Elizabeth Gilbert | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

image by Eric

1. BROKEN SAVIORS: Alien Invasion Comic Book Kickstarter project. 12 days to go, and so close.

2. 3 Ways to Make Your Life Simple and Successful Again from Marc and Angel Hack Life.

3. May my suffering be of service from Danielle LaPorte.

4. A series of guest posts about courage hosted by Marianne Elliott.

5. Does Intuitive Eating mean eating whatever and whenever you feel like it? ~Guest post by Terri Barger on Eat to Love.

6. Listening to your Life from Rachel Cole.

7. The Limitless Living Course from Caroline Leon. FREE.

8. When Others Frustrate You and A Simple, Powerful Self-Compassion Method from Zen Habits.

9. Heart-opener from Guinevere Gets Sober.

10. The Just F*cking Journal Class: April 20-24, 2015 from Jamie Greenwood. FREE.

11. RAIN by Teah Strozer on Tricycle, which says,

Getting started on a spiritual path takes guts. We usually don’t know it in the beginning, but if we keep going on it — if we really want to know the truth of what it means to be human or if we are deeply finished with our suffering — we will learn that walking the path of freedom takes a humble courage. It also takes determination, humor, a balanced effort, and the willingness to feel, directly in our body, the suffering brought by attachment to our conditioned thoughts, which create separation, dis-ease, and the greed and aversion we usually use to seek happiness. But the promise is real. We can be free of suffering; we can know our wide-awake mind and the open heart that goes with it.

12. Why I Seldom Teach The Hero’s Journey Anymore — And What I Teach Instead.

13. The “Food Babe” Blogger Is Full of Shit. And in related news, The “Food Babe” Strikes Back At Her Critics.

14. Grief is the Price We Pay for Love.

15. How BMI affects emotional eating from Isabel Foxen Duke.

16. Perpetual Potential Thin Person from Dances with Fat.

17. Blue Mood on SF Girl by Bay.

18. Devotion to myself? on The Art of Wildness.

19. 3 selfies shared by Chris Rock are just one more way he’s demonstrating racism still exists.

20. This family is ‘blissfully enjoying life on the slow road, with no end in sight.’

21. Good stuff on Bored Panda: Mom Captures Powerful Photos Of Her Fearless Daughters To Show That ‘Strong Is The New Pretty’ and Incredible Miniature Paintings Of Galaxies, Animals And Books By Lorraine Loots.

22. The psychology of mean bosses is so fascinating you’ll wish this 2-minute video was 20 minutes long.

23. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön,

Many of our escapes are involuntary: addiction and dissociating from painful feelings are two examples. Anyone who has worked with a strong addiction—compulsive eating, compulsive sex, abuse of substances, explosive anger, or any other behavior that’s out of control—knows that when the urge comes on it’s irresistible. The seduction is too strong. So we train again and again in less highly charged situations in which the urge is present but not so overwhelming. By training with everyday irritations, we develop the knack of refraining when the going gets rough. It takes patience and an understanding of how we’re hurting ourselves not to continue taking the same old escape route of speaking or acting out.

24. 20 Great Writers on Motivating Yourself To Write, No Matter What.

25. 4 Myths About Police Brutality We Need To Stop Spreading Right Now.

26. Louis CK’s impression of Jimmy Fallon = the best thing ever. In related news, 4 years ago, Louis C.K. went on ‘Conan’ and told a story that explains why we love him.

27. I love big book news and I cannot lie! from Brene’ Brown.

28. for love of liberation on Lists and Letters.

29. Beware of Tribal Shame! from Elizabeth Gilbert on Facebook.

30. Shared on Susannah’s Something for the Weekend list: 10 Success Secrets of the Highly-Creative, and 7 Reasons Your Wife Is Stressed Out All the Time, and The rise of the death doula.

31. This Woman Was Reunited With A Gorilla After 12 Years. What Happened Next Will Tear Your Heart Out.

32. Body Talk. (Thanks to Rachel for sharing).

33. Advice From Former Racist: ‘If You Hear Something Racist, F–king Stand Up and Take Responsibility.’ I can’t stop thinking about this video. Such wisdom from a completely unexpected place.

34. The Floor In His Apartment Is Covered In Bread. When I Saw Why? I Was Choking Back Tears.

35. “In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions…” on Elephant Journal. It’s from a few years ago now, but it always makes me stop and think.

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.