Tag Archives: Jamie Ridler

Something Good

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is a U.S. federal holiday marking the birth of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. At the age of 35, he was the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, choosing to turn over the award ($54,123) in order to further the civil rights movement. His commitment to non-violent change, to standing up for civil rights (or sitting down for, as the case may be), speaking out against popular opinion in the face of a clear injustice, is worth remembering, worth celebrating, worth an aspiration or two. I was reading quotes from MLK this morning, and thinking about how smart, how brave, and how kind his words, his way of being in the world: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. photographed by Marion S. Trikosko, 1964.

Another good, related read is “5 Lessons from MLK on Living, Leading, & Communicating” from Jeff Goins.

Seth Godin and the TED Imperatives

In a blog post by Seth Godin this week, he shared:

The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) imperatives

  1. Be interested.
  2. Be generous.
  3. Be interesting.
  4. Connect.

He goes on to suggest that these “aren’t just principles for TED, of course. They’re valid guidelines for any time you choose to stop hiding and step out into the world.” Amen!

Downtown Abbey

I haven’t started watching this yet, but people can’t seem to stop talking about it, and I just noticed that the first season is available on Netflix streaming.

“Fearless Creativity” with Susan Piver

“Fearless Creativity: A Meditation & Writing Retreat with Susan Piver” is going to be held at the Shambhala Mountain Center, April 13th-16th. Guess who gets to go? ME!!! So excited…Holy wow! I’ve mentioned Susan and her Open Heart Project here many times. She is an amazing teacher, smart and kind and funny, and this retreat is a gift I am giving to my artist self, to my sad and tender warrior heart.

Meditation Hall at Warrior Assembly, Shambhala Mountain Center, Summer of 2009

Susannah Conway

I have a big, fat girl crush on Susannah Conway–yet another amazing woman, teacher, artist, and love warrior you have heard me talk about before. I love, love, love her work. I preordered her next book, “This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart.” Her recent “My ABC of important things” is a great post, a great idea for a writing prompt. And as soon as registration opens, I am signing up for her e-course “Blogging from the Heart.” Her perspective, one that she shares with kindness and an open heart, presents grace and stillness and beauty, freely to anyone who chooses to see.

Image by Susannah Conway, "Stillness" Series

Creative Living with Jamie Ridler

Okay, I didn’t realize until just now that today’s Something Good has a strong focus on all the amazing women I am in love with right now. One more is Jamie Ridler, who hosts Wishcasting Wednesdays and Full Moon Dreamboards, and does a great podcast, “Creative Living.” This past week, she talked with Julia Cameron, (you might have heard of a little book she wrote, The Artist’s Way). In looking through her archive, I also see she talked with Susan Piver, Tara Mohr, Rachel W. Cole, Britt Bravo, Brene’ Brown, Chris Guillebeau, Jennifer Louden, Patti Digh, Susannah Conway–okay, I have to stop listing them because I am feeling a little dizzy and about to swoon! So many good people, and an archive of two years worth of these interviews on Jamie’s site.

Gratitude

“48 things to be grateful for when you need to shift your focus.” I am grateful for this list, and to Susannah Conway for sharing it in her “Something for the weekend” post this week.

One of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

“Enjoy Every Sandwich” Book Trailer

This is heartbreaking and inspiring, in equal measure.

The Joy of Books

Great video, must have taken forever to put together.

Sh*t New Age Girls Say

I swear, this is the last one I’ll share, because I am noticing that this meme is starting to spin into mean, even racist and homophobic territory, but this one makes me laugh. “I saw my first UFO at Burning Man.”

Dexter napping on the footstool

My boys can turn anything into a dog bed.

Guest Post by Rachel W. Cole


Yup, you heard that right: later today I’ll be publishing a special guest post “Three Truths and One Wish with Rachel W. Cole.” P.S. There is still time to register for the Well-Fed Woman Mini-Retreatshop here in Fort Collins, but you should hurry! Jamie Ridler did a Creative Living podcast with Rachel this summer that you might also be interested in.

Wishing you lots of good things this Monday, and always!

Wishcasting Wednesday

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What do you wish to reclaim?

image from Jamie's post

I wish to reclaim my body. My brain and ego hijack this precious space, they won’t shut up and let it breathe, they push it around, drag it from project to project, won’t let it rest, force it to hang out with Fear, Shame, Time Monster and Shadow Comfort. They shove muffins the size of a human head in my mouth, won’t let my body speak or be heard. I wish to reclaim my body, to care for it, tend to it, be with it, listen to it as it tells me what’s true.

I wish to reclaim my time. I am occupied by should and have to, busy with pleasing and performing and being perfect, trying to prove myself, earn love–and there never feels like there is enough time. I want to do what I love, what nourishes me, even if that is doing nothing at all. 

image by fdecomite

I wish to reclaim a sense of ease. No more clinging and hanging on to worry and anger and grief, overwhelmed and tense. I wish to reclaim a sense of gentle attention and well-being, feeling like I can let go and be free. 

I wish to reclaim joy. No more numbing or dulling what hurts and, in doing so, sacrificing happiness. No more hiding my light, silencing the silliness, skipping the fun because there is too much work to be done and we need to be serious. I wish to be known again as Silly Jilly, to remember that freedom and light.

I wish to reclaim balance. The swing between the intense, harsh pushing and utter exhaustion can’t be maintained. It’s giving my soul vertigo, making my heart dizzy, and my body sick. I wish to still my center, to stay steady on the middle path. 

I wish to reclaim my space. Recommit to simplicity and minimalism, clear out the clutter and stuff, open up space, both in my physical world and my internal one.

I wish to reclaim my will. I not longer want to do what others need, what pleases them only. I won’t perform or change in order to please them, trick them into loving me. I will be who l am, and if they can’t accept that, it will at least be true. I can sink into my real power, be myself.

I wish to reclaim my power. I won’t wait for permission, won’t feign weakness, wallow in jealousy or poverty mentality, won’t mute myself for the sake of anyone’s ego, won’t roll over and play dead, be a doormat or a pushover or a wimp. I will no longer be bullied, be anyone’s victim. I will embody my true and full power, gentleness and all.

I wish to reclaim my truth. No longer will I rewrite my story to fit someone else’s narrative. I won’t edit out the messy bits. I will own my suffering and my joy, and learn also to release it, let it go.