How Newness Enters the World
"When time becomes history, different dynamics come into focus than the ones that are at any moment screaming for attention. The title of Gal Beckerman's book intrigues and compels: The Quiet Before. He's a journalist with a special interest in history and words and ideas how ideas are passed and debated and become defining in generational time; how conversation becomes culture-shifting relations... posted on Apr 18 2022, 6,750 reads

Thin Places
"Kerri ni Dochartaigh's memoir 'Thin Places: A Natural History of Healing and Home,' chronicles a childhood of trauma in Northern Ireland with aching honesty and lyrical prose. As we watch violence escalate at contested borders around the globe, her story offers a plea for peace, one that looks to the natural landscape in search of hope, solace, and a world worth protecting.... posted on Apr 17 2022, 3,147 reads

Sharing the Joy of Simple Living
Ever dream of living a simpler, more community-rooted lifestyle? Ever wondered if you & your friends really could grow your own food? Or build your own house? What would it look like to dedicate your pursuits and personal interests to match up with an intention of peace, respect for nature, long-term sustainability...and JOY? Meet several young people who made this dream their reality with a proje... posted on Apr 16 2022, 2,462 reads

What Can We Do When a Loved One is Suffering?
"What can we do when a loved one is suffering? This question has come up a lot so I wanted to share some thoughts in case it may be helpful to you or a loved one. First, I acknowledge how challenging it is to witness any kind of suffering, whether it is physical, emotional or existential pain. But let me throw in a specific curveball...What if they are suffering yet there is not much that you can ... posted on Apr 15 2022, 11,838 reads

Four Poems Born from Stillness
"When I was a child and my mother needed me to entertain myself, she would give me a poem to memorize. So began a lifelong love affair with poetry. There are so many poets I love; and new ones I discover each day. I've written poems for most of my adult life. They emerge through deep stillness. Through paying attention to what is stirring in my heart, and what is happening in the world around me. ... posted on Apr 14 2022, 5,377 reads

When Love Breaks Your Heart
When science journalist Florence William's husband of 25 years unexpectedly asked for a divorce, William found herself feeling dazed and ill. ""Physically, I felt like my body had been plugged into a faulty electrical socket," she writes. "In addition to weight loss, I'd stopped sleeping. I was getting sick: My pancreas wasn't working right. It was hard to think straight."To help understand what w... posted on Apr 13 2022, 7,786 reads

To Spring from the Hand
At age 4 Paulus Berensohn asked his parents for dance lessons. "Boys in our family don't dance," was their response. That didn't deter him. When his mother complained to a friend about his persistence, her friend exclaimed, "But Edith, to dance is to spring from the hand of God!" Berensohn would go on to study dance at Juilliard, but his life took another unexpected turn when he witnessed Karen Ka... posted on Apr 12 2022, 12,467 reads

Ukrainian Teens' Voices from the Middle of War
"A colleague from Kyiv, Ukraine, whom Ill call N.M., sent me brief essays her students wrote on what they would do when the war ends. As both a scholar and a novelist, I knew that these voices, which expressed a beautifully straightforward and pure yearning for the simplest things that are lost in war, needed to be heard by the world."... posted on Apr 11 2022, 4,768 reads

Centering: In Pottery, Poetry, and the Person
"Governed by her conviction that "poets are not the only poets" and that artists don't leave their art at the studio, M.C. Richards explores the poetry of personhood through the metaphor of centering, drawn from the craftsmanship of pottery --a potter brings the clay to the center of the wheel, then begins the process of giving the amorphous spinning mass the desired shape." Maria Popova shares mo... posted on Apr 10 2022, 3,771 reads

Being Simply Beautiful
We are surrounded by the stuff that we think is so valuable and important, but take it all away and what is left? The real you is left. Or at least the journey to the real you without all the stuff that you think defines you. In this video, Theo Du Plessis of South Africa, had a "Damascus moment" that opened him up to the only question he asks himself now before acquiring possessions or pursuing e... posted on Apr 09 2022, 2,940 reads