This just seemed so Sunday

http://www.mtlblog.com/2013/09/ballet-dancers-in-everyday-situations/

So many people make such beautiful art in so many different ways. Thank you internet for bringing it to us. Now I shall relax.

 

Happy Sunday!

Sunny

Good morning, Boston.

Yes. This is how I feel.

Thank God for every new day to learn.

Simultaneously proud and embarrased of this picture.

As it is with other things in life. Proud. Embarrassed. But I'm here to be both.

(Personal record 10K to benefit the Beverly School for the Deaf.)

Right side of the bed

Yesterday, I was sad that I hadn't been sleeping/waking as well as I would like. So I inquired about strategies to remedy this, and from a couple of friends received some good ideas:

 

Corpse pose yogic breathing

Hot milk with cinnamon

Waking between 4:30-6:30am

 

...

 

and the one I actually used

 

...

 

Thinking about what I was looking forward to today!

 

Glorious fall weather, getting to work on time, and that extra thirty minutes of peace.



Thanks to the wiser

Reposting this from Ragamuffin Soul:

40 Thoughts On The Final Day Of My 30′s.

I'm not at thirty yet, but I've always been a bit precocious, and I have never been all that great at being as sincerely authentic, in an emotionally-balanced, healthy kind of way, as I would like.

And these are just a couple of the many reasons I admire Los - he seeks authenticity and doesn't find the need to make apologies for how uncomfortable speaking truth can make those hiders, perfectionists, and wannabes out there.

Thanks for sharing your truth, Los. I'm guaranteed to live out the last of my 20's well, and live into my 30's better, for your words of honesty.

Some of my favorites:

1. Stop chasing your dream. By the time you are 6 feet under, no one will remember how hard you chased, they will only remember if you LIVED your dream. Stop chasing the dream and start living it.

3. Don’t smile a little more. Smile all the time. It changes you and those around you.

6. The feeling she gives you when she looks at you that way…it’s the same feeling your wife used to give you before she knew your junk. Don’t give in. Don’t do it. It’s not real and it’s not worth it.

20. Listen More… Speak Less. Comforting someone is more about the sides of your head instead of the front of it.

23. You had less than $10 in the bank account when you filled out the paperwork to adopt Losiah. You will never be “ready” enough to take a risk.  Begin now.

24. Just Jump. Jump high, Jump far, Jump often.  Just Jump.

25. You can’t even roll a garden hose correctly. Don’t take yourself so seriously.

28. It’s YOUR story. Not THEIRS. You hold the Sharpie and you get to write it.

37. It’s God’s kindness that leads to repentance. Not shame, guilt, beating yourself up or an obstacle course. Simply God’s kindness. That. Changes. Everything.

39. Make sure you feel your heart pound in your chest everyday. Whether from a run, a kiss, or a risk.  Make. It. Pound.

On courage

Sometimes

It's okay to start Monday with an anthem.

Thought Provoking Question: 10 of 25

Crying is a sign of strength. Crying means that something matters, and that there are not words to express all of the meaning we place on people, moments, or feelings in this journey through life.

The first time I really remember crying, I was about two or three. I cried with my whole body, and my whole heart. I was drained when I stopped. I cried because I was powerless over my circumstances, and I didn't know where to turn.

The last time I really cried was much more recent. Like that first memory, I cried with my whole body, heart, and it drained me. The difference this time was that I cried because I had made a choice I did have power over, a tough choice, a real choice, and I was crying because I chose to place my faith in the ultimate outcome of that choice in the hands of Someone greater than myself.

I believe one of the strongest things we can ever do is to look our limitations straight in the eye, memorize their faces, and then give them a smile as the tears stream down our own. Let them know that they're welcome as a part of us, but that our full identity will stand no matter how much they might try to take us down.

As one of my favorites has said,

"Though you may hear me holler, and you may see me cry -- I'll be dogged, sweet baby, if you gonna see me die."

365

It's been a year since I laid down my sword and changed my life.

In some ways, I couldn't feel more the same.

In others, I don't recognize that person who I was, just starting to find my voice on my own, just starting to trust others to, as that sweet saying goes, more or less, sing the song of my heart back to me whenever I forgot it.

I went back to the Blue Hills today, to sit on a rock, talk with a friend, and center. After that talk, I embraced the solitude and autumn air just like I did in September 2009 when I first stepped foot into that wood, disoriented by my new home and endlessly excited about my new life.

As I walked around the pond, I felt whole, still excited about what's to come, but complete with just me there in my place.

I circled 'round, saw some couples, kids, dogs, and then got in my car to be with the people who sat with me, a stranger, on this day last year with just as much love as they would today.

Every day I am grateful for my life. But traditions, celebrations, benchmarks and milestones, big and small, deserve their special places of thanks and appreciation. To today, I say thank you. This day is full of irrefutable hope.

Political science literacy

Of all the weeks to have dropped off the face of the planet, I chose the week things got real in D.C. about Syria.

I can reengage in life. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. Life is too important to let a little sleep deprivation and general disorientation get in the way. Off to running club, to run for our women and men in uniform (not jammies and junk food, promise).

God bless us, everyone.

I'm alive

It was another training and it was another step within our organization and that is great and I am pooped.

I missed you, blog. A little piece of me went into you each week that helped me stay sane, and I am glad to be back.

At the same time, I'm going to miss this:

We're a group that simply cannot be replicated, and I am in a career that provides me everything I need - to grow, give, receive support, and to embark on so many practices of inspiration and innovation.

Here's to the experiences that stretch us to our limits, and the people who remind us why we dare be stretched.