1 Thing 1 Minute

Daily dose of inspiration and gratitude, in bite-size pieces.

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Global Warming

It’s 54 degrees in Northern Indiana right now, and it’s supposed to get up to 57 later today (59 by some reports). Tomorrow will also be lovely.

The average temp this time of the year is —

— blue. The average temperature is very blue, and in any case, so, so far from yellow.

Now, admittedly, this winter’s mildness has freaked me out. I’m using even less water and conserving gas like a…

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Ahhhh...catharsis. Today I'm thankful for this image: because sometimes, you just need this kind of enthusiastic fuck-offery in your life.

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Jim'll Paint It + the Power of the Internet

Jim’ll Paint It + the Power of the Internet

Jim of Jim’ll Paint It is a wonder and a marvel. But where would he be without the painting ideas he gets from the Internet? The world may never know. And thank god, because the combination of the two is my new favorite thing forever. Go see them all.

Shakespeare playing Dream Phone. He’s trying to woo the date with a sonnet but is confused as he doesn’t understand 1990s electronic board game…

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Deep Feelings

It has taken me a long time on this roller coaster to realize the simple fact that I am, and will always be, a Deeply Feeling Person™. Yesterday, I was lonely and everything was horrible and hopeless. Today, the idea of imitation crab salad had me skipping through Martin’s deli like a 5 year-old at the candy store.

Mmm. “Crabs.”

Intellectually, I know feelings come and go, and feeling like…

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Zoning Out

New Post: Zoning Out

I’ve been on a Facebook hiatus for about two weeks now. At first, it was so exciting how much more productive I was! I was getting shit done like a boss and going home every day feeling massively accomplished. I hadn’t realized how much time I was spending just sort-of zoning out in front of Facebook, scrolling through the feed, maybe watching a cute animal video now and then.

Into the middle of…

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The Grief Spiral

New Post: The Grief Spiral

For in grief nothing “stays put.” One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs. Round and round. Everything repeats. Am I going in circles, or dare I hope I am on a spiral? But if a spiral, am I going up or down it?”

― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

Yesterday, my therapist informed me that this most recent bout of the blues doesn’t sound like depression or health problems or some…

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This Band Tho

New Post: This Band Tho.

About a week ago I saw the band Tall Heights playing at Ignition Music Garage in Goshen. One: that venue is rad. It’s connected to (but separate from) a quality coffee shop (The Electric Brew). There was a sizeable crowd there with good energy, and the sound was awesome. It was great. Two: I’m obsessed with Tall Heights now. For a two-man band, the sound was incredibly full and rich, especially…

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Louis CK and the Power of The Sad

New Post: Louis CK and the Power of the Sad

We’re a connected-ass society. The whole world is right at our fingertips any time we want to access it. That’s a really powerful thing. But, as with everything, it has costs, too. Balance is, like, everything.

Louis CK makes a pretty good point about the importance of occasional disconnecting:

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The Curative Properties of Office Supplies

The Curative Properties of Office Supplies

Today, I started the final fall semester of my undergraduate career. I’ve been at this whole working full-time, raising two kids, going to school half-time thing since January 2011. It feels like the end of an era. It’s also the end of a summer that was full of growth, change, grieving, and all that other (necessary) shit, instead of all the awesome shit I had planned for the summer.

I’m a little…

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Readers, I have been remiss.

Readers, I have been remiss. Thankfully, Stephen Colbert has set me right.

In the [mumble mumble] days since I have last posted here, I have struggled and I have soared. But what I have not done, either in my soaring or my struggling, was be actively grateful. F***.

Today I’m powerfully grateful for this interview with Stephen Colbert. Here are some things he said that are poignant, important, and which made me kick myself for not taking this project seriously.

“And the…

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Love.

Today's 1 Thing is, what else? LOVE.

Today’s One Thing is, what else? Love.

It’s why we’re here. It’s what we hope for most for in our own lives and the lives of our children. It’s the fire we huddle around for light and warmth. And even after a storm, when it looks like there’s nothing left but ashes, we’re still there, blowing on the embers, trying to get it roaring again.

This is true of all of us. The desire to give and receive…

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Swears

Like me, this post is almost entirely unsafe for work.

Swearing is good for you. Some people think it makes you sound uneducated or ignorant or assume it means you have a limited vocabulary. Fuck those pedantic ignoramuses!

Here are some videos with swears. They make me happy and offer some lovely catharsis.

[youtube=http://www.yout…

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Participation Ribbons

Today's 1 Thing: Participation Ribbons

This morning, I woke up. I got out of bed. I walked to the bathroom. I did bathroom things. I chose clothes and applied them to my body. I woke up my child. I drove her to camp. I went to work.

This chronology leaves out the innumerable things I didn’t do. When my alarm went off, I didn’t shriek, “fuck yooooouuuuuuuu!”, roll back over, and contribute to my pillow’s growing drool stain. I didn’t…

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Tricks of Presence

Today's 1 Thing: Tricks of Presence

One of the worst things about grief, to me, is that there is fuck-all I can do about it. I mean, my normal M.O. when I’m dealing with a hard thing is to understand and feel it to death. I read a bunch of books and talk to my therapist to understand the thing, then I meditate and feel through the thing, and then it goes away. Huzzah, personal growth.

But grief is different. I can’t think it away,…

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The Magic of Mess Regeneration

Today's 1 Thing: The Magic of Mess Regeneration

Today I am thank for the magic of mess regeneration.

“What is the magic of mess regeneration?” you ask.

I am glad you asked.

Mess regeneration is when you spend an hour cleaning the kitchen, and it is spotless when you hear the dryer buzz. You collect the warm laundry and take it to your bedroom to fold, sort, and hang laundry, and avoid children. When you return to the kitchen after the laundry…

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NOTHING. Okay, fine. Milk Duds.

Today I'm grateful for NOTHING. NOTHING! Okay, fine. Milk Duds.

I don’t feel grateful today. I am sad and angry and overwhelmed and frustrated and sad. Double sad. All the sad. I don’t even want to feel grateful, because I feel completely justified in feeling like a rotten, steaming heap of sadness shit.

But I guess that’s why I started this stupid blog of stupidness: because apparently not everything sucks and I’m supposed to work to remember that. Apparently

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The Big Samenesses

Today's 1 Thing: The Big Samenesses

A lot of my friends are very much like me, and that’s a wonderful thing.

But some of them are really different, and sometimes we have a hard time relating to each other; sometimes we grow apart, and then back together when we’re on leveler ground.

One really neat thing about being friends with people who are really different, though, is the moments when you’ve been where they are, or they’ve been…

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