[Note: I accidentally pressed “publish” on the draft of this post before it was finished, so if you get email updates of my posts, you probably saw a really weird half-done version of this in your inbox. Apologies! #bloggerfail]

Okay, now that that’s out of the way….Happy Friday! This week has been okay. Some good stuff, some not so good stuff, and also one of those weeks that seemed to pass both very quickly and very slowly, simultaneously. I think it’s partly because I’ve been very busy, but also not felt very productive. Maybe it’s all that new moon in Cancer energy making me feel too many feelings to get shit done more effectively. Who knows.

Anyway, I did get this gorgeous picture of Diesel, my most-handsome boycat:

And now, four things from the webz + a list of stuff from the week that made me happy!

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21-Day Meditation Experience 

So, one thing that’s been helping me get through the not-so-good parts of the week is the calm I’ve been gaining from the daily meditations I’ve been practicing through this program that’s put on by Deepak Chopra and Oprah. This is a free program that provides daily 15-20 minute meditations (and pre-meditation discussions), and this summer’s theme is “Manifesting Grace through Gratitude.” This is the third of the Oprah & Deepak meditation experiences I’ve done, and so far this one might be my favorite. There is still time to start the challenge today and receive all the meditations (they last for five days after they are first posted, and Day One was on Monday). I started a pretty solid meditation practice before I left for England, but lost track of it a bit while I was there, so I’m glad to be back on a regular routine with it.

6 Things a Woman with Depression Wants You to Know

I really appreciate this article by Jillian Capewell, a woman who lives with clinical depression. Capewell acknowledges that, “[m]ental illness isn’t something anyone quite “figures out,'” but that throughout the years she has picked up some wisdom on the subject that might be helpful for people who are struggling with depression themselves, or for those of us who have people in our lives who struggle with it. I’ve mostly only struggled with “really-emotionally-difficult-life-happenings depression,” but am close with people who live with clinical depression. And so I was grateful for this list for my own toolbox and also to be a better ally to my friends who battle with this all the time. Capewell’s six things include: being aware that not everyone is going take medication; that depression can make you flaky; depressed people aren’t faking it; depressed people can handle boundaries with friends; that “really-emotionally-difficult-life-happenings depression” isn’t the same as clinical depression; & to treat depressed friends pretty much the same way you treated them before you knew they were depressed. She expands on each of these really thoughtfully, so it’s definitely worth a read!

Mindfulness: Capitalism’s New Favorite Tool for Maintaining the Status Quo

Clearly I am a fan of mindfulness practices, but this article from AlterNet describes the ways in which giant corporations are exploiting the practice to make a more productive workforce and further the project of capitalist inequality. I think it’s an important thing to discuss anything that is exploited for oppressive purposes (hay, yoga!), but I also think we shouldn’t be so quick to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Thoughts?

Tomato Summer Salad

This salad from My Whole Food Life is simple, summery, and sounds very refreshing. It’s basically just tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, and parsley with a very simple dressing. If it wasn’t summer, I don’t think I’d be quite as excited about it, but the taste of farm-fresh cucumbers and tomatoes are SO GOOD. I plan to get to the farmer’s market and make this posthaste.  

Stuff from the Week that Made Me Happy

more progress on my tattoo; singing along to this album with my artist during the tattoo session (& having all the nostalgia!); happy hours with new & old friends; all the yoga; getting so much post-Sculpt class student love & appreciation; sunshine & a break in the humidity; supportive long-distance pals; feeding hungry friends; making plans for what is shaping up to be an epically fun August; this hilariously accurate buzzfeed list on cat ownership; my lady blogger sisters; Notes from the Universe; & finding spaces of real acceptance that, for now, things are just as they should be.

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What made you happy this week? xoxo