Category Archives: Colossal

Something Good

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Horsetooth Reservoir, image by Eric

Horsetooth Reservoir, image by Eric

1. Wisdom from Saint Thomas, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” (Thanks to Gemma Stone for sharing).

2. Good stuff on Upworthy: A Baby Survives A Situation That Could Have Killed Any Of Us. Now They Call Him ‘Miracle Baby.’ and This Kid’s Scary Personification Of Depression Gives Me Chills.

3. Good stuff from Buzzfeed: This Artist Turns Her 2-Year-Old’s Doodles Into Gorgeous Paintings, and 21 Women Remember Their First Periods…For Better Or For Worse, and If Andy Dwyer Quotes Were Motivational Posters, and If Nick Miller Quotes Were Motivational Posters.

4. Wisdom from Elizabeth Gilbert on Facebook: Love your neighbor and How not to be overwhelmed.

5. 24 Signs That Life is Amazingly Awesome (Even When It Doesn’t Feel That Way). (Thanks for sharing, Sandi).

6. Anne Lamott on Facebook, “Life or life: This strange situation we find ourselves in, with no clear answers or meaning — well, you know, I mean besides love, or Love; taking care of the poor; and being amazed by beauty.”

7. The 7 Lies That Keep Us From Success from Jonathan Fields.

8. One of my favorite quotes, from Thich Nhat Hanh: “You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.”

9. 23 ways to relax when you’re stressed from Positively Present.

10. Wisdom from Hafiz:

Ever since happiness heard your name,
it has been running through the streets
trying to find you.

11. More wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh:

Our practice is to find our true home. When we breathe, we breathe in such a way that we can find our true home. When we make a step, we make a step in such a way that we touch our true home with our feet.

12. Good stuff on Bored Panda: 17 Of The Most Unusual Beaches Around The World, and Mesmerizing Paper Art Made From Strips Of Colored Paper by Yulia Brodskaya, and These People Turned Log Piling Into An Art Form.

13. Vegetarian Sweet Potato Chili recipe.

14. Anahata Katkin’s Flickr Photostream.

15. The Creamy Kung Foo of Writing True Stories from Laurie Wagner.

16. Why I Think This World Should End from Prince Ea.

16. New Backlit Paper Sculptures by Hari & Deepti on Colossal.

17. Then and now photos: Colorado flood recovery one year later from Colorado Public Radio.

18. You Cannot Hate Yourself Into Change from Jo Anna Rothman.

19. Wisdom from the poet Stonehouse:

I meditate alone in the quiet and dark
where nothing comes to mind
I sweep the steps when the west wind is done
I make a path for the moonlight

20. 5 Questions to Instantly Transform Your Family Relationships from MindValley Academy.

21. Accepting Ourselves…and our true delights from Julia Cameron.

22. 7 Steps to Living a Bill Murray Life, by Bill Murray.

23. The Horrible Awkwardness and Angst of Being a Beginner: In Aikido or at Anything on Huffington Post.

24. Learning How to Draw a Mandala from Jamie Ridler.

25. Good stuff from Be More with Less: 10 Strategies for Absolute Clarity and Identify Your Real Treasures and Finally Let Go.

26. Navigate Your Life: Justine Musk from Jennifer Louden.

27. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön,

In the morning when you wake up, reflect on the day ahead and aspire to use it to keep a wide-open heart and mind. At the end of the day, before going to sleep, think over what you’ve done. If you fulfilled your aspiration, even once, rejoice in that. If you went against your aspiration, rejoice that you are able to see what you did and are no longer living in ignorance. This way you will be inspired to go forward with increasing clarity, confidence, and compassion.

28. Wisdom from Natalie Goldberg:

[A practice] is something you choose to do on a regular basis with no vision of an outcome; the aim is not improvement, not getting somewhere. You do it because you do it…you have an opportunity to meet your own mind, to examine what it does, its plays and shenanigans.

29. Wisdom from Isabel Foxen Duke:

…binge-eating is ALWAYS the result of restriction, and/or judgement of our food choices, and is there anything that triggers you into these feelings and behaviors more than wishing your body was different than it is?

30. Words for the Day :: No. 40 from Lisa Congdon.

31. Mortality as Muse.

32. If I Knew The Way, I Would Take You Home from Rebelle Society.

33. Louis C.K. Exposes My Stupid Brain on McSweeney’s.

34. Shake it off, the song that won’t get out of my head, has inspired some pretty cute tributes.

35. Elizabeth Gilbert Shares Her “Really Weird” Advice About Following Your Passion on Huffington Post.

36. Hey White People: A Kinda Awkward Note to America by #Ferguson Kids.

36. The #1 Secret on How To Engage With a Narcissist on Huffington Post.

37. From Brave Girls Club:

Dear Insightful Girl,

You already know the answers to the questions that are eating away at you. You just have to trust yourself enough to really listen and be brave with your decisions.

You know oh-so-much-more than you give yourself credit for. You have a good heart and powerful intuition and you really do know the right way to go, that doesn’t mean it’s always the easiest way to go…but the easiest path never was the most fruitful path, and you are one of the courageous souls who seeks the best fruit.

Trust your gut. It has never led you astray. You can do it — you are a Brave Girl. And you are so loved.

38. Women’s greatest threat isn’t misogyny, it’s counting calories on the Washington Post.

39. A Photographer’s Moving Tribute to the Pine Ridge Reservation on Slate.

Something Good

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Bonus Something Good:  Writing And Me (Blog Hop), Justine’s response to the blog hop. I loved getting to hear more about her writing process, the why and the how of it.

1. The Above and Beyond Memorial at the National Veterans Art Museum, “an immense 10 x 40 foot sculpture…comprised of imprinted dog tags, one for each of the more than 58,000 service men and women who died in the Vietnam War.” Click the link to see it. It’s weirdly beautiful and utterly heartbreaking.

2. The Illusion of the Bottomless Pit from Rachel Cole.

3. A Non-Diet Diet: The Case for Eating Whatever You Want on New York Magazine.

4. I’m coming out of the closet from The Brand Alchemist, “I have depression…and I’m GRATEFUL for it.”

5. Ultra Small Bonsai Plants Give New Meaning to the Word Miniature on Colossal.

6. An updated Radical Self Love Manifesto from Gala Darling.

7. 21 Pictures Guaranteed to Make You Feel Better About Life from Pleated Jeans.

8. These 30 Dogs Were So Disgustingly Naughty That They Need Publicly Shamed. This Is Hysterical. on Viral Nova.

9. Japanese Artist Creates Incredible Stone Sculptures That Defy The Laws Of Physics on Bored Panda.

10. I’m a yogi on antidepressants and I’m cool with it on Rebelle Society, which says,

Yoga draws a lot of different types of people, and many of us are searching for a way to be okay. Yoga can be part of that solution; it can even be the whole thing. But if it’s not, then it’s not because you’re weak; it just means you need a few more members in your village.

11. An awesome site shared by The Bloggess, Put You In A Better Mood.

12. The Truth About Careers That Your Parents Didn’t Tell You, a guest post by Kate Swoboda on Create as Folk.

13. the secret life of a curvy girl, a beautiful story by a beautiful woman on Spirit Soul Earth.

14. 20 Questions — Soul-Style, with Rachel W. Cole on My Peace of Food.

15. A beautiful poem by William Stafford, The Way It Is, shared in Erin’s Body Happy newsletter, (you should sign up if you love poetry, she’s always reminding me of some of my favorites or sharing something new).

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

16. Don’t “write blog posts” or “launch products.” Create little miracles. from Alexandra Franzen.

17. Wisdom from Brave Girls Club,

One kind person can make such a difference. One compassionate hand placed on a hand in distress can make such a difference. One phone call, one thank-you note, one sweet text message can make every bit of difference. One job well done, one child rocked to sleep, one lunch packed, one single daisy given away can make such a difference.,/p>

One smile in the grocery store, one proclamation of forgiveness, one loaf of freshly baked bread, one handmade card, one offer to help can make such a huge difference.

It’s the little things, gorgeous friend, that make the heroes. It’s the one thing, after one thing, after one thing. It’s that one person who makes the difference. Be the one.

18. Mudita. The practice of sympathetic joy. on Superhero Life.

19. Wisdom from Tulku Thondup,

There are two crucial junctures of the day when meditation can be especially fruitful—when you are falling asleep and when you are waking up. At these times, the mind is in a transition state, and you are especially open to the power of healing. If you make a habit of experiencing peaceful feelings when the mind is naturally more open, the healing energies can take hold more deeply and firmly in your mind. Then, because you are cultivating this deeper level, it will be easier to develop a more open hearted attitude toward the rest of life. You can be more open to the experience of peace even as you are involved in your everyday activities.

20. Awakening, a blessing from Mara Glatzel.

21. And Then I Could Breathe Again on Painted Path.

22. Ordinary Moments from Jonathan Fields.

23. what’cha growin’? on Chookooloonks.

24. These 26 Baby Photos Are So Bad, They’re Good. LOL.

25. 5 Ways to Reclaim Your Mornings and Never Have Nothing to Wear Again on Be More With Less.

26. From Chookooloonks this was a good week list: a day on camp and The Grind.

27. Shared on SF Girl by Bay’s Friday Finds list, a beautiful Flickr set by Stefania Jane.

28. Grieving Goat Transforms After Sweet Reunion With His Best Friend.

29. 21 Girls Who Don’t Know What Eyebrows Are Supposed To Look Like. These are more scary than funny, unlike the baby eyebrows I shared on last week’s list. And I’d say there are 20 on this list, because I disagree with the inclusion of Amanda Palmer. She knows exactly what she’s doing.

30. a sweet list of things to remember on Rebelle Society.

31. Meet Millie, The Rock Climbing Adventure Cat Who Goes Camping With Her Human on Huffington Post.