Category Archives: Cute Animals

Joy Jam

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What were the 3-5 things that gave you joy this week?

1. Reading Women Food and God by Geneen Roth: I first heard about this book from a work colleague, and then again from Rachel Cole. Originally, I checked it out from the library because, at the time, I was trying not to buy anymore books, (I have a problem, am a bibliophile who wants to have all the books). But I could tell early on, this would be a book I would read and reread, that I needed to keep reading it until I could embody and manifest its wisdom, so I bought a copy. This book might not be for every woman, but it’s exactly what I need to hear, to know, to accept. A quote from this morning: “We are unrepeatable beings of light [and love] and space and water who need these physical vehicles to get around.”

Reading it right now is really good timing because…

2. Fort Collins Well-Fed Woman Mini Retreatshop is here! There is still time to sign up if you want to come on Sunday. I am anxious (nervous) to finally meet Rachel in person. If you haven’t read her latest blog post, “The ABC’s of Self-Love: P is for Pleasure” you really should. It’s one of my favorites.

We’re actually starving for pleasure.

By taking care of everyone else. By striving to be loved, liked, approved of, to be the ‘good’ girl, to be the ‘bad’ girl. By seeking to numb ourselves and distract from what’s here. It’s exhausting, we’re exhausted, and all this clouds out pleasure.

We don’t receive pleasure when we do “shoulds,” have “to do’s,” or when we try to fit in, suck it up, suck it in.

Dry bread and low-fat cheese. Shoes so uncomfortable they make you want to cut your big toe off. The job that looks good on paper. Faking it in all the many ways we do. Denying our self what we truly hunger for.

This is where so many of us live and this is a pleasure desert.

Rachel has a map that shows the way out of the desert. She’s a gentle and kind guide that will lead you to the river, to a place that is not a mirage, not a dream, but your real life, your true life, your one wild and precious life.

3. Surprise love note.

4. Valentine’s Day, not the commercial aspects of the holiday, but the opportunity to contemplate love, generosity, gratitude, and grace.

5. Dexter. He came in one night this week to meditate with me, and I was reminded of how great he is, how much I love him, how much joy he brings me. His gentle sweetness, his steady and calm energy in contrast to everything that isn’t, the way he buries his head in my arm and sighs, the way he “pets” me back by pressing his paw into my arm and curling his toes, the white hair that’s grown in his ears and on his chin as he’s aged.

I hope you experienced joy this week, kind and gentle reader, and that you continue to do so. Happy Friday!

Joy Jam

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What were the 3-5 things that gave you joy this week?

:: Rediscovering, remembering artist Anne Packard: When I was working on my Full Snow Moon Dreamboard, I used a few images from an article about painter Anne Packard from the December/January 2010 issue of Coastal Living magazine–one of a table and tools in her studio, and the other of her hands working on a tiny painting. The hands remind me of a similar picture of an 83 year old painter, hands splattered with paint, that Andrea Scher shared on Superhero Journal recently. I want to be old like that, I want to be creative like that, I want to be free like that.

Honestly, it was hard for me to cut up those pages and use those images. I love that article so much, love everything about Anne’s work and life, and covet her studio. She reminds me in some ways of poet Mary Oliver, another gloriously creative and free spirit–what/who I want to be when I grow up.

:: Tina Fey: Everything about this woman makes me happy. When I was younger, I wanted to be a performer, like Barbara Streisand, Lucille Ball, and Carol Burnett. Who cares about “pretty,” but oh to be talented and funny (and gorgeous–maybe not in the traditional Hollywood sense, but all these women are gorgeous)!

In the 41 6-Word Days lovefest on A Human Thing yesterday (it’s a lovefest every day), a few of us got to talking about the line from 30 Rock, “I want to go to there.” It’s one of my favorite quotes, even more so because of the story about where it came from. In an interview on the Jimmy Fallon show, Tina Fey told him that her oldest daughter Alice says funny stuff that ends up in the show all the time, but for this particular line, Alice was about three and Tina was secretly considering taking her on a trip to Disneyland, so she was online, researching and looking at the website when Alice came around the corner, saw what was up on the screen (the Cinderella castle) and said “I want to go to there.”

I was explaining that yesterday, and while trying to find a video of that interview, I ended up watching some other Tina Fey videos and thinking about how much I love her–she makes me laugh, makes me so happy.

Tina Fey, Sexy Nerdy Funny Girl

:: Registering for Blogging from the Heart: I know I’ve said this already, but I am so excited about this class. I signed up in the first few minutes registration opened because I just couldn’t wait (the class is officially sold out). Clearly, the theme for this week’s joy jam is women I admire, and Susannah Conway is one of them–funny, brave, open-hearted, smart, gorgeous, and talented. As good as I feel about the blogging I’m already doing, I know that this class is going to open up a whole new part of my heart.
Susannah Conway
:: Playing “find it” with Sam: This is a game where I take whatever toy Sam happens to be playing with, ask him to sit and wait, go into another room and “hide” it (no place too difficult, because he’s really not all that good at it yet), return to where he’s waiting and tell him to “go find it!” He loves this game. I have to make sure Dexter doesn’t help, because he’s super good at finding, and would win every time.

:: Glen the baby squirrel adopted by a dog: This is actually an older story (February of 2009), but Eric just forwarded me an email about it today. If you click on the picture, it will link you to the original news story and a video. In the mail Eric sent me, it ended with what it called “the moral of the story”: Keep loving everyone, even the squirrelly ones.