Bored Panda | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

Lady Moon Meadow Trail, image by Eric

1. The bravest thing I’ve done this year from Marianne Elliott, the first post in a series on courage that I also wrote a post for, I showed up. I opened my heart. I stayed. Marianne’s next session of 30 Days of Courage: a guide to bravery in action starts April 20th and registration is open now.

2. 15 Things Stopping You from Moving Forward from Marc and Angel Hack Life.

3. our very special houseguest on Chookooloonks. For our next dog, I want to be able to say say, “She’s [or he’s] gentle, and sweet-natured, and incredibly calm, and so easy. She’s obedient and playful, and she’s taken to our family almost seamlessly.” You know how much I’ve loved my dogs, but so far, I’ve had “it’s been so hard but I know it will be worth it,” and someday I’d really like the other version.

4. 23 Best Movies On Netflix You Haven’t Yet Seen.

5. 30 Questions You Should Ask Your Best Friend and 30 MORE Questions to Ask Your Best Friend from Hello Giggles.

6. Three Eternal (So Far) Truths about Living and Writing from On Being.

7. Artist Paints Ocean Stones With Thousands Of Tiny Dots To Create Colorful Mandalas on Bored Panda.

8. the mabel magazine either / or question: part 2, in which you can read my responses.

9. I Gotcher Blog-Writin’ Advice Right Here from Terrible Minds.

10. Wisdom from David Whyte,

Courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work, a future. To be courageous, is not necessarily to go anywhere or do anything except to make conscious those things we already feel deeply and then to live through the unending vulnerabilities of those consequences.

11. In memory of Anne Frank, some of her most beautiful quotes on Hello Giggles, which says this,

Anne Frank’s diary remains one of the most essential pieces of writing in existence — a 13-year-old girl’s account of the most horrifying genocide in modern history. But more than that, Anne’s diary was a beautifully-written autobiography of a brilliant young girl, full of hope, potential and bravery. This year marks the 70th anniversary of Anne’s final diary entry, and she continues to inspire us with her spirit and courage.

12. WALK THE MOON – Shut Up and Dance (Official Lyric Video). Dance break!!!

13. Heartbreaking and beautiful, we have a trailer for the Amy Winehouse documentary on Hello Giggles.

14. Teen Comes Out As Gay, His Father Reacts Angrily. Hey Dad, what would Jesus do?

15. What Would Beyonce Do?! funny stuff from comedienne Luisa Omielan.

16. Interview: Patrick Mulholland on the Broken Saviors Kickstarter.

17. Good stuff from Dances with Fat: Dealing With Oppression – That’s Not How I Would Have Done It! and Can Trader Joe’s Reduce Our Guilt Around Food?

18. Your past experiences are blinding you: How to take a step back and view the world without bias or judgement on Medium.

19. Good stuff from Rowdy Kittens’ Happy Links list: The Journal Diaries- Gert’s Hobonichi and On Our Next Big Adventure and The one thing you’re most likely to regret.

20. A Note from the Universe, “For every fork in the road, Jill, there are often two paths from which to choose: the one you ‘should’ take and the one you want to take. Take the second. Always take the second.”

21. On Chookooloonks this was a good week list: Dressing up strangers as dolls: cute or ‘creepy’? – BBC World Service and Novelist Katherine Center’s philosophy on writing the story you long to read.

22. No Kids for Me, Thanks on The New York Times.

23. I Am A Plus-Size Woman Who Wore a Low-Rise Bikini to the Beach and This is What Happened on Bustle.

24. Orthorexia Nervosa: When Righteous Eating Becomes An Obsession.

25. Creating a New Cultural Story, Jennifer Louden talks with Brigid Schulte, author of the NYT’s bestseller Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, which I want to read.

26. Good stuff from Alexandra Franzen: How to Talk Yourself in to a Great Day at Work and Be done with what’s done. Let it burn. and Always one more time.

27. Knock Knock, It’s Tig Notaro | Official Trailer | Showtime Documentary.

28. Introducing “Shedquarters”: The Hot New Trend Home-Based Business Owners Are Drooling Over.

29. My Body Is Softer Now, And So Is My Heart on Rebelle Society.

30. 7 Signs You’re Getting Bad Nutrition Advice.

31. ‘Mom, When Do Grown-Ups Stop Eating Breakfast?’ on The New York Times.

1. Wisdom from Danielle LaPorte on Facebook,

Want to get unstuck? Maybe it’s time to stop analyzing it.

You can work out your family of origin issues, and neuroses, and past life traumas with your shrink or your shaman. You can talk talk talk it out all day long (I know, I’ve done it). You can trace the cause of your wounds and why you’re so stuck. But at some point, eventually, who cares WHY you’re stuck. Instead of focusing on how you got to where you are, you’ve got to shift your attention to where you’d rather be.

I’ve had at least a thousand conversations about success and desire. And I’ve noticed that when someone starts over-explaining WHY they’re stuck, it can be an indicator that they’re not 100% interested in getting unstuck. Recapitulating the past can provide a lot of comfort and confirmation. But…

Too much analysis can create paralysis.

As the saying goes, “Who cares why the elephant is standing on your foot? Just get him off.”

When I worked one-on-one with strategy clients, I began starting our session with this: “I’m asking you, for this hour together, to try to not talk about your past. We’re here to create your future, let’s just declare that the past has little bearing on where you want to go.” Some folks squirmed, could barely resist slipping into old stories. Some people were like, “What a great idea. I’m so tired of my story. Let’s move forward!”

Sometimes you can’t see why you were stuck until after you get unstuck. Hindsight and high-sight solves a lot of mysteries. In the mean time, you’ve got a new story to write, and it looks nothing like your past.

2. 6 life lessons from 6 years of blogging on Positively Present.

3. An apparently hungover Jimmy Fallon talks about the ‘epic’ SNL 40 after-party.

4. 34 Stunning Photos That Dispel the “Yoga Body” Myth.

5. You Have a Right to Refuse to be Weighed from Be Nourished.

6. The Source of Contentment on Zen Habits.

7. chinos are my kryptonite from Sas Petherick.

8. Patti Smith on The Biggest Misconception About Her.

9. Wisdom from Elizabeth Gilbert: Own Your Shit and The Best Thing You Can Do For Yourself — And All The Women Around You.

10. Be Kind, James Martin describes three simple ways you can be nicer to others this Lent.

11. Aka On Aloha.

12. Good stuff on Elephant Journal: All-Natural Yoga Mat Cleaning Recipe and 14 Creative Ways to Love Ourselves.

13. My favorite quotes on A Design So Vast.

14. My Own Life, Oliver Sacks on Learning He Has Terminal Cancer.

15. Anne Lamott On The Really Hard Parts of Being Human. She tells the truth and through some sort of magic makes me feel okay about it.

16. Wisdom from an anonymous stranger, “The act of improving lives in the world is in no way inferior to the act of adding lives to the world.” (Thanks for sharing, Andrea).

17. Russian Photographer Captures The Cutest Squirrel Photo Session Ever on Bored Panda.

18. Wisdom from Geneen Roth: On Beauty and The Naked Now.

19. When you’re blue … Find a sliver of light within the darkness from Sherry Richert Belul.

20. Actress has perfect response to body-shaming movie critic.

21. All Good Things on Pugly Pixel.

22. From Pugly Pixel’s Links Loved list: You’re doing a really great job, and TEDxConcordiaUPortland – Cheryl Strayed – Radical Sincerity, and The Elements of HTML.

23. Another New Rape Suit Against Bikram Choudhury Makes It the Sixth, and It Keeps Getting Worse.

24. Premiere: Ingrid Michaelson’s “Time Machine” Video Gets Gloriously Hijacked By Rainn Wilson And Donald Faison.

25. On Getting Older from Lisa Congdon.

26. Buddhism A-Z: Your Basic Buddhist Library.

27. 3-Year-Old Taekwondo Devotee Recites Student Creed, Slays Us With Cuteness.

28. A Body Story from Meg Worden.