1. Morning walks. I probably don’t need to add any “why” here, because the pictures are self-explanatory — amazing, beautiful, quiet, good company, and THE SKY! This week, we also saw “Big Red,” (that’s not his actual name, at least I don’t think so and I can’t get close enough to read his tag), one of my favorite neighborhood dogs and somehow Ringo likes him too. He’s a big cattle dog/pit mix (or something like that) with splashes of red and other tiny freckles of the same where he’s white, with a big blocky head, wrinkly face, and such a sweet temperament. Ringo can be a grumpy old man, especially with dogs that are bigger than him and those he considers too rowdy, but for some reason, he likes Big Red, and it makes me happy to see it.
2. Practice. Time to be quiet and still and at ease. To contemplate and comfort and confront.
These few words are enough If not these words, this breath If not this breath, this sitting here
This opening to the life We have refused Again and again Until now Until now
~David Whyte
3. Snow. It was only a few inches, coming down in those big fat fluffy flakes, and we really need so much more but I’ll take it.
4. Breakfast burritos. There are certain foods that are so complete and perfect and good. They make me happy, make me feel satisfied and nourished. Bread and potatoes and rice, all the things that health and fitness influencers would have us reject altogether, are so versatile and delicious. I’ll add to the list of complete, perfect, and good food: tacos and pizza. Oatmeal cookies are pretty amazing too.
Besides homemade, these are some of my favorite
5. My tiny family, small house, little life. I’m leaving for a short trip to Oregon next week. My brother’s birthday is coming up and when I thought about what to get him, I realized that giving him a short break from his role as our mom’s primary caretaker is the best “present” I could offer. AND, that means I’ll be there and my whole life will be here and I am going to miss it and them. Eric and I have spent more time apart this past six months than we have almost the entire 30 years that came before. I don’t love it. Luckily, the next trip I have planned to Oregon after that includes Eric and Ringo, and the beach.
Bonus joy: a warm shower, physical therapy, massage, getting in the pool, sitting in the sauna, the hydromassage chair, making each other laugh, friends that can hold space for both grief and joy, writing with my Friday morning sangha, a soft oversized hoodie, wool socks, down blankets and pillows and jackets, gummies, naps, watching TV, listening to podcasts, good books, being able to check out library books on my Kindle, libraries and librarians, poetry and poets, fingernail clippers, dental floss, watercolors, citrus, my dad’s grade school pictures, practicing yoga at Red Sage, being friends with a local surgeon so you can get a good recommendation when you need one, being able to schedule my hernia repair surgery while Eric is on Spring Break and between Oregon trips, those realizations I have just as I’m drifting off to sleep, hugs in the kitchen, laundry, groceries, that corner of the couch, twinkle lights, pictures from places where flowers are already blooming, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.
1. Heart advice from Pema Chödrön: “Although it is embarrassing and painful, it is very healing to stop hiding from yourself. It is healing to know all the ways that you’re sneaky, all the ways that you hide out, all the ways that you shut down, deny, close off, criticize people, all your weird little ways. You can know all that with some sense of humor and kindness. By knowing yourself, you’re coming to know humanness altogether. We are all up against these things. We are all in this together.”
2. Lingering in the Sweet Spoton Going Gently from Satya Robyn. “Taking a break from ‘working on ourselves’.” I’ve been following Satya’s work for a long time, and have enjoyed and appreciated every version of it. She wrote another post recently clarifying what Going Gently is about: “Helping you be kinder to yourself. This is what stitches my work at Going Gently together.” What’s not to like?
3. Hind Rajab: A poem for the generations stolen in front of our eyes, a heartbreaking poem about another heartbreaking loss in Palestine. Look at this sweet face and understand that there are now 28,000+ who are no more, with 10,000+ of those being children, and FOR WHAT?!
5. Can the Inner Development Goals help us create a more sustainable future?“The UN sustainable development goals are badly needed. But progress is slow. Do we lack an inner capacity to make the necessary changes? Shifts on a personal level could be the missing part of the puzzle to unlock huge progress, believe the team behind the Inner Development Goals.”
6. The hiking movement to reclaim green spaces. “Racism and unequal access to green spaces are just some of the reasons people of colour and ethnic minorities tend to spend less time in nature. Meet the groups working to bring the benefits of the great outdoors to all.”
7. What Really Makes Us Happyon Lion’s Roar. “As a Buddhist teacher, psychiatrist, and leading researcher, Dr. Robert Waldinger studies life from three very different perspectives. But he says they all come to the same basic conclusion about what really makes our lives happy and meaningful, and what doesn’t.”
9. Don’t Look Down Either. “There’s no secret way to be successful at this. Everyone’s using a different set of measures. The best thing I can tell you is ignore it all. Write whatever the fuck you want about whatever the fuck you want however the fuck you want to write it.”
14. Stinge Watching Is the Opposite of Binge Watching. I absolutely am a Stinge Watcher. There are easily at least 10 shows right now that are over and I can’t bring myself to watch the final season.
15. What Does Enough Mean?from Jami Attenberg. “Enough to me lately feels like I tried hard, accomplished the right amount of work, put in all the effort I could. Whatever I get out of it in return is up in the air. I just want to walk away feeling like I did enough.”
32. Recipe I want to try: Devil’s Food Snack Cake. Any chocolate cake that includes coffee in the recipe is my friend.
33. balance theoryfrom Karen Walrond, “some thoughts on technology, and fighting for the very soul of the world.”
34. Artvee. “Discover the best in Classical & Modern Art. Browse and download high-resolution, public domain paintings, posters and illustrations.”
35. Self-Compassionfrom Hugh Hollowell. “These days, I’m wanting to be who younger versions of me needed, and what that younger version of me needed the most was someone who looked out for him, who told him it was OK to put his needs first, that advocated for him when he was afraid, or unable, to do so. These days, I’m working on embodying the truth that if my compassion for the world does not include me, then it is incomplete.”
36. Wisdom from Lao Tzu: “If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.”
37. A letter of love to trauma survivors from Gretchen Schmelzer. “Survival mode makes it hard to experience and understand love. Where survival is an experience of tension or tightness, love is an experience of openness and expansiveness. Where survival is an experience of longing, grasping, clinging, or vigilance—love is an experience of patience, of being able to breathe and look around. There is a brittleness and stiffness with survival. There is an elasticity to love.”
41. Snoopy is real, her name is Bayley. “Bayley is a 1-year-old mini sheepadoodle, which is a cross between a miniature poodle and an Old English Sheepdog. Her sweet face is something you have to see to believe and even then you may question if she’s real.“
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 