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

Peach bread, etc.

1. Brave Girl University. This is going to be seriously awesome, y’all. I’m talking epic.

2. Unfurl – Chapter One. Meghan Genge is sharing audio recordings of her new book, one chapter per week. I long for the comfort of curling up and being read to, so this is such a gift.

3. Hard Conversations: An Introduction to Racism, Unconscious Racism, and Silent Racism. This started yesterday, but you can still sign up. Patti is putting this together and offering it for FREE, but if you think it is important, even if you can’t take part any other way, you can help fund this good work.

4. Master working for yourself without crushing your soul by Paul Jarvis.

5. Good stuff from Seth Godin: What is your art? and Yes!, please and thank you.

6. Good stuff from Zen Habits: Worried About What You’re Not Doing and A Brief Guide to Quitting a Bad Habit.

7. Defining What Works by Rachel Cole.

8. Good stuff from Chookooloonks this was a good week list: the importance of plating.

9. July, in the kitchen from SouleMama. This post makes me hungry.

10. 13 Things I Learned in 13 Years of Teaching My Taos Writing Retreat from Jen Louden.

11. Wisdom from Brave Girls Club, “The people who really matter in your life don’t care what you wear, what you drive or where you live…..they love that beautiful heart of yours.”

12. The Good Questionnaire on A Design So Vast.

13. When you’re done fighting for it. The upside of finally giving up from Danielle LaPorte.

14. Fear Is Fucking Us All Up from Terrible Minds.

15. Good stuff on Rita’s Notebook: Are you already doing the thing you’re meant to do? and Antidote to the August blues.

16. Wisdom from Jessica Patterson:

A spiritual practice ought to be something that can sustain you until your last breath. THAT is why I make time, every damn day, to sit humbly at the feet of trees (or the sea or mountains or the desert, wherever I am) under whatever sky we are given, and just be held. Stilled. I get a lot of “must be nice to have free time” messages from people who miss the subtle but vital distinction: ALL my time is free–mine, and mine to inhabit. That I choose to bow daily at the feet of something beautiful does not mean my schedule is easy or open. I could lament and bitch and do my best to keep up with the Jonesing neuroses of our world and post about that. But I try to carry that practice and beauty into the busyness of my days and remember that I am, in fact, free. My opinions, tastes, abilities, worries, desires, obligations, and interests may shift with time and circumstance. But I think I am always going to want to be held by something bigger than me. And so I practice that daily. No matter what. And you know what? I have not regretted that practice. Not once.

17. Boy Who Couldn’t Afford Books Asks Mailman For Junk Mail To Read; Mailman Responds Spectacularly.

18. Support Isabel in Interfaith Education and Service. Isabel blogs at Lists and Letters, and just started writing an advice column, Dear Bare Heart.

19. 30+ Resources to Help White Americans Learn About Race and Racism.

20. Of Lions and Men: Mourning Samuel DuBose and Cecil the Lion.

21. Day #18: 7/28/2015: WYSIWYG Ten Lessons from Project Awake 365.

22. Find out how I respond to “Are you a saver or a spender?” in this post on Mabel Magazine’s blog.

23. Burg Story from Amy McCracken. The best and worst story e v e r.

24. Jane Goodall Speaks Out About Slain Lion.

25. 6 Reasons People Claim Waving the Confederate Flag Isn’t Racist – Squashed.

26. How White People Sound When They “Disagree” With PoC About Racism.

27. 13 Graphs That Will Speak To You If You Suffer From Anxiety.

28. Wisdom from Erica Cook, “I’m not interesting in competing with anyone, I hope we all make it.”

29. Tig Notaro Boyish Girl Interrupted – Tease (HBO). Can’t wait to see this.

30. Social Media and Ambient Intimacy from Jason Silva.

31. Wisdom from Christina Rosalie on Instagram,

Love is why we are here, of course.
this life, begging us
to notice it’s wildness,
its unpredictable, yet
certain briefness and wonder.

32. The obesity era.

32. May You Know the Fearlessness of an Open Heart by Sharon Salzberg.

1. The problem with holding a grudge, and Plenty more, and Abandoning perfection from Seth Godin.

2. Wisdom from Brave Girls Club:

It’s time to stop waiting. It’s time to become who you want to become and do what you want to do and learn what you want to learn and rest when you want to rest and take little pieces of time and do terrific things with them that are beautiful and personal and unique and true.

And,

We all have a proverbial basket of things that are in need of mending, all of us do! We have relationships, sweaters, cabinet doors, hearts, dreams, windows………..thing after thing in need of some attention and time.

Sometimes we get paralyzed by the amount of things in that basket, so we just start walking past it, pretending that it’s not there…but still feeling something deeply gnawing at us, and preventing us from feeling total peace.

Don’t be afraid to look in your basket, beautiful friend…..just start picking up one piece of mending and work on it a little….then another tomorrow. This can be real, physical things like sewing a button back on your favorite coat, to much bigger things…like sending a nice card to someone you’ve had a falling-out with but would love to patch things up with.

Don’t let your basket of mending steal any more of your joy or peace. Take an honest look at it today and then take a deep breath and make a plan to start mending things…..a little at time, and then let it go and be o.k. with it all.

And

What would a leap of faith look like?

That thing that’s been lingering on your mind, burning in your heart…..that scary beautiful thing that you can’t get out of your whole soul because it wants to be heard and acted upon……..guess what lovely? It’s not going to go away.

It’s not going to go away because it’s your deepest wisdom and authenticity…trying to get you on exactly the right track. It is your truth.

What is it that is holding you back? Would it be so bad just to take that first step? Would it be so bad to stop and really honor yourself and at least listen to that longing?

This is where the fork in the road just might lead to the place you’ve been praying to be.

Get quiet, dear friend…….listen closely….then be brave when you know exactly what to do next.

Live THAT ONE PRECIOUS LIFE OF YOURS….really really live it.

It is time.

3. Own our history. Change the story. from Brene’ Brown.

4. The Best & Less-than-Best Motivations for Learning from Zen Habits.

5. 9 Simple Yoga Poses To Help With Back Pain.

6. Magical Thinking, Yoga, And Internal Inquiry.

7. Good stuff on Brain Pickings: Pool: A Tender Illustrated Celebration of Quiet Curiosity and How We Find Our Kindred Spirits, and How to Own Your Story: Vivian Gornick on the Art of Personal Narrative and the Power of Textured Storytelling, and The Subterranean River of Emotion: Cheryl Strayed on Writing, the Art of Living with Opposing Truths, and the Three Ancient Motifs in All Great Storytelling.

8. Finding the Wisdom in Your Worrying & Whining from Jen Louden.

9. Online “Success” And “Failure” Don’t Look The Way You Think. (Thanks for sharing, Laura).

10. Is Your Purpose Frivolous? from Laura Simms.

11. Good stuff from Rowdy Kittens Happy Links list: On Working, A Lot and Paying Off a Mortgage in Seven Years.

12. The Truth Does Not Change According to Our Ability to Stomach It: A Southerner’s Perspective on the Confederate Flag.

13. Good stuff from Austin Kleon: To be a teacher and remain a student and Jenny Diski’s End Notes.

14. Shared on Susannah’s Something for the Weekend list: this amazing designer and The Beautiful Wooden Dome House In A Forest.

15. Every Day, I Draw One Animal Letter A Day To Teach My Son The Alphabet.

16. Good stuff from {Peacefulinks #9} Useful Resources Handpicked and Handcurated for You This Week from Peaceful Triumphs: Leadership With Simon Sinek: Serving Those Who Serve Others, and Quitting as a Productivity Tactic, and How Meditation Saved My Business.

17. ‘I Identify As Black,’ Rachel Dolezal Says In TV Interview.

18. 5th grade boys Synchronized Air Swimming Talent Show Skit W A Porter Elementary. So cute.

19. A Photo Essay: Orr Lake & Beyond on Rowdy Kittens.

20. SLIP | @PhillipChbeeb & Renee Kester | @ElliotMossMusic. Everything about this is so beautiful.

21. The Buddhists Who Are Speaking Out. “Buddhists in countries around the world are speaking out in an effort to rescue and protect tens of thousands of displaced people – many of them risking death in overcrowded boats – in Southeast Asia. TIME magazine this month called them ‘The nowhere people.'”

22. Latin proverb, “If there is no wind, row.”

23. Sara Seinberg on movement, the fallacy of willpower, and seeing the body as an opportunity.

24. Willpower: The Big Bullshit Hoagie from Sara Seinberg.

25. Scott Carver’s Bucket List Fund, on GoFundMe.

26. Hunter Treschl’s fundraising page on GoFundMe. Hunter says,

I’ve lost my arm obviously, so I have two options: I can try to live my life the way I was and make an effort to do that even though I don’t have an arm, or I can just let this be completely debilitating and bring my life down and ruin it. Out of those two, there’s really only one that I would actually choose and that’s to try to fight and live a normal life with the cards I’ve been dealt.

27. Rachel Dolezal Syndrome, (thanks for sharing, Patti).

28. The First Time I Was Called “Fat.”

29. Ricky & Doris: An Unconventional Friendship in New York City. With Puppets!