Friday Menagerie: Collection #7

My favorite indulgence this summer: watermelon. Juicy!

Links From A Rose

• That I’m a Gwen Bell fan is neither new nor something I’ll refrain from repeating. I like her mojo: she’s got her finger on the pulse of social media and digital engagement, one foot on the yoga mat, and the other in a salsa club. I like that she’s frank but classy, fun but not frivolous. And I like that she took a whole month off for a digital sabbatical and managed to make it her most profitable month. She noted that she wanted to “take my creativity more seriously. To put some muscle into my creative life. Without the backbone of action, creativity is a nice idea.” My first thought was, “Hashtag hellyeah.” (That I think in hashtags may be an indication I could use a little more time away from the digital world myself.)
• I recently re-discovered Chris Guillebeau‘s article, Sufficiency. It was a great reminder of the reasons I’m generally very happy being an entrepreneur even though my income is less than it was when I was an attorney. I’m working with an entirely different paradigm of sufficiency now than I was then.
• What do you want to remind yourself about the person you want to be each day? What if you could write a letter to your morning self, gently offering those reminders? John Styn wrote his Morning Letter, and it’s lovely. A great idea I’m stealing for my journal.
• Linda Wolf tackles the subject of detachment and not taking everything so personally: “While the intent behind the words is important to our long-term decisions in the relationship, it is always possible to maintain detachment in the immediacy of the moment. Other people’s words and intentions are their responsibility. We can pause, recognize they are going through their own experience, consider our choices for responses, and let it go.” Smart woman, great article.
• As my fellow unmarried, child-free peers grow ever more scarce, I admit to finding myself playing the “Who would I be now if…?” or “What would’ve happened had I not…?” game from time to time. It’s what Tim Kreider calls The Referendum: “Watching our peers’ lives is the closest we can come to a glimpse of the parallel universes in which we didn’t ruin that relationship years ago, or got that job we applied for, or got on that plane after all. It’s tempting to read other people’s lives as cautionary fables or repudiations of our own.” It is a witty, but wincingly true article.
• Taking a different perspective, Sonya Derian reminds us to ask ourselves, when we think things aren’t happening fast enough or that things won’t happen until it’s too late, “If everything is perfect exactly as it is, what is it that you are not seeing?” What a rich question.

Tweet Lady Tweet

• Argumentative people aren’t looking for an answer. They are looking for recognition. @KristinJArnold
• Pricing tip: Base prices on value you deliver, not your self-esteem. @shaboom
• A lot of times I’ll usually say things I sometimes typically can’t follow later. @sparkyfirepants
• Live like your biographer is dozing off. @sbspalding
• The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary. –Nassim Taleb @willieljackson
• Dear Mr. Form. We’re bringing on Mr. Function to take over our marketing department. Please inform Mr. Hype and Mr. Tradition. @kmullett
• I have managed to utilize every procrastination method in my toolbox today. Favorite: Reading productivity blog posts. @clrsimple2

This Week’s Jukebox

You can visit the Friday Menagerie Jukebox playlist anytime, all week long!
If you’re viewing this in a feed reader, you may need to click through to see the videos.

01. Kiss From A Rose by Seal

02. Lay Lady Lay by Magnet & Gemma Hayes

03. Low Rider by War

04. Dreaming Of You by The Coral

05. Save Room by John Legend

06. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room by John Mayer [dance choreography by Wade Robson]

07. Jackie Blue by The Ozark Mountain Daredevils

Image Credit: Josh Liba | creative commons license