Patti Digh | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

So great to be partnering with Wanderlust to share this list with a larger audience.

1. Multitasking is Killing Your Brain. “Multitasking is not a skill to add to the resume, but rather a bad habit to put a stop to.”

2. Wisdom from Pema Chödrön, from her book Start Where You Are: a Guide to Compassionate Living, “The reason that people harm other people, the reason that the planet is polluted and people and animals are not doing so well these days is that individuals don’t know or trust or love themselves enough.” So simple. So incredibly complicated.

3. Good stuff from Patti Digh: Your life is the vision board. Better get a new glue stick. and strong offer Friday : transform terror into commitment, and entitlement into hope, which includes the video and transcript of Laurie Foley’s Life is a Verb Camp talk.

4. The Best Female Rock Climber In the World is 14 Years Old (so cool) from Great Big Story, whose tagline is “From the cosmos to cosplay and pizza to our very planet itself, it’s time to feed your feed with the most curious and compelling stories being told.” Take some time and check out their other videos.

5. Let Them Eat Cake: My Weight Restoration Story. Because this, “The only weight that I needed to drop was that of internalized misogynistic self-hate. I didn’t need to lose any pounds. I needed to lose the sound of “You’re worthless” that reverberated in my ears — in my own voice — every time I had a craving for chocolate or was too tired to go to the gym.”

6. Husband Asks Wife To Draw What’s On Her Mind, Gets More Than He Expected. #same

7. New music: Paublo Nouvelle. This is my jam. There used to be an online radio station called Beach House Radio, and if they were still around, they’d totally be playing this. I heard him first on the Chill station I listen to on SiriusXM satellite radio (so good, “downtempo electronic and deep house”), but you can also find his stuff on SoundCloud and YouTube, or buy his new CD.

8. Bringing Kindness, Full Stop on Allowing Myself. Justine told me recently that when she got her yearly blog report, it showed I shared her stuff the most of anyone — because she’s so good.

9. Dog Breaks Out Of Kennel To Comfort Abandoned Crying Puppies. This story gives me all the feels. Here’s the video.

10. 13 Plus-Size Models Killing The Fashion Game Right Now. Next step: stop calling them “plus size” and just call them models.

11. You Get To Decide from Michele Woodward. This is an older piece, but I wanted to share it again in honor of Laurie, who entered hospice this past week. Here’s a podcast she did a few years ago, Episode 7 – Laurie Foley – A Practice to Find God.

12. Life Before And After Getting A Dog (9 Pics). Word.

13. One-of-Kind Wool Rug Artworks by Alexandra Kehayoglou Mimic Rolling Pastures and Mossy Textures. These are amazing.

14. The One Thing We Need To See In Plus Size Fashion In 2016, (p.s. besides that thing where we stopped called it “plus size” and just call it fashion).

15. the shutterbugs: salva lópez on SF Girl by Bay. The colors, the wood and the plants and the light, the patina — so gorgeous.

16. 10 Reasons I Ditched Dieting from Dances With Fat. Amen.

17. Toddler GoPro Hide and Seek. “Strap a GoPro to your toddler and play Hide & Seek. So much awesome!” So cute.

18. Refugee Girls Got To Dress Up As What They Want To Be When They Grow Up. “The International Rescue Committee recently sent photographer Meredith Hutchison to meet with young girls in two refugee camps in Jordan and ask them about their hopes and dreams.”

19.‘Stop using BMI as measure of health,’ say researchers. Yes, please. In related news, BMI mislabels 54 million Americans as ‘overweight’ or ‘obese,’ study says.

20. The new Beyoncé video is nearly five minutes of unapologetic blackness.

21. The 20 Funniest Tweets From Women This Week.

22. Not Just a Death, a System Failure.

23. No exceptions from Chookooloonks. “If you want to be good at your job, at parenting and/or at life, you must practice self care. No exceptions.”

24. The Powerful Super Bowl Ad That Washington Redskins’ Owner Dan Snyder Needs to See. Word.

25. Super Bowl commercials 2016: the 9 best and 5 worst ads.

26. “Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Me” from Amy McCracken, one of my favorite writers, one of my favorite humans, and this is just one reason why.

Image by Joanna Kosinska, who has a beautiful set on Unsplash

1. No, you are not an hysterical female, and this is not just anxiety. One of the most important things you could ever read, from Patti Digh. Spoiler alert: Patti knew she wasn’t feeling right, but kept coming up against doctors wanting to dismiss her symptoms as anxiety, until she had a heart attack, followed by surgery. After she came home from the hospital, she wrote this beautiful piece, When you break open, it happens by surprise.

2. Liz Kalloch’s Tools & Talismans project. (P.S. I was lucky enough to be a part of this. Her work is beautiful, makes my work look beautiful in the translation).

3. Do We Matter? If we want to…

4. This Is How Adele’s “Hello” Would Sound In Reggae Style. I can’t get enough of covers of this song.

5. 11 Reasons Your ‘Concern’ for Fat People’s Health Isn’t Helping Anyone. Word.

6. Shaq Joins Kind Cop After Viral Basketball Video, to Surprise Kids in Rematch. More of this, please.

7. Talented 16-Year-Old Artist Turns Her Wildest Dreams Into Paintings. This kind of thing makes me believe in reincarnation, because where else does a 16 year old get this kind of talent?! How else could you explain it?!

8. Dog Is Let Out To Go To The Bathroom, Casually Runs Half-Marathon Instead. She came in 7th!

9. Is mindfulness making us ill? “It’s the relaxation technique of choice, popular with employers and even the NHS. But some have found it can have unexpected effects.” This is just one reason why it’s important to study in an established lineage, with the support of a teacher and community.

10. #1000BlackGirlBooks: 11-Year-Old Philanthropist Launches International Book Drive.

11. The happiest four words. The saddest four words. From The Bloggess. The comments are the best. Also, this: For David. For you.

12. What Is Suffering? 10 Buddhist Teachers Weigh In from Lion’s Roar.

13. A constant buzzing of self-blame from Kirsten Akens.

14. When Can Women Stop Trying to Look Perfect? I think I may have already shared this when it was first published, but it’s worth a repeat.

15. Dogs Vs. Stairs, a hilarious video compilation.

16. 15 Life Hack things do with binder a clip.

17. The problem isn’t that life is unfair – it’s your broken idea of fairness. Oh, snap.

18. People wrote down their biggest regrets on a chalkboard for all of New York City to see. What’s yours?

19. Incredible snow works made by ‘snow artist’ – using only snowshoes. Impermanent art. Amazing.

20. Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic, a recipe from Barefoot Contessa. Sounds yummy.

21. Best couple ever Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard made a music video for their Africa vacation. The only part of this I didn’t like is when they chased the giraffes.

22. Five years ago yesterday I started writing from Renegade Mothering. “So, hey. I think you should say the thing you want to say even if you’re sure nobody is listening and I think you should say it in the way you want to say it because it doesn’t matter that they all like us. It matters only that a few like us in their bones.”

23. Hedgehographer, nothing but hedgehogs, my new favorite Instagram account.

24. ‘This Song Is Uncomfortable’: Macklemore On The Contradictions Of ‘White Privilege.’ Feels like less of a song and more of an opera to me.

25. Watch 9 kids demonstrate why grown-ups need to stop asking, ‘Is race still a factor?’ from Upworthy.

26. Heartmelting Pics Of Aging Dogs Show Them Grow From Puppyhood To Old Age. Would that they all got old and died an easy death.

27. These 39 Sites Have Amazing Stock Photos You Can Use For Free. What a GREAT list of resources!

28. Carol Burnett’s Powerful Speech at the SAG Awards Addresses Gender Discrimination. Oh how I adore her. Netflix needs to add her show — it would be the best binge watch ever.