Link Loves and Must-Reads 3/10/17

In honor of whatever flu/stomach bug/bronchial infection is currently making rounds through school, I'm taking a sick day.  (In other words, I am ill.  Woohoo.)  But I've developed a new sort of love for tea.  If I could carry a tea kettle around with me at school and work, I seriously would do that.  Unfortunately, my backpack is already big enough to make me look ridiculous enough as it is.
Since I'm home, I have a little bit more time to do classwork and long-term projects, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some of the things I've had sitting here as links for the past two weeks.  Yay!

• What I Ate Wednesday: It's Unhealthy to Eat Only Healthy Food by Alexis Joseph
• This article from the Hummusapien is really refreshing given the current "all-or-nothing" attitude that the media is preaching when it comes to health and fitness and well-being.  It's awesome to make healthy choices so you can feel your best, but there's a big difference between taking caring of yourself and being obsessive.  Having a fixation on health can actually be really unhealthy.  This is something that's become more and more clear to me over the past few months.  That said, it can be difficult to identify what behaviors are healthy and which are obsessive because of al of the hardcore images of wellness that we're constantly being bombarded with.  Alexis's post is something I think everyone who struggles with balancing true health and happiness with obsession and anxiety needs to read because Alexis (an actual RD) has a very honest and un-obsessive attitude about taking care of herself.  Unlike the Photoshopped fitspo pics preaching two-hour workout sessions, green drink lunches, and dessert-less evenings, Alexis talks about how "[t]here is so much more to life than golden milk and smoothie bowls and toast covered with berries and almond milk yogurt." Thank you!!
• A Story of Bats, Agaves, and People by Kristen Lear
• I love Bat Conservation International and all it does to help take care of our little bat friends, and this story is awesome because it shows just how we can help people and animals at the same time.  YAY for environmental conservation efforts!  There's such a huge relationship between the health of the natural world and the health of the human one, and we often forget about this relationship when we're thinking about "progress" and "industrialization."  But true progress is about maintaining a balance with nature and respecting our ecosystems so that our world doesn't end in a sad spiral of global warming and pollution.  I mean, look at Bhutan....a carbon-negative country that measures progress based on GNH (Gross National Happiness). I think we have a lot to learn from Bhutan! (And from bats.)
• If social media is toxic for you . . . do these 4 things by Cassey Ho
• This sort of relates to the first article I linked to.  Looking around me, I realize just how many people (many of whom are very young) have fallen into the trap of comparison.  I'm definitely not immune to this myself. Even without a smart phone and all the apps that come with it (yup, I've got a little flip phone and LOVE IT), I'm definitely affected by comparison.  I'm so incredibly grateful every day for little things like hearing my hermit crabs playing in their houses or talking to my mum about work, but I also really love fashion magazines (guilty pleasure), and that usually leads to #comparisonproblems.  Social media is such a huge contributor to comparison because it inundates us with a Photoshopped version of reality.  Why, we wonder, is everyone so happy and glamorous and perfect all the time?  Well, here's the truth: they aren't!  Think of social media as a big filter.  People are only sharing what they WANT to share.  And for every Snapchat story of an epic vacation, there's something very sad going on in the world (i.e. deportation, famine, war, etc.).  Comparing ourselves to each other is such a waste of time. Should a blueberry compare itself to a banana?  NO.  Both fruits are totally awesome in totally different ways. 

<3 Frances

Link Loves and Must-Reads 1/18

I'd told myself I'd write this on Monday (aka two days ago), but it just didn't happen.  Happy post- post- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!  I spent most of the holiday running up and down a rainy street trying to locate an apartment building, doing work for school, and feeding pets.  One positive development from this weekend is that my hermit crab has stopped climbing upside-down on the roof of her little house. She's finally seemed to realize (hopefully) how dangerous that is. . . .

Hermit crab antics aside, though, here are some shares for the day:

• The Truth About Change by Heather Waxman
• I love Heather's kind, holistic approach to living and connecting with our inner "soul sisters" (or brothers, etc.).  Her post on change is full of so much truth, and it always makes me feel a bit better to consider how change isn't something to be fought but rather a force we can work with.
• This Superbug Is Resistant to All Antibiotics -- and Has Killed Its First American Victim by Tom Philpott
• Okay, this one is very sad and upsetting and scary, but I think it's important to read anyway because it gets into the conversation about antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their relationship to factory farming. Factory farms are a a major user of antibiotics, and they're also responsible for massive animal cruelty.  My prayers are with the family of the woman who died, and also with animals in factory farms all over the world.
• 5 Things I've Learned Living with 500 Plants by Summer Rayne Oakes 
•  We may not all be able to afford nice Brooklyn apartments filled with plants, but this is a quirky reminder of how beneficial time in nature is.  And it's an inspiration to start an indoor garden. We have lots of little plants around our tiny apartment, and some of them have been around since I was a baby, so I often think of them as siblings. Looking at the pictures of Summer Rayne Oake's plant-filled abode is fun because all the green is so refreshing.  It's amazing how much I want to go hug a plant right now.

Best Wednesday wishes!
<3 Frances 

Good News for Animals

Getting up at 5:55 AM instead of 5:15 AM makes such a difference.  It's not something I'll be able to do again in the near future during the work week, but I'm grateful for the extra sleep today because of so. many. tests.  Something else I'm grateful for?  Fake skin!  Okay, that sounds odd, but what I'm talking about is the fake skin being produced as a substitute for animals in product testing. 

MatTek grows its own human skin, and then sells it to companies that want it—companies that make laundry detergent, makeup, toilet bowl cleaner, anti-aging creams, tanning lotion.  Without lab-grown skin, these companies would be testing products on animals, usually rabbits, shaved to expose patches of naked skin. This practice is straight-up illegal for cosmetics in Europe now, and increasingly ethically dubious everywhere else.  (Sarah Zang)

Isn't it awesome that science is being used to save animals now instead of to hurt them?  While my favorite products are the ones that are natural and don't need intensive testing, I'm excited about the possibility of all companies being able to abandon animal testing practices and use synthetic skin instead.  Science for the win this time!

That's our happy news for the day.

<3 Frances

Link Loves and Must-Reads (Again)

I know some of these articles aren't exactly new, but they're still meaningful reads, and if you get the chance, you should definitely check them out.

• Emma Stone is Not Buying Your Perfect Instagram Life by Shannon Carlin
• Emma Stone, who just one a Golden Globe last night, is famously not a very big part of the social media scene.  While social media platforms can be awesome ways to share with and connect to others, it's important that we don't let them get in the way of life, and we always need to remember that what's shared online is often not an honest portrayal of reality.  So when you're looking at online pictures or seeing someone's posts, pull away for a second and check yourself before making any judgments about your life or the lives of those around you.
• Obama Bans Oil Drilling in Arctic, Atlantic by Paul Rauber
• This is a WIN for Mother Nature.
• Sustainable Promises You Should Make to the Planet This Year by Emma Loewe
• Make 2017 the year you show Earth you love her.
• Everything you need to know about acne in 3000 words by Stefani Ruper
• I'm doing a "Skintervention" for breakouts, and reading about acne and all its causes has been helping me do that.  Hormones.  Stress.  Etc.
• How Marianne Williamson advocates for mindful activism by Valli Herman
• Marianne talks about moving past the meaninglessness and making a conscious effort to be aware and active with "love, tolerance and pluralism."

<3 Frances

Link Loves and Must-Reads

Hi, dears!  Happy 2017!  (Yesterday was technically New Year's Day, but it's the thought that counts, right?)  I'm getting ready to go back to work (school) tomorrow and have been teaching/volunteering today, but I'm excited to have some "must-reads" to share with you in case you find yourself with a spare moment. I know that seems unlikely given the whole rush of getting back into the "daily motions" of the post-holiday season, but I'm pretending that the holidays are still going on.  Our Christmas tree is still up, and I intend to keep it up as long as possible.  And I refuse to stop listening to Lissie's cover of "2000 Miles" despite it being a Christmas-y song .  .  .  .

• The scientific reason you should be watching Planet Earth by Jessica Hullinger
• Did you know how good being in "awe" is for not only your health but also your relationship with the world around you?  Given all the tragedies of the last year (and even the last few days), this article makes me really really really really want to watch Planet Earth II and then force everyone around me to watch it, too.  We all need to just sit in a group circle talking about swimming sloths and amazing tree frogs until we can achieve peace.
• Diana Vreeland: Why Your Flaws Are Your Most Important Asset by Words of Women
• With all the insecurities we have about our flaws, former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland's thoughts on using flaws as strengths are pretty freaking inspirational.  Diana was one of the forces behind the whole "unique beauty" movement.  You don't "owe" anyone prettiness, and stereotypical ideals of prettiness are irrelevant and just plain ugh. YOU are your style.
• We'll Never See These Animals Again by Laura Smith
• This article is a lot more depressing than the first two, but it's SO IMPORTANT that we take its message to heart!!!  Knowing that ocean acidity has increased as much as it has devastates me, and I'm traumatized that Toughie (the last Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog) has passed away.  PLEASE read this and spread the word. I'm so grateful to be hearing about what Obama has done to protect the environment, and I'm really going to miss him. 
• Daily affirmations from Louise Hay
• You Can Heal Your Life has been on my mum's bookshelf as long as I can remember.  Through death, autoimmune disease(s), major life stresses, etc., that book has always been a source comfort. The little affirmations available online are really sweet and uplifting and inspiring--perfect for the new year (or any time of year!).  So take a moment to treat yourself to a little positivity.

I hope you all find these link loves as meaningful as I do :).  Hopefully there will be more to share later, but for now it's time for some psychology textbook reading . . . .

<3 Frances

School in Wartime

"All children here witnessed war."  That's what Larissa Zhidkova, headmistress of School No. 12 (Slovyansk, Urkaine), said about her students in an article for UNICEF, and it's a line that I can't get out of my head.  Living where I do, war--though I've spent years reading, listening, and talking about it--is a faraway thing.  I have family members who have experienced war firsthand, but I myself never have, and I have the gift of getting to go to sleep in the same bed every night without worrying whether or not it will still be there when I wake up in the morning.  But there are so many other people out there who don't have that luxury.  The fires and shellings and shootings we see in images are the ones that they see around them, and death is so real to them that life has become an unreliable game of chance.

Photo from KyivPost.com

Anyway, I suppose the reason that I'm writing about this is because I feel like we forget too often what's happening to people (and animals, too) and become too focused on things like politics and disagreements.  We also spend so much time talking about what's new that we push long-term issues into the backs of our minds.  I mean, the fighting in Ukraine seems rarely discussed nowadays because it's an older subject, but that doesn't mean its effects aren't still felt.  The children at School No. 12 in Slovyansk have still experienced loss and tragedy and trauma.  Even if it may have not happened "recently," it still happened, and they're still working through it.  Fortunately for these children, though, school has become a place of respite, and their teachers (notably one named Yvgeni) have been providing stress management classes to help them cope with the scars of war.  Reading about these sorts of programs makes me smile because it reminds me that there's hope for recovery for everyone.  I wish there were more funding for these programs.  I volunteer in schools a lot, and there's an awful lot of funding for research into best teaching methods, etc., but I think the emphasis should be taken off of acronyms and theories and put onto things like education in wartime and stress remediation (for teachers as well as for students).  Those are just some thoughts for today.


<3 Frances

All the People...

Imagine all the people, living life in peace...

John Lennon: "Imagine"

<3 Frances

Wednesday Music and Prayers for 804

Hi, everyone!  The end of the academic year is approaching really quickly (as in next week is my last week quickly), and I can't believe it's almost here.  Summers are very busy, too, but it's nice to get to spend more time at home with books and living room dance sessions.
Summer plans aside, though, today I wanted to talk a little bit about the victims of the EgyptAir crash. I know it happened almost a week ago, but I've been thinking about it a lot, and I can't shake how horrible it is.  No one can really understand what the families of those on board Flight 804 are going through, and it's so unfair that they're having to suffer the unimaginable right now.  I still feel traumatized by the other crashes that have happened over the recent years, and I know the families of those victims will never be able to recover from the horror of losing a loved one in such a tragic way with so many unanswered questions.  My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected <3.

Birdy: "Skinny Love"

These Brittle Bones: "Flecks"

M83: "Outro"

<3 Frances 

Sloth Sanctuary Sunday

Oh, my goodness, guys, this is SO ADORABLE!  The Costa Rica Sloth Sanctuary is one of the best places on the planet, and it's the focus of today's happiness break.  There's a lot of stuff going on in the world right now (like this scary news about global warming), but the Sloth Sanctuary is, as its name suggests, a reminder that there are still things to be happy about.  I mean, how can you not feel happy looking at these baby sloths?  There's just too much cuteness.

Copyright R Richardson

The Sloth Sanctuary was founded in 1992 to help the injured and orphaned sloths of Costa Rica. Threatened by habitat destruction, their lives depend on people recognizing just how important it is to protect them and preserve their homes.  Aside from being really cute, they're also key members of their rainforest biomes, and their fur even acts as its own ecosystem.  Can't get enough of them?  Check out this video about a little sloth named Velcro:

 

 

I hope this little happiness break was able to nourish your soul in some way today <3.  It's important to feed yourself positive things.  They're what we need to make the world a better place because they give us goals.  Instead of just acknowledging climate change and deforestation, we need to know what we can do to fix it, and it's crucial that we visualize a positive outcome to work towards.  Having more places like the Sloth Sanctuary would be a good place to start.

<3 Frances



 







Tianjin

If you've been keeping up with the news lately, then you've most likely heard about the warehouse explosions that devastated Tianjin, in China, on Wednesday.  The death toll has been rising (last night it was over 50), and at least 500 people are injured.  The chemicals released by the explosion are also very toxic and reactive with water, which is making efforts to evacuate people and clean up the mess even more difficult.  Industrial disasters like this one are heartbreaking, and I'm posting to hopefully spread the message that Tianjin, as well as many other places in the world, needs a lot of support heading its way.  <3 <3 <3

<3 Frances