Tag Archives: Music

Something Good

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Charter for Compassion

This isn’t something new, just something worth reminding you about, and as important now (or more?) as it was two years ago.

Reboot Program Resource

“Rebooting” is what Joe Cross from the documentary Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead called his juice fast, and this website is inspired by the film. Even if you don’t want to do a fast, just want to eat healthier, be healthier, this site is a great resource. I started with this page: Simple Eating Guidelines. (P.S. This site seemed to be having some hiccups today, so hopefully the link will work for you).

Naked Mango & Veggie Smoothie

As you may have heard, I am contemplating doing a juice fast. In preparation, I bought a bunch of premade juices to see what combinations I might like. I tried this one this morning, and it was like drinking sunshine.

Sunday Services with Ronna Detrick

She describes these this way: “Smart, engaging conversation about topics that matter.” She’s talked with a few of my favorite people. It’s worth a listen.

Fiona the Blind Trash Can Dog Rescued

Last year, Eldad and Audrey Hagar found Fiona — sick, blind, flea-infested and covered in grime — in a trash heap in South Los Angeles, and rescued her. If you have been reading this blog for more than a day, you already know that I love dogs with my whole heart. I resisted watching this video at first, but was so happy I finally did. Yes, it broke my heart, made me weep, but the ending is so so happy.

GoD and DoG

I can’t share that story without sharing this video, and if you watched the one about Fiona, you’ve already got a tissue. Amen, Bow Wow.

The Art of Getting Creatively Unstuck, by Justine Musk

Yes, another article by Justine Musk, but like I’ve said before, she’s on fire. How can I help it, how can I not love her? How can I when she is so brilliant and her website tagline is “because you’re a creative badass”?

The Rule of H.A.L.T.

This is actually something from Alcoholics Anonymous, and I’ve also seen it used in the context of developing healthy eating habits, but I realized this weekend that it might prove useful to anyone trying to change a habit, take better care of themselves, learn balance. The A.A. intent is to keep yourself from relapsing as an alcoholic, but I think it would also work to keep yourself from doing whatever it is you do that’s not healthy, not in your best interest, would help to keep you from getting hooked by whatever it is, from giving in to old behaviors or ways of being that no longer serve you: “Don’t become too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.” It’s a good rule for taking care of yourself in general, enit?

Why PLAY is a matter of life & death

In a comment on this post on Unicorns for Socialism, I told Alexandra that it’s like the universe keeps whispering in her ear “write this” as a roundabout way to get me the exact message I need. I had read the original piece she references here, but the reminder was so welcome. Go ahead and ignore everything else on today’s list, but you should absolutely read both posts, Alexandra’s and the original. She shares the five wishes from “The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying” by Bronnie Ware, (who went on to write a whole book on the subject after making her original post). The top five are this:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself —
not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Assuming this list is utterly true, what are a few things you might start doing differently?

Songs I Love Right Now

I had a few videos I wanted to share this week, like a cover of Hall and Oates “I Can’t Go For That” by Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers:

And my new favorite song, “Feel So Close” by Calvin Harris:

But that wasn’t enough, so I made you a “mix tape.” Have your own Monday dance party, be a one person flash mob, start a spontanious disco in the hallway at work. Enjoy! P.S. I apologize that there are a few commercials in the mix, but I wanted to include the original videos when I could: Songs I Love Right Now.

Joy Jam + Little Bliss List = Gratitude Friday

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Typically, I do the Joy Jam on Friday, but lately, my friend and fellow blogger Lindsay seems to be the only one jamming with me, so I am going to add my list to Liv Lane’s “Little Bliss List,” and do like Lindsay has and just call the whole thing “Gratitude Friday.”

Liv describes her list this way: “Every Friday, the Little Bliss List provides a chance for us to celebrate the little things that brought us hope and happiness this week. I do believe when we focus on the sweet stuff of life, the sweet stuff multiplies. And by sharing those small gifts in our lives, we help others notice the gifts in theirs.”

What I was grateful for this week:

1. Downton Abbey. If you haven’t heard of this show, you are living under a rock. People in my neck of the woods haven’t been able to stop talking about it, so this week I finally started watching it, and oh how the nerd girl in me loves it, the one who devours period novels and loves the theater. I can’t help thinking as I watch it, however, that if I had been alive during that time, I would have been of the class that worked in a factory or on a farm, and my life would have been so much harder.

2. The weather. Blah, blah, Jill, you’ve said it before, BUT: what was special about this week is that I had my first, official “sit in the backyard in a lawn chair with the dogs and read a book” session! This is one of my most favorite things to do, and for the first time, because the weather was warm but not too hot, I could lazily and easily sit, read and dream and stare at my toes, and watch my dogs relax and roll in the grass.

3. Clean bill of health for the dogs. We went to the vet yesterday and Sam let himself be handled and prodded and shot, without a single growl or any rude behavior, and the vet, rather than remarking on how old Dexter was getting, described him as being in shape “like an athlete.” Healthy and happy all around.

4. “I trust the power of my true self.” This guided meditation, read by the open-hearted, wise and generous Julia at Painted Path, was such a gift, she is such a gift.

5. Blogging from the Heart. We are only two weeks in to the class, and it has exceeded every expectation I had. I have the biggest girl crush ever on Susannah Conway right now. Registration for her “Unravelling: Ways of Seeing Myself” class opens on Saturday, March 17th.

Bonus Joy: Music. I have been listening a lot to dreamy boy singers like Bon Iver, Alexi Murdoch, and Ben Howard. Two heartbreakingly beautiful songs I’ve listened to over and over this week are these:

May the Grace of God be with you always, in your heart
May you know the truth inside you from the start
May you find the strength to know that you are a
Part of something beautiful…

And this next one isn’t a dreamy boy, but a girl, and it’s sad, heartbreaking, but if you’ve ever felt loss or grief, you will recognize that it’s true, true, true.

Nothing comes easily
Fill this empty space
Nothing is like it was
Turn my grief to grace

Oh, dear reader: Life is messy. Hard. And beautiful.