that ideal in a modern context: The good death has increasingly become a myth. Actually, it has always been for the most part a myth, but never nearly as much as today. The chief ingredient of the myth is the longed-for ideal of “death with dignity.” [...] The belief in the probability of death with dignity is our, and society’s, attempt to deal with the reality of what is all too frequently a series of destructive events that involve by their very nature the disintegration of the dying person’s humanity. I have not often seen much dignity in the process by which we die… Only by a frank discussion of the very details of dying can we... posted on Nov 3 2014 (24,906 reads)

of attention” — has also shown promise for children with ADHD and autism, and for narrowing the achievement gap between children of differing socioeconomic backgrounds. I spoke with Adele Diamond in Vancouver at a series of gatherings with the Dalai Lama in conversation with social activists, scientists, and educators. The government of British Columbia has changed its educational guidelines in response to research like that Adele Diamond is doing on the whole-body, whole-spirit nature of learning. MS. TIPPETT: Did I hear in one of the sessions here at this conference in Vancouver that British Columbia has instituted a fourth “R” in its educational ph... posted on Dec 6 2014 (26,626 reads)

with someone you love and care about.    *   Ask some friends or loved ones what they appreciate about you. Don’t be too shy to ask. You aren’t fishing for compliments—you’re looking for objective input that can be used to counteract moments of doubt.    *   Meditate and connect with your inner being. Shine a light on your true potential by picturing your new, more-empowered essence. Get in touch with your relaxed, self-assured nature. Meditate on this. It is human nature to doubt yourself and act fearful rather than confident. But if you work on establishing new core beliefs, you will start to conquer the negative though... posted on May 19 2021 (56,350 reads)

but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day. If you would get exercise, go in search of the springs of life. Think of a man’s swinging dumbbells for his health, when those springs are bubbling up in far-off pastures unsought by him! Illustration by D. B. Johnson from 'Henry Hikes to Fitchburg,' a children's book about Thoreau's philosophy. To engage in this kind of walking, Thoreau argues, we ought to reconnect with our wild nature: When we walk, we naturally go to the fields and woods: what would become of us, if we walked only in a garden or a mall? […] Give me a wildness whose glance n... posted on Jan 2 2015 (30,473 reads)

sense of wonder and innocence that you represent, how you see things from closer to the earth than we do, how you express your emotions honestly and revel in your imaginative play. Meanwhile, too many of us adults have looked the other way while the world we're leaving behind for you has been damaged in ways that will be hard to fix. Basic things that people have mostly taken for granted in recent years -- like food, water and shelter -- will be harder for you to find. Quiet moments, nature experiences and open spaces will be more difficult to come by. Your chance to be hopeful about the future will be less than ours was, unless... Unless adults listen to you more and stop acti... posted on Dec 14 2014 (24,003 reads)

who move also in a dance, to a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it except in fragments. Illustration by Emily Hughes from 'Wild,' one of the best children's books of the year. Echoing Thoreau’s ode to the woods and psychoanalyst Adam Phillips’s assertion that cultivating a capacity for “fertile solitude” is essential for creative work, Berry extols the ennobling effects of solitude, the kind gained only by surrendering to nature’s gentle gift for quieting the mind: We enter solitude, in which also we lose loneliness… True solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without... posted on Feb 1 2015 (27,544 reads)

a miracle. And I think it's enough to keep a person afloat. MS. TIPPETT: [laughs] Let’s talk about your last couple of books. Which also are an insight into you at this stage in your life. And then I’d love for you to read some poems. MS. OLIVER: OK. MS. TIPPETT: You have said that you were so captivated. That you were — I don't know if you've said this that way, but it seems to me you've kind of written about being so captivated by the world of nature that you were less open to the world of humans. MS. OLIVER: Yes. MS. TIPPETT: And that as you've grown older, as you've gone through life, what did you say, you've entered mor... posted on Mar 18 2015 (28,795 reads)

about digital technology for 35+ years, most of the time in Silicon Valley. Over the decades our evolving devices, and what we can do with them, have dramatically transformed almost every facet of our lives -- from how we bank, travel, and shop, to more abstract realms like how we derive a sense of self-worth, how we forge and sustain relationships, and how we choose to spend our attention. I think the first step to getting a human and humane handle on this rapid transition from a nature-based to a digital-based society is for us all – individually and collectively; technologists and the public - to step back from time to time, catch our breath, and re-visit our relations... posted on Apr 8 2015 (21,644 reads)

with clay and ceramics from years past. By the time we sat down to speak for the record, our conversation had come around to the legendary potters Shoji Hamada and Bernard Leach. I asked De Staebler if he liked Hamada's work...  Stephen De Staebler: His work doesn't do much for me, but I like some things he said. He kind of teamed up with Leach and they made quite an impact on Western potters. I think that's the modern beginning of sensing the richness of clay in its own nature. You don't have to transform it into something else to find beauty. You have to burn through a lot of pretty work in order to love the gift of the clay-its randomness, its tendency to crack... posted on Aug 9 2015 (9,162 reads)

other emotions such as pride. Participants consistently reported that awe produced “a reduced sense of self importance relative to something larger and more powerful that they felt connected to,” says Piff. And subsequent analysis confirmed that this feeling of the “small self” was responsible for their ethical behavior. This seems to suggest that experiencing awe prompts people to help others. Yet another experiment exposed different groups to an awe-inspiring nature video such as Planet Earth, a funny animal video, or a neutral video. Once again, people who experienced awe reported a feeling of a “small self” which triggered more generous behav... posted on Aug 28 2015 (13,113 reads)

other emotions such as pride. Participants consistently reported that awe produced “a reduced sense of self importance relative to something larger and more powerful that they felt connected to,” says Piff. And subsequent analysis confirmed that this feeling of the “small self” was responsible for their ethical behavior. This seems to suggest that experiencing awe prompts people to help others. Yet another experiment exposed different groups to an awe-inspiring nature video such as Planet Earth, a funny animal video, or a neutral video. Once again, people who experienced awe reported a feeling of a “small self” which triggered more generous behav... posted on Sep 12 2015 (9,878 reads)

too. It just took him a while to learn how to do it well. How to flourish In 2009, I delved into the Grant Study data to establish a Decathlon of Flourishing—a set of ten accomplishments that covered many different facets of success. Two of the items in the Decathlon had to do with economic success, four with mental and physical health, and four with social supports and relationships. Then I set out to see how these accomplishments correlated, or didn’t, with three gifts of nature and nurture—physical constitution, social and economic advantage, and a loving childhood. The results were as clear-cut as they were startling. We found that measures of family soci... posted on Oct 25 2015 (29,946 reads)

into our hands is almost uncontainably vitalizing, emanating an uncommon sense of communion between his humanity — our humanity — and the inanimate yet deeply animating presence of the land; between his smallness — our smallness — and the grandeur of Earth. Over and over, he surrenders to the land’s rhythms and wishes — a great act of faith that requires, manyfold more so now than it did then, relinquishing the many small violences by which we seek to bend nature to our will. Illustration from ‘Flashlight’ by Lizi Boyd. Click image for more. Four decades after Henry Beston’s beautiful love letter to darkness, Abbey considers one ... posted on Nov 25 2015 (11,554 reads)

into other people’s shoes has been a catalytic force for social change throughout human history. Credit: www.intentionalworkplace.com. All rights reserved. You can always tell when a good idea has come of age: people start criticising it. That’s certainly the case when it comes to empathy. Empathy is a more popular concept today than at any time since the eighteenth century, when Adam Smith argued that the basis of morality was our imaginative capacity for “changing places in fancy with the sufferer.” Neuroscientists, happiness gurus, education policy-makers and mediation experts have all been singing its praises. This has, of course, got the ... posted on Dec 14 2015 (12,344 reads)

finding a way to bring that source fully into the world through making the mind clearer and more generous, the heart more compassionate and the body larger and strong enough to hold it. What we call anger on the surface only serves to define its true underlying quality by being a complete but absolute mirror-opposite of its true internal essence. Illustration by Marianne Dubuc from ‘The Lion and the Bird.’ Click image for more. In a related meditation, Whyte considers the nature of forgiveness: FORGIVENESS is a heartache and difficult to achieve because strangely, it not only refuses to eliminate the original wound, but actually draws us closer to its source. To a... posted on Feb 8 2016 (43,117 reads)

of patients, and put tens of thousands of children in schools. It seems then, that the world is a better place since he swapped the peace of the Himalayas for his new hectic schedule of engagements. Altruism His latest book, Altruism, provides a complex look at a remarkably simple approach to solving the ills of the world. Ricard’s work has always revolved around positive transformation, and now he has published an 800-page guide to using one of the traits most inherent to human nature to overcome the challenges of the 21st century. Listening to Matthieu make a case for altruism and its plethora of positive consequences, it all seems so obvious. And is it a coincidence tha... posted on Feb 20 2016 (26,717 reads)

nothing wrong with me but I felt really ill for about a week. While I was in bed, I read ‘The Sacred Path of the Warrior’, a Buddhist text that I normally wouldn’t have looked at. The sacred warrior becomes tender which gives him the strength to do what needs to be done in the world. I wept and wept. I realised I was discovering who I really was.” One year later, during a tough mission in Somaliland, Rama had a second major realisation about the role of art, culture, nature and spirituality in transforming conflict and that has been the fulcrum of her work ever since. As a performance artist, Rama Mani is now fully able to channel her passion for the power of t... posted on Mar 8 2016 (15,555 reads)

our entire lives are spent in a quest to gain control, security and comfort in our lives. Unfortunately, we never really get it, so we keep trying, relentlessly. This is the main activity of our lives. What would happen if we stopped? We could be less restricted by fear, less anxious, less driven by the need for comfort … and more in love with life as it is. You might be surprised by how much we strive for control. The Ways We Try to Get Control The basic nature of life is that it is everchanging, uncontrollable. When we think we have stability in life, something comes up to remind us that no, we don’t. There is no stability, no matter how much we’... posted on Mar 10 2016 (15,650 reads)

where you were both priest and nurse practitioner. You attended to the health of the physical body and also to the health of the emotional, psychic and soul body. That, to me, seems absolutely an ideal, and that’s the scope of practice as understood for healers in more traditional cultures, isn’t it? Irene: Very much so. The Inuit shamans, the Arctic shamans, which is the group I’m most familiar with, they were story tellers, artists, healers. And the healers were, just by nature of what the healing entailed, the ritual leaders. They were the ones who flew to the moon to recover your soul, or flew to the sea to recover your soul. They did battle with the malevolent spir... posted on Mar 17 2016 (13,433 reads)

to educate yourself. In the future, when you ask your friend questions, be prepared for a “no” or “not at this time.” The oppressed are continuously asked to defend their experience, so your question may be too much in that single moment. 5. See themselves as either good or bad. Even if the intent was goodhearted, the impact is what matters most. We often will not fess up to marginalizing someone else’s identity or creating a space that is exclusive in nature. For some reason, we have in our minds that if we take responsibility for this exclusion, then we are admitting to being a bad person. Instead, we must see ourselves as good people who will mak... posted on Mar 18 2016 (39,863 reads)