Category Archives: Marc and Angel Hack Life

Something Good

Lory State Park, image by Eric

Lory State Park, image by Eric

1. Humans of New York. This project is consistently one of my favorite things. The current series about refugees that Brandon is sharing is amazing, heartbreaking and beautiful. P.S. Any of the Humans of New York books would make great holiday gifts.

2. Call this number and a live person will sing you any Christmas song, 24/7. Really. This is SO cool.

3. Neil Gaiman Reads “A Christmas Carol.” OMG. I could listen to him read the phonebook… *swoon*

4. Romantic moment this morning at the farm! A cute video of two dogs in front of the fire — when you want to play, but you are too warm and sleepy.

5. Orangutan finds magic trick hilarious… Stupid cute video.

6. A Thank You Gift, “a free downloadable PDF containing the process I utilise each year to review how that year has gone and to being the creation process for the next year” from Life is Limitless.

7. Mandy Patinkin visits Lesbos, Greece. “Actor and activist, Mandy Patinkin witnesses first-hand the situation in Greece, where many thousands of refugees have been arriving. Escaping life from war-torn countries, refugees hope to have a better life.” To help: https://engage.rescue.org/donate/mandypatinkin

8. Being A Girl: A Brief Personal History of Violence. *sigh*

9. Photographer Captures Soulful Portraits Of Man’s Best Friend. Stupid cute…

10. New Embroidered Leaves by Hillary Fayle. I love so much that there are people who think to do this sort of thing, who do it and then share it with the rest of us.

11. ‘The higher the hair, the closer to God’: Glorious BIG hair from the 1960s. I’m just gonna say it: fashion can be so dumb.

12. Bun Bun, Destroyer of Leaves! My aunt had a bunny named Willy when I was a kid, and this little bun reminds me so much of him.

13. Wisdom from Arianna Huffington, speaking at the BlogHer conference in July 2014, “We need to change the delusion that we need to burn out in order to succeed. We have a much better understanding of the battery status of our iPhone than the state of our own wellbeing.” Oh, snap!

14. I was a respectable, high-functioning junkie. I wholeheartedly recommend everything Jennifer Matesa has ever written about addiction.

15. We’re coming for you 2016!, Susannah Conway’s “Unravelling The Year Ahead” workbook (FREE!), which has become a yearly ritual for me. She’s also offering a free 5-day course, Find Your Word for 2016. (P.S. I think my word is going to be “path” but I’m going to do this course just to be sure).

16. Embroidered Psychological Landscapes by Michelle Kingdom. Beautiful and a tiny bit creepy.

17. Mother Cat Brings Her Kittens To Meet An Unlikely Old Friend. Spoiler alert: it’s a dog.

18. Mind-wandering: the rise of a new anti-mindfulness movement, an interesting perspective.

19. The Internet Criticizes Reese’s Peanut Butter Trees, But Then Reese’s Drops The Most Witty Response. So perfect.

20. Text Santa Downton Abbey, a hilarious spoof with the actual actors from the show, almost as good as Downton Arby’s.

21. 20 Reasons Life Gets Way Too Complicated from Marc and Angel Hack Life.

22. 27 Question to Ask Instead of “What Do You Do?”, a set of great options on Medium.

23. Centered and complete, and Light on your feet, wisdom from Seth Godin.

24. No One Gets to be a Messiah: On Quiet Acts of Kindness + The Human Reality (Sometimes Life Does Actually Suck), such an important read, from Meg Worden.

25. 15 holiday gift ideas. (Mostly “experiences.” Not much “stuff.”) from Alexandra Franzen, a nice reminder that we don’t always need to buy stuff to show someone they matter to us.

26. 8 Meaningful Gifts to Support a Simple Life from Be More With Less.

27. How to find your voice from Austin Kleon.

28. Truthbomb #949 from Danielle LaPorte, “The best self-help is self-compassion.”

30. Wisdom from Brave Girls Club, “It’s a great day to put down the heavy bag of rocks called expectation and worry…and to just let yourself be…to just do your best, and then let it be.”

31. Inspiration + Aspiration on Zen Habits.

32. Easing someone’s suffering…without suffering. Is it possible? from Danielle LaPorte.

33. No alcohol, no coffee for 15 months. This is what happened.

34. She Who Hears the Cries of the World by Christina Feldman, a great article on compassion. “The path of compassion is cultivated one step and one moment at a time. Each of those steps lessens the mountain of sorrow in the world.”

Something Good

Image from Unsplash

Image from Unsplash

So great to be partnering with Wanderlust to share this list with a larger audience.

1. Savor: Daily Practices for a More Nourishing Holiday from Rachel Cole. Savor is six weeks of guided audio meditations and journal prompts to support you in being well-fed and centered this holiday season. As Rachel describes it, “Savor is about finding yourself in the small moments. It’s about tasting what’s already here. It’s about noticing the good and saying ‘thank you’ often. Savor is designed to help you find sanctuary amidst the hustle and bustle that’s headed our way. Savor is, no surprise, about savoring your life.” At only $35, this would make a great holiday gift, for yourself or anyone else on your list. Disclaimer: I first started working with Rachel almost four years ago. Since then she’s been a guide, a teacher, a precious friend. Everything she does is magic, and this is going to be no exception.

2. Random Acts of Kindness Generator. This is such a great idea. Doing something nice, either directly or in secret, is such a mood lifter for everyone involved. I can imagine a homemade version too, a jar with slips of paper filled with different ideas. Just pick one and do it.

3. Problems of output are problems of input from Austin Kleon.

4. An important question posed by Brave Girls Club, “What is calling to you? What is the deepest, most true message that is calling to you?”

5. A Note from the Universe,

It’s easy to look around at all the people who already have what you want, notice how they differ from you, and then think that they are the “kind of people” for whom having what you want comes naturally. Whereas you are not, otherwise you’d have it too.

Very rational thinking, and a super way for non-adventurers to avoid responsibility, rest on the sidelines, and watch more TV.

Adventurers, on the other hand, Jill, understand that they are exactly the kind of people who should have the things they now want. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be blessed with wanting them.

6. This is about the time I chose not to die.

7. If you accept your body, does that mean you give up?, a recent and brilliant newsletter from Curvy Yoga and Anna Guest-Jelley.

8. Parenthood Is An Act Of Hostage Negotiation With A Broken Robot from Terrible Minds.

9. This Guy’s Reaction To Patti LaBelle’s Pie Is Priceless. This guy understands pie like I do.

10. Wisdom from Hans Hofmann, “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” Oh, snap.

11. It’s going to be okay, a really great, important and timely comic from The Oatmeal. “So get up, and help someone.” Also this video, “Runner. Cartoonist. Cake Lover. – A Seeker Story,” the story of Matthew Inman, creator of TheOatmeal.com.

12. Raising Imogen, “koala joey’s most adorable home video of all time.” Who knew baby koala’s were so stupid cute?

13. This Kid Should Work For Hallmark Because His Thank You Letters Are Spot On.

14. Buddhism, Bravery, Love and the Good Life, Lodro Rinzler on Good Life Project Radio. Lodro is one of my favorite teachers, and I always love Johnathan’s interviews. Jonathan posted on Facebook, about this interview, “What if meditation didn’t solve anything, it just let you see things better?”

15. Wisdom from Judith Lief, “To meditate, all you need are 3 things: a restless body, a wandering mind, and out-of-control emotions.”

16. Awkwarding is what brings us all together from The Bloggess. These tweets are so awesome.

17. On What People Think from Dani Shapiro.

18. This 17-Year-Old Cat Is The Laziest Internet Star In Japan on Bored Panda.

19. Deciding How and When to Quit, a brilliant post from Jen Louden about the difference between default quitting and compassionate quitting, which includes a really great set of prompts to help one contemplate how to decide what to do. “But in the end, it comes down to this: You must be willing to look yourself in the mirror and ask, ‘Am I suffering enough to do something about it?’ or ‘Am I hungry enough for something more to take this risk?'”

20. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön,

We make a lot of mistakes. If you ask people whom you consider to be wise and courageous about their lives, you may find that they have hurt a lot of people and made a lot of mistakes, but that they used those occasions as opportunities to humble themselves and open their hearts. We don’t get wise by staying in a room with all the doors and windows closed.

20. Wisdom from Seth Godin, Certain failure and Your progress report.

21. How to make your website credible from Paul Jarvis.

22. #naphopomo day 10: do not let the adorable nose fool you on Chookooloonks. Oh Karen, I feel your pain/joy.

23. Five Days of Mandala Magic, from Julie Gibbons, “a free online workshop that demonstrates how, with a little know-how + some tools + techniques, you can create beautiful mandalas anytime you feel called – even if you’re not an accomplished artist!”

24. Is Fat Stigma Making Us Miserable? Spoiler alert: YES.

25. 16 Stunning Works Of Origami Art To Celebrate World Origami Day on Bored Panda.

26. Riverside 433 sq. ft. guest cottage is a roomy floating retreat. So dreamy.

27. 30 Simple Ways to Take Care of Yourself Over the Holidays from Be More With Less, a great list for any time of year, not just the holidays.

28. A Healthy Way to Aspire to a Better Life on Zen Habits. The title says it all.

29. money talks with Laurie Wagner. I love this column. I love Sherry, the lovely host. And you know I love Laurie.

30. Wisdom from Jonathan Fields, “Never allow the false urgency of others to dictate where and when you place your attention.”

31. In April 2013, Diana Kim spotted her father for the first time in decades. “He was living on the street, disheveled and unkempt, and didn’t have a clue who she was.”

32. The fallacy of ‘go big or go home’: redefining ambition from Esmé Wang.

33. Organizers seat woman behind Trump ‘because she’s black’ — so she silently protests by reading her book.

34. I Quit My Job To Be A Travel Writer, And Now I’m Broke And Unemployed. I think it’s so important to have these narratives to balance out the “do what you love and the money will come” ones.

35. Calvin Harris & Disciples – How Deep is Your Love (Cover) by Daniela Andrade x KRNFX. The only thing better than a good song is a good cover of that song, and Daniela just might be the queen of covers.

36. The Roar Sessions: Lindsey Mead.

37. 9 Ways Generous People View the World Differently from Marc and Angel Hack Life.

38. A Thanksgiving Reader, a new tradition, offered by Seth Godin.

39. Cultivating Wonder, “4 weeks full of lessons, prompts, interviews + secret missions to grow your sense of wonder” from Andrea Scher, pay what you can. It starts today, but you can still sign up. Again, a disclaimer: Andrea is the reason this blog exists, and I adore everything she does — guide, teacher, and precious friend.

40. Social Media isn’t the point. Storytelling is. “8 things you can (and should) do to become an effective storyteller for your brand” from Christina Rosalie.