So glad to be partnering with Yoganonymous to share this list with a larger audience.

1. See adorable photos of 7 ‘forest schools’ from around the country. So cute, and such a great idea.

2. It’s Your Job, Not Your Life, how to avoid overinvestment in your job from Inside Higher Ed. “Overworked, exhausted, dejected? If so, you may be treating your job like it’s your whole life instead of one piece of a much larger pie, advises Kerry Ann Rockquemore.” This was written for academics, but I think it applies to everyone.

3. The Anti-Diet Project, hosted on Refinery29, “an ongoing series about intuitive eating, sustainable fitness, and body positivity.” I found this through the latest post in the series, What Is Rational Fitness” & Why Should You Try It? The author, Kelsey Miller, had some really important things to say about some of the negative feedback she’d gotten from pictures of her that accompanied the article,

I shouldn’t be astonished by anything anymore. I should have a callus as thick as a brick wall. After years of reading garbage and threats, I should expect nothing but the worst in people. But I’m still floored by what I read in response to this week’s ‪#‎AntiDietProject‬, which was illustrated with photos of me at the gym. @Refinery29 also posted this photo on Instagram, which many cheered (thanks, buddies!) but which brought out the crazy and hateful in others. Normally, I don’t listen to those voices anymore — those people who tell me they hope I die, who make assumptions on my health and lifestyle, who say I should be ashamed for what I’m “promoting.” In this case, I was promoting healthy exercise. What’s almost comical is that those people often defend their vitriol by saying they’re “just trying to help.” I don’t respond to ignorance and prejudice, so this isn’t for them. This is for everyone else. This is for the people who don’t go to the gym because they’re afraid of being seen. This is for those who hide their upper arms because of those monsters — and that is what they are. And just like monsters, their threats are built on fabrication and our own fear. They can’t hurt you unless you believe in them. They’re not worth lifting your middle finger for. Anyway, today, I’m doing it for you — for all of us. And tomorrow, I’ll put on my tank top and head back to the gym. I think it’s pretty cute.

4. Recipes I want to try: Buttermilk Biscuits, Sticky Garlic Chicken Bites, One-Pot Teriyaki Chicken And Rice, Salmon Wellington, Rhubarb snacking cake, Our 20 Most Popular Strawberry Recipes, and if there are any berries left over, Strawberry Margarita Jello Shots.

5. Natural birth: Two calves born to NoCo conservation herd. So cute. And in related news, ‘Foolish’ tourists put bison in back of car for the most ridiculous reason.

6. Queen of Katwe Official Trailer. I can’t wait to see this movie.

7. Muslim Americans were kicked off a lot of planes this year for making people “uncomfortable.” Gah! In related news, The 217 People, Places and Things Donald Trump Has Insulted on Twitter: A Complete List.

8. Watch this 2,000-voice choir fill Massey Hall for a Prince tribute. Wow.

9. Axis of Awesome address one of their members transitioning in the best possible way. “Popular Australian comedy/musical act Axis of Awesome had a pretty big decision to make when lead singer Jordan Raskopoulos publicly came out as transgender earlier this year. When they started touring again, would they do a speech at the beginning of each show to address the issue? Or would they ignore it, hoping everyone had heard the news and moved on? What would be the best way to bring it up with their audience, while still maintaining the comedy and music they are renowned for?” In related news, These Moms Of Transgender Kids Are Doing Parenting Right.

10. Columbine Shooting Survivor: ‘The Shooting Derailed Me, I Became an Addict.’ For so many addicts, this is the heart of the problem: “‘I learned to manage emotional pain with substances,’ he says. In addition to his continued use of prescription opioids, his drug use eventually expanded to include alcohol, cocaine and ecstasy, he says. ‘I learned I didn’t have to process emotion. I could keep myself numb if I was on substances.'”

11. India Man Plants Forest Bigger Than Central Park to Save His Island. This remains one of my favorite stories, favorite short films ever. It proves to me that we absolutely can make a difference.

12. The Unhealthy Truth Behind ‘Wellness’ and ‘Clean Eating.’ I saw a meme on Instagram just the other day that implied that if you ate healthy, you’d never be sick, never need medicine, (basically the “food is either poison or medicine” mythology), and it’s exactly that sort of confusion makes this article a really important read.

13. Actually, more data might not be what you’re hoping for from Seth Godin. An important read for, “Anyone who’s making a long-term commitment. Anyone who seeks to make art, to make a difference, to challenge the status quo.”

14. A Magnificent List of 111 Female-Hosted Podcasts (And Counting). What a great list!

15. DIY Dharma: You Have Everything You Need on Lion’s Roar, “You have a mind, body, thoughts, and a natural bent toward awakening. From that great beginning, Buddhist teacher Judy Lief offers helpful guidelines for the path ahead of you.”

16. This Moment is Enough from Zen Habits. “What if we paused right now, and saw everything in this present moment around us (including ourselves), and just appreciated it for what it is, as perfectly enough?”

17. This Supercut of Movie Characters in the Throes of Writer’s Block Is Stressful and Also Exhilarating. “To be a writer suffering from a drought of creativity is a miserable existence. “Writer’s Block,” a supercut of cinematic characters going enduring the titular affliction, captures its essence perfectly.”

18. Find Your Something. A great pep talk about finding your thing.

19. Still. I’ve shared this project before, but it’s worth another look. “This blog posts one image, daily, of gathered natural objects found near me…Still blog is a place to stop. A place to look at one thing at a time. A place to be still.”

20. Louis C.K. on having an audience. Sometimes he is just so smart.

21. 9 Things That Make Good Employees Quit. I’ve worked in situations just like this before, and you know what I did? Quit.

22. John Cho, Starring in Every Movie Ever Made? A Diversity Hashtag Is Born. Yes, please.

23. Quitting Your Job To Travel Isn’t Brave. It’s Lucky. “The problem I have is with the recurring narrative that quitting your job to travel the world is inherently a noble act, when sometimes it just means that you are very, very fortunate.” Word.

24. 17 Powerful Tweets That Remind Us How Damaging Emotional Abuse Can Be. *sigh*

25. An Abridged History Of My Body, “the stories that are hardest to tell are the ones that need to be told the most.”

26. Flower and Flea Markets make me swoon. Here’s just a few reasons why from SouleMama: Postcards from Boston, and Postcards from Brimfield. Bali, as shot by Andrea Scher, isn’t hard on the eyes either.

27. Career Identity Crisis? Here’s How to Deal, good advice from the always brilliant Laura Simms.

28. Amanda Palmer on “embracing our flaws” (not). Word.

So glad to be partnering with Yoganonymous to share this list with a larger audience.

1. Patton Oswalt Remembers His Wife, Michelle McNamara: ‘She Steered Her Life With Joyous, Wicked Curiosity.’ What his daughter says at the end is so wise, so heartbreaking — too much so for a seven year old girl, but this is how life happens sometimes.

2. Reincarnation a video on Bored Panda. “Body artist Emma Allen goes through the cycle of reincarnation by painting her own face.”

3. Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously. So scary, so sad.

4. Patients should have the right to choose marijuana over prescription drugs, a new video from ATTN.

5. I ate frozen food for four months so I could do trauma therapy from The Fat Nutritionist. “Let me tell you, being human is enough work for anyone. Being alive in a world where terrible and wonderful things happen at random to anyone and everyone at any moment, and the labour we put into mounting defenses against this reality, is a hard damn job. You don’t need to impress yourself or anyone with doing extraneous work just to get fed.”

6. I like to call this collection of items “Welcome to Trump’s America,” Passenger mistakes math equations for ‘terrorist code,’ gets economics professor escorted off flight, and Using a Target bathroom got really uncomfortable really fast, and Tow Truck Driver Says God Told Him To Leave a Disabled Woman Stranded Due to Her Bumper Sticker.

7. At 12 I grew a beard and had a period. “When Alec Butler was born in 1959 it was assumed Alec was female. But after being brought up as a girl, Alec – now an award-winning writer and film-maker – realised they were intersex, someone whose anatomical, hormonal or genetic sex is neither completely male nor female.”

8. Necessary Healing from Jack Kornfield, an excerpt from one of my favorite books, A Path With Heart. “Wise spiritual practice requires that we actively address the pain and conflict of our life in order to come to inner integration and harmony.” Word.

9. The Source of Your Wisdom. “So how can we tell if we really want something or if we want it because other people have it or the media thinks we should have it?
We get really quiet and we listen.” Really great advice from The Girl Who Knows.

10. A really great post from Whitney Way Thore, in response to a New York Times article I shared on last week’s list. In related news, Why You Can’t Lose Weight on a Diet, “The problem isn’t willpower. It’s neuroscience. You can’t — and shouldn’t — fight back.” And two other related stories, The Biggest Loser’s Big Surprise?, and The Life I Could Have Had – International No Diet Day from Dances with Fat.

11. snarffle snarffle snot snot. Thank you. from Katwise, a sweet video about what it means to be an artist, what it means to be human in the age of the internet.

12. Recipes I want to try: Black Bean Beauty Burgers, and Kimchi Fried Rice, and Apple Pie Bake. I’ve also been watching Season 15 of America’s Test Kitchen on Amazon Prime, and want to make ALL THE THINGS.

13. Emotional Video Of Dogs And Their People Show Our Hearts Really Do Beat As One. I’ve always said canine therapy is the best therapy.

14. 25 courageous ways to make your life (even) better, some good ideas from Kate Courageous.

15. I swear I wanted to swear. But I can’t. Diet culture = “a sadness that’s almost unspeakable.”

16. Fuck body shaming, a great post from just a regular guy helping his girlfriend clean out her closet.

17. When The Addict Who Dies Is Someone You Love. “And when people ask what happened to Joey, I tell the truth — it was likely a bad combination of sleeping pills and alcohol. It was an accident in the way in which falling off a tightrope is an accident. But that’s not all I want to say because how he died is not all he was and I’m so afraid that people will go away not understanding what really happened to Joey. Not really understanding who he was.” Loving an addict is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and one of my biggest heartbreaks is I’ll probably be writing a post like this some day.

18. Calling your finding from Seth Godin, “I’m not sure that anyone has a calling. I think, instead, our culture creates situations where passionate people find a place where they can make an impact.” My favorite thing about Seth Godin is his economy of language, his ability to say so much with so few words.

19. A Call for Kindness from Susannah Conway. A great post about body image, external expectations, and how we treat each other. “I truly wholeheartedly believe that if we were all kind to ourselves, the world could change overnight.” Word.

20. Date While You Wait Brings Distraction, and Smiles, to Frazzled Subway Riders. I love that there are people who have these kinds of ideas and follow through. “Mr. Knox, 28, is the mind behind Date While You Wait, a pop-up booth in which he engages strangers in conversation during a board game. He said his mission was born of a simple desire to bring some levity to the scowling, harried masses who brave the subways of New York City. There is no tip jar or open guitar case. The concept is street theater, using the Internet as a digital bullhorn.”

21. The secret life of objects from wonderings & wanderings. I love hand-me-downs, second hand, used, and I love a good story. “What distinguishes rubbish from gold depends, partly, on personal taste. But when an object also comes with a great story, it becomes imbued with emotional significance and therein lies the treasure.”

22. Hello, I Have Anxiety, How Are You? from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds. A helpful, hilarious discussion of a serious topic that ends with a list of coping strategies.

23. To Insist That Sorrow Not Be Meaningless from Dani Shapiro. “It has come – all of it, every last bit of it – from the stubborn, dogged insistence that all I can do is make something of this life. Make books. Make a family. Make meaning. I can’t make my mother-in-law better. I can’t protect those I love from their own pain. But I build a path with words, one following the next like a trail of breadcrumbs out of the wilderness.”

24. Policeman Kills Young Black Man. Why is it always the Same Story? from Prince Ea. “We are all humans at the end of the day.” In related news, Is Racism Over Yet? from Laci Green.