Category Archives: Sharon Salzberg

Something Good

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1. Writing and Speaking for Introverts, from Chris Guillebeau on The Art of Non-Conformity.

2. Good stuff from Alexandra Franzen: And So It Goes and “If all else fails…” 10 of the BEST possible worst case scenarios and Terrified Of Missing Out? (Me, Too.) 31 Mantras For Me – And You!

3. Good stuff from Marc and Angel Hack Life: 6 Things You Will Regret About Today and 7 Questions to End Your Week With and 6 Reasons Your Relationship is Suffering.

4. Dear Body, by Vivienne McMaster on Kind Over Matter.

5. Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms Parody Mumford & Sons in Band’s Video on Mashable. I like it when people can laugh at themselves, don’t take themselves so seriously.

6. Wisdom from Sakyong Mipham, “If we do not appreciate the sensitivity and subtlety of the human heart, how can we appreciate the sensitivity and subtlety of the natural world?”

7. Let’s Talk About Dogs and Euthanasia: When Is It Time? Should You Be Present? a good article by a vet on Dogster about an important topic if you live with and love a dog. I have made this decision twice for my dogs, determined when it was time, when their suffering had surpassed their quality of life, and needed to be there with them, was lucky enough to be, but that might not be the right decision for everyone.

8. Rawness of Remembering: Restorative Journaling Through Difficult Times a new class offered by Esmé Weijun Wang.

9. Good stuff from Be More With Less: How to Master the Art of Slowing Down and Simplicity is Not a Destination.

10. Sex Everyday for a Year from Brittany Herself.

11. How my cat Refurb accidentally raised nearly $1000 for charity.

12. Why I changed my mind on weed by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. I wish more people would take the time to do the research before forming an opinion, before passing judgement — but I think that about just about everything.

13. Somebody Went And Wrote the Ultimate Craigslist Missed Connection on Gawker.

14. You are enough. by Sherry Richert Belul.

15. Amy McCracken on 3x3x365, talking about grief, explains so perfectly what it’s like to live it. And just four days later, she shares the best news ever.

16. Vegan Zucchini Corn Fritters recipe. We have so much zucchini right now that I have an eye out for new ways to eat it. We are also going to try it as a pizza topping.

17. Dear Condescending Advertising Agencies: This Is What Your Ads For Women Look Like on Upworthy. In other advertising news, my dog Sam has real issues with the Kia Hamsters.

18. a ten point guide : the myth and magic of homo sapien introvertus in which Sas Petherick suggests the perfect introvert motto, “I’m okay, you’re okay. Please leave soon.”

19. Burglars Return Stolen Computers To Nonprofit With Heartfelt Apology Note on Huffington Post.

20. A beautiful art installation and explanation from the artist, originally shared by Karen Walrond on her blog Chookooloonks,

21. Crowdsourcing Hope from Hopeful World.

22. So much cuteness (and reminds me so much of my Dexter), As promised, more pics of my half German Shepherd Dog, half Norwegian Elkhound named Reboot! on Reddit.

23. From the Positively Present Picks list: Recipe Remedy, 5 Ways to Get Out of a Slump, 5 Tips to Stop Making Comparisons and Feeling Bad About Yourself, Conquer Clutter in a Month Infographic, and this wisdom from Robert Brault,

Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward
after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it’s a cha-cha.

24. Emerging Women, October 10th-13th in Boulder Colorado. Just another thing to add to the list of amazing things happening that I won’t be doing but probably would if I had unlimited time, energy, and funding.

25. Wisdom from Geneen Roth on Facebook,

I think I’ve probably told you all this before, but I thought about it again this morning and so wanted to write about it again… My friend Natalie Goldberg once told me that we are always practicing something and most of us practice suffering. That really touched me. In each moment, depending on where our attention is, we are either practicing being awake, being presence, or being caught up in our stories. The past, the future. What he or she did, what I will do when, when a particular thing happens and I will finally be happy. You know the way it goes. So, in this very moment, what are you practicing?

When I remembered what Natalie said, I was practicing a familiar kind of suffering. I was believing one of my top ten stories about what’s wrong with me. And then, the moment I remembered what my friend said, I realized I had a choice. I could stop. Right now. Then I noticed that the sun came out in my body. I felt lighter. I felt free. The moment you realize you have a choice, the moment you stop being enthralled by your own fantasy, everything changes. It’s as if a bubble pops and you wake up from your own dream. So–what are you practicing right now?

26. Dancers Among Us, a beautiful set of images.

27. Does anyone know how to stop binge eating? from the Institute for the Psychology of Eating.

28. A Couple Leaves their Jobs to Build a House of Windows in the Mountains of West Virginia from This is Colossal.

29. How to Do Yoga With Your Cats, a sweet and funny video, (and P.S. most cats I’ve known would murder you if you attempted this).

30. This wisdom from Sharon Salzberg,

It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn’t depend on how long it has been running; a shift in perspective doesn’t depend on how long you’ve held on to the old view. When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn’t matter whether its been dark for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades. The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness, letting you see the things you couldn’t see before. It’s never too late to take a moment to look.

31. Dear Diary, from Jeff Oaks, in which he suggests, “Let it go. See what happens.”

32. Good stuff from Tiny Buddha: Stuff We Don’t Need: 5 Reasons Why It Doesn’t Lead to Happiness, Discovering the Elusive Truth and Falling in Love with Yourself, Finding Life Through Death: How Loss Teaches Us to Appreciate More, and Wabi Sabi: Find Peace by Embracing Flaws and Releasing Judgment.

33. Will this be the scariest thing I’ve ever done? in which Satya of Writing Our Way Home talks about her plans for a three week digital sabbatical.

34. Choosing to be formidable from Seth Godin. I want to be someone who is “magic about to happen.”

35. Hungry for the Impossible from Rachel Cole. (P.S. Her next session of Ease Hunting starts September 2nd, I took the first and highly, wholeheartedly recommend it).

36. Danielle Ate the Sandwich interview on Living Myth Media. I especially loved her last answer.

37. The story of Aero on K9Runner. If our Sam had been a bit older when Animal House rescued him, this story could have been his. I am so grateful for the people at Animal House and the volunteers like Pete who commit to giving dogs without a home another chance.

38. Caught this guy playing with himself. Don’t let the title fool you, this is one of the cutest, sweetest videos ever.

39. This wisdom from the Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, from the book Beyond Anger: How to Hold On to Your Heart and Your Humanity in the Midst of Injustice

We all depend on one another. For this reason, whenever we act according to self-interest, sooner or later our selfish aims are bound to clash with the aims of the people we rely upon to accomplish our own goals. When that happens, conflicts will inevitably arise. As we learn to be more balanced in valuing others’ concerns with our own, we will naturally find ourselves involved in fewer and fewer conflicts. In the meantime, it is helpful to acknowledge that conflicts are the logical outcome of this combination of self-interest and interdependence. Once we recognize this, we can see that conflicts are nothing to feel shocked or offended by. Rather, we can address them calmly and with wisdom.

40. “All of us have special ones who have loved us into being.” *sob* 10 seconds isn’t going to be nearly enough, Mr. Rogers.

41. What Is a Diet vs. a Way of Eating? from Anna at Curvy Yoga. She’s so smart.

42. Meditation Practice is Your Ultimate Best Friend on Elephant Journal.

Something Good

4 Replies


1. From Justine Musk, The Question You Need to Ask Yourself.

2. This quote from Geneen Roth:

Sometimes we use food and our weight as a way to be left alone. Since many of us believe that, regardless of what we get paid to do, our real job is to on call for people who need us, we leave ourselves with a way to get what we need and want: food. But when you say yes when you mean no, you abandon yourself. And when you say no when you mean no, you signal to yourself that it is safe here, inside your body. Safe here, where you live and are and breathe. You don’t have to run away. You don’t have to lie.

Saying no is a way of being tender with yourself and honest with the people around you. And when you say no with your voice, you will no longer need to say it with your body weight. And when you say no to what you don’t want, you have space to say yes to what you do.

And this one:

Right now, in this very second, ask yourself if what you are doing, what you are thinking and how you are acting brings you closer to yourself or farther away. Does it open your heart or does it close your heart? You have a choice. Break the trance. Come back to kindness.

And this one too:

Sometimes happiness is as difficult to accept as sadness or loneliness. Sometimes, we eat because we don’t know what to do with happiness or joy. We think we’re not allowed. We think we will get “too big for our britches.” We become superstitious. If we talk about it, people won’t like it. If we tell someone, they might be threatened and go away. We hold onto our sadness because we think that that is what connects us with other people–that if we feel terrible about ourselves, we will get help, but if we feel as if we are occupying our own lives, if we feel powerful, we will lose. In this way, we keep ourselves psychologically small. We keep ourselves wounded and afraid of our own magnificence. But it’s when you are aware of, and own, the hugeness of your heart, your being, your love that you are most connected to other people–which then allows them to connect to their own power, their own love. It begins with you.

3. A tiny riverside house in Japan. On the inside, it looks so much bigger, more spacious than you’d expect.

4. Understanding How to Frame Your Creative Expertise. And P.S. I’m a survivor.

5. How to Write Like a Mother#^@%*& by Elissa Bassist & Cheryl Strayed.

6. Not Today a beautiful poem by the beautiful poet Julia Fehrenbacher at Painted Path.

7. The Power of Showing Up from Clare Herbert.

8. “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.” ~Mary Oliver

9. 5 Lessons I Learned While Running from Marianne Elliott. The final line of this isn’t about running at all, but it’s my favorite. Marianne also has a really great Resources for Writers page on her site.

10. Ben’s Friday Dance Party. I love this guy. He makes me smile. But I also watch this video and wonder if you were around him all the time, would it get annoying? Or would your face and stomach hurt from smiling so much and laughing so hard?

11. 30 Best Jokes from 30 Rock. I watched the final episode this weekend, am so sad that it’s over.

12. I commit to 28 days of meditation practice. May my practice benefit all beings.

13. 14 Days of Self Love hosted by Vivienne McMaster.

14. My Creative Life: Rachel W Cole on Susannah Conway’s blog. Two of my favorite women together.

15. 8 Ways Happy People are Different from Everyone Else by Shelley Prevost.

16. Why We Write: Mary Karr on the Magnetism and Madness of the Written Word on Brain Pickings. Equally depressing, refreshingly honest, and oddly comforting is this, “I still don’t support myself as a writer. I support myself as a college professor. I couldn’t pay my mortgage on the revenue from my books. The myth is that you make a lot of money when you publish a book. Unless you write a blockbuster, that’s pretty much untrue. Starting when I was five, I always identified as a writer. It had nothing to do with income.” I wish it weren’t true, and yet if it is, wouldn’t it just be better to surrender?

17. Brene’ Brown: The Courage to Be Vulnerable, Sounds True Podcast. Listen or download for free.

18. 13 New Year’s Resolutions for Writers from Jeff Goins, shared by Susannah on her Something for the Weekend list.

19. Glazed Beet and Carrot Salad. I want to eat this, (also from Susannah’s list).

20. My Gift to You from Erica Herbert, in which Erica reads the sweetest book, (also from Susannah’s list).

21. Seth Godin on The Art of Noticing, and Then Creating, an On Being podcast, (from Happy Links on Rowdy Kittens). Also about Seth Godin, Here’s How Seth Godin Writes on Copy Blogger. My favorite part is when he is asked: “Do you write every day?” and his answer is “Do you talk every day?”

22. Yo La Tengo – “I’ll Be Around” video, a simple but magically complex video.

23. Danny and Annie, a sweet, sad love story, with an ending like so many others.

24. 10 Things Parents Should Never, Ever Do on BlogHer. I’m never sure if these are funny to me because I don’t have kids, or if they’d be that much funnier if I did.

25. Get Out of Your Head and Into the Moment on Scoutie Girl.

26. How to Say No to Everything Ever by Alexandra Franzen.

27. Oh What To Do About Sugar? by Jennifer Louden. Oh what to do indeed.