1. Yoga Class. I hadn’t gone for a whole week (having to walk the dogs individually because of Dexter’s knee injury was messing with my schedule), and it was so nice to be back, complete with a loving arm punch from Mitch.
2. Green food. Mini cucumbers, avocado, brussel sprouts, and spinach.
3. Spring. Starting to see green and even some flowers poke their way out of the dirt, the birds are singing (oh how I missed them!), and there is more light.
4. New opportunities at my paid work, more involvement with departmental publications and the chance to work with one of my favorite people.
5. Books. When things get rough, they are a source of so much joy, comfort, wisdom, and even rest. Sometimes I wonder which is stronger, my love of writing or my love of reading–I know for sure I couldn’t choose between the two.
Bonus Joy: Another week with Dexter. His knee is doing much better, he likes physical therapy (loves all the attention), and the trick now is reminding him that he’s got to take it easy, go slow.
2. 3-year-old recites poem, “Litany” by Billy Collins. This kind of thing is an argument for reincarnation, divine nature, or something just as as brilliant and mysterious. Here’s a follow up story on NPR, Love Of Words Brings Child, Poet Together.
7. This quote, “Little by little, one travels far,” J.R.R. Tolkien. And similarly, “Our way to practice is one step at a time, one breath at a time,” Shunryu Suzuki.
8. One of my favorite quotes from William Gibson, “Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.”
9. And this one, “If you subdue the hatred within, you will discover that there is not a single enemy left outside,” Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
10. C the G TV. Catherine Just only started the project last week, but already so many good interviews.
11. This is always a good reminder, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it,” ~Rumi. This too, “I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.” ~Rumi.
20. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others…(BE Your OWN Love Valentine) from Kute Blackson. “To succeed at being somebody that you are not (but think you need to be) is still a failure. But to love who you are and courageously be that fully is a life well lived.”
25. Safe & Sound Taylor Swift (ft.The Civil Wars) – Brittni Paiva ukulele cover. Beautiful music, beautiful instrument.
26. My beautiful, brilliant friend Jessica Patterson said this week, “whatever reminds you that you are whole, perfect, and holy…start there,” (to which I responded “stay there”).
27. “Our ‘originality’ is nothing more than our unique response to everyone we ever wanted to imitate or seduce.” ~Susie Bright
28. “Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.” ~Herman Hesse
29. your daily rock : live mindfully, on 37 Days which begins with this brilliant quote, “Mindfulness meditation doesn’t change life. Life remains as fragile and unpredictable as ever. Meditation changes the heart’s capacity to accept life as it is.” ~Sylvia Boorstein
31. A Pebble for Your Pocket on A Design So Vast. Such a beautiful post, which Lindsey ends with the question “what is there to do but to keep my eyes open, to take a deep breath, to love this life of mine, in all its flawed, real, glittering beauty?”
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 