Root Down and Grow | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Sunday sadhana from Kirsten Akens.

2. One of my favorite bloggers has a new space, Rita’s Notebook. I’m so glad she’s back, writing and sharing.

3. Neil Gaiman is doing a book signing in Fort Collins. I am f l i p p i n g out.
4. Man Shows Off Incredible Transformation Of 258 Square Foot Apartment.

5. The 10 Second Rule on How To Rewire Your Brain For Greater Happiness.

6. 8 Toxic Beliefs Most People Think Are Normal and 7 Habits to Start in 7 Days to Guarantee a Year of Happiness from Marc and Angel Hack Life.

7. Please don’t punish yourself from Danielle LaPorte.

8. I intend to soften from Mara Glatzel.

9. Truthbomb #715 from Danielle Laporte, “Forgetting who you are is only a temporary situation.”

10. Still, a site I’m pretty sure I shared before, but was reminded of by Susannah Conway and felt it was worth sharing again. Susannah also shared this post, Delilah S. Dawson: 25 Writing Hacks From A Hack Writer, and a link to this interesting site, My Morning Routine, on her Something for the Weekend list.

11. Technology Has Made Life Different, but Not Necessarily More Stressful.

12. live a story of wholeness from Patti Digh.

13. A lesson in finding joy and letting go on Medium.

14. Make Your Heart a Bigger Container from Meg Worden.

15. A Life Apart: The Toll of Obesity. A cautionary tale, but not for the reasons people might think. People most likely would assume it should caution you to eat less, exercise more, not be overweight, but really it should caution you to be more compassionate.

16. Mary Oliver on What Attention Really Means and Her Moving Eulogy to Her Soul Mate on Brain Pickings.

17. What My Yoga Therapist Taught Me About My Food Cravings.

18. Bruce Farrer, thank you for inspiring us | WestJet Above and Beyond Stories.

19. Twelve Habits of Happy, Healthy People Who Don’t Give a Shit About Your Inner Peace.

20. I Stood Up to a Fat-Shaming Bully on a Train Because I’m Tired of Fighting for the Right to Exist.

21. Gone Hiking, a tragic, beautiful story.

22. Masters of Love: Science says lasting relationships come down to—you guessed it—kindness and generosity.

23. See How Much the “Perfect” Female Body Has Changed in 100 Years (It’s Crazy!)

24. On Art and Life from Dani Shapiro, in which she shares wisdom like this,

To love is to risk heartache. To live is to withstand loss. At some point, we all suffer.

And this,

This isn’t a choice – it’s a way of being. Nobody becomes a writer who doesn’t have to.

25. 1000 Voices for Compassion: Are You In? from Flingo. I’m in.

26. Why Everyone Seems to Have Cancer on The New York Times, which says,

As people age their cells amass more potentially cancerous mutations. Given a long enough life, cancer will eventually kill you — unless you die first of something else. That would be true even in a world free from carcinogens and equipped with the most powerful medical technology.

27. Parents Share Their 3-Year-Old Daughter’s Quotes To Make The World Smile on Bored Panda.

28. The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think.

29. Grey Gardens Is Summer Rental for $250,000.

30. He’s Tormented By Bullies Until He Does THIS, And Teaches Everyone A Valuable Lesson.

31. What does it mean to be fit? from Yogi Sadie.

32. Baby Tortoises Found On Galapagos Island For First Time In Over 100 Years.

33. I love not writing books. Anne Lamott on Facebook.

34. A Letter to the Future From Kid President.

35. Root Down and Grow. One of my favorite humans has a new space, both on the ground and online, and they are both beautiful — as they should be, as they are manifestations, embodiments of her.

36. Why Do So Many Entrepreneurs Hate Their Lives? from Jonathan Fields.

37. How To Stop Making A Big Deal About Your Problems, Pema Chödrön on MindBodyGreen.

1. Creating a Lovely Morning on Zen Habits.

2. Wisdom from Fr. Alfred D’Souza, a quote shared by Courtney Carver,

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last in dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

3. Also from Courtney, on Be More With Less, 3 Simple Ways to Be More Creative (and why it’s important).

4. Eight ways to be (more) here and (more) happy on A Design So Vast.

5. Wisdom from Jessica Patterson,

In my experience, one of the greatest litmus tests of spiritual maturation –that is, how well your practice is working–comes when we bump up against the challenges. Embodying–in thought, word, and deed–what it is you profess to practice/study is easy when life goes according to your plan. But the real measure–and arguably, the greatest teacher–arises from our responses to life’s inevitable disappointments, frustrations, and obstacles. If your response to difficult times is to react (re-act, reproduce) with the same old habitual behavior, based on worn out, old narratives about yourself (or others), then your practice becomes that much more vital; your practice can be what creates space and awareness between the feelings we have and the conclusion we draw about them. If you can remain consciously committed to your center, your Self, when the rug gets pulled up beneath you…and you can be kind and spacious and patient when things don’t go “your way,” you will come to know your progress more honestly than any other time.

6. What in the world is a “blog hop”? from Two Poppies Creative.

7. Green in May on SouleMama.

8. What Happens When You Sing An 800 Year Old Icelandic Hymn In A Train Station? THIS.

9. Wisdom from Maya Angelou, “In the flush of love’s light we dare be brave. And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.”

10. the (sacred) art of breaking yourself open from Justine Musk.

11. Baby’s first LOL.

12. Wisdom from Lao Tzu, “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

13. These 7 Simple Photos Reduced Me To Heartbroken Tears. I Never Saw It Coming. on Viral Nova.

14. Wisdom from Geneen Roth, “Forgiving yourself expresses a willingness to learn from your fragility and your fallibility instead of pretending that they are not there,” and,

Of this I am certain: Something happens every time I stop fighting with the way things are. Something happens to every one of my students when they stop running their familiar programs about fear and deficiency and emptiness. I don’t know what to call this turn of events or the freshness that follows it but I know what it feels like: it feels like relief. It feels like infinite goodness. Like a distillation of every sweet fragrance, every astonishing beauty and every haunting melody you’ve ever heard . It feels like the essence of tenderness compassion joy peace dark starry night dazzling day. Like love itself. And in the moment you feel it you recognize that you are it and that you’ve been here all along, waiting for your return.

15. What hill running, meditation and achieving your dreams have in common from Life is Limitless.

16. A man, a photo and the long search to find the person in it, a story on Sports Illustrated about a picture from Humans of New York.

17. How to Not Go Insane Being an Artist on Indie Kindred.

18. How To Get A Whole Lot Of Sh*t Done In A Day on MindBodyGreen.

19. A Talk with Patrick McDonnell, coauthor of Guardians of Being, (and one of my favorite cartoonists).

20. Yoga with Adriene. I really like her teaching style, and she’s got some great free videos, if you are interested in practicing alone but with instruction.

21. Got Blogger’s Block? Here Are 50 Ways To Kick Its Ass! from Gala Darling, (shared by Britt Bravo on Facebook).

22. 13 Famous Writers on Overcoming Writer’s Block on Flavorwire, (shared by Britt Bravo on Facebook).

23. This is a commercial for Chevy, and it’s pretty sweet.