Tag Archives: Jennifer Louden

Something Good

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1. Giving away good stuff for free. There are a lot of websites and blogs where if you sign up for the regular newsletter, you get a free book–and these aren’t cheap, crappy giveaways, this is meaningful, useful, and oftentimes beautifully designed content. Some good stuff for I’ve gotten for free recently:

  • “The Anatomy of Joy,” a 90 minute talk, live streamed online, by Brene’ Brown.
  • The Open Heart Project. You’ve heard me talk about it before and plenty, but I can’t say enough good things about it. If you are interested in meditation, you absolutely should sign up for this. Susan’s mini (not small in meaning, but short in time) dharma talks and meditation with instruction are definitely something good. This week, she talked about one of my favorite subjects, basic goodness, in her “You are Good” post.
  • Hulu. I know that in a technical way, it’s not really free (they make you watch commercials), but I love that while I no longer pay for cable tv, I can still selectively and mindfully watch the good stuff (which mostly means “stuff that makes me laugh”): Modern Family, Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock, Community, and Glee.
  • Creative Joy Workbook (click the link to download your own copy), put together by Susannah Conway, Jennifer Louden, and Marianne Elliott. Susannah also shared links to all the other people who wrote about creative joy last week, and made a creative joy mix tape (she makes the best mixes!).

2. Speaking of Susannah’s mix tapes, I was listening to her “Dance Meditation” mix this weekend, and heard Samantha James, who I hadn’t known about before, and who I am now loving. Here’s a video of the title song from her new album.

 

3. Real Writers Rest from The Write Practice blog. This is a great collection of wisdom, but you want to know the irony? I’ve been too busy to read all of it!

4. Demystifying self-care: 34 ways to begin your self-care practice, a great list by Jenn Gibson on Roots of She. Again, the proof that I need to read this is that I haven’t given myself the time or space to take a mindful look at it, or get even close to applying any of its wisdom.

5. 11 Questions, 11 Answers from A Design So Vast. This meme sounds so fun, but I don’t have time to do it right now…are you sensing a theme here, dear reader?

6. Castaway on the Moon. I wanted to watch a movie one night last week, and was trying to find something on Netflix streaming. I was considering Melancholia, but it was described as dark and dramatic, and I was home alone. Just as I was about to stoop as low as I could get and watch “No Strings Attached” with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, I saw the listing for Castaway on the Moon, and remembered that my friend Courtney had watched and recommended it. So good…

 

7. You might not know this about me, but I think things like Autocorrect Fail are so funny, I can’t even read them–I start laughing so hard, I can hardly stop, and almost make myself sick, (seriously, even having to look it up to get the link was risky). Here’s another set I loved, Texts From My Dog.

8. Smart and funny, it’s Incidental Comics.

Wishcasting Wednesday

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image from Jamie's post

What do you wish to experience?

Contentment. Satisfaction and peace, surrender and acceptance, ease and relaxation, fearlessness and joy, simplicity and engagement.

Love. On every channel, all the time, 24/7. Know it, feel it, be it. Love, love, love. And then, more love. Keep it coming, keep it going.

Health. Full body and full life wholehearted and embodied wellness. I want to light up, shine with it, glow, radiate.

Confidence. Certainty, courage, daring, determination, faith, tenacity.

Self-love. This is most likely a combination or culmination of the rest, what is at the center, the heart of everything else, its foundation, but it seems to be worth an independent mention. I want to move through the hours and days of my life with supreme confidence in my innate wisdom, compassion, strength, and fundamental goodness.

That part of the list is states of being, but there are also “things” I wish to experience.

Playing the ukulele well enough that I wouldn’t embarrass myself. The secret wish underneath is to someday be able to do a duet with Danielle Ate the Sandwich. Just once, please. But I have a lot of work to do first, like learning to play.

Publication. I’m okay without it. I have a full writing life, even if it never happens. Writing is like prayer for me, a spiritual practice, and I am utterly devoted to it. But…I’d also like to be published, as in paid for my work, as in people curled up in hammocks or in front of a fire on the couch cuddling with their dog reading my books.

Paid work that isn’t work, but rather pure love, aligned with my calling, maybe even God’s work. I’ve said it before and it bears repeating that I don’t need what I love to pay my rent, or turn into a business, and yet…it might not be the worst thing if what I love, the work I would do regardless, the thing that wakes me up in the middle of the night thinking and planning, the stuff that makes me wake up and rise at 4:30 am every morning, and the money, the means to take care of what needs taken care of, would be in the same location at the same time, would feed each other, work together, and then I could just do what I love, all the time, instead of trying to juggle full-time paid work with everything else I want to do. It is sometimes like trying to live two lives, and that can be exhausting, and lonely.

Hike the Appalachian Trail with Eric.

My very own writing cabin.

A whole summer in Amsterdam.

Dathun, a month long meditation retreat at Shambhala Mountain Center.

An in-person workshop with Brene’ Brown.

P.S. The magic power of wishing, part two: Holy wow! Brene’ is going to be in Boulder for a two day workshop in May, and I am going.

A yoga retreat with my friend and yoga teacher Jessica.

A writing workshop with Natalie Goldberg.

Church with Anne Lamott.

A meet-up with Susannah Conway. Really, what I would love is a long weekend on the beach with her, writing and blogging and taking pictures and talking and taking long naps and eating and laughing.

P.S. The magic power of wishing: I just found out this morning, less than 24 hours after making this post, that Susannah is going to be at the World Domination Summit, and has proposed a writing workshop. Even if the workshop doesn’t go (it so will), there is a very real chance that I am going to be able to at least tell her in person how much I adore her. I can hardly believe it, but it’s true!

Walk and talk with Mary Oliver. This is most likely the craziest wish on this list, but I would just love to be near her and able to tell her just once in-person how much I love her, how much her words have meant to me.

Swim without fear.

Hike with Judy Clement Wall.
A walk on the beach with Julia.
Take pictures or paint with Andrea Scher.
Sit with Jen Lemen at her kitchen table.
Sit in stillness with Erica Staab.
Meditate with Susan Piver, (oh wait, I actually get to do this in a few weeks!).
Discuss writing with Margaret Atwood, and not embarrass myself.
Trust over a cup of tea with Kristin Noelle.
Make art with Patti Digh.
Take a yoga class with Jennifer Louden.
Ask Pema Chödrön one million questions.
Take a Nia class with Jamie Ridler.
Go on tour with Aimee Mann.
Teach an art and writing class for girls with Kandyce.
Draw with Hugh MacLeod.
Listen to Neil Gaiman read.

I could keep going with this list forever and ever…so many good people doing so much good stuff and I want to just hang out with them and soak up all that goodness and tell them to their sweet faces how much I adore them.