Tag Archives: Something Good

Something Good

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The reminder in yoga class last week to look to nature, pay attention to how everything is moving to a season of rest and hibernation.

Thursday nights at Old Town Yoga, there’s a class called “Restoration, Rejuvenation and Aromatherapy.” It is described this way, which explains why I go:

This class invites you to allow yourself to truly relax. A gentle therapeutic style of yoga using props to support the body. It is a soothing and nurturing practice that promotes the effects of conscious relaxation.

I have classes I purchased and need to use before the first of the year, so I invited a few friends to go with me. The studio was cold, and we were all using so many blankets, and our teacher reads to us as we sink into the poses, and it felt like we were having a big slumber party. Our teacher talked about the light of the full moon and lightness of our breath, and how they balanced, contrasted with the heaviness of our physical bodies. She said that even though during this season in nature things slow down and turn inward, we remain busy, even busier because of the holiday and all we ask ourselves to do. She said we could instead consider and contemplate nature, see if there is anything we could learn from it.

image by Boaz Yiftach / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Dallas Clayton’s work.

I aspire to be the kind of artist, the kind of person that is true to myself and honest and brave and vulnerable and silly, but also does good for others, and because I am being who I am and doing it so exactly and so wholeheARTedly, the good I do is that much better. Dallas inspires me.

art by Dallas Clayton

TEDxFiDiWomen – SARK (Susan Rainbow Ariel Kennedy) Video.

It took me at least 45 minutes to watch this 16 minute video because I kept stopping and writing down things she was saying, making notes.

And then, a little moment of magic: for the second time, I was watching something unrelated to the Well-Fed Woman Mini-Retreatshop Tour, and saw Rachel W. Cole. This time, it was in the audience at this talk. During the segment where SARK reads a love letter she wrote to herself, who do I see in the audience?! RACHEL!

I even said her name out loud, just like that, but she didn’t look at me 🙂 But then, a few minutes later, she looked right at the camera and smiled.

Holy wow… It feels like the Universe winking at me.

“10 Things I Want To Tell Every Teenage Goddess” from Goddess Leonie

I posted the link to this on my 13 year old niece’s Facebook wall, and I hope she reads it. Although, #9 on the list could be for everyone (the whole list is for everyone, really):

9. The person who is happiest, wins. Happy people don’t bully. Happy people don’t give other people shit. Happy people are off making art under trees being kind to themselves and each other. Happy ALWAYS wins. Why don’t you be one of the gloriously happy weird ones?

Okay, I will! Amen.

Sam’s Birthday

Our “puppy” Sam turned two years old on Saturday. Here’s him at 3 months old, the week we brought him home, and then 2 years later on his birthday. He has been such a gift! Helped to heal our broken hearts when we lost our Obi.

Book Plates

My friend gave me a set of these for my birthday, and they are the perfect way to archive my journals. Previously, I stuck a post-it note to the front cover with a scribbled date range, and they were always falling off, but with these I can have the pretty plates placed inside the front cover. Now if there were only a simple way to create indexes for each of them…

SF Girl by Bay

This is a beautiful blog, written by a self-described San Francisco-based blogger, photographer, photo stylist, design junkie and bonafide flea market queen, representing “bohemian modern style.” I have no real style when it comes to home decor (unless dog hair and dirty laundry count as “style”), but aspire to it, and it makes me happy just to browse this blog.

This picture = happiness.

It has been reposted so many times, I can’t tell you were it’s originally from, but I’ll share it anyway, because I believe that whoever would take such a picture is one of the “gloriously happy weird ones” Goddess Leonie mentions in her list of 10 things, and I have to believe they would want as many people to see it as possible.

Something Good

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1. Monday is almost over. This is the last week of classes at CSU, and as in love as I ever was with my class and as much I adored my students, I am ready to be done now.

2. The art of Hugh MacLeod. He posts his work on his website, gapingvoid, and it is this lovely mix of sharply funny (like the edge of a knife sometimes), smart, and open-hearted.  In honor of the first item on this “Something Good” list, here’s one of my current favorites:

art by Hugh MacLeod

3. Seven Day Weekends. Not having to go to work for almost the whole week of Thanksgiving was great.  We should do that more often.

4. This kid, and everything about him and this video. The moment he takes a deep breath, wipes his tears, and holds up “But…I’m not going anywhere,” was the best, so brave. After you watch the video, make sure to read his update, which says, in part: “The video is real, and true…Love and peace to all who are hurting.” Amen.

5. Pine Ridge Holiday Project. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but I am just so in love with this, and I really think you should try it. You don’t have to be in Colorado, people from all over the world have taken part in the past, all you need to do is email Christine or Julie and get some names. In the last few days, they got more lists, specifically infants, and have so many kids, infants, and elders left who really need your help this season. From my heart: if you have enough this season and you are loved, please share that with someone who might not be so lucky.

6. “Women, Food, and God” Eating Guidelines. These are so simple, so complicated, and have been so helpful to me. I highly recommend this book to any woman who struggles with her relationship with food. Here they are, the seven guidelines to eating more consciously, (and if you can already do this, good for you–please be kind to those of us who are struggling):

Eat when you are hungry.

Eat sitting down in a calm environment. This does not include the car.

Eat without distractions. Distractions include radio, television, newspapers, books, intense or anxiety-producing conversations or music.

Eat what your body wants.

Eat until you are satisfied.

Eat (with the intention of being) in full view of others.

Eat with enjoyment, gusto and pleasure.

7. Felted animals. I have been in love with these since I first saw them.

by artist Alisha Harms

There are artists that will use a picture of your dog and make you one that looks just like them. If the ones who are really good at it didn’t charge so much ($299!–the work is worth that amount, but I just can’t justify spending it), I’d have ones made of Obi, Dexter, and Sam and take them with me everywhere. I’d especially like one of Obi. He’s gone, but I could carry his miniature around in my pocket. And I know just who I’d hire to make them for me: Kay from Canada, of Kay’s K9s.  Her work is amazing! Here are a few of her custom pieces:

Dexter’s Mini D is pretty good, but not quite as close of a match.

8. Sharing a banana with Sam every morning. No matter where he is in the house, no matter how soundly asleep, he hears the snap of the top of a banana and before I can get the first side peeled, he’s sitting in front of me asking for some. One thing I love so much about it, besides the cuteness of a dog eating a banana, is that Obi loved bananas too.  Right after he died, the first banana I had all to myself was the saddest thing ever, so Sam has returned eating a banana to a joyful practice.

9. The Idea Manifesto. This is the work of Bernadette Jiwa, a “Results Coach” born in Dublin and living in Perth, Australia.

10. Twinkly lights.

  • Love and peace to all who are hurting.