No Better Place to Meet Yourself
Moussa Ag Assarid, an avid and gifted storyteller, was born in the Sahara desert in a nomadic camp of Touaregs in the north of Mali, where for generations his family has lived the simple desert life of herding "camels, goats, sheep, cows and donkeys in a kingdom of infinite and of silence." Describing the desert as the perfect "place to meet yourself," Assarid reminisces that there, "every little... posted on Mar 22 2018, 11,757 reads

Teach Me To Be WILD
Teach Me to Be WILD is a film that explores the work of Wildlife Associates, a sanctuary in Northern California, where injured, non-releasable wild animals become Wild Teachers and are helping heal generations of hurt children. The traumatic histories of the creatures, who range from an Andean condor to a two-toed sloth, often parallel those of the at-risk youth who visit. Unexpected connections a... posted on Mar 21 2018, 3,970 reads

The Sacred Ordinary in Healthcare
Sacred acts. This is how Dr. Venu Julapalli would describe the seemingly mundane, at times unglamorous, services performed by a team of caregivers looking after his mother who, after the sudden rupture of an aneurysm in her brain, was largely unable to care for herself. These caregivers saw the human behind the hospital gown, and treated their patient with the tenderness and compassion a loving fa... posted on Mar 20 2018, 18,961 reads

A Winter Walk: An Excerpt
Henry David Thoreau sings praises of winter, "the wonderful purity of nature ...(when) the dead leaves of autumn, are concealed by a clean napkin of snow... A cold and searching wind drives away all contagion, and nothing can withstand it but what has a virtue in it." In spite of the cold we recognize in this early springtime that "There is a slumbering subterranean fire in nature which never goes... posted on Mar 19 2018, 11,112 reads

Seneca on the Antidote to Anxiety
With elegant rhetoric the great first-century Roman philosopher Seneca examines worry, both real and imaginary, and the mental discipline of overcoming fear. In Letters from a Stoic, he points out to a young friend that, "Some things torment us more than they ought; some torment us before they ought; and some torment us when they ought not to torment us at all. We are in the habit of exaggerating,... posted on Mar 18 2018, 19,757 reads

The Butterfly Child
At 14 years old, Jonathan Pitre appears to have a superhuman ability to deal with the constant pain of epidermolysis bullosa, the rare disease that has been a part of his life from infancy. In this moving and inspiring video we get a glimpse of his life and that of his devoted mother, as they face daunting challenges with love, strength, courage and the heroic ability to reach out and inspire othe... posted on Mar 17 2018, 4,940 reads

How Do We Respond? A Question to Artists
To some, the creative process needs no justification or rationale; yet there are times of upheaval in history that seem to ask the artist: Why are you creating this? What is your purpose? What social change do you hope to achieve with your art? Mirka Knaster is one such artist who has explored the question of how artists use their work to address political concerns. In this post Knaster discusses ... posted on Mar 16 2018, 7,957 reads

Wild Faith
"Sometimes the nearly unbearable beauty of the world overwhelms me. I tremble with a felt-sense that the magnificence that saturates the cosmos surely reflects the possibility, even now, of human magnificence. And then, as if I've crossed an invisible bridge to a waypoint of despair, I wonder how the mysterious, self-organizing wild Earth can peacefully co-exist with the absurdities and catastroph... posted on Mar 15 2018, 19,381 reads

Literature's Legacy of Honorable Failure
Somewhere between a critic's necessary superficiality and a writer's natural dishonesty, the truth of how we judge literary success or failure is lost. It is very hard to get writers to speak frankly about their own work, particularly in a literary market where they are required to be not only writers, but also hucksters selling product. What makes a good writer? Is writing an expression of self, ... posted on Mar 14 2018, 12,267 reads

When Things Fall Apart
Just when we think we've escaped and found firm ground to stand on in a painful moment, Pema Chodron suggests that we let go into the difficulty of our situation and rest there with an open mind instead. In her book "When Things Fall Apart", Pema Chodron gently guides us through the dark places in our lives and shows us that we are strong enough to live fully in those moments. Rather than running ... posted on Mar 13 2018, 17,682 reads