Category Archives: Sunni Chapman

Something Good

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1. This quote: “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” ~Ernest Hemingway

2. From Marc and Angel Hack Life, 10 Critical Questions You Must Ask Yourself and 10 Life Lessons People Learn Too Late.

3. Kindness in the Smallest of Things on Kind Over Matter by Erica Staab, in which she says “And I was reminded yet again that it is the littlest pieces of kindness that we can offer to another, to truly see each other, to be present to the moment and bear witness to their pain, their joy, their struggle, their celebration- it is these little pieces that are worth everything.” Amen.

4. I am absolutely over the elections, but this recap is pretty cool.

5. Authors Anne Lamott and Cheryl Strayed discuss life and writing.

6. Think insurance as an entrepreneur is a “bad bet”? Think again (aka My response to Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and his ridiculous advice) from the fierce Michelle Ward. I’ve said it before: it’s dangerous to think that just because you’ve decided something is right for you, works for you, makes sense to you, that makes it a BIG TRUE for everyone.

7. Happy Birthday to Me by Sunni Chapman on The Daily Breadcrumb. I linked to this yesterday, but it’s so good, I really want to be sure you didn’t miss it.

8. Instagram created user profiles. I was already using Instagrid for the same, but here’s mine on Instagram. There’s a rumor that I’m getting an iPhone for Christmas, so I might be using this a lot more.

9. In related news, Portrait: A Documentary About a Popular Instagrammer and a Pro Photographer.

10. The Zen of Dogs: On Mindfulness, Compassion, and Connection on Tiny Buddha.

11. In related news, this cuteness:

12. Digital Detox: Unplug For The Weekend on Be More with Less by Courtney Carver.

13. Blog Mood Boards from decor8. Can’t wait to do one of these.

14. This quote from the Dalai Lama: “It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help another, the least we can do is to desist from harming them. We must not cheat others or lie to them. We must be honest human beings, sincere human beings.”

15. An interview with Cheryl Strayed on The Happiness Project, I Challenge You to Walk for 20 Minutes and Not Feel Better by the End of It.

16. DEAR SUGAR, The Rumpus Advice Column #92: Your Invisible Inner Terrible Someone, in which Cheryl Strayed advises “There’s a crazy lady living in your head. I hope you’ll be comforted to hear that you’re not alone. Most of us have an invisible inner terrible someone who says all sorts of nutty stuff that has no basis in truth.”

17. This video made me cry:

18. Choosing Joy from Corbae Café.

19. This quote: “When you bring consciousness to anything, things begin to shift.” ~Eve Ensler

20. My Inner Wonder Woman from Sas’ Magical Mystery Tour, in which Sas says:

There is a quiet solidity that comes from this turning inwards: what psychologists call a state of self-referral. This is when we identify primarily with our inner selves. In this state we have “an internal sense of joy regardless of what is happening around us because we aren’t identified with transient objects or events”. I read this and it felt like a clicking into place. Any fear of not being enough has dropped away, there is no compulsion to compare or compete, no struggle for approval or to have power over others. I have so much more to give, feel super-connected and my intuition is on fire right now.

She is on fire right now, about to launch her new project, (can’t wait!).

Day of Rest

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I am struggling with my need for space. There are two distinct kinds that I am hungry for–actual physical space, clean and uncluttered, and space in my schedule, room in my way of doing things and being in the world. I feel like I did the best I could to clear out all of the things that no longer serve me, to do as Rumi suggests and “ignore those that make you feel fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.” One thing that helped me to do so was Derek Sivers and his suggestion of how to decide how to spend your time, how to decide when to say yes and when to say no.

And yet there’s still too much stuff, too much going on, too much smashing myself to bits, not enough rest or play or joy, not enough white space.

White space: Deliberate negative space, empty and yet surrounded and shaped so that it acquires a sense of volume or form, enclosed empty space which makes an essential contribution to the composition, the portion and place left unmarked, empty and unused and unoccupied, intentionally left vacant, the space between or around subjects, the blank space in the margins and at the edges, the unscheduled and unclaimed places on your calendar, separation, void, the area left open, the gap.

I long to clear space, to watch the magic unfold. And yet, I have old, sticky habits that are hard to break. And as hard as I’m working to keep my heart open, sometimes I still chose instead to be numb, to find comfort in disconnection and distraction. I fill my day up with doing, and at the end I feel tired and terrible about not having done what I should, not having done enough.

In her latest post, Happy Birthday to Me, Sunni Chapman suggests, “It’s the looking that hides the finding.” Maybe the trying and the doing aren’t the way to get anywhere after all, maybe there’s no need to change or become. Maybe it’s time to trust the wisdom of surrender, of letting go, of rest, of enough. As Sunni says,

No one has ever been lost, or incomplete. There is only this one seamless, gorgeous, chaotic, mad-wonderful, vivid as all-hell ALIVENESS, appearing as everything, everywhere, at all times. An infinitely full and incomprehensible mystery, that’s constantly shrouded in a super-chatty mind.

And jokester that life is… it’s not til’ the search is dropped,
that IT is finally found. Staring you in the face the whole time,

totally absurd and totally wonderful.