Tag Archives: Susan Piver

Something Good

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is a U.S. federal holiday marking the birth of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. At the age of 35, he was the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, choosing to turn over the award ($54,123) in order to further the civil rights movement. His commitment to non-violent change, to standing up for civil rights (or sitting down for, as the case may be), speaking out against popular opinion in the face of a clear injustice, is worth remembering, worth celebrating, worth an aspiration or two. I was reading quotes from MLK this morning, and thinking about how smart, how brave, and how kind his words, his way of being in the world: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. photographed by Marion S. Trikosko, 1964.

Another good, related read is “5 Lessons from MLK on Living, Leading, & Communicating” from Jeff Goins.

Seth Godin and the TED Imperatives

In a blog post by Seth Godin this week, he shared:

The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) imperatives

  1. Be interested.
  2. Be generous.
  3. Be interesting.
  4. Connect.

He goes on to suggest that these “aren’t just principles for TED, of course. They’re valid guidelines for any time you choose to stop hiding and step out into the world.” Amen!

Downtown Abbey

I haven’t started watching this yet, but people can’t seem to stop talking about it, and I just noticed that the first season is available on Netflix streaming.

“Fearless Creativity” with Susan Piver

“Fearless Creativity: A Meditation & Writing Retreat with Susan Piver” is going to be held at the Shambhala Mountain Center, April 13th-16th. Guess who gets to go? ME!!! So excited…Holy wow! I’ve mentioned Susan and her Open Heart Project here many times. She is an amazing teacher, smart and kind and funny, and this retreat is a gift I am giving to my artist self, to my sad and tender warrior heart.

Meditation Hall at Warrior Assembly, Shambhala Mountain Center, Summer of 2009

Susannah Conway

I have a big, fat girl crush on Susannah Conway–yet another amazing woman, teacher, artist, and love warrior you have heard me talk about before. I love, love, love her work. I preordered her next book, “This I Know: Notes on Unraveling the Heart.” Her recent “My ABC of important things” is a great post, a great idea for a writing prompt. And as soon as registration opens, I am signing up for her e-course “Blogging from the Heart.” Her perspective, one that she shares with kindness and an open heart, presents grace and stillness and beauty, freely to anyone who chooses to see.

Image by Susannah Conway, "Stillness" Series

Creative Living with Jamie Ridler

Okay, I didn’t realize until just now that today’s Something Good has a strong focus on all the amazing women I am in love with right now. One more is Jamie Ridler, who hosts Wishcasting Wednesdays and Full Moon Dreamboards, and does a great podcast, “Creative Living.” This past week, she talked with Julia Cameron, (you might have heard of a little book she wrote, The Artist’s Way). In looking through her archive, I also see she talked with Susan Piver, Tara Mohr, Rachel W. Cole, Britt Bravo, Brene’ Brown, Chris Guillebeau, Jennifer Louden, Patti Digh, Susannah Conway–okay, I have to stop listing them because I am feeling a little dizzy and about to swoon! So many good people, and an archive of two years worth of these interviews on Jamie’s site.

Gratitude

“48 things to be grateful for when you need to shift your focus.” I am grateful for this list, and to Susannah Conway for sharing it in her “Something for the weekend” post this week.

One of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

“Enjoy Every Sandwich” Book Trailer

This is heartbreaking and inspiring, in equal measure.

The Joy of Books

Great video, must have taken forever to put together.

Sh*t New Age Girls Say

I swear, this is the last one I’ll share, because I am noticing that this meme is starting to spin into mean, even racist and homophobic territory, but this one makes me laugh. “I saw my first UFO at Burning Man.”

Dexter napping on the footstool

My boys can turn anything into a dog bed.

Guest Post by Rachel W. Cole


Yup, you heard that right: later today I’ll be publishing a special guest post “Three Truths and One Wish with Rachel W. Cole.” P.S. There is still time to register for the Well-Fed Woman Mini-Retreatshop here in Fort Collins, but you should hurry! Jamie Ridler did a Creative Living podcast with Rachel this summer that you might also be interested in.

Wishing you lots of good things this Monday, and always!

Day of Rest

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Confession: so far, I am doing a terrible job of being on retreat. I have managed very little balance or rest, minimal practice, and transformation is a long way off. But that’s okay, because today (each moment) is another opportunity to try, to begin again–and I am grateful for that. I also appreciate that the open-hearted, brave warrior Susan Piver shared the following video so I could see it and share it with you. Another kind soul shared a link to a transcript of the video.

Even if you can’t manage to give the whole day over to rest, watch this video, read the words, let them sink into your heart and contemplate them. Feel the grace of gratitude.

You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that is given to you: today. It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now. And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.

If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response through the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.

Begin by opening your eyes and be surprised that you have eyes you can open, that incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us for pure enjoyment. Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky. We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment with clouds coming and going. We just think of the weather, and even of the weather, we don’t think of all the many nuances of weather. We just think of good weather and bad weather. This day, right now, this unique weather, may be a kind that will never exactly in that form come again. The formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same as it is right now. Open your eyes; look at that.

Look at the faces of people whom you meet. Each one has an incredible story behind their face. A story you can never fully fathom; not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors. We all go back so far.  And in this present moment, on this day, all the people you meet, all that life, from generations and from so many places all over the world flows together and meets you here like a life-giving water, if you only open your heart and drink.

Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us. You flip a switch and there is electric light. You turn a faucet and there is warm water, cold water, and drinkable water. It is a gift that millions and millions in the world will never experience. These are just a few of an enormous number of gifts to which we can open our hearts.

And so, I wish you that you will open your heart to all these blessings. And let them flow through you. That everyone who you will meet on the street will be blessed by you. Just by your eyes. By your smile. By your touch. Just by your presence.

Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you. Then it will really be a good day.

(Thanks to this post for the transcript).

I am grateful, kind and gentle reader. For you, this chance to share and to see, to know grace and feel gratitude–all of it. What about you?

It’s going to be a good day.