Tag Archives: Painted Path

Something Good

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1.This quote: I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. ~John Burroughs

2. The Conversation: Transformation episode. This is a really great show. On this episode, Amanda de Cadenet talks with Melissa McCarthy, one of my favorite actresses. She also interviews Diane von Furstenberg, Glenda Bailey, and Miley Cyrus. Here’s a short clip (go here to view the full episode, Melissa McCarthy’s interview starts at minute 10:23).

3. The day I lost everything & how you can lose everything too on Writing Our Way Home. A good reminder from Fiona Robyn.

4. I am the one, on Painted Path. Another good reminder from the always wonderful and inspiring Julia Fehrenbacher.

5. The Little Guide to Contentedness on ZenHabits. And yet another good reminder from the kind and gentle Leo Babauta. Also from Leo, but on his other site, mnmlist, Living for Everyone Else, in which he says:

When it comes to others, be helpful, compassionate, grateful. But don’t live up to their expectations. You’ll be freed of the shackles of meaningless customs, so that you can live as you want.

6. Radio Time Machine. This is fun. I first heard about it in an interview with the creator on NPR this weekend. I am listening to 1986 (the year I graduated from high school) as I write this, and Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love is playing while I have flashbacks.

7. Sense and Sensitivity on Psychology Today, an article about Highly Sensitive People. You know at least one of them, (hint: me).

8. Thing Finding Thursday with Michelle Ward from Tanya Geisler. This whole series is really great, but this one is especially good, and there’s singing!

9. Create your own writing retreat from Jennifer Louden. More and more, I’m thinking that retreat is super important, and I also know that “retreat” doesn’t mean you have to go somewhere private and/or exotic for a long period of time. Small retreats at home are perfectly workable and beneficial, and you don’t have to be a writer or a meditation practitioner to go on a retreat.

10. You: A Love Letter by Sunni on The Daily Breadcrumb.

11. Being here: starting the work of letting go by Jenn on Roots of She. I shared the link to the first part of this exploration in my Something Good list last week. This is the follow-up, which asks the important question: What is stopping you from letting your stuff go?

12. How to Listen by Bindu Wiles. I really liked this, since just this week I’ve been thinking so much about Right Speech.

13. When You Have a Bad Day on Be More with Less. I don’t need it today, but I’m going to save the link for when I do need this reminder from Courtney Carver.

14. And on the day I need the above link, this might help too: 75 Day-Brightening Stories of Generosity on Marc and Angel Hack Life.

15. Droopy, wilting, fully bloomed roses from my garden. I love them as much when they are almost dead as when they are new.

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.