Category Archives: Writing Our Way Home

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1. Fall session of ZenPen, “Body-Based Writing for Healing, Transformation, and Personal Growth” from my dear friend Courtney Putnam starts September 30th.

2. Finding Freedom and Writing Memoirs with Meg Worden, an interview on BlogCast FM.

3. Funny stuff from Elephant Journal, Sorry about all the poop: The 10 Commandments of Your Dog and Conan O’Brien and Louis CK “Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy.” And not so much funny as true, The Truth About Hitting Bottom.

4. An excerpt from The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert’s new novel.

5. A Bunch Of Young Geniuses Just Made A Corrupt Corporation Freak Out Big Time. Time For Round Two. on Upworthy. Boulder certainly is one of my favorite things about Colorado, for reasons just like this.

6. 36 Surreal Instagram Images From Burning Man. I’m not hip enough to attend, and besides it would be too hot and there would be too many people for me, but I’m so glad that something like it exists.

7. Are You a Highly Sensitive Person? on Tiny Buddha, (and, the answer is “uh, yes!”). Also from Tiny Buddha, 10 Journaling Tips to Help You Heal, Grow and Thrive.

8. Honor the Signs Your Future Self is Sending You and Finding Your Creative Flow: 17 Writer’s Tricks to Get Un-stuck and Start Creating on Scoutie Girl.

9. A few thoughts & actions that will help you open up more and Money: A Love Story. Kate Northrup & I talk debt, cash, freedom. from Danielle LaPorte.

10. This post from 3x3x365, in which Patti Digh describes the very best reason to marry someone.

11. Brene’ Brown interview, Vulnerability and Shame, on How She Really Does It with Koren Motekaitis.

12. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön, in her book Comfortable with Uncertainty,

Compassion practice is daring. It involves learning to relax and allowing ourselves to move gently toward what scares us. The trick to doing this is to stay with emotional distress without tightening into aversion; to let fear soften us rather than harden into resistance. We cultivate bravery through making aspirations. We make the wish that all beings, including ourselves and those we dislike, be free of suffering and the root of suffering.

13. Wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh, “For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.”

14. Wisdom from Atticus Finch,

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyways and you see through it no matter what.

15. Truth from Gloria Steinem, “Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”

16. Wisdom from Tara Brach,

When we identify with a small self, we are perceiving ourselves as a cluster of ocean waves, not recognizing that we are made of ocean. When we realize our true self is ocean, the familiar pattern of waves—our fears and defensiveness, our wants and busyness—remains a part of us, but it does not define us.

17. Wisdom from Tama J. Kieves,

When you’re in transition, you walk in two worlds. You walk in the world in front of you, which may seem stark or burdened. Yet you also walk in the world you carry in your heart. You know you are blossoming & the fruit trees hang heavy, the sun shines, & the clients call, & money is not an issue. The life you are feeding is the life that becomes true.

18. 10 Paradoxical Traits Of Creative People from Fast Company.

19. 10Q, a really fun thing that Rachel Cole shared last week,

Answer one question per day in your own secret online 10Q space. Make your answers serious. Silly. Salacious. However you like. It’s your 10Q. When you’re finished, hit the magic button and your answers get sent to the secure online 10Q vault for safekeeping. One year later, the vault will open and your answers will land back in your email inbox for private reflection.

20. The Magic of Impermanence from Lisa Congdon.

21. Stop Chasing Success. Seek Significance. from Becoming Minimalist.

22. Interview with Jen Smith of LivingLegendary.org from Lisa Bonchek Adams.

23. Wisdom from Elizabeth Gilbert on Facebook, and even more wisdom from Elizabeth.

24. 10 tips for a mindful home from Karen Maezen Miller.

25. Staying Awake from Jeff Oaks.

26. I Found A Blind Baby Sparrow Below My Balcony After A Storm from Bored Panda.

27. {this moment}, a beautiful end of summer image on SouleMama.

28. 8 Good Morning Questions that Create Happiness on Marc and Angel Hack Life.

29. What this internet addict learnt from three weeks offline from Satya on Writing Our Way Home.

30. Truthbomb from Danielle LaPorte, “It takes as long as it takes.”

31. My friend Sherry sent me this last week, a poem from Hafiz,

How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all its beauty? It felt the encouragement of light against its being, otherwise, we will remain too frightened.

32. Wisdom from Geneen Roth’s latest newsletter,

…binge eating is not defined by the amount of food you eat but by the way you eat it. Two cookies can be a binge if you eat them with urgency, desperation, and the pressing need for an altered state. Food is a drug of choice, and when you binge, you are using your preferred substance to deny, swallow, or escape your feelings.

33. Whatever Happens Next, a beautiful and heartbreaking story of saying good-bye on Huffington Post from Judy Clement Wall.

34. I want to talk about Body Positivity, OK? from Mary Lambert.

35. Here Come the Good Movies: A dozen films opening before Thanksgiving are more than worth your time and money on Purple Clover.

36. Stop beating yourself up…It’s a WASTE of time! from Kute Blackson. I already shared this yesterday, but I really want to make sure you don’t miss it.

37. The Value of Suffering, an opinion piece by Pico Iyer on The New York Times, also something I already shared, but want to make sure you see it.

38. Shared in this week’s Positively Present Picks list: Custom Pet Stamp on Ebay and Do You Suffer from the “Easy to Buy, Hard to Use” Phenomenon? on Happiness Project.

39. From Susannah Conway’s Something for the Weekend list: It’s OK Not To Want It All from Amy Palko, Amelia the Airstream, a Vacation Home on Wheels on Design Sponge, and A poem a day from Austin Kleon. Bonus: Susannah shared two of my links!

40. Speaking of Susannah, How I Do It: An Interview with Susannah Conway (+ a Giveaway!) on In Spaces Between.

41. Wisdom from Kute Blackson, “Every feeling is a signal, which if you pay attention to will point you in the direction of something that you actually need to deal with, a part of you that needs loving compassion or needs to be released.”

42. 55 Quick Tips to Start Your Self-Care Practice from Anne-Sophie.

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.