Tag Archives: Brain Pickings

Something Good

3 Replies

1. Before and after of a mess. I realize that this is really only something good for me, but I still wanted to share it.

before

after

2. Got my shirt! It fits and it makes me smile.

3. Peonies. I don’t know why, but I am obsessed with them right now. I am planting at least three or four bushes when we redo our front yard so I can have them on my writing desk the whole season.

4. Obi’s rose bloomed. I’m not sure what kind of rose bush this is, but the smell and color is intense, and each bud has about 1000 petals. It grows next to one of Obi’s favorite places in the yard, by the back fence in a spot where he could see both the front and the back.

In the last months that he was alive, every time a new bloom would burst, I’d wonder which would last longer, the rose or Obi. I took a picture of him next to that rosebush during those last nine months that ended up being the picture I posted on Facebook the morning he died. Maybe it’s because I’ve been spending so much time in the backyard lately, but I have been missing that boy like crazy.

5. I can no longer, another great post from Christa at Carry it Forward.

6. The (Fearless) Love Essays by Judy Clement Wall. They’re here, they’re here! I can’t wait to read my copy. And Judy so wants them read, she’s offering them at variable pricing ($7 suggested), so if you can’t pay, you can still download a copy–because that’s how she rolls!

7. An excerpt from Patti Digh’s Commencement Address at Guilford College:

Carol Sanders…writes… “Follow the idea that calls you. As you start on your own life’s passage, follow the idea that makes you wake in the morning without an alarm, that calls you to scribble ideas on napkins and scrap paper and to lose all sense of time, that makes your heart beat faster at every corner with the endless possibilities.”

Yes, please!

8. Cultivate Your Play Ethic by Hannah Kane on Scoutie Girl.

9. Becoming the Person You Were Meant to Be: Where to Start by Anne Lamott. One of my favorite quotes from this is “We begin to find and become ourselves when we notice how we are already found, already truly, entirely, wildly, messily, marvelously who we were born to be.” Amen.

10. The 3 Most Important Questions by Vishen Lakhiani. Holy crap, this is gooooood. Watch it, do the practice, do it now.

11. Summer Manifesto. I love this idea, want to write one–way better idea than my summer to-do list.

12. 27 DOs + DON’Ts for being a badass woman from Justine Musk. Listen to this woman, she’s a badass.

13. Call Your Girlfriend Robyn/Erato cover by Lennon & Maisy Stella. I loved the original version of this song, but I loooove these girls. They were on the Today Show, or some similar morning show performing this week. I want them to come to my house and sing me to sleep every night.

14. Infusing Play into Mundane Tasks from Leo Babauta at Zen Habits. I like the way he thinks.

15. Joan Didion on Self-Respect on Brain Pickings.

16. A Girl and Her Room: Portraits of Teenage Girls’ Inner Worlds Through Their Bedroom Interiors on Brain Pickings.

17. This quote from Geneen Roth:

For some reason, we are truly convinced that if we criticize ourselves, the criticism will lead to change. If we are harsh, we believe we will end up being kind. If we shame ourselves, we believe we end up loving ourselves. It has never been true, not for a moment, that shame leads to love. Only love leads to love.

Amen.

18. Good advice for those attending the World Domination Summit with me (and hundreds of other people) in July.

  • A Story of Yes, from Andrea Scher on Superhero Journal, posted last year but still relevant, (she’ll be presenting again this year).

19. Live the Questions: Jacqueline Novogratz’s Advice to Graduates. Another commencement speech, another post from Brain Pickings.

20. Rilke on Embracing Uncertainty and Living the Questions on Brain Pickings.  Sorry for yet another, but this site was on fire this week.

21. Message from your Inner Pilot Light: When you choose to numb out – whether you numb out with TV, sugar, alcohol, drugs, smoking, or busyness – you dim my light. When you’re brave enough to face the truth, you’ll feel me glowing in the center of your chest, warm, steady, increasing in strength. Are you willing to face the truth without numbing out? With me, you’re safe to face anything. I’m right here.

22. A special offer from Susannah Conway. You already know how much I love this book, this woman, and this is a really great offer from her. Class starts tomorrow, so there’s still time!

22. Telling True Stories with Laurie Wagner, class starts on June 18th. I took the first round of this class, and highly and wholeheartedly recommend it.

Bonus something good: As someone who lived this era (the 80s) and loves a good musical almost more than anything, if this movie works, it will be so friggin’ awesome!

Something Good

2 Replies

It’s raining. And not that small, light Colorado rain, or that Colorado thunderstorm that takes just 5-15 short minutes out of a day and tries to kill you, but real, get you wet, need an umbrella, gray sky, this might take all day, fall asleep to it and wake up to it kind of rain. We really needed it. This has been such a dry Spring. The only downside is all I want to do is stay home in my pjs, cuddling on the couch with my boys, and nap, watch a move, or read a book. Oh, let’s face it, when it’s sunny out the only difference is I want to be doing those same things in the backyard.

Fear of Writing Blog. Having suffered from about 25+ years of writer’s block, I have a soft spot for blogs like these. There’s something about being an artist, about having an open, tender heart, about being mindful and present, that makes you somehow more sensitive to fear and doubt–at least, that’s my theory, my experience. People who make art, feel it is their calling, love so big that the potential for loss and ruin can sometimes be overwhelming. I learned of this blog because one of my favorite bloggers, writers, artists, big hearts, Judy Clement Wall, wrote a post for them recently, “j’s Journey: Getting Personal.”

Prolific Living’s Green Juicing Guide. I haven’t downloaded this yet, but am going to because of the promise of “the only 10 recipes you will ever need for your green juicing journey.”

Marie Forleo’s Free Business Training Videos. Jonathan Fields blogged about this, and it peaked my interest enough that I followed the link. After watching the intro video, I signed up. The way she talks about the potential for women in online businesses was inspiring.

Animals Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before on Brain Pickings. This one is my very favorite.

from the book Menagerie by photographer Sharon Montrose

Risk Being You by Raam Dev. Wow…this is worth reading and thinking about.

27 ways to be an (even) better person & practically levitate with awesomery on Unicorns for Socialism. I might have already shared this, but was reminded of it today, and it’s certainly worth repeating. I really am madly in love with Alex Franzen and her particular flavor of awesomery.

Now What by Tara Sophia Mohr. “[W]e need goals, not because goals are themselves important but we can’t have an engaging quest without a meaningful goal. The goal provides direction, momentum, plot, in the quest.” Wise words, and this:

So pick your quests mindfully. Pick the ones that you think will give you joy, and moments of tears at the poignant beauty of it all. Pick the quests that you think will put you in deepest, most glorious contact with something larger than you. Pick the quests that make gratitude and passion come alive in you.

The pot of gold is not at the end of the rainbow. It’s here.

Amen, and thank you for the reminder, Tara.

You Don’t Have to be Everything on Metta Drum. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Daniel Collinsworth is a brilliant beast. In this post, he urges us to declare our freedom, provides a list of important points, including “You no longer have to feel embarrassed about your weirdness.” Amen. The light of weirdness in me acknowledges and honors the light of weirdness in you, Daniel, and you, kind and gentle reader. May we all be weird.

Cute Animal Break: Animals Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before on Brain Pickings, Part Two. This is my second favorite:

from the book Menagerie by photographer Sharon Montrose

Make It: Folded Notebook on Design Love Fest. Oh, nerd alert, I so want to make this book!

Quote from Ed & Deb Shapiro’s “Your Daily Chill Out”: “Like a young bird, you will have no idea how far you can fly until you spread your wings and just go for it.”

Quote from Tara Brach: ‎”During the moments of a pause, we become conscious of how the feeling that something is missing or wrong keeps us leaning into the future, on our way somewhere else. This gives us a fundamental choice in how we respond: We can continue our futile attempts at managing our experience, or we can meet our vulnerability with the wisdom of Radical Acceptance,” from her book Radical Acceptance.

Sloughing the “Spiritual” Identity and Becoming the Wholeness of Me on the Daily Breadcrumb. In this post, Sunni reminds us to give ourselves a break, that to be a fully realized spiritual being doesn’t mean becoming someone “just generally beaming sunshine out of her ass.” What a relief.

Procrastination.