2/52 Found This Week

Spring must be coming soon because I gathered so many amazing things from the web this week, I can hardly contain myself! It was a great week. So great that this list only contains half of what I found, I'll have to share the rest with you next week.

Artifactuprising Inspired by the disappearing beauty of the tangible. You can print your photos (from your camera, your phone, or your instagram feed into a beautiful book. It's a beautiful site.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc2ygv4dWRw&w=560&h=315] Renee and Jeremy sought to make children's music that didn't annoy parents. This track, Night Mantra is an instant favorite in our house. It soothes both my boys and myself when it's 2am and Owen has just spit up on me, twice. Brendan and I have been singing it before bed. It brings a tear.

Modcloth inexpensive and fun with free shipping and returns. An online shoppers happy place especially if you are shopping dresses. Both quirky and classic. It also has a great blog.

Stickygram More fun with instagram. Turn your instagrams into magnets, iPhone/iPad overs, and more.

[vimeo 65688873 w=500 h=281] <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/65688873">Izola Father's Day</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/izola">Izola</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> Izola Candles Long burning candles plus other cool vintage-y things. Great style. Gift-tastic. I bought a candle for my brother and sister-in-law this week.

A recipe for Coq au Resiling which I translated to english and modified to incorporate the wild chukar and pheasant that my brother brought to my house.  This was so good that we had it twice in the same week. I'll tell the tale in a later post.

And finally, emails from friends. Nate and I observed a Facebook Free February. We wanted to see if Facebook helped or hindered our connections. One of the lovely things that happened was an increase in personal emails from friends. And they weren't short either. It was so nice to have  deeper interactions and really check in. It was time well spent.

Day 10: 30 Day Meditation Challenge

Get outside today!

Sensitivity grows through use, and the way to become more sensitive is by exercising your senses. Today, go for a walk in nature and be as sensitive as possible. Hear your footsteps on the ground, feel you feet as you walk, listen to the various and ever-changing sounds in your environment, be aware of what you are seeing, look at everything, breathe, and savor the fragrance of the air. Be sensitivity and aware every way you can. Then carry that sensitivity with you during the day. Practice shifting from thinking mode to feeling-sensing mode.

Meditation is not just the act of siting motionless in silence. Because really when does that ever happen? Meditation is also about being sensitive and aware of the quality of the world around you. You can bring just as much attention, maybe more, to your outer world in meditation as your inner world. Notice the similarities and differences in this type of meditation practice.

Blessings of Peace, Kat

Day 7: 30 Day Meditation Challenge

Awesome! We made it through the first week! This week, let's increase our post-mediation reflection to include a few more minutes journaling, creating, or art as creativity comes out of stillness. Maybe the creativity manifests in an actual work of art or piece of writing or maybe its just about getting creative in the way we treat ourselves or in some of the self-work we may be doing.

Blessings on your bottom! :-)

Motivation Behind the 30 Day Meditation Challenge

My personal catalyst for this 30 Day Mediation Challenge was a desire to get to the heart of my own limiting and long-heald beliefs. To cultivate the deep well of me-ness below the negative ideas I have believed about myself. In addition to a daily meditation practice to really cultivate the connection to the deep well, I have been taking a good look as what I am ashamed of. Around what I feel the emotional pain of shame and how it manifests in my behavior. (Resource: Daring Greatly, Brene Brown). So, one night I just began naming/identifying my shame - this exercise continued over the course of the next 36 hours or so … I discovered (pretty personal stuff here, some very surprising, some not so surprising):

• Shame is needing others.
• Shame is desperate fear of needing others and being alone.
• Shame is desperation.
• Shame is working too hard. Not "working smarter not harder".
• Shame is not doing something that I would get upset at another for not doing.
• Shame is thinking my ex thinks I'm crazy.
• Shame is talking about my ex.
• Shame is not being about to do what I want due to a limitation.
• Shame is an unkept house.
• Shame is insecurity.
• Shame is not exercising.
• Shame is not following thru
• Shame is admitting that I'm afraid.
• Shame is 'my company' is not good enough and that reflects on me.
• Shame is admitting I am in pain and can't handle it.
• Shame (this one is heavy) is being addicted to the negative patterns I've experienced since childhood.
• and oh, there is more …

I know that I am in a "shame storm" when:

• I get really angry
• I start to cry and become inconsolable
• I feel desperate.

The point is not that the shame is reasonable or rational but that it is named, that I able to bring it to light and build my own resilience to it.

This is what catalyzed my personal commitment to this 30 day challenge. What about you?