Tag Archives: Something Good

Something Good

Image by Eric, from their walk

1. 27 Responses to (Never-Ending) Diet Talk. “For fat people and those with eating disorders, diet talk isn’t as benign as it may seem. Here are some ways to respond to it.” In related news, World’s Worst Holiday Diet Tips and If Diet Company Slogans Were Honest, both from Dances with Fat.

2. Successful creatives from Seth Godin, because this, “the most reliably successful people I know are precisely the opposite. They are desperate to see and know what’s making other people tick. They actively engage, and they do it with empathy and generosity.”

3. More reading lists! Twelve feminist books everyone should read, The Award-Winning Novels of 2019, Happy Merry Memoir Reading, and The 50 Greatest Coming-of-Age Novels, and Decolonization and anti-racism: a reading list, 160+ novels by black women, 2000 – 2019, Favorite Books of 2019, and These are the top 20 books of 2019, according to Goodreads users, Award-Winning Novels of 2019, The most anticipated memoirs of 2020, and The Best Queer YA Novels of 2019.

4. Roo’s Story – Pet Cancer Awareness Month from one of our favorite trainers. Roo really was something special, and this story reminds me so much of both our cancer dogs.

5. Black Women Led the Way to Trump’s Impeachment. “We have never been Team Trump, and we never will be.”

6. Grief Becomes You by Maya Stein, “a collection of poems, essays, images, and other narratives of loss, a compilation of work from nearly 60 contributors from the United States and abroad.”

7. New Zealand man sets up ‘stick library’ for dogs.

8. the_happy_broadcast on Instagram, “Anxiety free news, a counter hate & fear project that features positive news from around the world illustrated by @maurogatti & friends.”

9. Fifteen Ways To Survive The Coming Collapse Of Civilization, from 2012 but worth a reread.

10. Your output depends on your input from Austin Kleon.

11. 31 Days of Devotion hosted by Adreanna Limbach, who is joined by “6 teachers for this FREE, online, annual mediation series that was developed to help you get grounded, clear, and intentional in the New Year.”

12. Koala-sniffing detection dog the latest weapon in saving wildlife after devastating bushfires.

13. I’m Not Your Typical Ultramarathoner. Here’s What I Want Everyone To Know About Size And Fitness. “Ultrarunner Mirna Valerio is here to tell you that the trails don’t care what you look like.”

14. Ram Dass, spiritual pioneer, dies at 88. In related news, The Wisdom of Ram Dass Is Now Online: Stream 150 of His Enlightened Spiritual Talks as Free Podcasts.

15. 70-Year-Old Woman Cleans Up 52 Beaches in a Year “For Her Grandchildren.”

16. Reforming My Relationship With Food and Exercise. “I deserve to be nourished and fulfilled. I deserve to be abundant. I needed to stop thinking of exercise as a punishment for the way I look.”

17. Striking Portraits Featuring Powerful Women of Color Painted by Artist Tim Okamura.

18. In Defense of McMindfulness. “Modern mindfulness may not bring about a social revolution, but was that the practice’s original goal?”

19. The Decade in Pictures on The New York Times.

20. 69-Vehicle Pileup on Virginia Highway Injures 51, Police Say on The New York Times.

21. Letter to the Editor: Historians Critique The 1619 Project, and We Respond on The New York Times. “Five historians wrote to us with their reservations. Our editor in chief replies.”

22. ‘The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show’ Revives A Classic Holiday Tradition.

23. UPS Delivery Guy vs. Icy Driveway. (video) “Last week we had an ice storm. My driveway was smooth, wet ice… super slippery. I heard the UPS truck pull up so I opened the garage and told him to just leave the package at the sidewalk and I’d figure out a way to get it, but he insisted on getting it to me. Above and beyond… this guy is awesome.”

24. Vaping Patients May Be Prone to Relapse, C.D.C. Warns on The New York Times. In related news, CDC Confirms A THC Additive, Vitamin E Acetate, Is The Culprit In Most Vaping Deaths, and Researchers still striving to understand cause of vaping-related illnesses, and Young people who vape are basically in denial about the risk of lung damage, says study.

25. Burnout Symptoms and Treatment. This is such an accurate description of what happened to me, what I’m experiencing, it’s almost embarrassing. Apparently, I’m a total cliche.

26. They asked, you answered: Heartsick Richmond animal shelter overwhelmed by locals’ love – and food.

27. The “four right exertions” of Buddhism teach you how to regain control of your own energy.

28. How Do You Even Get Started Writing a Book?

29. The House just voted to impeach Trump. In related news, Trump Wanted to Get Something Off His Chest, and in His Letter to Pelosi He Did on The New York Times, and President Donald Trump has officially been impeached.

30. Recipes I want to try: Raspberry Cream Cheese Sweet Rolls and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars.

31. 11 memes that captured the decade.

32. A Georgia family found an owl hiding in their Christmas tree.

33. SPLC, allies sue ICE for ignoring medical, mental health and disability needs of detained immigrants. #AbolishICE

34. How Do I Get This Out? Your Guide To Stain Removal.

35. Lynda Barry: A Comic Exercise in Building Character. “Create Your Characters and Build Their World in Less Than an Hour.”

36. 7 Comedy Specials That Transformed Stand-Up in the 2010s.

37. Four Students Wrote A Letter To Neighbor Asking If They Could Walk Her Dog, And “The Dog” Wrote Back.

38. Man Refuses To Pay Babysitter, So She Shares Their Text Convo To Shame Him.

39. Review: ‘The Rise Of Skywalker’ Makes For An Exciting, Exhaustive, Effortful Ending.

40. So, I’ve Been Breaking Up With Random People Over Text Message Again.

Something Good

From our walk

1. Building a Mindful New Year, a FREE online program with “6 Transcendent Themes / 6 Buddhist Teachers / 6 Meditations to Guide You into 2020.”

2. Eat to Love e-course. “A six-week online program based on the bestselling book Eat to Love: A Mindful Guide to Transforming Your Relationship with Food, Body, and Life. Led by nutrition therapist, meditation instructor, and certified Intuitive Eating counselor, Jenna Hollenstein, the Eat to Love e-course is a supportive and enriching environment to change your relationship with food and your body in a lasting way.”

3. Go, Dog, Go from Jena Schwartz. Because this, “The world will not crumble if you pause. The world will not crumble if I pause. The world will not crumble if the thing you are working on takes much, much longer than you ever could have imagined. But the world might crumble if you ignore what your soul is telling you, if you deny what your body needs, and if you override the deep knowing that never, ever leaves.”

4. Jillian Michaels Is Still Trying to Glamorize Bullying from Dances with Fat. “Fat people being allowed to exist, be happy, do stuff, live our lives, achieve things, be in the spotlight etc. aren’t ‘glamorizing fatness’ we’re just being happy, doing stuff, living our lives, achieving things, and being in the spotlight…There is no way to go ‘too far’ in the direction of people being treated with respect and equality regardless of size.” Also from Ragen, Fat People and Your Tax Dollars.

5. Manifest 2020 with Andrea Scher. “The New Year has always been such a rich time of reflection – a time to acknowledge how you grew this year, how you were brave, what was hard…and declare your year complete. This creates a beautiful space to vision what is to come. What if you could name your dreams and desires for 2020 and create a plan to make them reality?”

6. Read the Articles of Impeachment Against President Trump on The New York Times.

7. Merriam-Webster dictionary just announced the personal pronoun ‘they’ as 2019’s word of the year.

8. You’re Not Going Crazy: 15 Signs You’re a Victim of Gaslighting.

9. The Practice of Using December for Retreat, Reflection & Letting Go.

10. Good things from Susannah Conway: The Unraveled Heart, “a soulful monthly subscription to support you in building a deeper and more nourishing relationship with your self,” Find Your Word, “a FREE 5-day email course to help you figure out your word for the coming year,” and Unravel Your Year, a FREE workbook that helps you reflect and look ahead.

11. How the director of ‘Waves’ constructed one of the year’s most poignant soundtracks.

12. More reading lists! The Ultimate Best Books of 2019 List, and A 2020 reading challenge: 52 books by women of color in 52 weeks, and We read these 29 books in 2019. You should too, and The Best Reviewed Books of 2019: Memoir and Biography, and The Best Poetry Books of 2019.

13. Hey Yoga Teacher, Stop Touching People For No Reason.

14. Greta Asks Media to Focus on Other Young Climate Activists.

15. Fossil fuel companies responsible for more than half of ocean acidification, study says. “It certainly can’t hurt for individuals to try to limit their consumption of fossil fuels and other products that are the result of oil — things like single-use plastics, for instance. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that even with all of the consumption of these products that we are responsible for, the majority of the burden still lies with the companies that have chosen to continue extract, refine and peddle fossil fuels despite being armed with knowledge well in advance that doing so would damage the planet. No harm will come from reducing your own reliance on fossil fuels and related products — but more good will come from holding the real culprits responsible for their actions.”

16. Have you swept your rhino today? (video)

17. Weinstein and His Accusers Reach Tentative $25 Million Deal on The New York Times.

18. This is what an antiracist America would look like. How do we get there? “Opposing racism is not the same as building an antiracist society. Our new series, Antiracism and America, looks at the structures that sustain a racist society – and how we dismantle them.”

19. This app matches marginalized communities to therapists who share their background. “Teletherapy app Ayana matches users to licensed professionals based on their culture, race, and experiences. Can it help close the mental healthcare gap?”

20. We need to learn how to relax, without guilt. “Being busy all the time is part of the way we live. But, whether gardening, reading or spacing out on the sofa, taking time to rest is just as important.”

21. These Students Want to Create a Required K-12 Racial Literacy Curriculum. “The teen authors of Tell Me Who You Are want to change how American students are taught about race.”

22. Gifts For Writers 2019 from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

23. 21 Day Meditation Challenge Winter 2020. “A 21-Day Immersion in Wisdom, Compassion, and Community.”

24. Home: a 30 Day Yoga Journey with Yoga with Adriene.

25. How a denial of tenure at Harvard became a national controversy. “The decision is a blow to ethnic studies departments everywhere.”

26. Judiciary Committee Report Argues Trump ‘Betrayed the Nation’ on The New York Times. “The 658-page report asserts that President Trump should be impeached for abusing his office and obstructing the congressional inquiry into his actions.”

27. 99 Good News Stories You Probably Didn’t Hear About in 2019.

28. Hallmark Apologizes, Reverses Decision on Same-Sex Wedding Ad.

29. Most Women You Know Are Angry — and That’s All Right. This article is a few years old, but I feel like some people need reminding.

30. Experience: a burglar made me think I was losing my mind. “Things were going missing, but everybody told me it was probably nothing.” Something similar happened to me, although as far as I know nothing was taken. I’d come home and sometimes the inside of our house smelled like cigarettes, and someone kept tying all my shoes in my closet when I always put them away untied. One time I went home early from work because I was so sure someone had been in our house and I needed to go check. It made me feel crazy. After we moved out, we found out the maintenance man regularly went into people’s apartments when they weren’t there, without permission. He was a smoker.

31. Author Interview: ‘Imagine Pleasant Nonsense’ With ‘Strange Planet’ Creator Nathan Pyle.

32. ‘I Refuse to Listen to White Women Cry.’ “Activist Rachel Cargle has built a brand — and a business — by calling out racial injustices within feminism.”

33. Joe Hammond’s final article: ‘I’ve been saying goodbye to my family for two years.’ “Last year the author wrote about parenting with motor neurone disease. Here, he reflects on the end of life, before his death two weeks ago.”

34. Melania Trump Thinks Greta Thunberg Had POTUS Attack Coming.

35. Cards to Help Fat Patients at the Doctor’s Office – English and French Versions from Dances with Fat.

36. Fresh Air on NPR: What Happens To The Stuff You Donate?

37. For the Holidays, the Gift of Self-Care on The New York Times. “A Buddhist teacher offers five simple steps to quiet your mind and soothe your stress any time of year.”

38. Adorable doggo sneaks into the house next door to join their kids’ bath every night.