Category Archives: Encouragement

Something Good.

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It’s Monday, so it’s time for me to tell you something good.

Just a cute baby owl. That is all.

Friday Birthdays.  When your birthday is on a Friday, like mine was this year, there’s a universal rule that you get to celebrate the whole weekend. On Friday, a good friend took me to lunch, gave me a sweet gift (two actually, one was wrapped and the other was her telling me the nicest thing I’d ever done for her and how much it meant), lots of birthday wishes on Facebook (one of the top five reasons to have an account), one sweet email wishing me love and thanking me for a gift I had given that was “life-changing,” a present and phone call from my mom, and more presents from my aunt and boy (Eric made me a book with a secret compartment, so cool!).

Then on Saturday, another good friend took me to lunch and gave me a handmade gift (she’s an amazing artist, so even her cards are something special), and a phone call from my brother and another good friend.  Sunday morning, we found that the mail had been delivered late in the evening, so there was a package from my brother and nieces, and another card from a good friend who always says the nicest things, Sunday morning yoga, and lunch at Mount Everest Cafe, where our favorite waiter didn’t even ask us what we wanted to start, he simply brought us out a chai and a glass of Fat Tire as soon as we sat down.  It was an awesome birthday weekend.

Picture by Philip Bragg

Shantideva Quote: “If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?”

The Open Heart Project. I have a confession to make.  I have been struggling with my meditation practice lately.  Then I read about Susan Piver’s Open Heart Project on Jennifer Louden’s blog.  Susan Piver is a student of the Shambhala tradition, which is also where my meditation practice started, so to begin, she comes from a place I understand. She’s shared a series of videos, meditation instruction and guided meditations anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes.  Using these videos to focus my own practice has been so helpful.

Wishcasting Wednesday. This is something started by creative living coach and blogger, Jamie Ridler. She explains it this way: “What would happen if every week you made a wish? What magic might start to stir? Wishcasting Wednesday is a safe haven for wishes, a fertile field in which to plant wish seeds and have them witnessed and tended lovingly. It’s a place where magic begins.”  I am going to add this feature to my Wednesday blog posts.

A New Post from Hyperbole and a Half. This is actually more than a month old now, but I somehow had missed it.  I had thought/worried about Allie on and off over the past few months.  She’d posted she was working on a book, but then disappeared, and knowing what I know about freaking out and freezing up even/especially in the face of something big and good, I wondered if she might be in trouble. Her latest post is called “Adventures in Depression,” and as always, it is heartbreaking, true, and funny.  Sometimes I wonder if she realizes how brave and wonderful she really is.

Rachel W. Cole, and her list of suggested reading. I am so excited about her coming out to Fort Collins to do a Well-Fed Woman Mini-Retreatshop, (Sunday, February 19th, 12:30-3:30 at Om Ananda Yoga Studio–more details to come soon). On her website, Rachel shares her list of “11 Books that Changed My Life,” and you can also link to her much longer, full list of recommendations.  I am starting with “Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything” by Geneen Roth.

And finally, links to a few very special, sweet videos.

*”Being Elmo” Movie Trailer

*”Lily Shreds Trailside.” I can’t decide if I like this so much because there’s a dog and she’s so cute, or because it’s just such a cool video.

*Marcel the Shell with Shoes On


  • Okay, now it’s your turn: Tell me something good.

Three Truths and One Wish

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1. Truth: They will never be who you need them to be. You have to take them the way they are, stop waiting for them to become who you need them to be. He will probably never apologize or understand how much he’s hurt you. She might never stop drinking. She will never be the strong, confident, stable adult you need her to be. He will never get any smarter. They will never love you as much as they love her, or them. They will never understand, never fully appreciate, never be enough. Stop judging. Stop keeping track, keeping score. Forgive them. Let it go. Here’s a post from Positively Present that might help, “Slow Down: Learning to Accept Others as They Are.” Stop waiting.

2. Truth: You are the one you need, you can be that for yourself. It’s you you’ve been waiting for. You are enough. You know, you understand, you appreciate, you love, you can fix it, you provide comfort, you can guide yourself, you can save yourself. You are wise and kind. You are the one. You are it. Read this post on Tiny Buddha when you need reminding, “Tiny Wisdom: It’s You.” Stop waiting.

3. Truth: You are here, now. Even though you’ve been waiting for years, maybe a whole lifetime, for someone else to show up and give you permission or rescue you, you can stop waiting. It’s you. You can start today. The healing will come from telling your story and asking for what you need, not the response you get. Did you hear that? Give your truth a voice and ask for what you need, and be healed by that, because you don’t know what the reaction to it will be, and you can’t wait for it, (this wisdom comes from Brene’ Brown, specifically an audio lesson from my Ordinary Courage Class). Ask yourself what you need. Take care of yourself first, before anyone else, before the community or tribe, you first. Keep every deal you make yourself. Show up when you said you would, do what you promised, no matter what else has to fall away. Keep showing up, taking care. Stop waiting.

  • I wish that we all have the deep knowing that we are, already and right now, brave and kind and wise enough to love and take care of ourselves. You are loved and you are the one you’ve been waiting for. 

Stop waiting.