Nadia, you are a treasure. A while back I responded to one of your posts by noting that I had given up grumpiness for Lent. Well, yesterday was my former wife's birthday. We have no contact, but I do get reports from our kids about how she is doing. We were married for over 50 years. My betrayal, my traumatizing of her, destroyed that. Yesterday I realized that I am grateful - inexpressibly - that she is alive, that she is thriving, that she is being her lovely, wonderful self, no doubt worlds happier without me in her life. And I'm grateful that I'm at peace about that, more or less, depending on the moment. In this world of around-the-clock shitstorm, it's good to be grateful for something as real, as important, as that.
This was a timely post for me. Some of my good friends and I have been part of a WhatsApp group inspired by your suggestion and it's been a joy. Today though, I've struggled. Not because it's been a bad day, just because I'm a bit tired, and because I remembered this morning a work task I'd forgotten so had to log on and spend 90 minutes of my precious Saturday working, and because after a few days hinting at spring today has been cold and grey. But even as I read your piece, I started counting the good things today - the cat waking me with a meow and a sniggle, my tram turning up just as I got to the station, a chat with a friend, a lovely meal cooked by my lovely husband and now a glass of wine and a new post on The Corners - Life, and God, are good despite all the stuff going on...
Thank you for this chance to jump on the #goodshit train more than halfway to Lent, NBW. I live in Minneapolis, and today, like every Saturday, I got to dance Zumba with a room full of badass middle-aged babes who wrote the book on sexy — in Spanish and in English. Women who have refused to stop dancing every Saturday for the last three months ICE has been dickwheeling around our city, including the weeks where they were abducting people right outside the dance studio. On those days the dancing became a kind of ferocious ceremony, pure defiant joy. Today, meanwhile, felt like a more ordinary day, and this too was an unbelievable holiness.
I’ve so much enjoyed and been blessed by #40daysofgoodshit. Everyone participating sharing their daily joy no matter how big or how small. I’ve noticed that I see the good shit throughout the day…it’s a wonder…thank you Nadia such a brilliant idea 💖
I’ve loved #40daysofgoodshit! I’ve enjoyed picking one thing every day (most days there are several to choose from). Also, I get a little thrill when I see you’ve liked my post. I’m a little star struck. 🫢
My never fail ordinary good shit thing is noticing lines of preschoolers using one of those walking rope thingies. A friend of mine calls them "rope-o'-twerps." They're so unbelievably adorable, those toddlers plodding dopily along, often in their multi-colored rain gear (I live in Seattle), completely unaware of how magical they are just by being there. God, they're so beautiful I can hardly stand it. If you can't find anything to rejoice in, I prescribe finding a preschool or a park and waiting till one of those charming criminal gangs to come along.
This: "Friends, a spiritual life does not demand that we pretend the world is any better than it is; only that we do not miss how the world is often much better than we feel." So true and so well said. and I'm totally in love with the tiny frogs that are peeping in all the moisture of spring.
This past week I was on jury duty. It was a challenging criminal case involving a brutal assault on a person still recovering from a brutal car crash. During the many delays, sequestered in our little room, I became acquainted with an extraordinary group of ordinary citizens who care about the process of justice. The long days were at times boring, stressful, and frustrating. But the good shit was there throughout in that group of ordinary extraordinary human beings working together to do the right thing. I feel huge gratitude for the experience, for the work and for the people I met. And I believe we arrived at the correct result, after hours of wrestling with the evidence. Good shit happened in the midst of a tragic story.
#40daysofgoodshit has been giving me the most meaningful Lent I’ve had in ages! I’ve not always been successful at fasting on negativity, which was my other intention, but each and every day I have found something that has given me joy that ordinarily I probably wouldn’t have noticed at all. And I am grateful! So very grateful! And as much fun as self-pity is, gratitude is making me feel even better!! Love your work! Thank you …… you are a blessing!
This was one of my favourite of your posts. The beauty and simplicity you bring faith back to is something I am always grateful for. This year is the first in over a decade I am fasting for Ramadan (isn’t it incredible that Ramadan, lent and the lunar/Chinese new year all started in the same day?!?!?!) and I could relate to all of what you said about WHY we give things up, and not THAT we are giving them up. Thank you for always keeping shit real Nadia!!
Yes, Nadia, I joined you in the #40daysofgoodshit Lent project, actually from the day BEFORE Ash Wednesday (going the extra mile 😂). Yesterday, I appreciated something fairly mundane - having a rare lie-in in the morning as I'd actually noticed how exhausted I was, and then enjoying a leisurely breakfast with my husband. I live in Edinburgh, and today I was in the city centre to go to a Lent Quiet Day in a church near Edinburgh Castle. There was an international rugby match here at Murrayfield today, and there were very many French rugby fans in town for it. I love it when there are rugby fans here. A few of them were outside a cafe near the church I was heading for, bantering with the cafe owner and sorting out where to sit at the tables outside. They were so happy and relaxed, and the weather was perfect for a rugby match, which is a rare thing indeed in Scotland. And I realised that the reason I enjoyed seeing them so much was that it made me feel as if I was the one on holiday, rather than it being those fans who were enjoying a weekend break in my home city. I can't explain it, but that was the feeling, so that's what went in my log of this Lent practice, which I'm keeping in WhatsApp.
When I was little, I gave up sweets as a sacrifice, a repentance (for what, I’m not sure at 7 years old). Later I’d do it to try to lose weight, bc in my mind being 10lbs overweight was probably a sign of my weakness/gluttony/sinfulness. I gave that shit up eventually. Not that I shouldn’t repent or sacrifice— just that that path was a bit fucked up.
I started adding things instead— a kindness a day that I wouldn’t normally have taken time for, or 10 minutes of loving-kindness meditation. But that fell by the wayside sometime, too.
Your post today made me think that, maybe all along, I was simply trying to get God’s attention. “Here’s some chocolate for you!” (I LOVE that.) Or “See, I’m being so good.” Or “See, I’m not as bad as you/I think.” I need to sit with this a bit. Because, of course if what I really want is attention, perhaps I could be more direct about it.
I love The Corners and how it adds to my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Taking the edge off of being alive - goodness, that's it, isn't it? The quote about never being able to have enough of what you don't want reminds me of a moment of realization years ago. I had just begun to get sober, or was getting ready to become humbled and ask for help. You would think I would remember the chronology, but I don't. Oh, well. I had gone into a Walgreens for something they ended up not having. I looked and looked for something, anything, else to buy. And I realized that I was always, always actively working at acquiring things to fill the hole. I always needed to buy something and it didn't matter what. I went out of the store and got into my car empty handed, but more full than empty for the first time in years.
I’ve been following you for years now, Nadia, and just love your honesty and humanity.
I had the chance today to sit down and listen (on You-Tube) to the eulogies former Presidents Obama and Clinton gave at Rev Jesse Jackson’s funeral. I was so touched by their remarks and specifically, comments about purpose (and yes, I am from Chicago!). If you haven’t listened, they are both really good! They spoke eloquently about Jackson and callings and purpose in life, which are important messages for me now as I am fairly recently retired and looking for purpose in this next chapter. They touched my heart deeply and I found myself crying, which I don’t do often. So, I had to journal and found myself writing “Such good people (Jackson, Obama, Clinton) … calling us all to greatness in our own way. I believe there will come a day when good leaders rule our country again.” It was comforting, inspiring and grace-filled and I felt God’s presence. That’s my good shit for the day!
Lent (and Advent) for me, in the last years, is a period of responsibility. I participate in a project of a religious convent that posts weekly inspiration on its social media. I do the layout and the posting. And alongside my normal job it sometimes feels much.
I read your article on #40daysofgoodshit, it felt good but not for me. Not now, not in this time of busy, moving to another city, looking for my place and peace.
But this Lent I found a church nearby, with a welcoming congregation. Which is good shit. So thank you for introducing me to Lutheran/Protestant theology.
Nadia, you are a treasure. A while back I responded to one of your posts by noting that I had given up grumpiness for Lent. Well, yesterday was my former wife's birthday. We have no contact, but I do get reports from our kids about how she is doing. We were married for over 50 years. My betrayal, my traumatizing of her, destroyed that. Yesterday I realized that I am grateful - inexpressibly - that she is alive, that she is thriving, that she is being her lovely, wonderful self, no doubt worlds happier without me in her life. And I'm grateful that I'm at peace about that, more or less, depending on the moment. In this world of around-the-clock shitstorm, it's good to be grateful for something as real, as important, as that.
This was a timely post for me. Some of my good friends and I have been part of a WhatsApp group inspired by your suggestion and it's been a joy. Today though, I've struggled. Not because it's been a bad day, just because I'm a bit tired, and because I remembered this morning a work task I'd forgotten so had to log on and spend 90 minutes of my precious Saturday working, and because after a few days hinting at spring today has been cold and grey. But even as I read your piece, I started counting the good things today - the cat waking me with a meow and a sniggle, my tram turning up just as I got to the station, a chat with a friend, a lovely meal cooked by my lovely husband and now a glass of wine and a new post on The Corners - Life, and God, are good despite all the stuff going on...
Thank you for this chance to jump on the #goodshit train more than halfway to Lent, NBW. I live in Minneapolis, and today, like every Saturday, I got to dance Zumba with a room full of badass middle-aged babes who wrote the book on sexy — in Spanish and in English. Women who have refused to stop dancing every Saturday for the last three months ICE has been dickwheeling around our city, including the weeks where they were abducting people right outside the dance studio. On those days the dancing became a kind of ferocious ceremony, pure defiant joy. Today, meanwhile, felt like a more ordinary day, and this too was an unbelievable holiness.
I’ve so much enjoyed and been blessed by #40daysofgoodshit. Everyone participating sharing their daily joy no matter how big or how small. I’ve noticed that I see the good shit throughout the day…it’s a wonder…thank you Nadia such a brilliant idea 💖
I’ve loved #40daysofgoodshit! I’ve enjoyed picking one thing every day (most days there are several to choose from). Also, I get a little thrill when I see you’ve liked my post. I’m a little star struck. 🫢
My never fail ordinary good shit thing is noticing lines of preschoolers using one of those walking rope thingies. A friend of mine calls them "rope-o'-twerps." They're so unbelievably adorable, those toddlers plodding dopily along, often in their multi-colored rain gear (I live in Seattle), completely unaware of how magical they are just by being there. God, they're so beautiful I can hardly stand it. If you can't find anything to rejoice in, I prescribe finding a preschool or a park and waiting till one of those charming criminal gangs to come along.
This: "Friends, a spiritual life does not demand that we pretend the world is any better than it is; only that we do not miss how the world is often much better than we feel." So true and so well said. and I'm totally in love with the tiny frogs that are peeping in all the moisture of spring.
This past week I was on jury duty. It was a challenging criminal case involving a brutal assault on a person still recovering from a brutal car crash. During the many delays, sequestered in our little room, I became acquainted with an extraordinary group of ordinary citizens who care about the process of justice. The long days were at times boring, stressful, and frustrating. But the good shit was there throughout in that group of ordinary extraordinary human beings working together to do the right thing. I feel huge gratitude for the experience, for the work and for the people I met. And I believe we arrived at the correct result, after hours of wrestling with the evidence. Good shit happened in the midst of a tragic story.
I love this. I've never thought about giving things up for Lent as a way to see what I turn to for comfort instead of God. A light! Thank you Nadia!
#40daysofgoodshit has been giving me the most meaningful Lent I’ve had in ages! I’ve not always been successful at fasting on negativity, which was my other intention, but each and every day I have found something that has given me joy that ordinarily I probably wouldn’t have noticed at all. And I am grateful! So very grateful! And as much fun as self-pity is, gratitude is making me feel even better!! Love your work! Thank you …… you are a blessing!
This was one of my favourite of your posts. The beauty and simplicity you bring faith back to is something I am always grateful for. This year is the first in over a decade I am fasting for Ramadan (isn’t it incredible that Ramadan, lent and the lunar/Chinese new year all started in the same day?!?!?!) and I could relate to all of what you said about WHY we give things up, and not THAT we are giving them up. Thank you for always keeping shit real Nadia!!
Yes, Nadia, I joined you in the #40daysofgoodshit Lent project, actually from the day BEFORE Ash Wednesday (going the extra mile 😂). Yesterday, I appreciated something fairly mundane - having a rare lie-in in the morning as I'd actually noticed how exhausted I was, and then enjoying a leisurely breakfast with my husband. I live in Edinburgh, and today I was in the city centre to go to a Lent Quiet Day in a church near Edinburgh Castle. There was an international rugby match here at Murrayfield today, and there were very many French rugby fans in town for it. I love it when there are rugby fans here. A few of them were outside a cafe near the church I was heading for, bantering with the cafe owner and sorting out where to sit at the tables outside. They were so happy and relaxed, and the weather was perfect for a rugby match, which is a rare thing indeed in Scotland. And I realised that the reason I enjoyed seeing them so much was that it made me feel as if I was the one on holiday, rather than it being those fans who were enjoying a weekend break in my home city. I can't explain it, but that was the feeling, so that's what went in my log of this Lent practice, which I'm keeping in WhatsApp.
When I was little, I gave up sweets as a sacrifice, a repentance (for what, I’m not sure at 7 years old). Later I’d do it to try to lose weight, bc in my mind being 10lbs overweight was probably a sign of my weakness/gluttony/sinfulness. I gave that shit up eventually. Not that I shouldn’t repent or sacrifice— just that that path was a bit fucked up.
I started adding things instead— a kindness a day that I wouldn’t normally have taken time for, or 10 minutes of loving-kindness meditation. But that fell by the wayside sometime, too.
Your post today made me think that, maybe all along, I was simply trying to get God’s attention. “Here’s some chocolate for you!” (I LOVE that.) Or “See, I’m being so good.” Or “See, I’m not as bad as you/I think.” I need to sit with this a bit. Because, of course if what I really want is attention, perhaps I could be more direct about it.
I love The Corners and how it adds to my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Taking the edge off of being alive - goodness, that's it, isn't it? The quote about never being able to have enough of what you don't want reminds me of a moment of realization years ago. I had just begun to get sober, or was getting ready to become humbled and ask for help. You would think I would remember the chronology, but I don't. Oh, well. I had gone into a Walgreens for something they ended up not having. I looked and looked for something, anything, else to buy. And I realized that I was always, always actively working at acquiring things to fill the hole. I always needed to buy something and it didn't matter what. I went out of the store and got into my car empty handed, but more full than empty for the first time in years.
I’ve been following you for years now, Nadia, and just love your honesty and humanity.
I had the chance today to sit down and listen (on You-Tube) to the eulogies former Presidents Obama and Clinton gave at Rev Jesse Jackson’s funeral. I was so touched by their remarks and specifically, comments about purpose (and yes, I am from Chicago!). If you haven’t listened, they are both really good! They spoke eloquently about Jackson and callings and purpose in life, which are important messages for me now as I am fairly recently retired and looking for purpose in this next chapter. They touched my heart deeply and I found myself crying, which I don’t do often. So, I had to journal and found myself writing “Such good people (Jackson, Obama, Clinton) … calling us all to greatness in our own way. I believe there will come a day when good leaders rule our country again.” It was comforting, inspiring and grace-filled and I felt God’s presence. That’s my good shit for the day!
Lent (and Advent) for me, in the last years, is a period of responsibility. I participate in a project of a religious convent that posts weekly inspiration on its social media. I do the layout and the posting. And alongside my normal job it sometimes feels much.
I read your article on #40daysofgoodshit, it felt good but not for me. Not now, not in this time of busy, moving to another city, looking for my place and peace.
But this Lent I found a church nearby, with a welcoming congregation. Which is good shit. So thank you for introducing me to Lutheran/Protestant theology.