(via here)

I’ve gotten back into a little bit of a yoga routine since being in Los Angeles.  At the last class I was in the teacher talked about comparing yourself to your past self.  It is so easy to stubbornly hold yourself to a previous standard, yet doing so can intrinsically set you up to fail (or injure yourself) as it ignores what currently is.  It amazes me how much information our bodies give us if we can honestly accept & act on where we are, and what we’re feeling, at any given moment.

I stopped working three months ago today and (mostly thanks to AirBnB) have been living an elongated & unstructured period between what I was and what I will be.  This was a useful lesson for me:

Resist comparison of your current self to your past self.  Turn your attention to your body.  From a place of ease, move forward from where you actually are.

Namaste

image via The Sartoralist

LOVING my sister is always only a couple of miles or blocks away.

PLANNING the next month or so with Lauren so that we can do all of the cool things California has to offer.

READING The Molecules of Emotion by Dr. Candace Pert and re-thinking my reactions to all things.

APPRECIATING the California sun, which comes out every day!

LISTENING to WNYC, New York’s public radio station, to keep me in the East Coast loop.

RECOVERING after some intense soreness following back-to-back hikes over the weekend.

I spent a lot of time in the last weeks of 2014 seeing art.  These images serve as a bit of a visual reminder to myself of the works I saw and how I saw them.

MoMa’s Henry Matisse “The Cut-Outs” exhibit.  Photo via The New York Times

Picasso’s Le Vie (Life), 1903 at The Cleveland Museum of Art

Picasso & Jacqueline, Villa La Californie, 1957

Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds at The Andy Warhol Museum

Mela Foundation’s Dream House Sound & Light Environment

Romare Bearden’s Wrapping it up at the Lafayette, 1974 at The Cleveland Museum of Art

[posted by Lauren]

FEELING so grateful to have so many healthy and happy relationships with people who support me.

BALANCING working from home while being in a house with anywhere up to 8 people at a time.  It’s fun but hard to find peace and quiet.

WATCHING Albert’s favorite show, Peep Show, at night to help me fall asleep.

CLEANING and organizing my childhood bedroom & closet and other nooks of this house that no one has been in for years.

INTENDING to go to morning yoga but sleeping thru it pretty much every day.

EATING homemade Christmas cookies by the handful!

1.)  Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party  (via Amy Smart Girls) is an awesome site about learning to be a better member of the community while laughing.  -Farrell

2.)  Infographic: Your Obsession with “Serial” (via Fast Company) – Visualized had my friends and I cracking up.  Particularly the “Tweets About Serial” Chart.  “It’s an Ad for Best Buy!”  -Lauren

3.)  Mr. & Mrs. Globetrot are a couple I have been following for years. Their pictures of Peru completely take me back to that wonderful country.  –Farrell

4.)  What You’re Feeling Is Between You and You (via Julia Cowell) is an interesting read on tapping into your body’s physiological experiences in your relationships with others.  I became familiar with Julia Cowell from this interview, “Relationship Is a Skill.”  I think anyone could benefit from listening to this.   -Lauren

5.)  Tony Robbin’s TED Talk (via TED.com)  “Why We Do What We Do” is always a good reminder.  –Farrell

6.)  Top 15 Songs in Wes Anderson Movies (via Revolver) Fun listen!  -Lauren

Last week I went to a pre-work morning dance party.  Thanks to a little push from my friends, I woke up at 6am and headed to a bar to drink coffee and dance until it was time for work.  I had no idea what to expect but I was more than pleasantly surprised.  Daybreaker is a movement that started in San Francisco and has spread to almost 10 other major cities such as Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Atlanta and Toyko.  It’s intention is for you to start your day off right by dancing!  I think that I actually had more fun than I would have if I went to a bar at 10pm on a Friday night.  I think most of that was due to the fact that I was there to dance and it was just so early.  Normally I would have worked out in the morning, but this was such a different high.  People were drinking juice and coffee and just breaking it down the entire time.  If you live in any of the cities where they host this morning dance party, I recommend that you go.  Bring your friends and dance it out.

PACKING my bags for a trip with an unknown return date and feeling a range of feelings about it.

CROSSING the threshold from short to long hair.  It’s been awhile.

FANTASIZING about all the delicious party food I ate this past weekend.  Keep it up Holiday Season!

TRAVELING to Cleveland tomorrow for Christmas and can’t wait to be home.

TRYING to make time in my life for more creativity and writing.

PLANNING for the future more with investing and finances.

1) Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off to 1989 aerobics has had me cracking up all week. –Farrell

2)  How To: Mini Snow Globes is one of many such tabs taking over my browser.  Seasonal DIY fantasy life is in full effect.  -Lauren

3) Locating Yourself is a quick video about where you are.  Are you above the line or below? –Farrell

4) What Is the Meaning of OM? Did you know that there are four sounds that make up the sound OM and one of them is silence?!  –Lauren

5) The 10 Most Livable Global Cities for Balancing Work and Play.  I’ve only been to one of these cities (Berlin) but I’m waaaay into the concept!  –Lauren

6) Daybreaker is an early morning, weekday dance party that I partook in yesterday morning at 6:30am and it was SO fun.  I recommend to anyone to go! –Farrell

The week after Suz died I remembered feeling an acute sense of the importance of art. There was something about someone’s life ending that really made me think about what is significant to do while we are here on Earth. Self expression came to mind, which then to me became art. This may sound heavy, or whimsical, but we are human beings having a human experience and there are times when it can be profound, frustrating, beautiful, enlightening, suffocating, etc. I don’t think any form of self expression is ever wasted. When I was younger, I secretly thought of myself as a poet. I sat in my room for years writing poem after poem. Of course at the time my poems seemed on the verge of award winning but looking back they are full of angst and confusion. I was feeling so much at the time that I needed to do something with those emotions, so I just scribbled words on page.

I don’t care what ways you choose to express yourself, whether it be through dance, jokes, fashion, speeches, writing, jumping – whatever it is that makes you feel free for just one second – do it. Those moments are not wasted. Somewhere those moments will last forever and you will leave an imprint.

[posted by Farrell]

TRYING to drink as much water and green juice as possible before the Christmas holiday.

THINKING about the movie “Wild” and the kinds of journeys that grief will lead you on to find who you are again.  Thinking also about how powerful a mother can be.

BLOWING through so many books!  Right now I’m reading Traveling with Pomegranates, which was recommended to me by Lauren.  Once I am finished maybe we can both do a post on it.

FEELING inspired to go all in on my personal style after watching the documentary Advanced Style on Netflix.

STAYING at home and working my space heaters on this very rainy day in NYC.

PRESSING play on the latest episode of StartUp podcast, which I’d highly recommend!