Category Archives: Andrea Scher

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image by Eric

image by Eric

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life. ~Hermann Hesse

So great to be partnering with Wanderlust to share this list with a larger audience.

1. My Cup Runneth Over by Jena Schwartz. This is real life — a mess, and some kind of magic.

2. Big Magic: Elizabeth Gilbert on Creative Courage and the Art of Living in a State of Uninterrupted Marvel on Brain Pickings. She was also recently interviewed on Good Life Project radio, Elizabeth Gilbert: The Creative Life.

3. I am my own worst enemy by Paul Jarvis. (Just to be clear, I am one of his rat people, “the people that get what you do, appreciate it, and love you for it”).

4. Wisdom from Seth Godin: The 2% who misunderstand you, and The banality of the magazine rack, and Dreams and fears.

5. Yoga, spinning and a murder: My strange months at Lululemon. I love what this has to say about being who you really are.

6. Francine’s interview, from Human (the movie). “Born in 1933, Francine Christophe was deported with her mother at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1944. Released the following year, she continues to share her experience and memories, particularly with the younger generations.” (Confession: I’ve had a lifelong obsession with stories from the Holocaust, specifically the way that moment in history brought out the best and the worst in those involved).

7. Human, the movie, Volumes 1-3, which you can watch online, for FREE.

What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight? That we laugh? Cry? Our curiosity? The quest for discovery? Driven by these questions, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent three years collecting real-life stories from 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Working with a dedicated team of translators, journalists and cameramen, Yann captures deeply personal and emotional accounts of topics that unite us all; struggles with poverty, war, homophobia, and the future of our planet mixed with moments of love and happiness.

8. Bryan Chapman of Mississippi has hummingbirds drinking out of his hand!

9. Author Lauren Myracle calls on overprotective parents to stop banning books. Find out more about Banned Books Week, Sept. 27- Oct. 3, on the official website.

10. Wisdom from Chögyam Trungpa, “In the garden of gentle sanity, may you be bombarded by coconuts of wakefulness.” I love this quote. I also hate this quote.

11. Uh-oh. I think my new favorite album might be Ryan Adams’s reimagining of Taylor Swift’s 1989. NPR did a really good piece about it, No Blank Space, Baby: Taylor Swift Is The Soul Of Ryan Adams.

12. Start Here Now: An Open-Hearted Guide to the Path and Practice of Meditation, a great review of a great book.

13. 10 Reasons We Should Defund Planned Parenthood IMMEDIATELY. *gigglesnort*

14. Jenny Lawson “The Bloggess” Gets Furiously Happy con Queso with an Interview, an Announcement and an Old-School Giveaway.

15. So much wisdom from Alexandra Franzen, How to love your work… even when you don’t love your work, and How to avoid being someone’s “assistant” for the rest of your career and finally do your own thing, and 7 beautiful, meaningful writing projects that you can finish in a single day. Because finishing is sexy.

16. One-Pot Butternut Squash Alfredo. I bought two butternut squash at the grocery store this weekend, not really surewhat I was going to do with them exactly. THIS, this is what…

17. Why I Almost Didn’t Tell You About the Book I’m Writing from Be More With Less.

18. Good stuff from Austin Kleon’s weekly newsletter: Thoughts on authenticity from the documentary The Search for General Tso, (we watched this documentary, and I agree with Austin’s assessment of it), and Everyone lies about writing, and a great video tutorial, How to make a newspaper blackout poem.

19. I never should have followed my dreams. “I quit my steady gig to fulfill my potential. Instead I went broke, and got fired from a job in doggie daycare.”

20. Six-year-old’s heartfelt lecture to mom and dad. An adorable little girl’s words of wisdom have gone viral after her mother uploaded a video of her pleading with her divorced parents to be friends. The video has been viewed more than six million times. In the video, Tiana tells her mom, “I think you can do it. I think you can settle your mean heights down to short heights … I just want everything to be settled down, nothing else. For everything to be as good as possible. Nothing else.” She’s so earnest and sweet that you can’t help but want to try harder to be nicer after listening to her.

21. 15 Celebs Answering Badass, Inspiring Questions On The Emmys Red Carpet, because it’s time to start asking more than “What are you wearing?”

22. Grab your tissues: This couple’s wedding day was all about their ailing dog.

23. A hedge fund bro bought an AIDS drug, then raised the price from $13.50 to $750. Compare that to Kickstarter Focuses Its Mission on Altruism Over Profit.

24. He Wears Nail Polish Because He’s a Good Father.

The only thing that is missing from this video is Nathan’s backstory. He’s even more amazing than what they show here — in 2011, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 rectal cancer, and nine days later, his wife Elisa was diagnosed with breast cancer. Nathan beat his cancer, but Elisa died in March of 2014.

25. It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers. *gigglesnort*

26. Andrea Scher has a new website just for her photography. I was lucky enough to do a session with her. She’s fantastic.

27. Japanese Photographer Documents The Beauty Of Everyday Life In Japan. Confession: I’m a Japan-ophile. Even though I long to, I’m afraid to travel there, worried I’ll love it so much I won’t want to come back.

28. Library Haul – September 2015 on Allowing Myself, one of my favorite blogs/bloggers. I love Justine’s description of the power of books and reading, “Non-fiction holds my attention. Fiction keeps me afloat. Reading calms and centers me in a way that not much else can.” And if you need more proof of why I love this blog, just read Tiny Shifts — honest, vulnerable, tender, and sad, but so inspiring. Justine writes about what is hard, but she makes it clear she’s also not giving up. Tender and terrible, beautiful and brutal.

29. Meet the blogger who turned her battle with an eating disorder into a body positive movement.

30. 100 questions to discover yourself from Positively Present. I love this kind of thing, use them as journal prompts, as well as regularly torturing friends and my significant other with them.

31. A Blog Is Only Dead When You Are, more on the topic “is blogging dead?” (which honestly is a silly question, akin to something like “are books dead?”).

32. permission on Chookooloonks.

33. AngelList, a platform for startups to hire people. If I were looking for a job, I think I’d check this out.

34. A Person You Should Know: Courtney Carver. I shared this site on a Something Good list a while back, and the creator Josh Spector asked who I thought he should profile. Courtney is one of the people I suggested.

35. A White Artist Wrote ‘Black Lives Matter’ 2,000 Times. But His Mural Almost Said ‘All Lives Matter.’

36. Is Teaching Yoga Your Path? 8 Qualities of Excellent Teachers. “Considering yoga teacher training? 90 Monkeys co-founder Amy Ippoliti suggests you start by asking yourself some tough questions.”

37. Spiritual practice won’t stop shitty things from happening to you. However…, a reality check from Danielle LaPorte in which she makes some important distinctions about the benefits of practice.

38. Alison’s Story, another installment of the Transgender in Colorado series from The Denver Post.

39. To the stinking alcoholic at the liquor store last week from Renegade Mothering. I’m sharing this with someone I love. I hope she reads it. I hope she gets it. I hope she stops before it’s too late.

40. When the Everyday Calls For Super Powers and a Good Plum Tart on Flingo.

41. 8 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Make In A Muffin Tin. Too bad the pictures they used for this post are so horribly unappetizing.

42. Watch Shiva Rea’s Moon Salutation.

43. Why I Quit Teaching Yoga & Hope to Never Go Back on Elephant Journal. The reason is not at all what you’d expect, and makes me think all of us yoga teachers should do the same thing.

44. Watch These Dancers Tell A Breakup Story In A Way Words Can’t Convey.

Something Good

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yellowfall

So great to be partnering with Wanderlust to share this list with a larger audience.

1. Another chance to start over, wisdom from Seth Godin.

2. Good Question: How can I stay creative when I have to sit and type all day long? and No regrets, wisdom from the wicked smart Alexandra Franzen. What I love so much about her perspective is she is able to be both gentle and fierce at the same time.

3. One day you’re a dog. The next day, you’re in space. by Andrea Scher. Even though this piece is about a very personal experience, it’s completely universal at the same time. And, the fact that she published it on September 11th gave it a whole other layer of meaning. It made me think of all the times in my life this has happened — “Sometimes life changes like that – one day you’re a dog, the next day you’re in space.”

4. The Digital Breakup from The School of Enough, (shared on Be More With Less). This makes a really compelling argument for challenging yourself to make a change to your digital habits. I want to try it, but I confess it also makes me a bit shaky just thinking about it.

5. My Plan On 9/11. One person’s memory of “that day.” This line alone is worth the read, “In some ways, hope is just a lie in a prom dress.”

6. Confessions and Lessons from a Former Approval Addict on Tiny Buddha.

7. Omission: Choosing what to leave out, on why writing is choosing what to leave out.

8. Good stuff from Chookooloonks this was a good week list: One woman’s mission to photograph every Native American tribe in the US, and 10 Questions With Brené Brown. Also from Chookooloonks, accept your nomination.

9. The Gentle Art of Trying Something & Sucking at It on Zen Habits.

10. The “New Age Thinking Will Make Me Thin” Diet from Isabel Foxen Duke. Word. Confession: I went to therapy for my dis-ordered eating at first because I thought it was the magic bullet to getting the body I wanted, NOT because I wanted to get well — that came later.

11. How to Do a Career Change Detox from Laura Simms.

12. 7 Ways Happy Couples Deal with Disagreements Differently from Marc and Angel Hack Life.

13. News Flash: Fear Does Not Respond Well to Self-Discipline from Jennifer Louden.

14. What All Writers Can Learn From Mitch Hedberg.

15. So this happened: The ‘Dear Fat People’ video is tired, cruel and lazy – but I still fight for the woman who made it, and “Dear Fat People” isn’t satire: Despite the backlash publicity, it’s unlikely to make Nicole Arbour a star, and This comedian’s YouTube channel was shut down for fat-shaming, and What I Want to Say to Fat People: Response to Nicole Arbour, and Response: Dear Fat People from Meghan Tonjes.

16. This Couple’s “Drunk History” Version Of How They Met Is Pure Gold.

17. Two powerful posts on Facebook in response to National Suicide Prevention Day, one from Andrea Gibson and another from Amy Tingle.

18. I was a teenage Fox News robot: Sean Hannity destroyed my childhood.

19. Recipe: Easy Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers! With Avocado. Looks so yum, although if you put sweet potato and avocado in just about anything, I’m going to want to eat it.

20. ‘Eat Clean’? The Smug Instagram Lifestyle Might Not Be So Healthy After All. If you’ve never heard of orthorexia, you need to read this.

21. How to help your family and save lives from Neil Gaiman.

22. 9 things I’ve learned about marriage from being a couples therapist.

23. Your FitBit Is Ruining Your Relationship with Your Body – Here Are 3 Reasons Why.

24. the big quiet from Sas Petherick.

25. How to help Syrian refugees? These 6 groups you may not know are doing important work.

26. Hijacking Genocide: An Open Letter.

27. 10Q. 10 Days. 10 Questions. “Answer one question per day in your own secret online 10Q space…When you’re finished, hit the magic button and your answers get sent to the secure online 10Q vault for safekeeping. One year later, the vault will open and your answers will land back in your email inbox for private reflection.” This year’s 10 actually started yesterday, but you can still join in. I’ve done it for the past few years, and it’s really fun. I always learn something about myself answering the questions, and am surprised and inspired when I read my responses from the year before.

28. This Is What Happened When I Welcomed A Refugee Family Into My Home.

29. A large group of snazzily dressed men gathered outside a Connecticut public school on the first day of classes.

30. There’s More to Life Than Being Happy.

31. How to Finally Clean out Your Closet for Good, a really great strategy from Be More With Less. “When I finally cleaned out my closet for good, peace replaced guilt, joy replaced frustration, and love replaced fear.”

32. How Not to Do It All from Zen Habits. I should probably just commit to starting each and every day by reading this. My name is Jill, and I’m a do-aholic.

33. The Loving Our Body Lie and Fat People and Faulty Assumptions from Dances with Fat.

34. Meditation: Beyond the Practice with Susan Piver on The Good Life Project Radio, two of my favorite people talking to each other about one of my favorite topics.

35. “What My Recovery Looks Like”: Jennifer Matesa on Freedom.

36. Wisdom from John Lubbock, “Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

37. I’m Fat and I Don’t Want to Assimilate into Diet Culture (And No, I’m Not Sorry).

38. Zen Foxes: Photographer Documents Wild Foxes Enjoying Themselves.

39. The Tiny Book Show. If you are looking for an easy, creative project, this one is super fun.

40. 12 Simple Ways to Make Your Yoga Classes More Trauma Informed.

41. Killing Of Young Woman In Nepal Spotlights Travel Safety.

42. Wisdom from Saul Bellow, “Death is the dark backing that a mirror needs if we are to see anything.”

43. Wisdom from Carl Sagan, “For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”

44. 26 Photos That Every Perfectionist Will Find Pleasing.

45. Margaret Atwood: On Facing the Blank Page.

46. Man Recreates Photos Of His Late Wife With His 3-Year-Old Daughter 3 Years After The Accident. All the feels…

47. Creative Work on Allowing Myself.

48. 11 easy ways to reduce your plastic waste today on Tree Hugger. I’m doing most of this already, but what’s really got me excited from this post is the picture of the decorated tiffins. I want! Indian Tiffin has decorated ones, and Happy Tiffin has a really great selection of undecorated ones, all different sizes and shapes.