Happy Monday, Positively Positive. Hello from Los Angeles. Can’t wait to see you guys at my workshop in Chicago on Saturday! It’ll be my first time there. Woohoo!
Confession: Some days I feel the opposite of positively positive.
So one of my best friends and I, (author Emily Rapp) who I am doing another writing/yoga retreat in Vermont with – we do this thing where we text each other and say “tell me something good.”
Because sometimes we get stuck in kvetching or complaining or self-loathing and we have a symbiotic relationship so it’s like we share a brain, and anyway, the “tell me something good” snaps us out of the nonsense and whining. It forces us to pay attention and to, well, focus on what is good.
On what IS working rather than what is NOT.
It can be anything. Like “today I got out of bed.” << some days that sh*t is hard.
It can be “My son graduated. It’s raining and I like it. I ate a beautiful salad. I got a raise. I didn’t have a suicidal thought today.”
Anything. So you, tribe, my beloved peeps I love so much…. Tell me something good. I want all of you to comment. Seriously. Let’s do this.
Tell me something good. Let’s commit to this practice starting today. @JenPastiloff
(Click to Tweet!)
And tell me that you do not hear that Chaka Khan song in your head when I say that.
Tell me something good
Tell me that you love me, yeah
Tell me something good
Tell me that you like it, yeah
Got no time is what you’re known to say
(Got no time, no, got no time)
I’ll make you wish there was 48 hours to each day
Your problem is you ain’t been loved like you should
What I got to give will sho nuff do you good
What it is is really beauty hunting. If you are new to my blogs, beauty hunting is a project I created a few years back that asks of us to focus on the beauty. All. The. Time.
Beauty Hunting viral – a world of people scouring the earth for what lights them up, for what makes then nod their head Yes Yes Yes, for what makes them never want to give up searching for what is beautiful in a world that is sometimes not very forgiving. In a world that is filled with pain and loss and sadness and war and trash – to actively seek beauty.
And look, there isn’t just pain and loss and sadness and trash – there are births and cups of really good coffee and big wide ass smiles and flowers that smell so good you have to stop in your tracks. There’s all sorts of good stuff on the surface and also sometimes, very deep under the surface.
But mostly we have to start with what is simple. Like, “tell me something good. One thing.”
Some days I wake up and I’m all, “I hate my body. I feel huge. I feel gross. overslept.”
Nothing good. Nothing that is going to help me be a better person or to create or to be present.
The TMSG (Tell Me Something Good) exercise holds us accountable. One good thing. Just one. Of course you can do more. But always start with one.
I’ll start: I was in a bad f*cking mood and I’m not anymore. I shifted it. I remembered I always have the choice. And the sun is shining. And I didn’t have coffee (eighth day.) and I’m alive, dammit! Your turn….
P.S. I have one spot open for my next Tuscany retreat Sep 26-Oct 3rd. And four for the Vermont writing retreat with Emily Rapp. Email me at info@jenniferpastiloff.com. And.. I need your help as a tribe. I am launching my workshop for young girls Sep 19th and 20th called Girl Power: You Are Enough. Can you help me spread the word and also register your teen or yourself if you are a young woman age sixteen-twenty-four? (The NJ workshop has a minimum age of thirteen but NYC is sixteen due to studio policy.)
Jen leads retreats that are a combo of yoga/writing and for ALL levels. Read this post to understand. Click here for all retreat listings and workshops to attend one in a city near you (Atlanta, NYC, St. Louis, London, Chicago & more, are next). Jen is the guest speaker 3 times a year at Canyon Ranch and leads an annual retreat to Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health every February, as well as an annual invite only retreat to Tuscany. She is the founder of the popular The Manifest-Station website. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter. She is the founder of Girl Power: You Are Enough.