Brene’ Brown | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

an amazing image by eric

1. Intuition is data from Jonathan Fields.

2. 50 Things to Let Go of Before Your Next Birthday from Marc and Angel Hack Life.

3. You will be called on to expand. And this is why we practice. from Danielle LaPorte.

4. Learning to exist at the edge of the unknown from Christina Rosalie.

5. Daily Rocks from Patti Digh: your daily rock : revel in not knowing, and your daily rock : take a new path, and your daily rock : show up for others today, and your daily rock : be open to change.

6. Ultra-realistic Fantasy Dolls. It’s Scary How Real They Look.

7. Good stuff from Huffington Post: The Questions That Will Save Your Relationships, and Can Success and Sex Sell Mindfulness? (by Susan Piver), and 14 Signs You’re Really Happy (And How To Stay That Way).

8. A beautiful something from Sas Petherick: a squee-filled announcement: Let it Go is open!, and the Let it Go Community page.

9. Father photographs his 5-year old daughter in the clothing and settings of Renaissance Dutch, Flemish, and Italian masters.

10. Here Are The 28 Cutest Things That Have Ever Happened on Viral Nova.

11. Elementary School. It’s not all limos and Happy Meals. from Brittany Herself, in which she says, “Being in charge of humans is sometimes impossibly hard, especially when you think you’re failing.”

12. The End of Should from Susannah Conway.

13. Wisdom from Brave Girls Club,

The hardest decisions in life are the decisions that start with two good answers. Choosing between two or more good things is one of the hardest things we will ever have to do.

This is what sacrifice is. This is where the richest rewards are, because we are not REALLY choosing between what is good and what is good. We are choosing between what is good and what is BEST for our lives.

Stay where the BEST things area, even if you have to walk away from some really good things once in a while. And never forget that the simple, small things in life are very often the best — better than the shiny, fancy, and ‘popular’ things; and that it’s completely okay to walk away from everything that the world tells you will bring you happiness, and towards small, simple, and good things that others usually just walk on by. That’s where the magic is, friends.

Choose the best for YOU.

14. When to Get Your Eyes Off the Screen from Be More With Less.

15. On Living Out Loud from Dani Shapiro.

16. 11 Life Lessons That Are True At Any Age from MindBodyGreen.

17. The Daring Interview Series: Meet Jennifer Louden from Brene’ Brown.

18. How to politely say “no” to a ridiculous, unreasonable request. (And keep it classy.) from Alexandra Franzen.

19. Karaoke Therapy from Jason Good.

20. Two Brothers Hilariously Re-Create Their Childhood Photos As A Gift For Their Mother on Bored Panda.

21. Restored vintage COMET Camper is a cost-effective, mobile eco-home on Tree Hugger.

22. letting go from Doorways Traveler.

23. Truthbomb from Danielle LaPorte, “Suspending the need to be certain is an act of enlightenment.”

24. Note from the Universe, “Comparisons, Jill, are odious, because they presume all other things are equal – which is never the case.”

25. Find Momo (Book Trailer). I love this project, link shared by Tammy on her Happy Links list.

26. Sh*t CSU Students Say.

27. Sleeping In Snowbanks by Jeff Oaks, with a characteristic zinger at the end, “How not to let oneself drown? Find what will float until you can stop panicking. Even a small thing can work.”

28. A Conference Call in Real Life.

29. A really cool syllabus, shared by Austin Kleon.

image by eric

1. Good stuff from Patti Digh: your daily rock : give comfort, your daily rock : transform, your daily rock : you make a difference, your daily rock : you know the answer, and your daily rock : feel good now.

2. Write A House Is Giving Writers Free Homes In Detroit on Huffington Post.

3. A little preview for you, an update about the You are Beautiful book by Matthew Hoffman that I helped fund through a Kickstarter project. Can’t wait to get my copy.

4. Let Everything Happen by Rainer Maria Rilke:

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.

5. This Man’s Wife Died 2 Years Ago. What He Just Discovered Last Week Is Indescribable. Get A Tissue. on Viral Nova.

6. The Five Things Our Dogs Want for Christmas from The Other End of the Leash.

7. Love from Be More with Less.

8. Truthbombs from Danielle LaPorte:

If you measure your success against someone else’s results, you will never be free – ever.

and

Do not give your past the power to define your future.

9. how to keep the spirit of christmas all year long from Positively Present.

10. From Susannah Conway’s Something for the Weekend post: Something small, every day, Sensitivity is Beautiful, 8 Kale Salads, and sit on a small wooden bench with yourself.

11. Wisdom from Robert Holden,

One new perception,
one fresh thought,
one act of surrender,
one change of heart,
one leap of faith,
can change your life forever.

12. the magic is in the mess from Brene’ Brown.

13. Good stuff from Marc and Angel Hack Life: 10 Ways to Stop Treating Yourself and 10 Gifts You Deserve to Give Yourself.

14. What Christmas Is Like For A Working Poor Family Earning $10,000 A Year (And How To Help) on Huffington Post.

15. No one reads a comic strip because it’s drawn well from Seth Godin. Something like The Oatmeal is proof of this, which leads to an interesting post he made on Facebook, which shows what an amazing artist he really is.

16. Wisdom from Anne Lamott on Facebook.

17. Here Are All The Movies Expiring On Netflix As Of January 1st, in case you want to do some binge watching over the next few days.

18. Wisdom from Marianne Williamson, “The most powerful step is when we move from “Ain’t it awful” to “Let’s make it not awful.”

19. Wisdom from Rumi,

Sometimes you hear a voice through the door calling you,
As a fish out of water hears the waves …
Come back. Come back.
This turning toward what you deeply love saves you.

20. 12/26/13 on 3x3x365. Beautiful.

21. Maitri on Elephant Journal by Waylon Lewis, in which he says,

But it is also the essence of maitri. It seems to me in my experience and also in talking to other people that we come to a body of teachings like the Buddhist teachings or any spiritual path, to meditation in some way like little children looking for comfort, looking for understanding, looking for attention, looking somehow to be confirmed. Some kind of comfort will come out of this.

And the truth is actually that the [meditation] practice isn’t about that. The practice is more about somehow this little child, this I, who wants and wants and wants to be confirmed in some way.

Practice is about that part of our being finally being able to open completely to the whole range of our experience, including all that wanting, including all that hurt, including the pain and the joy. Opening to the whole thing so that this little child-like part of us can finally, finally, finally, finally grow up.

22. Zadie Smith’s 10 Rules of Writing on Brain Pickings, in which she says, “Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.” Word.

23. How to Write: A Year in Advice from Franzen, King, Hosseini, and More: Highlights from 12 months of interviews with writers about their craft and the authors they love, a really great series on The Atlantic.

24. Give your brain a break… and achieve inner peace with our easy guide to meditating.

25. A Forest Year.