Tag Archives: A Human Thing

Something Good

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1. Another day, another opportunity for a fresh start, to begin again.

2. “Where I’ve Been” blog posts. I can’t wait to try this.

3. The Pressure, a poem by Tara Sophia Mohr: Oh how I know this pressure, and want to discover what it might be like without it.

4. Gratitude Practice. Spending some time, every day, thinking about what you are grateful for, writing about it, or even saying “thank you” directly or publicly, is a path to contentment and joy. Here’s a freebie intended to help, “3 good things that happened today,” shared by way of a Scoutie Girl post, “art to inspire: the power of positivity.”

5. Slow down your writing from Kaspa at Writing Our Way Home. This is some really great advice, not just for writing Small Stones, but for writing practice in general.

6. Hannah Marcotti shared a list of some really good stuff to read, Beautiful faces. Magical Places. My favorite quote is from the post on Find Your Balance (because if you’ve been reading this blog for long, you know I struggle with finding balance):

When I say balance, I’m not saying, “Be like me.”
I’m saying, “Be more like you.”

7. I knew there was a reason I have been in love with Ray Bradbury’s work most of my life. His love of reading and writing is my own. He says:

Books are smart and brilliant and wise. Love what you do and do what you love. Don’t listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. Imagination should be the center of your life.

8. How to Find Your Purpose and Do What You Love by Maria Popova. This is a really great list! And the blog where I found this post and the Ray Bradbury video, Brain Pickings, is really great too.

9. how to be original by Justine Musk. She is on fire lately. This post is all about the four qualities of a compelling creative voice.

10. 40 Days of Silence, a free ecourse from Erica Staab. I signed up for this and have been getting the daily emails. They are short but powerful, such good reminders! My favorite from this last week was a quote from an interview with John O’Donohue, (a really wonderful Irish poet, he wrote some of my favorite poems), which said “To return back into ourselves, there are three things needed”: stillness, silence, and solitude, and he explained why each was so essential.

11. A Blessing For One Who Is Exhausted, a post by Erica Staab and a poem by John O’Donohue. I couldn’t stop crying when I read this, both Erica’s words and the poem. Erica said:

Tears sprang to my eyes as I thought how often we think we have the “wrong” answer. How often we are stuck in the thought that we should be anywhere else but where we are. How often we think that we are handling our grief, our children, our jobs, our friendships in the “wrong” way. And sometimes yes, things need to change, but more often than not it is only because we haven’t given ourselves the compassion and more objective look that we give to others.

12. Brene’ Brown’s latest TED talk, “Listening to Shame.”

13. If you never saw Brene’ Brown’s first TED talk, “The Power of Vulnerability,” I highly recommend it. Judy Clement Wall wrote a post today on a Human Thing, “What I know,” about that first talk’s impact on her. While her details are different, I had the same experience of that first video. It changed my life, helped save my life, in about a million different ways. Judy said:

It changed everything for me. Not that day, or that week, or that month, but over the course of the almost-year since I watched it. It was the beginning of deep down, gut-wrenching honesty, first with myself and then with my husband. It was the beginning of true fearlessness, of love like a religion, of faith.

Amen.

14. The wreck and the raw of post retreat. Dear reader, I am in the thick of this. I went to the Boulder Shambhala Center this weekend (along with about 340 others, and 1500 who joined us in a live, online broadcast) and received a new practice from Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche that broke my heart wide open, which always leaves me completely exhausted, but in this really beautiful way, feeling everything that it means to be alive–the good, the bad, and the ugly. So today, I am attempting to take John O’Donohue’s advice from A Blessing For One Who Is Exhausted and be excessively gentle with myself.

41 6-Word Days

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image from Judy's post

I was going to add this to my Something Good list today, but decided it deserved it’s own post. On A Human Thing, Judy posted a reflection, where she explained it this way:

At the same time that I launched A Human Thing, I launched a project with my friend, Julia Fehrenbacher, called “41 6-Word Days.” We invited people to join us, and they did, sharing their lives in beautiful, revealing, clumsy, poetic 6-word snippets. Most people wandered in and out of the space, but ten hardy souls went the distance with us, posting all 41 days.

It was sometimes hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking, with so many moments of magic and so many of grace, and I loved being part of this “project.” I was one of the ten that did all 41 days, and Judy was nice enough to put together our lists in a shared summary. Here’s mine:

♥Jill♥

Struggled with everything, then let go.
~~~
Snow and cold, two warm dogs.
~~~
Lots of words, only one picture.
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Work though I’d rather stay home.
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Where does this sadness come from?
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Flooding in Oregon, worrying in Colorado.
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I can’t drink like that anymore.
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Dreamed of three ladybugs in snow.
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Upside down, love rushes towards you.
Thank goodness the wall was there.
Thank goodness the teacher was there.
Thank goodness for headstands in yoga.
~~~
This isn’t working for me anymore.
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I can’t go to work today.
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Before dawn, we walk alone, together.
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I am aware, but can’t move.
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Medium or psychic, you’re a liar.
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I wish Sunday would never end.
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Finally, kind attention causes a shift.
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Two long walks with my dogs.
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Wishing, understanding, gratitude: love, love, love.
~~~
Three hour nap instead of work.
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Cold snow, warm blueberry bagel: comfort.
~~~
Smells: banana bread, cupcakes, and laundry.
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Rough Sunday. I wished for Monday.
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I’m full of light and beans.
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Bed full of dog and love.
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I want to go to there.
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Finally made some progress at work.
He doesn’t know what happened? Bullshit.
Play growl or mean growl? We disagree.
~~~
Fantasizing about running away from home.
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I vowed: basic goodness, enlightened society.
~~~
Running, playing, yoga-ing, eating, and napping.
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Do you see that? Good dog!
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Hoping the blood test reveals something.
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Burger and fries, donuts: sinking fast.
(Conversation with myself, how not embarrassing.) 🙂
~~~
Surprise love note: “you’re my favorite.”
~~~
Perimenopause?! You’ve got to be kidding…
~~~
Dinner with Rachel Cole, holy wow.
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A circle of woman around me.
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Apparently, dog training works. Who knew?
~~~
Try this next–hope it works.
~~~
Water Dragon entered on fierce winds.
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Sore muscles, tender heart, open eyes.
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A circle of women writing WILDly,
filled my home with WILD words.
Mine? Blackout poem for Tina Fey.
~~~
Mending dog babies, celebrating human baby.
~~~
It is important to say goodbye.
End with love, just in case.
Especially when that’s where you started.
Much love to Julia and Judy.
The rest of you are amazing.
Openhearted, brave, wise, kind, and hilarious.
Thank you. Love you. Love, Me.
~~~
At night, I sleep, dreaming words.
At dawn, I wake, thinking words.
Arranging them in rows of six.
Then I remember, we are finished.
I am awake, alone, and sad.
But then I remember love, laughter.
I offer a prayer of thanks.
Form leaves us, but love remains.