1. Morning walks. Ringo is doing so much better, back to 2.5-3.5 miles in the morning with another shorter walk in the afternoon, no limp, (of course that meant I had to take him to the vet this week to stave off a full blown ear infection, because it’s always something…). We walked around the gravel pit ponds a few times this past week. We can walk from our house directly and because technically it’s private property, there aren’t as many people. We did get to meet some great dogs — one older boxer mix carrying a BIG stick, and two puppies with big feet who were so soft, so sweet, so goofy — and Ringo was good with all of them. We also saw lots of seagulls, ducks, and a heron.
2. Practice. Writing, meditation, and even some yoga — I haven’t practiced asana that much since I stopped teaching, a mix of losing my reason to practice (if I wasn’t teaching) and grief (not teaching because of COVID, not practicing with other people). I’d like to practice more, long for it, know how good it feels, but starting (or restarting in this case) a habit takes time, and I’m already working on so much shifting and staying. So I guess my current yoga practice is to “give myself a break.”
3. Making art, in particular with Calyx and Janice. Making art for me isn’t about the product or the outcome but rather the process, a combination of practice and play.
4. Support. The first part of last week was rough. I was busy and worried, anxious, but I also had so much help! Eric, Ringo, good friends, my masseuse, my therapist, books, podcasts, TV, practice, the hydromassage chair, the pool, the sauna, good food.
5. My tiny family, my tiny house, my tiny life. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Bonus joy: dinner with Jon & Chelsey, a sunny weekend, clean laundry, other people’s babies and dogs, texting with my mom and brother, fresh clean air, napping, that corner of the couch, strawberries, raspberries, tacos, comfortable shoes, down and wool, getting refunds for both our state and federal taxes, gummy supplements, smoothies, being able to hug my friends, clean water, leftovers, pajamas, reading in bed while Eric and Ringo sleep.
1. This Black Male Doula Is Shattering Stereotypes While Advocating For Pregnant Women. “The 37-year-old said that he wants to provide a safe birthing experience for mothers because, according to the CDC, about 25,000 women develop severe pregnancy complications each year, and Black women are 2-3 times more likely to die during labor than other racial groups. The 37-year-old said that he wants to provide a safe birthing experience for mothers because, according to the CDC, about 25,000 women develop severe pregnancy complications each year, and Black women are 2-3 times more likely to die during labor than other racial groups.”
2. The Way it Was, a podcast. “Step back in time with stories from Fort Collins’ past, from the cute and quirky to the dark and mysterious.”
10. 7 Body Concepts I No Longer Subscribe To from Ivy Felicia. “After coaching, speaking, teaching, and writing for over 10 years I have gathered more insight and gained different perspectives. This article is about the top 7 things that I no longer subscribe to about bodies. There are many more that have shifted, but these are some of the most impactful ones.”
19. The Shape-Shifting Power of Menopause. “Menopause is revealed to be not a curse or a punishment but a chance to open and shed. Though there is suffering involved—hardship, and deep physical challenge—there can be a breaking through of fierce, bright lucidity.”
20. Make Time to Mourn on The New York Times. “Though the pandemic has posed obstacles to funerals, delaying memorial services has also opened up unexpected opportunities for reflection and creativity.”
21. Our most valuable lessons from 2 pandemic years. “It’s been a revolving door of fear and fatigue and anger and uncertainty and suffering and loss. But we’ve also experienced a surprising amount of joy, and kindness, and new discovery, and delight, even. All of this to say: it feels all but impossible to qualify two years of pandemic living in any one way, but one thing is certain: we’re still here – and we’re changed.”
22. The Story Behind a Defining War Photoon The New York Times. “Lynsey Addario, a photojournalist, took an image that captured the new reality of the fighting in Ukraine.”
23. StyleLikeU on YouTube. “Created by mother-daughter duo, Elisa Goodkind and Lily Mandelbaum, StyleLikeU is a radically honest storytelling platform powering a self-acceptance revolution. Through intimate docu-style video series, including The What’s Underneath Project, Getting Dressed: An Act of Self-Love, Dispelling Beauty Myths and more, we celebrate personal style (and beauty) as an expression of individuality, empowerment and self-acceptance.”
26. ‘Lucas the Spider’ will begin streaming on HBO Max in March 2022. “An adorable little spider with a big, bubbly personality named Lucas is joining HBO Max’s line-up for kids. Lucas the Spider follows the cutest 4-year-old jumping spider you’ve ever seen as he goes on adventures throughout his human-sized home and learns about the world around him.”
28. Fifty-word stories: an experiment. “In February, to kick start myself out of the spring doldrums, I decided that I would begin each day by writing a fifty-word story (after caffeine and Wordle, of course). Rules were established for this practice: less than ten minutes would be spent on each story; only one pass of editing was allowed; stories must be posted to my social media for accountability; and I would commit to this practice for one month.”
30. Anyone else failing to find their way back into the world? on Renegade Mothering. “And yet I wonder if we can all to some extent relate to the feeling of having been reset in an irrevocable way. Like it all blew the fuck up and you can take away the masks and social distancing and mandatory testing but you can’t bring back the way it was. Do we even want it back?”
31. now is not the time to chase calm. “The point of an embodiment practice is not to be present all of the time, and the point is not to be calm all the time. The point, at least as far as I can tell, is to find ways to be human, to root into our humanity, in a world where the speed and intensity of quite literally everything is pushing us away from ourselves and from each other.”
32. How to Practice Dedicating Merit on Lion’s Roar. “When we dedicate our meditation to others, says Lama Palden Drolma, we make our practice more open and beneficial.”
38. Have We Been Thinking About Burnout All Wrong? “Reframing burnout as what’s getting in the way of your wellness and a symptom of inadequate support led Aviles to conclude that the problem isn’t the burnout. It’s an economic system that makes individual workers essentially dispensable, so that the workplace becomes a site of survival struggles. ‘I really think it’s a tool of oppression, to keep folks constantly busy, and we’re overworking and underpaying them,’ she explains. ‘You’re not allowing people to rest and relax and rejuvenate and refresh their minds and their bodies, [and] oftentimes, you can’t make clear decisions if you’re in that state.'”
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 