BJ Miller Understands Mortality
Oncologist and Executive Director of the Zen Hospice Project, B. J. Miller is a practitioner who is part of a Buddhist-informed, humanistic approach to care. The Zen Hospice Project is a place where medical staff and volunteers practice love, compassion, and empathy. In this interview, Miller, who has experienced deep, personal loss, advocates for respecting our grieving process and allowing it to... posted on Oct 29 2018, 12,731 reads

How Does Change Happen?
For most of his life Jason Angell was a political activist, believing the story that social transformation comes through radical legislation pushed along by brave elected leaders. He saw himself as one of those leaders giving a speech to a massive group of people in the National Mall in Washington DC; and came from a family background, where his father had run unsuccessfully for Congress in 1972, ... posted on Oct 28 2018, 7,387 reads

Failure Is Afraid of You
When confronted with the possibility of failure, we become afraid. We are so afraid of failure that we combat it by metaphorically beating it, sweeping it away, or hiding it in a deep hole. What might happen if we lit a candle and looked at our fear in the light of wisdom, compassion and even joy? Discover how fear of failure can be transformed in this short essay from the blog DailyBeloved.
... posted on Oct 27 2018, 8,542 reads

The Bee Guardian
Honey bees have been around for millions of years, and contribute to about one third of the food we eat worldwide. But they are facing enormous challenges, just like the rest of us on the rapidly changing planet we call home. In 2017, bee keepers in the United States lost 40% of their colonies. However, backyard beekeeping is something simple anyone can do. Watch this uplifting video and learn abo... posted on Oct 26 2018, 2,413 reads

Have You Broken Your Four-Minute Mile?
Robert Bengston wants to know: "Have you broken your four minute mile?" We each have our own race that we are in--something we dream of, yet often doubt we can achieve. Still, in our own way we hope and work for making a meaningful difference. Robert believes we can do it. We can break our own four minute mile. We can be that seemingly impossible something that will carry the world over into the u... posted on Oct 25 2018, 5,592 reads

Why Activism Must Be More Generous
Frances Lee, activist, writer, designer and public scholar in Seattle, Washington, believes that social justice movements have a narrow framework of morality, which is counterproductive. Movements need a critical mass of people, but now activists are expected to follow specific standards to be trusted and heard by the larger group. Frances argues that social justice activists must be as committed ... posted on Oct 24 2018, 8,396 reads

The Monk, the Butcher & the Origins of Deep Counting
Our lives are based on what we count and how we count it. Somik Raha asks what would be different in our lives if we changed how we engage with counting. Raha takes us through stories of what is meritorious, which leads us into deep counting-- counting which facilitates meaningful experiences. He then brings us into the understanding of how making distinctions is an act of creation and is juxtapos... posted on Oct 23 2018, 3,375 reads

The Nun Who Has Saved Thousands of Lives From Violence
The very same night that Sister Lucy Kurien turned away a pregnant and frightened woman from an overnight visit to her convent in India, the woman was immolated by her husband. Sister Lucy held her in her arms as she died. That night she vowed to do something for the women of her country. So she founded Maher, "a refuge for women whose poverty prevents them from being able to leave abusive homes o... posted on Oct 22 2018, 7,068 reads

How to Save Creative Culture from the Syphoning of Substance
Maria Popova reflects on the thoughts of mathematician, philosopher, and cybernetics pioneer Norbert Wiener in his book The Human Use of Human Beings: Cybernetics and Society. She reminds us of the danger when "creative culture is reduced to mere 'content' as the life of the mind and world of substantive ideas collapse into an abyss of marketable sensationalism and cynicism, (flattening) life's nu... posted on Oct 21 2018, 4,274 reads

How Silence Leads Us To Awe
When life leaves us "dumb-struck", awed into silence, we are jolted into living and understanding with our right brains. These moments are universally understood as deep spiritual experiences. In this excerpt from the book "The Lotus and the Rose", Matthew Fox and Lama Tsomo explore this essential spiritual principle using the lenses of Christianity and Buddhism.... posted on Oct 20 2018, 10,633 reads