Dog | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Truth: A walk is magic, medicine. If you can go longer and take a few dogs along, even better. It clears my head, gets me unstuck, lifts my mood, gets me moving, reminds me to breathe. It brings my mind back to my body, gets my feet on the ground, holds both my mind and body in the present moment, in the same place at the same time. A walk softens the hard edges, relaxes tension, releases strong emotions, dissolves discursive thoughts.

2. Truth: Surrender, letting go of control is really, really hard. This morning in my meditation, I set an intention to invite surrender and let go of control. It arose naturally, those two things, the choosing of them specifically felt genuine and right–for about three minutes. Then I thought to myself “what have I done?!” I felt myself wanting to struggle with surrender, to cling to my sense of control. And yet, I know this is the edge I need to lean into, move past. Courtney Carver just put up a new post on Be More With Less, Let the Monkey off the Chain, that is helpful. And from my Inner Pilot Light today came this:

You may feel like if you let go of the reins, all hell will break loose, you won’t get what you want, and everything will fall apart. But what you may not realize is that grabbing the reins and trying to exert control is actually sabotaging all the blessings the Universe is trying to bestow upon you. So darling, please, let go. Surrender. Trust.

I’m trying, kind and gentle reader, I really am.

3. Truth: I miss Obi. I was watching videos of him this weekend, and it made me so happy to see him again, but so sad too, the hard fact that he is gone, that while I’m alive I will never see him again. That grief only gets heavier knowing the same is coming with Dexter, that soon I will be missing them both.

When they are, I can watch videos like this one and remember when we were all here together. They had just gotten a bath, which always makes them go a little crazy. When they would play like this, we called it Dog Fu. It’s hard to believe that this was Obi three months into chemo (if you look close, you can see the bare spot on his leg where they shaved it to put the IV in), which clearly wasn’t slowing him down.

One Wish: That we find ease, that we find the courage to surrender and let go, that we are lucky enough to love deeply and be loved.

1. Life in Five Seconds: Minimalist Pictogram Summaries of Pop Culture and Historical Events on Brain Pickings. (I think the Michael Jackson one might be a bit harsh, but the rest are pretty cool).

2. Savor on Just Lara. Some day I will learn how to do this.

3. This quote from Thich Nhat Hahn:

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. When you are born a lotus flower, be a beautiful lotus flower, don’t try to be a magnolia flower. If you crave acceptance and recognition and try to change yourself to fit what other people want you to be, you will suffer all your life. True happiness and true power lie in understanding yourself, accepting yourself, having confidence in yourself.

4. 20 Ways Toddlers are Like Drunk People and How Having Children is Like Living in a Frat House. So funny, because it’s true.

5. An Apology to End All Apologies from Julie Daley on Unabashedly Female.

6. The Beauty of Losing from Jennifer Louden.

7. The Pace, The Process and The Promise from Sas Petherick.

8. Dolphin Seeks Help from Diver.

9. This quote from Hugh MacLeod, “If you’re unhappy, nine times out of ten it’s because you’re clinging onto something. Nine times out of ten, happiness and letting go are synonymous.”

10. This quote from Ernest Hemingway, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”

11. How to Slow Down: A Simple Guide to Slow Living from Cigdem Kobu.

12. On Turning 35 from Christina Rosalie. “This, this is my beautiful, reckless, heartbreaking, perfect life.”

13. “In truth, there is enormous space in which to live our everyday lives.” ~Pema Chödron

14. 20 Great Writers on the Art of Revision on Flavorwire.

15. You are Beautiful Book Kickstarter Project. You know I pledged.

16. A new website, Make Me Joyful. Yes, please.

17. Goodbye Mom. A beautiful tribute to his mother, and a message for all of us.

18. Brene’ Brown on the Today Show.

19. A Good Life from Judy Clement Wall, and a really good question.

20. This quote:

Meditation is not something that you do. Meditation is a movement into the whole question of our living: how we live, how we behave, whether we have fears, anxieties, sorrows; whether we are everlastingly pursuing pleasure; and whether we have built images about ourselves and about others. ~J. Krishnamurti

21. Patti Digh reminded me of this post, Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life.

22. This quote:

Peace requires us to surrender our illusions of control. We can love and care for others but we cannot possess our children, lovers, family, or friends. We can assist them, pray for them, and wish them well, yet in the end their happiness and suffering depend on their thoughts and actions, not on our wishes. ~Jack Kornfield

23. Meet this transient world with neither grasping nor fear, trust the unfolding of life, and you will attain true serenity. ~Bhagavad Gita

24. Kindness is the Cure for Depression from Gennifer Carragher on Kind Over Matter. (P.S. I am compelled to add, however, that if your depression doesn’t get better with this method, is more than mild, please ask for help).

25. The Truth About Simplicity on Be More With Less by Courtney Carver.

26. Rachel Cole’s Pooches Pintrest board. Oh, the cuteness!

27. Tickets are now on sale for Rachel’s 2013 Well-Fed Woman Retreatshop Tour. Now I just have to decide which one to go to…