Carousel — 06.18.10

Every Friday, I post my favourite links, posts, & resources from around the Web. Expect to learn, grow, & be inspired.

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1. TRANSITIONS & FEAR AND PERMISSION: Two must-read post’s about dealing with change & overcoming fear from my new crush, Chris Guillebeau.

We make these rationalizations because we know that if we’re really going to acknowledge fear, if we’re really going to engage with it and find a way to overcome it, then it’s probably going to involve some kind of dramatic, uncomfortable, personal change.

&

Don’t try to be fearless or pretend you aren’t impacted by fear. Just try to prevent fear from making your decisions for you.

2. Tomorrow’s another day: The beautiful thing about the Move to Portugal blog is the raw honesty infused in each post. I always enjoy reading a blog that tells it like it is without trying to sugarcoat everything. “Tomorrow’s another day” is a short-but-sweet post about being disappointed, but understanding that another opportunity is always just around the corner. It reminds me of a favorite quote:

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday. —John Wayne

3. 11 things to do (and not do) when you’re burned out: Do you read Danielle LaPorte’s blog? At first I was put off by her. For some reason I thought she was arrogant. How silly? After watching some of her videos, I am smitten. She is beautiful & eloquent. I really enjoyed this post about being burned out because recently… I was. (No worries though, I’m getting my groove back.)

4. Stunning photographs of animals inside womb: This took . my . breath . away. No words, just look!

5. De-Oiled Birds: Good for BP, Bad for Birds & Post release survival of oil affected sea birds: If it’s not completely obvious by now, I am deeply affected by the BP Oil Spill. I have to pry myself away from reviewing the coverage sometimes. However, it is important to me that I stay informed about what’s going on and to continue to do my part. Check out these posts and decide for yourself: Should we be de-oiling the birds? I’d love to hear your take.

6. Goodbye to the office: Leave it to Seth Godin to push my buttons in all of the right ways. I could not agree more with this post—true, true, true! Offices & gas-guzzling commutes must become things of the past.

7. The end of busy: My favorite posts at Zen Habits are always the posts about Taoist philosophy and this one is no exception. Taoists prefer to work smart, not hard. How brilliant!

8. Top 5 reasons to celebrate mistakes at work: I just love the culture at Zappos, whatever I read about that place makes me swoon. This is a great post about how Zappos turned a “mistake” into a learning opportunity. Great advice for the workplace, but also for life in general.

9. Be Here Now: Dr. Dyer needs no introduction, does he? The man is a self-development genius. I don’t know why I only just now discovered his blog.

10. You’re Still Young, Do It While You Can: Despite the sound of the title, this post is actually a counter-argument to the idea. As Henry Ford once said: “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

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Finally, I truly appreciate all of your support in helping me to spread my critical message about the BP oil spill in the Gulf. If you have not done so yet, please check out the post here: The Gulf Oil Spill & spread the message as far as you can!

Have a beautiful weekend.

In love & light,

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  • Carousel — 03.26.10

    Every Friday, I post my favourite links, posts, & resources from around the Web. Expect to learn, grow, & be inspired.

    ———————–

    1. burning questions with Patti Digh: poetic choices: If you read nothing else from this week’s Carousel, read this post. This is honestly one of the most moving & profound interviews that I’ve ever read.

    2. UPDATE ON THE JOURNEY TO EVERY COUNTRY: Incredible! Talk about an incredible journey…

    3. Why I Quit My Job to Travel Around the World: This seems to be “the dream” of so many in my generation. I love to read the stories of those who go out & make it happen.

    4. Be Your Own Guru: Because, in the end, no one else can stand in my shoes. No one else can live my fears, dreams, love, relationships, desires, intellect, challenges, life and lifestyle. No one else can enjoy or suffer the outcome of my decisions or actions. No one else is better equipped to know me. No one else can act but me.

    5. Staying out of Starvation Mode….: Crucial information if you are trying to maintain a healthy body weight & optimal fitness.

    6. Paying it WAY Forward: I discovered Colin and his blog a couple of weeks ago when he did an interview at Untemplater. I developed an e-crush on him & his lifestyle immediately thereafter. I really like this post that he wrote about paying it forward & the idea of “karma.” Great stuff.

    7. How To Find Balls: Hehe… I’ll let this post’s title speak for itself. 😉

    8. what i learned at couples counseling: I love this post—not just because I think counseling is always a good idea—but also because the advice contained within is so fantastic.

    9. The Mindfulist: The Concept—Each day, meditate or think on a new topic. Slow down and focus! How to participate—1. Meditate or create with each daily prompt 2. The prompts come in two flavors. Work/tech-related, found here at The Mindfulist. 3. If you’re public and want to be social, tag what you create #mindfulist

    I like it.

    10. How to Master the Art of Mindful Eating: Fantastic advice about how to eat, the way that food is meant to be eaten. (Bonus = a delicious recipe!)

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    Happy Spring, my loves! ♥♥

  • Carousel — 02.19.10

    sunset, lake

    Oh, what a week! I’ve been busy catching up after my recent trip to South Carolina last weekend. (Thanks for all of the positive energy that sent my way—the presentation was a great success.) For the past two days, I’ve spent 14 hours participating in new database training, so that’s been… interesting. On the bright side, I learned a lot and it’s been exciting to see my company transform as we implement this big change.

    I couldn’t be happier that it’s Friday. I have lots of lovely adventures planned with family, friends, & loves this weekend. So let’s get the party kicked off with this week’s Carousel then. Shall we?

    1. self hatred: beneath sugar-coated criticism + self improvement: Danielle lays it all on the line in the post about how we degrade ourselves with little insecurities. The first step to stopping it, is admitting that you do it.

    2. Phoning It In, The hidden power of a gift, and Frightened, clueless or uninformed?: Three excellent posts from Seth Godin. How have I not discovered this brilliant man sooner? A couple of months ago, I won Seth’s book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us in a Twitter contest. I finally made the time to read it this past weekend during my flights to & from South Carolina. OH. MY. GOODNESS. The book was brilliant. Now I am head over heels for Mr. Godin and of course, have since subscribed to his blog.

    I’ll be posting a review of Tribes in the near future.

    3. Nine Things You Can Do Every Day – Even When You Can’t Do Anything Else.

    4. The Only Problem Standing in Our Way: I loved this post by Marc. It teaches us why sometimes the only problems standing in our way are the ones that we create in our heads.

    5. A panorama of tea: At Vagablogging, Colleen Wilde explores the drink of philosophers—tea! Her lovely descriptions of delicious tea across beautiful cultures warmed my heart.

    6. Giving Up TV and 8 Changes I Experienced After Giving Up TV: A few years ago, I moved out of my parents house & out on my own. One of the first decisions I made at that time was to opt out of cable television. There are a lot of things that I dislike about modern television: glamorization of sexism, violence, addiction; in-your-face ridiculous marketing, etc. I find that I am much more productive without the distraction of television—I read, write, create, love, and live more without it.

    In these posts, Steve talks about his initial decision to take a break from TV and his subsequent decision to give it up altogether. I think it is something that we should all consider. Currently, my partner & I have basic cable which is great because I only watch it once in awhile for programs that enrich me (cultural documentaries, environment/wildlife, home &garden, etc). And it’s a good compromise because he can still tune into his favorites, like Family Guy, while I graciously opt out… most of the time.

    7. “The View” of What’s In a Name?: Dr. Oz talks all about names. Why do some names evoke images of strength & beauty? What things should we keep in mind when naming children, or even pets? What does your name say about you? (I now this isn’t exactly self-improvement; but I’ve always been a fan of names. We’ve all got one!)

    8. be inspired: the “special problem” of strong women looking for love: Sarah Wilson writes about dynamics in man/woman relationships and how it is often necessary for men to be the “stronger” ones. I thought it was interesting & it made me ask questions about the dynamics/expectations within my own relationships.

    9. 8 Helpful Ways To Deal With Critical People: Lucky for me this isn’t much of a problem. I genuinely like criticism— be it constructive or even harsh. Criticism serves as a catalyst for me to be better myself or remove unkind people from my life. For me, criticism is a win-win. However, it hasn’t always been this way & there have been instances in my past where I could have used the good advice in this post.

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    That’s it for this week’s round up. Have a great weekend, friends. Remember to spread love & light wherever you go.

    P.S. I am super sore (in a good way) from a fitness class I took at New York Sports Club last night—Will Power and Grace—I highly recommend it if you have an NYSC in your area!

10 Comments

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  4. Hey Dena! Thanks so much for including my post. And that’s quite a powerful post you wrote about the BP oil spill. I’ll definitely start sharing that post with as many people as possible.

    Reply

    1. Hello Earl! You are very welcome. Thank you for stopping by and I can not thank you enough for helping me to spread the word. Have a fantastic weekend, my friend!

      xo,
      Dena

      Reply
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