For Small Creatures Such as We
In "For Small Creatures Such as We" Sasha Sagan, daughter of astronomer Carl Sagan, "explores the worlds of ritual and tradition from a scientific viewpoint. Sagan is non-religious, much like her science-minded parents. When she became a mother, she wanted to find a way to incorporate ritual and tradition into her family in a way that, instead of religion, reflected her passion for space, science ... posted on May 05 2021, 3,582 reads

Nature and the Serious Work of Joy
"'Our origins are of the earth. And so there is in us a deeply seated response to the natural universe, which is part of our humanity," Rachel Carson wrote in reflecting on our spiritual bond with nature shortly before she awakened the modern environmental conscience. The rewards and redemptions of that elemental yet endangered response is what British naturalist and environmental writer Michael M... posted on May 04 2021, 4,988 reads

Six Habits of Hope
Hope is often viewed as the anticipation of circumstances being better in the future, but in this article environmentalist and social activist Kate Davies suggests that intrinsic hope is based in the here and now. Applying 6 habits of mindfulness to one's daily life will allow us to live from a place of hope that embraces life as it is now in all of its beauty and complexity.... posted on May 03 2021, 59,118 reads

Waiting for the Elvers
"I'm not sure who first saw the wriggly, almost see-through, three-inch bodies of the elvers, or baby eels. But I think it was my energetic five-year-old because I remember his face. When he told me, he had run all the way back to our house through the woods and up our steep bank. His eyes were shining and he was breathless from exertion and excitement. His words tumbled one over the other, and hi... posted on May 02 2021, 3,140 reads

A Day with the Langs
For over twenty years artists Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang have been collecting plastic trash washed up on a pristine beach in Point Reyes National Seashore. Their meditative practice, and the art they make from the collected detritus, is a small song of hope in the face of the worldwide blight of single-use plastic. ... posted on May 01 2021, 2,874 reads

Imagine a World Without Prisons
Deanna Van Buren designs restorative justice centers that, instead of taking the punitive approach used by a system focused on mass incarceration, treat crime as a breach of relationships and justice as a process where all stakeholders come together to repair that breach. "Imagine a world without prisons," Van Buren says. "And join me in creating all the things that we could build instead."... posted on Apr 30 2021, 1,989 reads

Karma Quilts: One Woman's Labor of Love Offering
"In her heartwarming book, My Grandfather's Blessings, Rachel Remen says, "You do not need money to be a philanthropist. We all have assets. You can befriend life with your bare hands." I am grateful for being able to befriend life with my bare hands through the making of quilts and prayer shawls." Jane Jackson is a mother, grandmother, former mid-wife, writer and much more. Over the decades she h... posted on Apr 29 2021, 7,127 reads

An Illustrated Poster for People Who Love Their Work
'Arbejdsglaede' is a wonderful Scandinavian word that literally means 'work-love' or 'work-glad'. There is no direct translation for this word in the English language, so Maptia decided to use crowdsourcing to explore its meaning. More than 200 people who love their jobs shared three words that described how they felt on a Monday morning. A beautiful poster summarizes the results, with the size of... posted on Apr 28 2021, 40,683 reads

The Body's Grace: A Paralyzed Yoga Teacher's Insights
"Matthew Sanford says he's never seen anyone live more deeply in their body -- in all its grace and all its flaws -- without becoming more compassionate toward all of life. He's a renowned teacher of yoga. And he's been paralyzed from the chest down since a car accident in 1978, when he was 13. He teaches yoga to the able-bodied. He also adapts yoga for people with ailments and disabilities, inclu... posted on Apr 27 2021, 0 reads

Radical Joy For Hard Times
"Radical Joy for Hard Times is a worldwide community of people dedicated to bringing meaning, beauty, and value to places that have been damaged by human or natural acts. Through its online community and annual Global Earth Exchange event, Radical Joy uplifts and inspires values of relationship, community, ARTivism, and presence. Anyone can do the Radical Joy practice, which at its core invites us... posted on Apr 26 2021, 5,000 reads