written about him, here and here. If you didn’t know who he was, I recommend you watch his TED talk, or this episode of The Good Life Project.
19. The Story of a Girl & Lake by Sunni Chapman.
20. Every Day She Said ‘Hello’ To This Homeless Man. But One Day He Handed Her A Piece Of Paper, a beautiful short critically acclaimed documentary called “The Conditioned.”
21. Nurses defend Miss Colorado after ‘The View’ hosts mock her monologue (VIDEO).
22. Teacher’s Cardio ‘Nae Nae’ Will Make You Want To Go To Gym Class. Which reminds me of the Where the Hell is Matt? project, and Dance Walking Fitness. Confession: dancing makes me stupid happy.
23. 25 things you should start adding to your compost pile from Tree Hugger. We are big composters, even have a worm bin, but some of this stuff I would have never thought to put in the pile.
24. Why I Cook from Dr. Andrew Weil. A great exploration of the magic of cooking, in which he says, “There is another reward of cooking that fascinates and motivates me: it is excellent training in practical magic. By that I mean that cooking gives you a chance to practice the esoteric art of manifestation — bringing something from the imagination into physical reality.”
25. Blogging from the Heart with Susannah Conway, one of the best ecourses I ever took. Registration opens Wednesday September 9th and class starts Monday October 5th.
26. Meditation and the Truth of Suffering, a dharma teaching from Sakyong Mipham.
27. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön,
The next time you lose heart and you can’t bear to experience what you’re feeling, you might recall this instruction: change the way you see it and lean in. Instead of blaming our discomfort on outer circumstances or on our own weakness, we can choose to stay present and awake to our experience, not rejecting it, not grasping it, not buying the stories that we relentlessly tell ourselves. This is priceless advice that addresses the true cause of suffering—yours, mine, and that of all beings.
28. Five Minutes of Awesomely Real Self-Care, wisdom from Mara Glatzel, “In the beginning, I was ‘busy.’ My work was more important than I was. Saying yes to everyone around me was more important than I was. Being seen as perfect was more important than I was…Tell yourself that you belong in your own life.”
Be proud to know as much as you do about life, dreams, and reality. Bask, Jill. It was a long climb up the stairway of enlightenment, and many a battle over false beliefs and mass consciousness have been won.
You don’t have to shout from the roof to live your truth, but don’t shy away from the ignorant; they need you. Nor be intimidated by the wise; they love you. And please don’t ever let self-consciousness keep you from stepping out into a world that would be unimaginably incomplete without you.
You are a vessel of light, a holy ghost, and frankly, so dang “hot.”
30. an antidote to craving abundance on Chookooloonks.
31. Dear Writers And Creative-Types: You Don’t Need Motivation on Terrible Minds.
32. 8 Ways to Finish the Year with Love and Intention from Be More With Less.
33. Fat Girl Running: On A Mission to Challenge Stereotypes.
34. Furiously Happy – Official Book Trailer.
35. Dog Spends A WEEK Guarding Her Trapped Best Friend Until Help Arrives.
36. Inky Path, a great new project from Jena Schwartz and Cidgem Kobu.
37. Susan Piver: Heart Wide Open, Episode 53 on Meditate This, a podcast about the meaning of life.
38. 12 Secrets to Simplifying Your Life and Lightening Your Load from Marc and Angel Hack Life.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 