And I can't pass up mentioning these posts as well:
Dani Shapiro on The Noble Failure: "So. Failure. What does it mean, to attempt failure? I think it's actually incredibly liberating."
My Squam yoga instructor, Michelle Madden Smith's account of her vacation in "paradise": "i want to wrap this all up in a nice little package and put a bow on it…but i can’t seem to find the lesson that ties it all together. because there isn’t one."
Kal Barteski's Ugly Beautiful Truths here and here - and the comments: "Sometimes the truth isn't beautiful. Sometimes there's beautiful in the truth."
And, of course, there are situations in the world that just aren't beautiful. Looking at images of the tragedy in Japan and worrying about family members there, feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the suffering, my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected. My deepest wish is that in the midst of the sadness and fear and loss that there may still shine moments of beauty and love and hope.
I hope you enjoyed this past week and my own humble version of one of the most popular books in a fine press book collection I help oversee at my work, The Temple of Flora. It was such a fun treat on that gray Sunday when I visited Cheekwood to find all of those glorious flowers!
Once again I've been knocked out by so many wonderful, inspiring posts on the blogs I follow. I just have to share a few excerpts here:
"What takes a lot out of me is trying to be someone I’m not. Truly, when I can settle in to being utterly myself and not think I’m supposed to be wise or know it all, I have a blast." from Susannah Conway's interview with Jennifer Loudon
"For me, the spiritual journey is not about growing more certain about the world, but embracing more and more the mystery at the heart of everything. In a world where so many people are so very certain about the nature of things, especially in religious circles about who God includes and excludes, I believe unknowing calls us to a radical humility." from Kristin Noelle's interview with Christine Valters Paintner on Trust Tending
"But the things that are before us must be walked through, whether words come along for the ride or not. My body has come to mean so much more to me these days--I feel things in my joints and in my chest and remember that I have not quite laid them down. I feel my toes pressing into the earth when there is nowhere to stand but here, and when I'm not sure which way to go I let one foot simply move in front of the other." from the ever-lovely Jen Lee
I always enjoying checking out what my friend Lily has to say on her fabulous blog. I was blown away by the video she shared last week of Neil Pasricha, whose 1000 Awesome Things I mentioned here last spring. I love checking out his awesome thing of the day, but I have even deeper appreciation and respect for him having watched his TED video and think you might find it inspiring, too. Enjoy! (And a big Thank You to Lily for bringing this to my attention!:) )
Narayanan Krishnan, a former chef in a five star restaurant in India...was interviewing for lucrative culinary positions in Europe. But that all changed when [he] decided to make a quick trip home to his native Madurai, a small community in south India, before leaving to interview for a position in Switzerland...Narayanan Krishnan was so troubled by the image of an elderly man in his community eating his own waste out of desperate hunger, that a week later he quit his job in a 5 star restaurant to feed the hungry in his own community.
Krishnan founded the nonprofit, Akshaya Trust in 2003 and today he feeds nearly 400 people daily. At only 29 years old, Krishnan has fed over 1.2 million meals to the hungry, according to CNN. Every day, he wakes up at 4 am, cooks a simple hot meal and then, along with his team, loads it in a van and travels about 200 km feeding the homeless in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Krishnan feeds, often with his hands, almost 400 destitute people every day. And for those who need it, he provides a free haircut too.
If you find this as touching and inspiring as I do, you can watch Narayanan Krishnan in action in this video.
This weekend is my friend Jon Bernie's fall retreat. Oh, those lovely, lucky participants! But for the rest of us, here's another great video:
Oh, hooray - they got a better picture this time! If you're enjoying these little snippets, you might be interested to know that you can listen to entire satsangs here.
And in keeping with the theme of "Whatever Works," which may or may not work for you, I'd love to mention the Poetry Chaikhana website that one of my dear loved ones turned me onto recently. Ivan Granger, creator of Poetry Chaikhana, has this to say about where the name came from:
"A chaikhana is a teahouse along the legendary Silk Road pilgrimage and trading route linking China to the Middle East and Europe. It is a place of rest along the journey, a place to shake off the dust of the road, to sip tea, and to gather together to sing songs of the Divine..."
And this to say about the focus of Poetry Chaikhana:
"The Poetry Chaikhana joyfully shares the sacred poetry of cultures, religions, and spiritual traditions from around the world.
"There is, however, a definite Middle Eastern theme to the Poetry Chaikhana. This is partly to honor of the centuries of vibrant, ecstatic, devotional, irreverant, and truly profound sacred poetry the region has given to the world. But another important reason for the Middle Eastern flavor of the site is in order to counter the miserably limited portrayal of Middle Eastern cultures and religion we are given in the West."
And this to say about what poetry means to him:
"Poetry has an immediate effect on the mind. The simple act of reading poetry alters thought patterns and the shuttle of the breath. Poetry induces trance. Its words are chant. Its rhythms are drum beats. Its images become the icons of the inner eye. Poetry is more than a description of the sacred experience; it carries the experience itself."
Pretty great stuff! You can subscribe to the email and he'll send you a beautiful poem with thoughtful commentary a couple of times a week, or you can visit or subscribe to the blog. Lots there to enjoy!
I'm so grateful for the amazing wisdom people share. And I've really been struck by the meditations on surrender I found on a few of my favorites blogs in the past few days. This is a topic I've been thinking about a lot since seeing Thirteen Conversations About One Thing a while back. So I thought I'd share some snippets here and possibly introduce you to some amazing women.
"Drawing on this stillness is the same practice no matter what situation I am confronted with ~ no matter what disappointment, frustration, opportunity, vision, or circumstance. And that practice is about trust, about knowing ~ not just believing ~ that my life is going to unfold on a daily basis in ways I cannot predict, and so instead of resisting that and trying to shape it into what I think it should be, I can let go and simply take the best possible care of myself in whatever situation I am in." ~Christine Mason Miller
"Just like that. Poof! As if I’d sprayed funk-be-gone all over my psyche. And I realized that, indeed, you’re sometimes better off accepting certain situations rather than fighting like hell. It’s all about channeling your inner Kenny; know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em, folks." ~Jeanine Caron
"Things were not okay. And yet, when I finally stopped fighting the questions and the sadness and allowed myself to simply be sad and confused, I realised that actually everything was okay. Even when things are not at all okay in the way I wanted and expected them to be okay, they are still okay." ~Marianne Elliott
As I've mentioned here before, I really enjoy the Spring: Inspiration in Bloom project and all the wonderful women who participate. And during October they've invited their readers to Spring into Action and participate in answering some questions relating to creativity. Sounds good to me!
The first question is "What's your definition of creativity?" In the past I'd have seen creativity in my life as defined by the many art projects I've been obsessed with over the years. But right now I'm starting to think about how I can apply my creativity to the "problem" parts of my life, my sometimes desperate attempts to balance the abundance that is my life. Today, while trying to get back into the flow of my work after a wonderful weekend away I could feel the stress strangling me. And then I thought about one of my strengths being creativity - the ability to see things from new perspectives, to play with all the possibilities.
Instead of allowing my work to overwhelm me to the point where I lose the larger perspective, my challenge to myself as I focus on some new, big projects will be to apply my creative skills to them. To look at all the options, not to rush, to allow plenty of room for flashes of inspiration, not to forget to play, to dream really big, to encourage collaboration, to accept the possibility that the results of these projects could be way more interesting and powerful than anything I could perceive through the perspective of fear and a desire to just get them done.
Last week was pretty exhausting, but these five things really helped fill the well, and I'm feeling more myself than I have in a while. A big thanks to the lovely Liz Lamoreux for her inspiring list!
I've totally loved exploring the topic of self-care with the wonderful women of Spring during July. If you haven't been there with me, and this resonates with you, I'd encourage you to check it out. There are great guest posts and fun videos, all supporting taking care of ourselves. How wonderful.
As you can see, things have gotten a little quiet on my end over here this week. My inner world is very rich right now, but nothing that feels right to share right now or that I can even put into words. Thank goodness for the fabulous Susannah Conway and her August Break! She's inviting bloggers to "simply share one photo per day on your blog" during the month of August. I'm up for it!
Jen Lee and Marianne Elliott both posted amazing things on Friday that totally resonated with me and also seemed to play off each other beautifully. If you have time I highly recommend listening to Jen Lee's powerful podcast here and reading Marianne Elliott's insightful blog post here. Once again, enjoy!
I started following Dani Shapiro's blog after reading her wonderful book, Devotion, which I mentioned here a while back. Yesterday she posted a great piece about inspiration and mentioned her process of working on one story in particular. She also kindly included a link to the story itself, which I then read and can't stop thinking about. So I have to share it with you. You can read the story here and an interview with her about the story here. Enjoy!
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." -Albert Einstein
Saw this quotation on Spring's wonderful website today and knew what I had to post today. The four fabulous women of Spring have been exploring the Law of Attraction this month - the discussions have been really interesting and definitely worth checking out.
I'm sure I keep you all busy enough with my scintillating daily posts:) But I did want to mention a blog that I recently discovered through The Happiness Project: 1,000 Awesome Things.
As it says on his blog, creator "Neil Pasricha never imagined that writing about the smell of gasoline, thinking it’s Thursday when it’s really Friday, or wearing underwear just out of the dryer would amount to anything. A self-described 'average guy' with a typical 9-to-5 job in the suburbs, Neil started his blog 1000 Awesome Things, as a small reminder — in a world of rising sea levels, global conflict, and a troubled economy — of the free, easy little joys that make life sweet. He certainly didn’t anticipate that his site would gain a readership of millions of people, win two Webby Awards ('the Internet’s highest honor' according to The New York Times), be named one of PC Magazine’s Top 100 Sites, or become a place where people from around the world would come to celebrate the simple pleasures of daily life."
I may be the last person to discover this joyful blog, but just in case I'm not I did want to pass this along. And I've been so inspired that I'm going to list some things that I think are awesome here for the next few days.
Head Butler recently posted some Brian Ferry videos and I was reminded of how great Roxy Music's Avalon is. Love this song in particular. (Remember Bill Murray singing it in Lost in Translation? - Ah!)
Really enjoyed seeing this Zen proverb today on Swirly Girl's blog. If you're not familiar with Christine Mason Miller, I highly recommend checking her out.
This paragraph of her writing really spoke to me:
"As I work to create a life that is meaningful, I do so within the context of it being meaningful all on its own, for its own mysterious reasons that I will likely never have a full understanding of. And in that sense, I can approach my life as something that has less to do with pushing, pulling, grasping and forcing and more to do with simply doing my best, drinking up each day, breathing deeply and letting the joy seep through my bones."
I'm a public librarian who loves farmers' markets, tea, astrology, John Coltrane, James Joyce, Carl Jung, Martha Beck, Liz Gilbert, Alice Hoffman, Thomas Merton, Jim Jarmusch, Anne Lamott... and so much more!
One of my primary interests is how "to walk the mystical path with practical feet." Will you join me?
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