First Passage
"What does not appear there but is equally present, somehow, is Antarctica. Antarctica of permanent daylight come summer and permanent night during the season when the sea ice grows. Antarctica, that no human being had ever seen just over two hundred years ago. Antarctica, the continent where only eleven people have been born. Antarctica of glacial uncertainty. Antarctica, humming 9,093 miles sout... posted on Jun 8, 2290 reads

On Barry Lopez: Now That It's Come to This
"Once, before I knew him well, I asked Barry Lopez the earliest thing he could remember. Without missing a beat, the most widely traveled and sophisticated spiritual seeker in North American letters in a century--a writer of mystical sensitivity and grace, who'd been up to his armpits in snow, tracking wolves in Alaska, and who charted the migration of snow geese across Canada, who listened to Ind... posted on Jun 15, 3835 reads

The Nightingale's Song
"Living in England with a very strange secularity within our folk repertoire has allowed me to explore what a sacred spiritual form of practice might be with these birds and how they might enable a re-enchantment. I feel like nature is my spiritual leader in this respect and the nightingale is my imam at the top of that tower calling the prayer out." In this interview, which weaves conversation, s... posted on Jun 20, 3159 reads

Listening to the Language of the Birds
"When bird language entered my life, I felt that a new sense had been grafted into me. Bird voices opened a fresh dimension of sensory experience. This expansion drew me into stories of my home in unexpected ways, revealing ecological rhythms and connections, stimulating my curiosity, and suffusing me with a sense of belonging. The practice of listening to other species is the original 'augmented ... posted on Jun 21, 5055 reads

Discovering & Embodying One's Unique Life Purpose
"How does one discover and embody their unique life purpose? The subject of life purpose is addressed here in light of the following:
1. There are three distinct purposes: to wake up, grow up and show up.
2. A person is born with a unique purpose that is best understood in the context of their soul. 3. The key to becoming clear about life purpose is engaging in soulwork.
... posted on Jul 2, 7401 reads

Returning to the Village
For those of us who live in urban areas, what does returning to a life in the village really mean? What is the impulse that moves folks to reverse the direction of migration of their recent ancestors to the city? What can living on the land, growing your own food, and using your hands to make clothing and shelter offer souls hungering for a real connection to the Earth? Here, Hang Mai, a Vietnames... posted on Jul 8, 3687 reads

Mary Oliver: I Happened to Be Standing
The poems of Mary Oliver seem like prayers that anyone can pray. Spacious and simple, expansive and ordinary, they don't require us to believe in anything in particular. But they do ask us to pay attention to the fleeting and particular space of a moment we are living through, which she has touched so tenderly. Here you can listen to her reading one of her poems: "I Happened to be Standing."... posted on Jul 10, 9498 reads

A Common Humanity: A Conversation with Bob Sadler
One foggy morning 30 years ago Bob Sadler was out looking for the perfect photo along a riverbank. A rowing competition was on. A homeless man happened by, looked at him and said, "I suppose the question for you is--are you an artist or are you just an observer with a camera?" It changed Sadler's life. He thought, "Every corporation that says 'we should pull together' has one of these pictures! Wh... posted on Jul 19, 2998 reads

Becoming an Ancestor
"Did you know that we're all on our way to becoming someone's ancestor? It's true. We're all future dead people, and 100 years from now, someone like me will come looking for you. I
know this for a fact because that's usually have at least one in each generation, much like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We're a bit obsessive about what we do.You say you have no interest in family history or gene... posted on Jul 30, 4877 reads

Clarksville Elementary School: We Are the World
All 500 students from Clarksville Elementary School in Indiana worked with their music teacher over the course of the pandemic school year to create this heartwarming music video to showcase their talents and to bring smiles to the world. The exuberance and enthusiasm of these young singers remind us that they are the world, they are the future, and we can all make a better day when we stand toget... posted on Jul 31, 3805 reads

Live a Life Worth Living
"On 19 March 2018, almost five years after being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, thirty-eight-year-old Julie Yip-Williams died, leaving behind a husband and two daughters. Her early years had been anything but easy. Born blind in Vietnam, at two months of age she was almost euthanised on the orders of a grandmother who deemed her to be defective; years later, as an older child, she sailed to... posted on Aug 3, 10647 reads

Reframing Our Relationship to That We Don't Control
'"Let death be what takes us," Dr. BJ Miller has written, "not a lack of imagination." As a palliative care physician, he brings a design sensibility to the matter of living until we die. And he's largely redesigned his sense of own physical presence after an accident at college left him without both of his legs and part of one arm. He offers a transformative reframing on our imperfect bodies, the... posted on Aug 4, 0 reads

I Created the Repair Cafe
Throwing our broken appliances and other items away seems to be the only thing to do if they have become unusable, but Martine Postman in Amsterdam wasn't satisfied with this symptom of wasteful over-consumption. She was determined to find a way to do more then watch dumpsters overflowing and created the concept of Repair Cafes. Once a month her coffee shop provides space for repair experts to wor... posted on Aug 6, 2284 reads

The Keys to Aging Well
"As a neuroscientist, professor emeritus of psychology, musician and best-selling author, Daniel Levitin has extensively studied the brain and its impact on aging. His latest book, "Successful Aging," explores the questions: what happens in the brain as we age and what are the keys to aging well?" This interview with Levitin delves into these questions.... posted on Aug 9, 19690 reads

Fire Season
"I used to think that I would live to see the future of my visions. Now I only hope that my grandchildren's grandchildren will walk in a kinder world, alive to a multidimensional kinship, knowing that everything they can see, hear, and touch is sacred. I do not know how much will have to burn before we abandon our patterns of behavior that are poisoning the Earth, destroying Her wild places. Befor... posted on Aug 19, 7009 reads

My 94-Year-Old Dad Talks About COVID-19
"I want to try to get a better handle on this global situation by looking at the past, to see how humanity dealt with similar challenging situations. I'm not talking history books or documentaries-- I'm talking about real thoughts from someone who has been around the block -- namely, my dad (Dr. James Algiers), who at 94 has experienced many world events, and as a physician has treated thousands... posted on Aug 21, 13423 reads

Anil Gupta: India's Hidden Hotbeds of Invention
Where does creativity reside in today's world? Is it the monopoly of the educated elite or does it reside within the cracks of our 'well-ordered' systems? In this engaging TED talk, Anil Gupta asks this humbling, soul-searching question, and provides some responses. Read on to see and hear a stunning patchwork quilt of indigenous entrepreneurs and inventors whose ingenuity has changed lives for th... posted on Sep 3, 4301 reads

Monet Refuses the Operation
"Doctor, you say there are no haloes
around the streetlights in Paris
and what I see is an aberration
caused by old age, an affliction.
I tell you it has taken me all my life
to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels,
to soften and blur and finally banish
the edges you regret I don't see..."
In this exquisite poem, Lisel Mueller l... posted on Sep 6, 8715 reads

Unlocking the Mysteries of Time
"We construct the experience of time in our minds, so it follows that we are able to change the elements we find troubling -- whether it's trying to stop the years racing past, or speeding up time when we're stuck in a queue, trying to live more in the present, or working out how long ago we last saw our old friends. Time can be a friend, but it can also be an enemy. The trick is to harness it, wh... posted on Dec 12, 20246 reads

A Quite Interesting Approach to Education
John Lloyd is the television producer and presenter of some of the most renowned UK comedies in recent decades, including Blackadder and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In 2002, he made the pilot of "QI" (an acronym for "Quite Interesting"), a popular show which is now in its 18th series on the BBC. "When I started QI, only about five per cent of people that I talked to understood what it wa... posted on Oct 4, 3165 reads

What Buddhism Taught Me: A Sri Lankan Christian's Reflections
"Growing up Christian in predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka, I learned early that there was much to be gained from the study of Buddhism. The teachings of the Buddha sometimes challenged my assumptions about Christianity, and at other times they illuminated and clarified the words and stories of Jesus. " Shanta Premawardhana shares three teachings from Buddha that enriched his own faith.... posted on Sep 15, 5068 reads

How Do You Be?
"'How are you?' Back before the pandemic, when you and I would greet other people by asking this question, we usually didn't expect or desire a real answer. If we got one, it had better be brief, and not too grim or involved. We weren't up for longwinded or dreary responses. That's not how the game was played. The pandemic might have altered our customary 'How are yous?' a bit. It might have made ... posted on Oct 1, 4141 reads

Between Grit and Grace
Preethi Srinivasan captained the under-19 Tamil Nadu women's cricket team to national championship in 1997, won a gold medal in swimming at national level, and was an internationally renowned student academically. At the age of 19, an accident left her paralyzed from the neck down. What followed over the next 2 decades is a journey of untiring grit and grace. Today, Preethi is co-founder of Soultr... posted on Sep 18, 4680 reads

Two Simple Ways to Release Grief
"One of the primary reasons in the West is because we've privatized it. If we don't have a community to witness the process as so many cultures before us did, we risk falling into depression or despair. If we don't grieve enough, we risk suppressing the grief. According to Francis Weller, suppression risks health problems or volatile emotions like anger." In this thoughtful essay Cynthia Li differ... posted on Oct 7, 12464 reads

For Love of Nectar: The Dazzling Sunbirds of India
When the sun is out in India, and if one is lucky to have access to a dense patch of native trees in flagrant, fragrant bloom, one is quite likely to see darting sunbirds. Sunbirds are to India what hummingbirds are to the Americas. Small birds with curved beaks that guzzle flower nectar. Dressed in an astounding colour palette that include hues as vivid as metallic green, lime yellow, deep hibisc... posted on Oct 22, 5931 reads

Falling Through Our Stories
On a 1995 trip to Peru, Jolanda van den Berg's heart was captured by the street children of Cusco. Six months later she left her home in Amsterdam and moved to Peru for good.Over the last 25 years, her work has supported thousands of vulnerable children through a network of unconventional programs.Six years ago in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic event, Jolanda experienced a profound dissolu... posted on Oct 15, 4880 reads

Aura Glaser: Moments of Beauty
"There are obviously so many ways of talking about beauty because it is one of the great mysteries. Beauty is truth, beauty is radiance -- and everything radiates its own beauty and aliveness in a way that does not require anything from anyone. It is beauty in and of itself. I think that when we experience beauty, we are experiencing the timelessness within ourselves." 'Dharma coyote'-turned-photo... posted on Oct 14, 3578 reads

The Do-It-Ourselves Revolution
"In these trying times, ordinary people are taking matters in their own hands in extraordinary ways, confronting global problems collectively -- and locally. They're saving lives by leaving uplifting notes in areas with high suicide rates, teaching people the importance of wild plants on the sidewalks, cleaning up roads while getting fit and connecting with others, and transforming abandoned space... posted on Oct 28, 4222 reads

The Brain's Way of Healing
Very few people have the depth and breadth of knowledge of Dr Norman Doidge.For years, Norman devoted his research into how the brain, when damaged, can repair itself with the more subtle, less invasive tools of neuroplastic intervention. His two books, 'The Brain's Way of Healing,' and 'The Brain that Changes Itself," have sold in the millions, topping bestseller lists and causing a revolution in... posted on Nov 10, 12098 reads

The Power of Inside Out Congruency
Change your pants. Change your life. Change your pants. Save your life. Find out why being intentional about showing up in the world congruent with "who you are" in this world can do both. In this moving and highly personal talk, Stasia shares how her daughter taught her the importance of radically embracing who you are and who you want to be. She now helps other women fully embrace both in order ... posted on Nov 18, 2644 reads

Heartfelt Inquiry into Core Beliefs
"Core limiting beliefs form in childhood and mostly reside outside or on the edge of conscious awareness. They are core in the sense that everything about us organizes around them -- how we relate to others, work, and take care of ourselves. They are limiting because they constrain us, holding us back from living our lives as wakefully, freely, wisely, powerfully, joyfully, lovingly, and creativel... posted on Sep 5, 2885 reads

Maple Syrup: Taste of Wonder
"But sometime in February, just when we grew restless and a little weary from the lack of color all winter, from the scarves, boots, shovels, and crockpot stews, we'd feel the flurries of my favorite type of snow: a sugar snow, thick and heavy, hugging the base of the sugarbush--what a forest of sugar maples made for tapping is called--while keeping the roots cool enough that they don't start deve... posted on Dec 29, 2689 reads

Attainable Aspirations Inspired By Great Humans of the Past
"If Montaigne was right -- he was --that philosophy is the art of learning to die, then living wisely is the art of learning how you will wish to have lived. A kind of resolution in reverse. This is where the wisdom of lives that have already been lived can be of immense aid -- a source of forward-facing resolutions, borrowed from people who have long died, having lived, by any reasonable standard... posted on Jan 2, 7584 reads

How to Support a Loved One Struggling with Mental Health
"Every one of us has mental health in the same way that every one of us has physical health. Yet despite the prevalence of mental health struggles, there is still so much stigma around them. Worldwide the leading cause of disability is depression, according to the World Health Organization, and in the US alone, nearly 1 in 5 of adults lives with a mental illness. As a mental health therapist-in-tr... posted on Jan 5, 7549 reads

Are Cats Liquid?
"A liquid is traditionally defined as a material that adapts its shape to fit a container. Yet under certain conditions, cats seem to fit this definition. This somewhat paradoxical observation emerged on the web a few years ago and joined the long list of internet memes involving our feline friends. When I first saw this question it made me laugh, and then think. I decided to reformulate it to ill... posted on Jan 11, 5390 reads

True Colors
"Concetta, a functioning tetrachromat, possesses a rare genetic mutation that illuminates one hundred distinct shades of color for every one perceived by the average person. Human color vision falls along a vibrant spectrum created from an interplay of genetics and environment: anomalous trichromats (the 6 percent of individuals referred to as colorblind) possess two fully functioning color recept... posted on Jan 19, 3026 reads

bell hooks: A Revolutionary Who Led With Love
"I have known radicals and revolutionaries who love 'the people' but whose everyday lives are replete with contradictions. The late bell hooks was by no means perfect, but she was impressively consistent. She took seriously the notion that a revolution had to center love and was as much about transforming ourselves as it was about transforming the world. I met hooks when I was a graduate student a... posted on Jan 25, 4328 reads

From the Oldest Forest in Montana
"I had to go into the old forest seventy times before I heard it speak, and then it was only one word, 'urgency'. Each time, I had been listening, hoping I'd hear something, as I walked carefully across the rotting spines of fallen giants, which lay in dizzying geometries atop older fallen giants, which lay upon other now buried giants -- still holding their carbon, deep down into the earth, deep ... posted on Feb 5, 4324 reads

Alicia Doyle: Fighting Chance
"My boxing career doesn't have the typical fairy tale ending. I quit after my first and only professional match. I never won a world title or a championship belt in the pros. The crescendo of my story doesn't end with my arm raised victorious in the ring. My wins came after I left the roped-off square, when I had a chance to contemplate the lessons I learned in the fight game. These lessons, which... posted on Feb 8, 2753 reads

Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation
"There are plenty of books that teach how to influence the behavior of others, but anyone who's set a personal goal knows it's a lot tougher to apply those lessons inward. Ayelet Fishbach, a behavioral science and marketing professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, has written a new book that can help. Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation, which w... posted on Feb 15, 3467 reads

10 Life-Changing Perspectives On Anger
We all have had our moments of impatience, rage and frustration...but how do these moments affect our lives? Get curious about anger, and you just might discover an untapped well of vital energy that improves your life circumstances and wakes you up to the whole of life. This article offers 10 powerful perspectives on anger. ... posted on Feb 16, 207618 reads

Paul Farmer: A Life Dedicated to Healing the World
Paul Farmer the renowned Harvard physician, and medical anthropologist who famously said, "The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world," and who dedicated his career to righting that wrong by delivering high-quality health care to some of the most devastated regions of the world, died this week at age 62. While the world mourns the loss of this towering fig... posted on Feb 22, 7399 reads

Designing & Supporting Peer-Driven Change
"In a novel approach to addressing poverty, Mauricio Lim Miller shifts ownership and priority-setting to low-income working families through an approach that enables families to self-organize, support each other as they gain fiscal independence and confidence, and move into roles as active consumers of social services who deliver feedback, not passive beneficiaries." More in this profile piece.... posted on Feb 23, 2399 reads

An Unusual Gift From My Grandfather
"Often, when he came to visit, my grandfather would bring me a present. These were never the sorts of things that other people brought, dolls and books and stuffed animals... Once he brought me a little paper cup. I looked inside it expecting something special. It was full of dirt. I was not allowed to play with dirt. Disappointed, I told him this. He smiled at me fondly. Turning, he picked up the... posted on Feb 24, 6779 reads

David Whyte on Courage
"Courage is a word that tempts us to think outwardly, to run bravely against opposing fire, to do something under besieging circumstance, and perhaps, above all, to be seen to do it in public, to show courage; to be celebrated in story, rewarded with medals, given the accolade, but a look at its linguistic origins is to look in a more interior direction and toward its original template, the old No... posted on Mar 7, 5979 reads

Compassion Defies Death at the Turtle Hospital
"Each spring is nonstop crisis management at Turtle Rescue Leagueever since Alexxia and Natasha established a hospital for freshwater turtles and tortoises in the basement of their suburban home in Southbridge, Massachusetts. Amid all the other houses on the street, their two-story saltbox stands out: It's a blazing, neon green. It bears a sign in front that reads, "Turtle Lover Parking Only. Viol... posted on Mar 14, 3217 reads

Poems in a Time of Crisis
"In response to the situation in Ukraine, Beshara Magazine presents a short poem by Taras Shevchenko (18141861), commonly referred to simply as 'Kobzar' -- The Bard. Shevchenko is universally recognised as the supreme national poet of the Ukrainian language and soul, and, as Andrew Watson explains below, his own life mirrored the sufferings and longing for freedom of the Ukrainian people."... posted on Mar 15, 4365 reads

Thousands Open Their Homes to Ukrainian Refugees
"As the war rages in Ukraine, an unending stream of horrific imagery flickers across our screens. But go to online platforms such as Host a Sister, Ukraine Take Shelter, Host 4 Ukraine, RefugeBooking, or many other small, local platforms, and you'll be met with a very different sort of refugee-related content: Offers from people all over the world to help those who have been uprooted and displaced... posted on Mar 24, 3222 reads

The Need to Grow
'The Need to GROW' is a documentary that powerfully explores the precariousness of life on a planet with rapidly declining farmable soil. The film highlights the stories of three main characters -- Alicia Serratos, an 8-year-old Girl Scout; Erik Cutter, a regenerative urban farmer; and Michael Smith an inventor. Serratos spearheads a petition for non-GMO Girl Scout cookies; Cutter aims to cultiva... posted on Mar 22, 4304 reads

Conserving Quiet
"In nature, there is nothing wrong with quiet. It exists under the weighted depths of ocean and in the cool of rocky caverns. It spills out beneath the wings of eagles as the world below freezes. Nature is never wholly silent: she speaks in breathy whistles and the jingle of dry leaves. She listens, but she is not mute. Even in the high desert, where sage-shrouded grouse have just begun to stir an... posted on Mar 27, 3488 reads