Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/0rwllACdg3k/

“To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life.” ~Jill Botte Taylor

I used to be a stress bunny. Something was always driving me to want to do better—to be more, to have more, to compete and win at everything.

I thrived on pushing myself, thinking achievement was a great thing.

I was also restless. I always had to be going somewhere—doing something—never sitting still. I was bored, frustrated, and trying to find happiness outside myself.

One day after I graduated from college, I became totally paralyzed by a rare syndrome and landed in the hospital. The doctors couldn’t tell me when or if I would ever walk again.

I soon understood why I pushed myself so hard. I was running from myself so I didn’t have to face all the inner thoughts that were fueling my stress.

Suddenly I couldn’t even walk away. I still wanted to run, but I was forced to lie there—tortured by my own racing thoughts.

Talk about stress! This frightening experience taught me many valuable life lessons. One of them is that stress has no redeeming value. You can live a much happier, more successful life by transforming you…

Source: http://zenhabits.net/elements/

By Leo Babauta

One of the best things I ever did to change my life (along with exercise, mindfulness, simplicity and focus) is to teach myself to eat a healthy diet.

But one of the things that confused me early on was: what is a healthy diet? There are so many definitions of what’s healthy — low-fat, low-carb, Paleo, vegan, Mediterranean, raw, and so on. It can be pretty confusing.

While I risk making a lot of people angry with this article, I’m going to attempt to synthesize my personal research on healthy eating. This isn’t definitive, and I’m not a nutritionist, but I’ve been exploring a healthy diet and have read hundreds of articles on this, sorting the good from the bad.

Here’s what I believe is healthy.

Overall Principles

A diet is healthy if it:

gives your body nutrients it needs,
without giving you too many calories (too many calories leads to obesity over time),
or unhealthy things (like too much saturated or trans fat, nitrates, excess sodium, unhealthy chemicals).

This definition is for the long term, not day to day. On any given day, you could have less nutrients than you need, and too many calories and sodium, but if the diet balances out over time, then it can be healthy.

So healthy food contributes to that: a good nutrient-to-calorie ratio without a lot of the bad stuff.

What kind of nutrients does your body need? It needs essential amino acids (protein), healthy fats, …

Source: http://www.theminimalists.com/focus/

By Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus · Follow: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

In this video excerpt from Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things​, neuroscientist Sam Harris talks about focus.

See the film: MinimalismFilm.com. And check out our long interview with Dr. Harris here.

Subscribe to The Minimalists via email.

…

Source: http://greatist.com/move/dance-workout-videos-are-a-gift-to-us-all?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Have you ever been bopping along to your favorite pop song and realized, nope, you don’t have the moves like Jagger? Well, that can all change once you discover Caleb Marshall, known as The Fitness Marshall on YouTube. His videos show you how to channel your inner Beyoncé with moves anyone can do. You’re also pretty much guaranteed to break a sweat. So go ahead: Dance like no one’s watching.

…

Source: http://www.niashanks.com/one-rule-not-suck-life/

I know what you’re thinking: “This better not be another article telling me to ‘never give up on my dreams no matter what’ or trying to sell me some ‘secret success’ tip to live every day like it’s my last.”

Nah. We previously addressed the fact that every day can’t be awesome and why that’s OK. Rest assured this short article can actually be useful too.

I present to you . . .  

The Number One Rule to Not Suck at Life, in Only Four Words: don’t be an asshole.

It’s that simple, but apparently it’s not easy.

There’s no shortage of assholes in the world today, and that’s why this rule is so important. It is the one rule to rule them all.

Before we proceed, let’s clarify what it means to “be an asshole.” First, I certainly do not mean speaking your mind, being brutally honest, saying “no” when you don’t want to do something, respectfully sharing your opinion, or standing up for yourself or others. I would never suggest you walk through life on eggshells or ask permission to do the things you want to do.

Some people think being direct, honest, and unwavering is the same as being an asshole; I most certainly do not.

When I say “being an asshole” I…

Source: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2016/04/06/vegan-kale-caesar-salad-recipe/

This vegan kale caesar salad recipe tastes just like classic caesar salad, despite being vegan! Enjoy it as a side dish, or as a meal with some bread on the side or whole grains on top.

I am obsessed with kale caesar salads lately. Something about the creamy, savory dressing and the hearty chew of the kale goes so well together. I’ve been buying vegan kale caesar salads out a fair amount lately (our local Mom’s Organic Market has one I LOVE) and finally decided it was time to make one myself at home!

<img src="http://www.fannetasticfood.comhttp://www.fannetasticfood.comhttp://www.fannetasticfood.com//assets.pinterest.com…

Source: http://greatist.com/live/how-your-fat-friend-feels-when-you-say-youre-concerned-for-their-health?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

I hear the familiar hesitation in your voice when we speak. The sharp intake of breath and the disappointing sigh of an unposed question, like the hiss of an emptying balloon. With coaxing and reassuring, you come out with a familiar question.

But what about your health? Am I not even supposed to care?

And with that, you step into a long and living history. It stings and disappoints, as it always does. As a fat person, someone is always telling me about their concern for my health, and hearing it from such a dear friend smarts. I need you to know about your companions—the friends, family, colleagues, and strangers who have expressed those same concerns for as long as I have been fat.

I was 18 years old the first time someone told me I was going to die. I had just gotten the first job that I’d been truly passionate about, working with poets and novelists whose writing I so admired and had relied on in my adolescence. Luminaries whose work reached its warm hands into my ribcage, cradling everything vital and tender there, at a time that felt so isolating. A favorite poet was holding a reading, and I was in charge of it.

I’d spent months planning that first event, and I couldn’t have been prouder. Dozens of people showed up and everything was going according to plan. I stationed myself behind the food, dishing up plates for attendees, and welcoming them as they made their way through the line. An older man, well-dressed, smiled as he accept…

Source: http://www.sonima.com/videos/bija-institute/

Watch video on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7F7HulqOJU

Three years ago Erica Nunnally’s youngest daughter was diagnosed with cancer. During and after her daughter’s treatment, Nunnally felt moved to help others in similar situations, and founded the Bija Institute, a retreat center for parents of sick children.  Nunnally is a distinguished yoga teacher with a knack for physical and emotional intelligence who describes, in this interview with Sonima’s founder, Sonia Jones, how Bija evolved over time.

Related: 16 Incredible Stories of Healing Through Yoga

The post How My Daughter’s Sickness Inspired Me to Give Back appeared first on Sonima.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/04/07/473293477/tiny-forage-fish-at-bottom-of-marine-food-chain-get-new-protections?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

Peruvian anchoveta being processed at a fish meal factory in Lima in 2009. The small forage species has been heavily fished.

Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty Images

Sardines, herring and other small fish species are the foundation of the marine food web — they’re essential food for birds, marine mammals and other fish. But globally, demand for these so-called forage species has exploded, with many going to feed the livestock and fish farming industries.

Some of these species are already heavily fished, and it will take time for them to recover. But other forage species have not yet been commercially targeted. And this week, the U.S. government passed measures — backed by environmentalists as well as fishermen — to protect these critical fish and invertebrate species in waters off the U.S. West Coast before they’re overfished.

A rule passed Monday by the National Marine Fisheries Service makes it illegal for commercial fishermen to develop…

Source: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/04/07/how-zach-the-chemist-lost-over-100-lbs/

Meet Zach – a huge goober and nerd, and a formulation/polymer chemist.

For you non-science nerds, this means Zach makes coatings for magnet wires and gets to play mad scientist at his job. I can’t speak to the quality of his maniacal laugh, though.

Zach’s story isn’t like some of our other heroes – there wasn’t a specific moment from a doctor’s visit or a ‘call to action’ where he drew a line in the sand to get healthy. In fact, Zach thought everything was fine:

“About a year ago I thought that I had life figured out, but I was very much overweight and just topped the scales at 300lbs. I thought I was happy and I did everything I could to convince myself that I was. I used food and video games to escape the stresses of life.”

When crisis struck, Zach’s marriage came to an end – he coped not by eating his feelings or bingeing on Netflix for days on end; instead he chose to level up his life. He turned an incredibly painful experience into his motivating drive; each day he shed weight, got stronger, and pieced his life back together.

Many of us have had to deal with incredibly tough moments in our life – from the loss of a relationship or the a loss of a loved one, to dealing with illness and pain along the way. Although it sucks at the time, it also gives us a chance to become stronger than before.

Let’s…