Jane Hirshfield: The Fullness of Things
"The esteemed writer Jane Hirshfield has been a Zen monk and a visiting artist among neuroscientists. She has said this: 'It's my nature to question, to look at the opposite side. I believe that the best writing also does this... It tells us that where there is sorrow, there will be joy; where there is joy, there will be sorrow... The acknowledgement of the fully complex scope of being is why good... posted on Jan 12 2022, 4,608 reads

Are Cats Liquid?
"A liquid is traditionally defined as a material that adapts its shape to fit a container. Yet under certain conditions, cats seem to fit this definition. This somewhat paradoxical observation emerged on the web a few years ago and joined the long list of internet memes involving our feline friends. When I first saw this question it made me laugh, and then think. I decided to reformulate it to ill... posted on Jan 11 2022, 5,167 reads

Beings Seen and Unseen
"In this wide-ranging conversation, Amitav Ghosh talks about his latest book, "The Nutmeg's Curse," that explores our shared past, the root causes of climate change, and how climate change is intimately linked to colonialism, genocide, and structures of organized violence. He calls on storytellers to lead us in the necessary work of collective reimagining: decentering human narratives and re-cente... posted on Jan 10 2022, 3,454 reads

An Early Morning Revelation: Chuck St. John
At seventy years old, St. John recounts a remarkable experience that happened in the most ordinary of circumstances when he was 28 years old. "There was this taste of knowing [my family] like characters in some story I'd read about recently, or from a movie watched last night, as if I myself had not lived the story. It had all just happened to me as if I had been in a long dream. How did I get her... posted on Jan 09 2022, 2,670 reads

The Log- Year 2
There are some things we see without seeing, but in them a whole world is held unto themselves. For the last couple of years, wildlife photographer Robert Bush Sr. has had a trail camera situated above a stream in the Pennsylvania wilderness. The "log" videos are mesmerizing and entertaining, as we observe how integral this log is to the life of the forest. What appears to be just a log is so much... posted on Jan 08 2022, 3,657 reads

Desmond Tutu: Father of South Africa's Rainbow Nation
"Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu has died at the age of 90. Archbishop Tutu earned the respect and love of millions of South Africans and the world. He carved out a permanent place in their hearts and minds, becoming known affectionately as 'The Arch.' When South Africans woke up on the morning of 7 April, 2017 to protest against then President Jacob Zuma's removal of the respected Finance... posted on Jan 07 2022, 3,198 reads

Words Can Change Your Brain
"We wrote this book to help people to speak more honestly with each other, and to listen to each other more deeply. And we also wrote this book because the newest findings in neuroscience can teach us how to become better communicators, how to build deeper bonds of trust, and how to resolve conflicts without getting frightened or mad. We wrote this book to talk about the power of words, but we als... posted on Jan 06 2022, 11,236 reads

How to Support a Loved One Struggling with Mental Health
"Every one of us has mental health in the same way that every one of us has physical health. Yet despite the prevalence of mental health struggles, there is still so much stigma around them. Worldwide the leading cause of disability is depression, according to the World Health Organization, and in the US alone, nearly 1 in 5 of adults lives with a mental illness. As a mental health therapist-in-tr... posted on Jan 05 2022, 7,371 reads

10 Insights from 2021 That Give Us Hope
As 2022 sets sail, the editors of the inspiring news portal KarunaVirus, share ten insights gleaned over the past year, as they witnessed everyday people all over the world choosing love over fear in a multitude of different ways. Read on for a dazzling constellation of stories of compassion, resilience, ingenuity, sportsmanship and more!... posted on Jan 04 2022, 14,852 reads

Releasing Contracts that Block Joy
"Self-warmth makes everything better: our health, our immune system, our life decisions, our sense of meaning, our capacity for engagement, our effectiveness, and our intimate connections with others. But we may have agreements with ourselves, agreements we don't even know about, to NOT be warm with ourselves. We may have contracts to not like ourselves, to be indifferent, even to hate and be cru... posted on Jan 03 2022, 6,851 reads