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, 5932 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, 3581 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, 12099 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, 207622 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

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, 3161 reads

Shokunin and Devotion
"The Japanese word shokunin is often translated as 'artisan' in English. Although it isn't incorrect by definition, the translation seems to lose the spirit of what a shokunin does," says Sachiko Matsuyama, "I have never been interested in simply defining what a shokunin is. I believe the complexity of the shokunin spirit exists beyond the confines of an occupation. By drawing boundaries and defin... posted on Apr 19, 3761 reads

Perpetual Motion
Don't miss this busy, vibrant woman who is continually active on her farm, doing the chores, loving the animals (she looks into the eyes of each one every day). Everyone wants to know when she will stop, but she says never! Even if they put her in a coffin she says she will stand up again and start walking. Why? Because while every day may not be fun, there's always a reason to get up and be going... posted on May 6, 2370 reads

Watching River Otters
"Walking in the wetlands I encounter a family of river otters playing in the water, then sliding their sleek bodies onto the land. They tumble over each other in the sand, as a blue heron watches nearby. In their primal world there is neither truth nor falsehood, just life present, unfractured. Once, long ago, we walked in this landscape, were part of this ecology of place. With songs and prayers,... posted on May 19, 1976 reads

The Moth: All These Wonders
"The Moth was founded in 1997 by the writer George Dawes Green -- its name comes from his memories of growing up in St. Simons Island, Ga., where neighbors would gather late at night on a friend's porch to tell stories and drink bourbon as moths flew in through the broken screens and circled the porch light. It has since grown into what its artistic director, Catherine Burns, calls "a modern story... posted on Jun 4, 4386 reads

Grace Before Dinner
"As a cook, I am beside myself when I encounter even ten varieties of tomatoes at a farmers market. But to see such diversity among people was deeply moving; people from everywhere with great rough hands and fine, weathered faces. Five thousand farmers from 130 countries were gathering for the first time in history, creating an event called Terra Madre." From Orion magazine's archives comes this i... posted on Jun 2, 1950 reads

Where Children Sleep
"When Fabrica (Benetton's creative research center) asked me to come up with an idea for engaging with children's rights, I found myself thinking about my bedroom: how significant it was during my childhood, and how it reflected what I had and who I was--my bedroom was my personal kingdom. It occurred to me that a way to address some of the complex situations and social issues affecting children w... posted on Jun 12, 2558 reads

What Fear Can Teach Us
We all have fears, some of which can be quite vivid for those with active imaginations. As children, were encouraged to think of fear as a weakness, something we must conquer, fight, or overcome. In this TED Talk, Karen Thompson Walker invites listeners to conceptualize their fears in a different way: as stories. Fear is an unintentional form of storytelling, she argues, with characters, plots, i... posted on Jun 13, 0 reads

Stonehenge: A Summer Solstice Experience
"I wanted to watch the sunrise on the summer solstice from Stonehenge, ancient druid temple, aligned to the solstice, keeper of mysterious magic yet unknown to us. A picture of Stonehenge had been my desktop screensaver more than 15 years ago, and walking amongst these stones had been a long cherished dream of mine. So when I realized that I could be there on this special day when they allow peopl... posted on Jun 21, 3281 reads

Barbara Kingsolver: The Urbicene
"Kin la Belle, the Congolese call their capital, and Ive looked for Kinshasas beauty. The Congo River, pulse of a planet, fifteen miles wide as it courses past? Abdims storks wheeling overhead, hippos lolling in the rapids below the caf where I had lunch under the gaze of giant orange-headed lizards? All beautiful, I thought, but was gently corrected. Beasts and crawling creatures dont really belo... posted on Jun 25, 2098 reads

Mozart's Starling
"When beginning a new writing project, naturalist and author Lyanda Lynn Haupt takes her research seriously. For her book, Mozart's Starling, Haupt dutifully traveled to Austria, to see Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthplace and the famed composer's grave. But then she took one big step further. Because her book is inspired by the little-known fact that Mozart kept a pet starling, Haupt decided to a... posted on Jul 5, 2746 reads

Bringing Back the Delight of Poetry
"The American poet William Stafford was often asked by friends, readers, students and colleagues: When did you become a poet? The response he regularly offered was: "The question isn't when I became a poet; the question is when other people stopped." Stafford was articulating what many poets believe: that the roots of poetry (rhythm, form, sound) go far back -- both personally and culturally -- "t... posted on Jul 12, 3002 reads

Wendy Sussman: Painting as a Search
"Just gravitate to the thing you can easily do. Then all that baggage of being the great artist just flies away and you're just doing it! That's really the important thing. But you shouldn't feel ashamed of yourself because you have an image of what you want to be. The thing is to find a way into it. To get in is real important -- not just to stand at the door, over and over, for years and years. ... posted on Jul 20, 1923 reads

Transforming Apocalypse Fatigue into Action
It is possible to transform "apocalypse fatigue," the defenses that keep us from engaging fully in action on global warming, by sharing stories of those who are making real change happen, bringing the issue closer to home, and empowering ourselves to do what we can. In this TED Talk, Norwegian Parliament representative, Per Espen Stoknes, points to a path of re-imagining climate itself as the livi... posted on Jul 22, 1857 reads

The Lost Art of Breathing
"After recovering from pneumonia for the third time, journalist James Nestor took decisive action to improve his lungs. He questioned why so many humans -- and only humans -- have to contend with stuffy noses, snoring, asthma, allergies, sinusitis and sleep apnea, to name but a few. James hears remarkable stories of others who have changed their lives through the power of breath. His deep dive int... posted on Aug 9, 4387 reads

Antidotes to Fear of Death
Rebecca Elson was a Canadian-American poet and astronomer. In the 1990s she was among the first researchers to study images. She passed away at age 39. "A Responsibility to Awe," was published posthumously. It is a volume of Elson's poetry and essays, ranging from her teenage years until shortly before her passing. What follows is, "Antidotes to Fear of Death," a poem from this collection, in whic... posted on Aug 15, 8296 reads

Freestyle Rapper Harry Mack: Living Out My Purpose
"Freestyle rapper Harry Mack has received many kinds of reactions from audiences to his improvisation skills, but they all have one thing in common: utter disbelief. It's not far off from what he thought when he was introduced to freestyle rap as a kid. "What's the trick?" Mack recalls thinking. "I couldn't believe it was real." Freestyle rapping is the art of improvising lyrics and adapting them ... posted on Aug 31, 1335 reads

A Brave and Startling Truth
Science and poetry come together in this moving reading by Astrophysicist Janna Levin of the poem "A Brave and Startling Truth" written by Maya Angelou. The poem, inspired by astronomer Carl Sagan, actually flew into space on the Orion spacecraft. Angelou dedicated the poem to "the hope for peace, which lies, sometimes hidden, within each heart." As she points out the contradictions of our making ... posted on Sep 16, 2178 reads

You Don't Have to Know: Our Dark Materials
"There's a layered quality to suffering and intense emotion. As you become interested, a tiny, elf light appears in the darkest dungeon. That's the gate of emptiness. As you become more interested, you walk deeper into the forest and everything looks different. Sometimes it becomes joyful right away but it doesn't need to. It's become a path and that is enough. So, no first principles, but a few r... posted on Feb 22, 2388 reads

The Ecology of Perception
"In this interview, cultural ecologist and philosopher David Abram discusses the animism, power, and potency of the living world. In our current moment of ecological and societal instability he calls on us to remember our inherent participation in the collective, embodied flesh of the Earth."
... posted on Oct 11, 1476 reads