Tag Archives: Rachel W. Cole

Something Good

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1. Before and after of a mess. I realize that this is really only something good for me, but I still wanted to share it.

before

after

2. Got my shirt! It fits and it makes me smile.

3. Peonies. I don’t know why, but I am obsessed with them right now. I am planting at least three or four bushes when we redo our front yard so I can have them on my writing desk the whole season.

4. Obi’s rose bloomed. I’m not sure what kind of rose bush this is, but the smell and color is intense, and each bud has about 1000 petals. It grows next to one of Obi’s favorite places in the yard, by the back fence in a spot where he could see both the front and the back.

In the last months that he was alive, every time a new bloom would burst, I’d wonder which would last longer, the rose or Obi. I took a picture of him next to that rosebush during those last nine months that ended up being the picture I posted on Facebook the morning he died. Maybe it’s because I’ve been spending so much time in the backyard lately, but I have been missing that boy like crazy.

5. I can no longer, another great post from Christa at Carry it Forward.

6. The (Fearless) Love Essays by Judy Clement Wall. They’re here, they’re here! I can’t wait to read my copy. And Judy so wants them read, she’s offering them at variable pricing ($7 suggested), so if you can’t pay, you can still download a copy–because that’s how she rolls!

7. An excerpt from Patti Digh’s Commencement Address at Guilford College:

Carol Sanders…writes… “Follow the idea that calls you. As you start on your own life’s passage, follow the idea that makes you wake in the morning without an alarm, that calls you to scribble ideas on napkins and scrap paper and to lose all sense of time, that makes your heart beat faster at every corner with the endless possibilities.”

Yes, please!

8. Cultivate Your Play Ethic by Hannah Kane on Scoutie Girl.

9. Becoming the Person You Were Meant to Be: Where to Start by Anne Lamott. One of my favorite quotes from this is “We begin to find and become ourselves when we notice how we are already found, already truly, entirely, wildly, messily, marvelously who we were born to be.” Amen.

10. The 3 Most Important Questions by Vishen Lakhiani. Holy crap, this is gooooood. Watch it, do the practice, do it now.

11. Summer Manifesto. I love this idea, want to write one–way better idea than my summer to-do list.

12. 27 DOs + DON’Ts for being a badass woman from Justine Musk. Listen to this woman, she’s a badass.

13. Call Your Girlfriend Robyn/Erato cover by Lennon & Maisy Stella. I loved the original version of this song, but I loooove these girls. They were on the Today Show, or some similar morning show performing this week. I want them to come to my house and sing me to sleep every night.

14. Infusing Play into Mundane Tasks from Leo Babauta at Zen Habits. I like the way he thinks.

15. Joan Didion on Self-Respect on Brain Pickings.

16. A Girl and Her Room: Portraits of Teenage Girls’ Inner Worlds Through Their Bedroom Interiors on Brain Pickings.

17. This quote from Geneen Roth:

For some reason, we are truly convinced that if we criticize ourselves, the criticism will lead to change. If we are harsh, we believe we will end up being kind. If we shame ourselves, we believe we end up loving ourselves. It has never been true, not for a moment, that shame leads to love. Only love leads to love.

Amen.

18. Good advice for those attending the World Domination Summit with me (and hundreds of other people) in July.

  • A Story of Yes, from Andrea Scher on Superhero Journal, posted last year but still relevant, (she’ll be presenting again this year).

19. Live the Questions: Jacqueline Novogratz’s Advice to Graduates. Another commencement speech, another post from Brain Pickings.

20. Rilke on Embracing Uncertainty and Living the Questions on Brain Pickings.  Sorry for yet another, but this site was on fire this week.

21. Message from your Inner Pilot Light: When you choose to numb out – whether you numb out with TV, sugar, alcohol, drugs, smoking, or busyness – you dim my light. When you’re brave enough to face the truth, you’ll feel me glowing in the center of your chest, warm, steady, increasing in strength. Are you willing to face the truth without numbing out? With me, you’re safe to face anything. I’m right here.

22. A special offer from Susannah Conway. You already know how much I love this book, this woman, and this is a really great offer from her. Class starts tomorrow, so there’s still time!

22. Telling True Stories with Laurie Wagner, class starts on June 18th. I took the first round of this class, and highly and wholeheartedly recommend it.

Bonus something good: As someone who lived this era (the 80s) and loves a good musical almost more than anything, if this movie works, it will be so friggin’ awesome!

Something Good

3 Replies

This is going to be a long list, lots of good stuff, so let’s get started…

1. Brene’ Brown wrote a new book. Releases on September 9th, but available for pre-order now. (Something good just for me: I’m going to a two day workshop with her in Boulder this weekend.)


2. Rachel Cole reminds us of “The Importance of Crying in Public.” Thank goodness, because I’ve been doing a bit of that today. This post is heartbreaking, honest, and empowering.

3. Broken Open to Greatness: Transforming Tragedy into Triumph, guest post by Jennifer Boykin on Jonathan Field’s blog.

4. 25 Blogging Tips from Jeff Goins.

5. Master Mind Your $100 Startup, a group of great people having an interesting conversation.

6. Laura Simms video about the $100 Startup.

7. Geneen Roth talking with Eckhart Tolle, about “Changing Your Relationship With Money: Make the connection between what you want and what you need.”

8. Patti Digh gave a commencement speech at Gilford College, The Geography of Verbs.

9. How to Live Well from Leo Babauta of ZenHabits. This is so important. You should really read it.

10. Five Reasons You Should Laugh More from Positively Present, a good reminder, if you needed reasons.

11. I want to make these.

12. I’m going to learn to do this.

13. 35 Greatest Animal Photobomers of All Time. You’ve most likely already seen this one around the interwebs.


14. This a good question to ask yourself, “What are you holding on to that’s no longer serving you?” from Jenn at Roots of She.

15. These two posts from SF Girl by Bay make me happy: A Handmade Home and Tulpina, Unique Floral Design.

16. 10 Things I’ve Learned from Anne Lamott. I adore Anne Lamott. She said of this post, “This person really did an amazing job of distlling what I am hoping to convey in my work. I’d forgotten writing in Op Ins that we’d all thought that having a kid wd be more like having a cat. And mostly I think that if I have a message, it is that we can unlearn the stupid, perfectionistic, efficiency-and-achievement driven BS our parents instilled in us. we NEED to “waste” time and paper if we are going to become artists. We need to fail and flail more, and make more messes and mistakes, not less. Send money to the Sierra Club every few months and then feel free toOVER-print-out your drafts, so you can hold the paper in your hands, and scribble on it with pen or pencil, and hear the sound of it between your fingers. That is an ancient and sacred sound.”

17. Thinks Like Me from ZeFrank. It’s hard to not have a crush on this boy.

18. Things I’m Afraid to Tell You. This is a great collection of posts, and a brave writing prompt idea.

19. Ronna Detrick and Fabeku Fatunmise talking about “Bigness.” The way he describes it, bigness sounds an awful lot like basic goodness.

20. This quote from Jennifer Louden, which describes exactly my reason for writing (besides the fact that I love it), my reason for practicing, my reason for living:

…because I am here to practice being beloved. And to teach this practice. To help myself, and hopefully you, know, through every cell of our being, that we are beloved. To know that truth as the glue that holds us together. Then, by knowing ourselves beloved, we hold every creature beloved, too. And act accordingly.

21. Exploded flowers.