This is a curated version of a list that originally appeared on “A Thousand Shades of Gray.” For more of your daily dose of happy, please visit the complete list here.
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A Question of Prosperity from Meghan Genge in which she considers what it means to feel prosperous.
Why dinner was late last night from SouleMama. It’s a beautiful reason.
The Greatest Commencement Addresses of All Time on Brain Pickings. I know it’s not the right season for this as most students are just going back to school, not graduating, but if you want some serious inspiration this is the place.
Wisdom from Jessica Patterson: “If you want to know real freedom, you must learn forgiveness. That doesn’t mean collapsing boundaries or giving up or giving in. It doesn’t mean going back. It doesn’t mean absolution or sweeping things under the rug. It means you let go of grasping—and that which has a grip on you. It means reclaiming your own inner sanctuary and ushering out what’s crowding your space. Let go of the need to be right, to be in control, to be understood, to be certain. Let go of what has distracted you from the grace of each moment—your birthright, your presence.”
No, I Am Not Crowdfunding This Baby (an open letter to a worried fan) by Amanda Palmer, a beautiful contemplation on the tenderness and terror of being a mother and an artist.
Boy, 13, Keeps Father Alive After He’s Badly Hurt by Falling Boulder. May we all have someone like this to help when we need it.
Brave Girl University is open for enrollment. “A one-stop gathering place for learning, growing, and becoming, through hundreds of classes taught by dedicated teachers who offer soulful ways to make life better, happier, and more authentic for every woman. From painting, to gardening, to meditation, to relationships, and much more.” I’ve taken classes with many of these teachers, it’s a good deal.
Wisdom from Brave Girls Club: “If something isn’t getting you closer to your heart’s most precious goals, if it isn’t making your most important relationships stronger and more valued, if it is not helping you grow and making your heart sing, maybe it’s time to think about letting it go. If you will listen very, very, very closely, you will know for sure what to hold on to … and what to let go … and where to spend your precious minutes and energies.”
7 Simple Ways to Soothe Your Soul from Be More With Less. “Sometimes your soul needs time to just hang out with your heart, and your truth.”
The Monk Manifesto: Seven Principles for Living with Deep Intention. I had never heard of this before Erica Staab posted about it on her blog. It is “A public expression of your commitment to live a compassionate, contemplative, and creative life.” I think if one were to live according to this manifesto, they would be ridiculously happy, completely content. Or maybe that’s just me.
85 Percent of What We Worry About Never Happens. I heard once that “worrying is like praying for what we don’t want to happen.” This article gives yet another reason why worry is wasted.
Sarah Silverman just life-coached everyone who’s felt undeserving. Such a cool perspective in this video.
Shared on Positively Present Picks: Living Your Dreams Will Piss People Off. Do It Anyway, and this quote from Oprah Winfrey, “I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.”
Where Children Sleep, a photo series from James Mollison, “Stories of diverse children around the world, told through portraits and pictures of their bedrooms.”
4 Questions that Will Change Your Attitude (When You Can’t Change Anything Else) from Marc and Angel Hack Life.
Photo courtesy of Jill Salahub
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Jill Salahub writes about the tenderness and the terror, the beauty and the brutality of life, and of her efforts to keep her heart open through it all on her blog, A Thousand Shades of Gray.