Tag Archives: Jennifer Louden

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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Today is Wishcasting Wednesday, hosted by Jamie Ridler, and the question for today is:

“What or whom do you wish to make peace with?”

picture from Jamie's post

Me.

It’s that simple.

I wish to make peace with myself.

I wish to stop smashing myself to bits. I wish to let go of who I think I am supposed to be and embrace who I am, love who I am.

This Wishcasting prompt was a happy accident. I thought I was going to have to write a whole other post related to the first two prompts of “A Year With Myself.” This program is a perfect fit for my year of retreat.

More about about A Year With Myself: “C. A. Kobu is the creative alchemist and project midwife” and she explains “Ditch those lame old New Year resolutions! They don’t work! Instead, go on a yearlong adventure along with other courageous women. This will be your best year ever! Go on thematic weekly quests of self-love and self-discovery. Be best friends with yourself. Hone your strengths and reshape your true mission. And gently empower yourself and your work by taking one tiny transformative step at a time.”

See what I mean? A perfect fit for someone in the midst of a life-rehab and year of retreat.

My responses to the first two prompts are a further explanation of my wish: to make peace with myself.

Prompt #1: Liminal Spaces by Patti Digh

Q: What spaces are you standing between? Now, and then? Here, and there? Whole, and broken? A: I am standing between who I tried to be, who I thought I was, who other people wanted needed expected me to be–and who I really am.

Q: Now imagine those spaces as trapeze bars: what would it take to throw your heart over the bars and let your body follow, as one veteran trapeze performer has advised? A: I have thrown my heart over the bars, but as usual, my heart is way ahead, brave and ready, but too fast for my body, impulsive when my body needs more time, more practice. So, I’ll wait for my body. I’ll leap over and over, try again and again, until it learns what that feels like and what it needs to do, how to move, how far and how fast, when to hold on and when to let go. I’ll do all this knowing there’s a safety net below, and there is time.

Q: So what monkey bar are you moving from, and what monkey bar are you moving to, in 2012? A: Moving from careful, obedient, quiet, measured, victim, lazy, anxious, depressed, numb, confused, angry, hopeless, abused, desperate Jill, to kind, brave, silly, creative, curious, present, strong, open-hearted, balanced, wise Jill.

Q: What does the space in-between feel like, sound like, taste like? A: It feels like water, sacred space, love. It sounds like quiet, heartbeat, breath, waves. It tastes like fresh strawberries, freshly baked bread, grapefruit juice, mint.

Prompt #2: Why Not Begin Where You Are by Jen Louden

Q: What gifts do the parts of me I don’t like have to offer me? A: Acceptance, the opportunity to learn what I don’t yet know or understand, practice letting go.

Q: What gifts could the parts of me that I’m afraid of have to offer me? A: The chance to be brave, to stay with the shaky and raw energy, to wake up to things as they are.

Q: How could these aspects of me help me create more of what I desire? A: The more I practice not grasping or getting attached, and not rejecting or numbing out, the more present I am. The more I can stay with what is, the more alive I am. The more I can be with what is, the more myself and true I am, the more reality I can manifest.

For those of you, wishing like I am to make peace with yourself, take a look at A Year With Myself. I think it’s going to be just as amazing as we already are, full of opportunity and wisdom and love.

And for you, kind and gentle reader: may you also find peace, in whatever way would please and benefit you, and may you do so quickly and without obstacle.