Category Archives: Dances with Fat

Something Good

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Poudre River, image by Eric

Poudre River, image by Eric

1. The 100 Day Promise from Sandi Amorim. “The 100 Day Promise is a practice that guides you through the process of change in an in-depth and soulful way.” I mentioned this last week, but wanted to tell you again in case you missed it because the program started on January 1st, but Sandi is leaving registration open until the 7th. You should also check out her book , The 100 Day Promise: A Guide To Changing From The Inside Out.

2. Things you should quit this year (Sugar is not one of them!). This last part, “Health and fitness comes in all shapes and sizes. Truly. You cannot tell by looking at someone how fit or well they are. You don’t know if they have strong mental health, absence of illness, physical strength, and stamina or if they have a disordered approach to food, suffer from mental health issues or struggle with fatigue. A person’s size cannot tell you these things.” Word.

3. Nigella Lawson: Clean Eating Is ‘a Way to Hide an Eating Disorder.’

4. 9,500-Year-Old Tree Found in Sweden Is The World’s Oldest Tree. So cool.

5. Here’s How Many People Fatally Overdosed On Marijuana Last Year.

6. What 8 body positive activists want you to know about losing weight in the new year.

7. The 50 Funniest Tweets From Women In 2015. So funny.

8. Baby trying bacon for the first time. 🙂

9. There are performances, and then there are performances. It takes a certain kind of woman to go on stage in an ankle length fur coat (ethics of wearing fur aside). It takes whole other kind of woman to take that coat off, throw it on the floor, and SING.

10. Onion Dip from Scratch recipe. Confession: I love onion dip and a good crisp salty chip.

11. Carrie Fisher to haters: Youth and beauty are not accomplishments. What makes me crazy about this is I saw the movie, and thought “she looks amazing.”

12. In Defense of Food and the Rise of ‘Healthy-ish’ “A new PBS documentary and Bon Appetit’s January issue espouse a radically moderate approach to eating.”

13. President Barack Obama on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. I’ve said it before, will say it again: I’d vote for him again if I could.

14. White Awake. “White Awake’s mission is to bring contemplative spiritual practice to white affinity work around race and inner transformation.”

15. Don’t Cry Over Oprah’s New Weight Watchers Commercial. Amen.

16. The Weight-Inclusive versus Weight-Normative Approach to Health: Evaluating the Evidence for Prioritizing Well-Being over Weight Loss from the Journal of Obesity.

17. Manifesting 2016: Consciously Creating Your Year from Andrea Scher, self-paced and pay what you can.

18. Happy New Year, Weirdos from Renegade Mothering.

19. Change, Part 1: A New You For a New Year a great dharma talk from Philip Moffitt. I especially love this: In our saying “Happy New Year” one of the things we may be meaning is “This year, may you cease to be the cause of your own suffering.”

20. Happy Notes from Jennifer Belthoff. Such a great idea.

21. A Celebration of Ravi’s Life. “In 2014 Maggie Doyne took malnourished Ravi in at her school and home in Nepal and saved his life. A little over a year later, he passed away in a tragic accident. All money raised will go to Ravi’s siblings in Nepal.” This story is so heartbreaking. Thankfully, this fundraiser gives us the opportunity to do something.

22. Wisdom from Rumi, “I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my soul.”

23. A Sentiment for Blazing from Danielle LaPorte. I love the last part, “let your pure faith burn the way.”

24. A beautiful New Year’s wish from Andrea Gibson, a poet even in her Facebook posts.

25. Dear Oprah: Please Stop Projecting Your Insecurities Onto Me. Amen.

26. When You’re Both Overweight and Anorexic.

27. 23 Things To Do To Improve Your Mental Health In 2016. A good list.

28. Wisdom from Seth Godin: Surefire predictions and Who is Us?

29. What I learned not drinking for two years.

30. Speak For Yourself Oprah from Dances With Fat. Word. Also from Ragen, New Year’s Revolutions.

31. How to write a simple and beautiful manifesto from Alexandra Franzen. In her latest newsletter, she also shared a link to this cover of Drake’s Hold On, We’re Going Home that’s super dreamy.

32. 10 Best Articles on Writing of 2015. Disclaimer: I haven’t read all these, so I can’t promise these are truly the 10 best.

Something Good

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It's still Christmas on the Poudre River Trail.

It’s still Christmas on the Poudre River Trail. Every year, someone sneaks over and decorates three of the trees along the trail, always the same three trees.

1. SECRET BAD GIRL: A Sexual Trauma Resolution Revolution, a Kickstarter project by Rachael Maddox. “How I broke my long-standing sexual trauma spell and grew vibrant, vital & free. A provocative memoir & wildly wise resolution guide.” The deadline to contribute is 12/30 at 5 pm EST. I’m adding my own contribution because I want to read this book and because Rachael is doing important work here.

2. Is it too little butter, or too much bread? from Seth Godin. Oh boy, do I need less bread.

3. Nepal’s Earthquake Victims Face Cold Winter Without Shelter, Aid. Check in the comment section for ways to help, places to donate that might actually have a chance of getting help directly to the people who need it.

4. “If you have a moral attachment to a way of eating, that’s a disordered behavior”: How dieting culture, fat shaming and food porn shape our lives. “Salon talks with Kelsey Miller, author of ‘Big Girl,’ about unlearning toxic messages around food and weight.”

5. Everyone has “their” song, a hilarious short video that I can’t stop watching.

6. Let’s Give The Gift of a Fresh Start, a project started by Humans of New York. Brandon described it this way,

Earlier this month we profiled eleven Syrian families that were preparing to begin new lives in America. They have escaped a horrible war, and have finally secured a degree of safety and security, but the road will be very tough for them. They will be starting at zero in a new country. In addition to the culture shock, they will face innumerable obstacles, including the need to learn an entirely new language. As they attempt to get their footing, they will be provided with little more than the bare minimum needed to subsist. This holiday season, let’s give them a little breathing room. The amount we raise over the next 48 hours will be divided evenly among the refugee families that were featured on HONY this month. Many of these families left Syria with nothing. For years they’ve been forced to stretch every dollar to provide for basic needs, so direct assistance will go a long way. Many of these families are large so we certainly can’t cover all their financial needs. But we can lighten the load and help ease the anxiety of starting over in a strange land. So please consider taking part in this gift by making a small donation.

7. Give Me Five, a hilarious cat video.

8. Watch the stars of ‘Downton Abbey’ play a hilarious game of Cards Against Humanity.

9. A DIY mindfulness jar. I love this.

10. What yoga instructor Jessamyn Stanley has to say on body image is brilliant.

11. Your Brain on Restriction. This is SO important, and I wish I’d written it.

12. 2015 National Geographic Photo Contest Gallery. Amazing images.

13. Why you should always buy the men’s version of almost anything. Grrrr….

14. A wild sea otter chose to give birth at an aquarium and everyone’s hearts are melting, including mine.

15. If Gyms Were Honest, from Dances with Fat. Reason #111 I want to start my own gym, and when I do, this will be my mission statement.

16. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön,

Limitations can be acknowledged without exaggerating or succumbing to them. When we’re confident that our mind is workable, our failings don’t seem like such a big deal. They’re as temporary as clouds, and in no way diminish the skylike nature of our mind. With this kind of confidence in our limitless potential, the mightiest challenges won’t cause us to lose heart.

17. Pema Chödrön & k.d. lang talk Buddhism, creativity, and “gapaciousness” on Lion’s Roar.

18. Buddhism A-Z: 10 Buddhist books everyone should have, a great list from Lion’s Roar.

19. The Heart of Generosity by Gina Sharpe on Lion’s Roar.

20. Rare bird discovered at Gardens on Spring Creek during Christmas Bird Count. I love everything about this — it’s local, it’s a rare bird, and there is such a thing as a “Christmas Bird Count.”

21. Parents Tell Stepparents What They Really Think, the sweetest video from Soul Pancake.

22. My 4-year-old was told not to say, ‘Happy holidays.’ Here’s how I responded. Word, Dad.

23. 10 Reasons Not to Focus on Your Weight in the New Year, from Be Nourished. SO important. Again, I wish I’d written it.

24. The 15 Best Books of 2015, a list from Brain Pickings. “Rewarding reflections on time, love, loss, courage, creativity, and other transformations of the heart.”

25. SAVE MY ARTWORK a gofundme campaign from Sabrina Ward Harrison, one of my favorite artists, who is in danger of losing a storage unit full of original work, which would be a loss for all of us.