The most important item on this list: Nepal death toll climbs towards 2,000 as world responds to earthquake. Heartbreaking, heart breaking, but here are some ways to help: How you can help Nepal after the earthquake and To Nepal With Love: Earthquake Relief and How to help Nepal: 7 vetted charities doing relief work following the earthquake and Help Nepal Heal (by way of charity:water).
1. Don’t Read The Comments: Comment Sections Are Our Own Fault on Terrible Minds.
2. Choosing Rest (& Why it Makes us so Uncomfortable) from Mara Glatzel’s newsletter.
3. Making Peace Possible: The Shared Wisdom of the Human Heart, a free online talk from Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche on May 7th.
4. Wisdom from Rumi, by way of Erin,
Be ground. Be crumbled,
so wildflowers will come up
where you are.
You have been stony for too many years.
Try something different. Surrender.
5. 5 Better Ways to Start or Grow a Blog and If You Want to Be Light, You Have to Let Go from Be More With Less.
6. Wisdom shared by Laura Simms in her newsletter: We All Have Permission To Be A Work In Progress and 3 Empowering Questions to Ask When Dealing with a Challenging Situation.
7. Good stuff from Dances with Fat: Things You Don’t Owe Anybody, and What the Hell is Going on at Protein World?, and Back Off My Big Fat Body and When They Say “War on Obesity” I Hear “Casualties.”
8. prescription for calm, (thanks for sharing, Karen).
9. Don’t Wear Shoes That Hurt, a great list of wisdom.
10. Good stuff on Bored Panda: 20+ Photos Of Geometrical Plants For Symmetry Lovers and 22+ Before & After Photos Of Dogs Growing Up (Part II) and Japanese Craftsman Restores Old Books To Look Good As New.
11. Confront Death by Avoiding Fritos: The Gluten Lie, Fad Diets, & Foodie Faith.
12. How Living With and Loving Bruce Jenner Changed My Life Forever.
13. The Challenges of Seeing Meditation Only Through a Scientific Lens.
14. The Crossroads of Should and Must.
15. Beyond Mindfulness: Explore Mindfulness as a Path to Wisdom and Transformation, a free online event.
16. When a man asks people to translate a hate message he’s received, their response is unforgettable.
17. 5 Ways to Stop Worrying About What Everyone Thinks of You.
18. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön,
Not acting on our habitual patterns is only the first step toward not harming others or ourselves. The transformative process begins at a deeper level when we contact the rawness we’re left with whenever we refrain. As a way of working with our aggressive tendencies, Dzigar Kongtrül teaches the nonviolent practice of simmering. He says that rather than “boil in our aggression like a piece of meat cooking in a soup,” we simmer in it. We allow ourselves to wait, to sit patiently with the urge to act or speak in our usual ways and feel the full force of that urge without turning away or giving in. This is the journey of developing a kindhearted and courageous tolerance for our pain.
19. To overcome an irrational fear… from Seth Godin.
20. From this week’s Blessing from Ronna Detrick,
I kept myself busy with so many responsibilities. I took them on because they needed to be done, but more, because they seemed like the best way to keep from feeling crazy. When I slowed down, when I rested, when I stopped, my mind fought against the silence, the space, the calm. But, in truth, silence, space, and calm was what my heart wanted most; what I needed most. It took time, but I learned that it’s not in working harder, faster, or smarter; but in sitting, resting, and leaning that feeling crazy eventually vanishes, that transformation comes, that love shows up.
21. Frog discovered in Costa Rica resembles Kermit. Don’t know quite why, but this makes me so happy.
22. Good stuff on Hello Giggles: Amy Schumer’s NSFW sketch brilliantly skewers how Hollywood treats older actresses and ICYMI: Tracy Chapman’s awe-inspiring cover of “Stand By Me” leaves us speechless.
23. Transgender Kids, a series of features from NBC News.
24. Interesting stuff on Huffington Post: Parents’ ‘Demanding’ Invitation To Baby’s First Birthday Goes Viral and What Makes ‘Liking Your Body’ So Damn Hard and Grieving Dad Pens Honest Obituary For Daughter Who Died Of Heroin Overdose and the comments section of My Battle With My Son’s Addiction.
25. On What it Takes from Dani Shapiro.
26. This Advice on Dealing with Your Struggles and Privilege is Pretty Much Perfect – And Super Adorable.
27. Read Amy Schumer’s Powerful Speech About Confidence.
28. A Conversation with Neil Gaiman.
29. 10 Things You Should Know About Doing a Crowdfunding Campaign from Todd Mitchell.
30. The Pioneering Poet, Tig Notaro interview’s Andrea Gibson.
31. Amy Schumer’s brilliant ‘Friday Night Lights’ parody puts the blame for rape where it belongs.
33. Wisdom from Atisha,
The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.
34. “What Is Systemic Racism?”, a playlist of important videos from Race Forward.
35. Native Actors Walk off Set of Adam Sandler Movie After Insults to Women, Elders.
36. The Best Job Interview Answer Ever. This Man Just Nailed It.
37. From In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts in the Introduction,
The inhabitants of the Hungry Ghost Realm are depicted as creatures with scrawny necks, small mouths, emaciated limbs and large, bloated, empty bellies. This is the domain of addiction, where we constantly seek something outside ourselves to curb an insatiable yearning for relief or fulfillment. The aching emptiness is perpetual because the substances, objects or pursuits we hope will soothe it are not what we really need. We don’t know what we need, and so long as we stay in the hungry ghost mode, we’ll never know. We haunt our lives without being fully present.
38. togs: my natural hair journey on Chookooloonks.
39. Walking Is A Humans Best Medicine.
40. Obama Just Burned GOP Climate Deniers in “Anger Translator” Rant.
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 