The One Most Important Thing You Can Do Right Now
"The point to all the closings and all the cancellations is this -- to manage the healthcare system so that it can respond to those who are vulnerable to die from COVID-19, and to shorten the arc of the pandemics duration. In effect it is to keep our bodies from being unwitting vehicles for the virus to jump from doorknob to doorknob, credit card to credit card. The more we lessen our physical sco... posted on Mar 17 2020, 30,085 reads

Guarding the Tongue: The Importance of Right Speech
"A few years ago, I went through an estrangement with a close friend because of the words I used to refer to her partner's behavior. Although he did not hear what she and I said in our phone conversation, by "chance" he saw my e-mail that followed it. I meant no harm. I thought I was being supportive of my friend. But it was careless speech on my part, and it has cost me dearly. The painful reperc... posted on Mar 16 2020, 9,260 reads

Living Gratefully in the Time of Corona Virus
"In the midst of times of uncertainty it serves us to reflect on how gratefulness might help to calm us, reduce fears and expectations, open us to greater clarity and love, and fuel action grounded in our deep intentions. Gratitude is not a panacea. It may not cure or solve our anxiety or concerns but it can foster ease, connection, kindness, and well-being -- all valuable qualities which would be... posted on Mar 15 2020, 54,453 reads

Embracing Holy Envy
"In 1985, Lutheran Bishop Krister Stendahl, in defending the building of a Mormon temple by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Stockholm, enunciated "Three Rules of Religious Understanding:" "When trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies."'Don't compare your best to their worst," and:
"Leave room for holy envy."... posted on Mar 14 2020, 3,694 reads

Do Not Lose Heart -- We Were Made for These Times
Clarissa Pinkola Estes stirringly invites us to embrace the moment we are in with all of its fear, uncertainty, and turmoil. She says, "I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it...In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. Do not make yourself ill with overwhelm." This pa... posted on Mar 13 2020, 221,349 reads

The Longest Night
Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, has a parallel in the tale of days we call our lives. During a dark time it can be hard to remember the warmth and joy that also comes and goes. This lovely animated poem reminds us to keep taking one step at a time toward the coming light.... posted on Mar 12 2020, 3,182 reads

The Slow Joy of Jane Hirshfield's Ledger
""It's such a slow joy," says poet Jane Hirshfield, about the work of revising a poem. We've just left the trailhead for a hike on what she calls the "hem" of Mount Tamalpais. Already were deep in conversation about how Hirshfield produces the wise and tender poems that fill her nine poetry collections, including the newly-published Ledger.""... posted on Mar 11 2020, 3,646 reads

20-Year Reforestation Project Plants 2.7 Million Trees
"When celebrated Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado took over family land in the state of Minas Gerais, instead of the tropical paradise that he remembered as a child, he found the trees cut down and the wildlife gone. He was devastated. It was 1994 and he had just returned from a traumatic assignment reporting on the genocide in Rwanda. "The land was as sick as I was -- everything was destr... posted on Mar 10 2020, 2,058 reads

The Wanderer: Earth as Art
"There is this one extravaganza, already in production for five million years now, called Earth. Because it is so full of redundancies, so repetitious in its winters and fishes, we feel we have seen enough to get a handle on it; we would like to set out our critique of the planet's aesthetic merits and failures before we are toast like Tacitus. There was once a critique that it was "very good," bu... posted on Mar 09 2020, 2,369 reads

Stories of Kindness from Wuhan
"I want to dedicate a thread to regular Chinese people who stepped up to fill in the gaps, helping fellow citizens in this fight against the #coronavirus. These stories dont make international headlines. But they are still important." A journalist at qz shares stories of ordinary people and their extraordinary acts of humanity. ... posted on Mar 08 2020, 4,809 reads