Category Archives: Positively Present

Something Good

hellosnow

“Good morning, Snow.” ~Ringo Blue

1. Tara Brach Reads from Mary Oliver’s “Dog Songs” on Brain Pickings.

2. Free mandala class part 1: Introduction and Doodling in a circle from Louise Gale. Oh how I’d love to spend some time sinking into this practice.

3. Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth an American Masters film available on PBS.com

4. 10 Cozy Reading Nooks shared on Susannah Conway’s Something for the Weekend list.

5. This Moment and Fear is the Root of Your Problems from Zen Habits.

6. 3 steps for achieving sophrosyne on Positively Present.

7. Baby Acting Crazy? It’s Probably a Case of JBBB on Huffington Post, which shares this wisdom,

Some parenting books are useful, but the danger of too much information is giving parents the impression that there’s very much that’s in their control.

And

It’s probably just a matter of convenience, but it truly helps me to remember that babies and young children are, basically, tiny insane people who make absolutely no sense.

8. In related news, 3-Year-Olds Are A**holes, also on Huffington Post.

9. Two beautiful pieces from Andrea on Superhero Life: Underneath the mess everything is marvelous. I’m sure of it. and Important-er than a diaper.

10. “We have art in order not to die from the truth.” ~ Nietzsche

11. Good stuff from Be More with Less: Permission to be Unsexy at Least 100 Times a Day and 3 Dire Reasons to Simplify Your Life.

12. I adore Jeff Oaks, specifically for things like this, “Be kind to yourself. It’s hard to be without a book to your name. It’s hard to feel left out of conversations by people you look at your name and move on. It has nothing to do with your worth. They have their own issues.”

13. This 4-Year-Old Makes Paper Dresses With Her Mom — And They Keep Getting More Amazing on Huffington Post.

14. Shared by Lindsey on her latest Things I Love Lately list: Clinging to Each Other, We Survived the Storm and The Moment Is Now.

15. The Greek Island Fantasy from Jen Louden.

16. 16 Habits Of Highly Sensitive People on Huffington Post. The only one I disagree with is the last one should have a work from home option.

17. Southern Corn Cakes recipe on My Mother’s Apron Strings. Look so yummy.

18. What Happens When You Put Two Pit Bulls In A Photo Booth from Bored Panda.

19. What This Dad Did Is Awesome! I’m On His Side…

20. This Couple Spotted An Old Can While Walking Their Dog. You Will NEVER Guess What Was In It. Why doesn’t this kind of stuff ever happen to me?

21. creativeLIVE free course: Become a Better Communicator with Susan Piver.

22. 21 Truths About Meaningful Work from Create as Folk.

23. Binge Trance: Interrupted from Geneen Roth, which says “Live as if you deserve to be here, regardless of what you have just eaten. And know that every time you remind yourself that you belong here, regardless of what you weigh, you are speaking the truth.”

24. From MindBodyGreen: Vegan Cookie Dough Balls recipe and 10 Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Yoga.

25. Here’s How Ann Handley (the World’s First Chief Content Officer) Writes on Copy Blogger, in which she says, “My most productive time of day seems to be between 10 a.m. and 10:20 a.m. every morning: I’m still caffeinated from the morning and not yet distracted by thoughts of lunch.”

26. Mary Lambert’s Tips For Staying Positive (Even On Really Bad Days) on BuzzFeed.

27. Wisdom from Isabel Foxen Duke, “What if the answer to feeling badly about yourself wasn’t losing 10lbs; what if the answer to feeling badly about yourself was a shift in perception?”

Something Good

image by eric

image by eric

1. Good stuff from Patti Digh: your daily rock : give comfort, your daily rock : transform, your daily rock : you make a difference, your daily rock : you know the answer, and your daily rock : feel good now.

2. Write A House Is Giving Writers Free Homes In Detroit on Huffington Post.

3. A little preview for you, an update about the You are Beautiful book by Matthew Hoffman that I helped fund through a Kickstarter project. Can’t wait to get my copy.

4. Let Everything Happen by Rainer Maria Rilke:

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.
These are the words we dimly hear:
You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.
Flare up like flame
and make big shadows I can move in.
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.
Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.
Give me your hand.

5. This Man’s Wife Died 2 Years Ago. What He Just Discovered Last Week Is Indescribable. Get A Tissue. on Viral Nova.

6. The Five Things Our Dogs Want for Christmas from The Other End of the Leash.

7. Love from Be More with Less.

8. Truthbombs from Danielle LaPorte:

If you measure your success against someone else’s results, you will never be free – ever.

and

Do not give your past the power to define your future.

9. how to keep the spirit of christmas all year long from Positively Present.

10. From Susannah Conway’s Something for the Weekend post: Something small, every day, Sensitivity is Beautiful, 8 Kale Salads, and sit on a small wooden bench with yourself.

11. Wisdom from Robert Holden,

One new perception,
one fresh thought,
one act of surrender,
one change of heart,
one leap of faith,
can change your life forever.

12. the magic is in the mess from Brene’ Brown.

13. Good stuff from Marc and Angel Hack Life: 10 Ways to Stop Treating Yourself and 10 Gifts You Deserve to Give Yourself.

14. What Christmas Is Like For A Working Poor Family Earning $10,000 A Year (And How To Help) on Huffington Post.

15. No one reads a comic strip because it’s drawn well from Seth Godin. Something like The Oatmeal is proof of this, which leads to an interesting post he made on Facebook, which shows what an amazing artist he really is.

16. Wisdom from Anne Lamott on Facebook.

17. Here Are All The Movies Expiring On Netflix As Of January 1st, in case you want to do some binge watching over the next few days.

18. Wisdom from Marianne Williamson, “The most powerful step is when we move from “Ain’t it awful” to “Let’s make it not awful.”

19. Wisdom from Rumi,

Sometimes you hear a voice through the door calling you,
As a fish out of water hears the waves …
Come back. Come back.
This turning toward what you deeply love saves you.

20. 12/26/13 on 3x3x365. Beautiful.

21. Maitri on Elephant Journal by Waylon Lewis, in which he says,

But it is also the essence of maitri. It seems to me in my experience and also in talking to other people that we come to a body of teachings like the Buddhist teachings or any spiritual path, to meditation in some way like little children looking for comfort, looking for understanding, looking for attention, looking somehow to be confirmed. Some kind of comfort will come out of this.

And the truth is actually that the [meditation] practice isn’t about that. The practice is more about somehow this little child, this I, who wants and wants and wants to be confirmed in some way.

Practice is about that part of our being finally being able to open completely to the whole range of our experience, including all that wanting, including all that hurt, including the pain and the joy. Opening to the whole thing so that this little child-like part of us can finally, finally, finally, finally grow up.

22. Zadie Smith’s 10 Rules of Writing on Brain Pickings, in which she says, “Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never ­being satisfied.” Word.

23. How to Write: A Year in Advice from Franzen, King, Hosseini, and More: Highlights from 12 months of interviews with writers about their craft and the authors they love, a really great series on The Atlantic.

24. Give your brain a break… and achieve inner peace with our easy guide to meditating.

25. A Forest Year.

26. Duke Grad Student Secretly Lived In a Van to Escape Loan Debt.

27. Mindful Writing Challenge – Jan ’14 from Writing Our Way Home.