Unexpected Art in Unexpected Places
What happens when we look more closely, whether with the naked eye or equipment? Incredible details come into focus, bringing with them the possibility of beauty and interest we might never have conceived of. Imagine what would occur if you suddenly zoomed in on all those things you have lying around your house and studio or rusting outside. What new art might be inspired by such "stuff"? Mirka Kn... posted on Jul 10, 7278 reads

Guarding the Tongue: The Importance of Right Speech
"A few years ago, I went through an estrangement with a close friend because of the words I used to refer to her partner's behavior. Although he did not hear what she and I said in our phone conversation, by "chance" he saw my e-mail that followed it. I meant no harm. I thought I was being supportive of my friend. But it was careless speech on my part, and it has cost me dearly. The painful reperc... posted on Mar 16, 9401 reads

Can Borrowing from Neighbors Strengthen Democracy?

In the course of our daily lives, we may find abundant evidence that our social fabric has frayed. As Robert Putnam discussed in his 2000 book Bowling Alone, Americans have become increasingly isolated, drifting away from activities that stimulate civic engagement. Could the casual connection created through borrowing a cup of sugar from a neighbor help restore the sense of community neede... posted on May 11, 5235 reads

Searching for Meaning Purpose and Patterns
Underneath many of the problems facing us today lie personal choices. Many of us are not only dissatisfied with the immense global problems we face but also with the quality of our own lives. One way to address these global challenges by connecting their solutions to smaller choices we already want to make in our personal lives. Sky Nelson-Isaacs lucidly explains how we can move into rhythm with t... posted on May 7, 9585 reads

The Skittish Stallion
"There were two horses. One was a quarter horse and the other one was this big black stallion that had been abused. It was quite skittish. You couldnt get close to it. Of course, I was determined to become friends with that horse." Rosemary Peterson shares more in this beautiful piece that speaks to the power of patience and intention in our relationships.... posted on Apr 18, 2922 reads

Butterflies Without Borders
Change is the only constant. And things are going to be different, not better or worse, just different. Our first impulse in the face of overwhelming change is often to resist and try to stop it from happening. How would it be if we could transform our fear into energy influencing the inevitable changes of life? Learn more about how some courageous people are learning to influence the changes faci... posted on Apr 27, 2716 reads

Free Trip to Egypt
Seeking to build a bridge of mutual understanding and friendship, a Canadian-Egyptian entrepreneur living in Switzerland decides to reach out to the very people who fear him. He travels across the United States to find Americans concerned about an Islamic threat and makes them an intriguing offer: a Free Trip to Egypt.... posted on Jun 11, 2481 reads

Gus: A Story of Loss and Love
There is a saying that when we know better, we do better. Such was the case for Gus Mojica, a former gang member. As a young teen, he did what others in his neighborhood were doing without seeing or knowing a better way to live. He recalls vividly the night that changed everything for him. After being in a gang for almost 20 years, he suffered a loss that showed him he had to change. What he has d... posted on May 9, 7204 reads

Scott Fry is a Loving Earthling
What would business look like if instead of the bottom line being bigger is better, or how can we make more money - different questions were asked that are based on relationships to the people, to families, community, that are looking at how we can heal the land, and honor the sacred? Join Nathan Scolero from Dumbo Feather magazine in this phenomenal story of Scott Fry and his journey to creating ... posted on May 19, 5642 reads

Humanity's Path to a Flourishing Future
"I discovered that what makes humans unique is that we--to a greater extent than any other species--have what I call a 'patterning instinct:' we are driven to pattern meaning into our world. That drive is what led humans to develop language, myth, and culture. It enabled us to invent tools and develop science, giving us tremendous benefits but also putting us on a collision course with the natural... posted on May 16, 6654 reads

A Message About Messages
The complex meanings of a serious story or novel can be understood only by participation in the language of the story itself. To translate them into a message or reduce them to a sermon distorts, betrays, and destroys them. This is because a work of art is understood not by the mind only, but by the emotions and by the body itself.... posted on Oct 16, 9081 reads

Kitbull: A Moving Story of Friendship Between Dog and Cat
In this heartwarming Pixar short, an unlikely friendship forms when a stray cat encounters an abused pit bull. Together, the pair discovers that trust and companionship can mend even the most painful of wounds. Watch their journey unfold here.... posted on May 24, 3592 reads

Happiness is Practice, Not Pleasure
Put aside your preconceptions of happiness and join Krista Tippett with French born Tibetan monk Matthieu Ricard, author of Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill. Ricard reframes happiness as not simply a pleasure or sensation to be experienced, but as a skill to be practiced and cultivated. He asks, "What are the inner conditions that foster a genuine sense of flourishing, ... posted on Jun 19, 9078 reads

School Strike for Climate Change
At a young age, Greta Thunberg realized that all of the facts and solutions about how to stop climate change are known. But why aren't we applying this knowledge in order to make a difference? At age 15, Greta started a school strike outside the Swedish Parliament. While many people tell her that she should be in school or that she should study to be a climate scientist, Greta believes that if nob... posted on May 30, 1802 reads

Helping Hospitals Discover the Person Within the Patient
"Bob Hall was recovering from yet another surgery when the volunteer first walked into his hospital room. It was March 2014, and unfortunately Hall had been in and out of the hospital quite a bit. It had been a rocky recovery since his lung transplant, three months earlier, at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, WI. But the volunteer wasn't there to check on his lungs o... posted on Jun 10, 4762 reads

Island of Plenty
Eva and her family live an isolated life on the remote island of Stra Dmun, in the middle of the North Atlantic Sea, with the occasional helicopter visit their only connection to the outside world. While they are geographically isolated, Eva states that she never feels lonely. Eight generations of her family have lived on this island, with children seeing first hand the full cycle of life all arou... posted on Jun 21, 3653 reads

Uncomfortable Place of Uncertainty
"We weren't trained to admit we don't know. Most of us were taught to sound certain and confident, to state our opinion as if it were true. We haven't been rewarded for being confused. Or for asking more questions rather than giving quick answers. We've also spent many years listening to others mainly to determine whether we agree with them or not. We don't have time or interest to sit and listen ... posted on Jul 9, 9713 reads

Time for the Wild
In a short and strikingly beautiful cinematic journey to wild places we are asked to think about how we are leaving the natural world for generations to come. What if our children's children could never lay eyes on wild country because it is already destroyed? Spending time in the wild is not a past-time, the narrator tells us, rather it is a biological necessity like water, air and food. The vide... posted on Jul 31, 2389 reads

Working for Peace in a Violent World
"The work of Joseph Campbell and countless others makes it clear that the destructive aspects of the world, and the knowledge that each of us will die, has forever been a deep challenge to reconcile with a celebration of life. It's not getting easier. There's a web of relationships in a globalized world that make it difficult to live without being destructive. Even when sincerely striving to be pe... posted on Aug 5, 6736 reads

A Green Approach to Gun Control
"Tajinder Singh, 47, a farmer in the North Indian state of Punjab, applied for a gun license. He told the authorities that he needed a revolver for self-defense. While tending to his 20 acres of land, he often had to walk long hours to reach home after nightfall. He wanted to protect himself from wild animals and bands of armed robbers. Once the background checks were completed in June this year, ... posted on Aug 10, 4971 reads

The Power of MLK's Anger
Unlike many who struggle to channel their anger into positive action, Martin Luther King Jr. learned from an early age how he could transform this emotion into something greater. In this compelling article from NPR, King's complex relationship with anger and injustice is explored. "Looking at how King dealt with anger reveals its dual nature--how it can be a motivating force for change, while also... posted on Aug 18, 4192 reads

Lewis Hyde: To Study the Self is to Forget the Self
In this lively conversation with Lewis Hyde, author and critic, (his latest: A Primer for Forgetting), he offers a reverse take on our ongoing concern about memory loss. "The liveliness of an oral culture is partly due to the fact that it can simply forget things that no longer fit the present need," he points out, "which would be useful if you want to be lively." So why not praise and value forge... posted on Sep 15, 3064 reads

Green Renaissance
In a culture where it can be difficult to sift through all the online media noise, Green Renaissance is creating content that captures the human spirit and reminds us that there is always something for which to be grateful. After becoming frustrated with the bombardment of negative messages being shared online, filmmakers Justine and Michael of South Africa decided to create one new short film a w... posted on Sep 17, 12092 reads

I Couldn't Let Them Die Alone
Sister Helen Prejean is best known for her 1993 memoir, Dead Man Walking, about her role as a spiritual adviser to a convicted killer on death row. The story was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. Prejean has accompanied six prisoners to their executions and has been at the forefront of activism against the death penalty. "In [their] last moments, I was amaze... posted on Sep 28, 3262 reads

The Zookeeper's Wife
There will always be a need to tell powerful stories from some of humanities darkest times. This rings especially true for stories about the Nazi's and the Holocaust because we have a resurgence of the same sentiment that led to one of the worst regimes in history. Diane Ackerman wrote a story based on real life historic heroes that remind us that we can fight against oppression in a non-violent w... posted on Sep 29, 4705 reads

In the Presence of Elephants and Whales
Katy Payne is a renowned acoustic biologist in the Bioacoustics Research Program of Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology. She listens to the 'songs' of two of the world's largest creatures from the wild coast of Argentina to the rainforests of Africa. In this interview she tells us how humpback whales compose ever-changing songs and that elephants communicate across long distances by inf... posted on Oct 22, 5285 reads

Why Busyness is Actually Modern Laziness
"Action addiction is an advanced sort of laziness. It keeps us busily occupied with tasks. The busier we keep ourselves, the more we avoid being confronted with questions of life and death. As we keep ourselves occupied with tasks, important or not, we avoid facing life. We keep a safe and comfortable distance to the issues that are sometimes hard to look at. Have we chosen the right career? Are w... posted on Oct 3, 12214 reads

The Land Where Swans and Giraffes Are Made of Tires
The human spirit cannot be quieted. Through the cracks of ordered Soviet structure has blossomed the artsy jungle of Bishkek. The people of this city in Kyrgyzstan have created beautiful art out of the used tires and car parts that littered the streets of this major transit hub. Out of chaos arises a new form of beauty.... posted on Oct 8, 2677 reads

My Summer of the Catbird
Nature has a language that we have forgotten but carry in our unconscious minds. Beyond our even knowing, we are called along with the birds to listen to our inner seasons and longings. As author David G. Haskell has said, "In the voices of birds, we hear augury, portent, prophesy. We are drawn across boundaries into other places, other times." In this beautiful story about a Gray Catbird, we fin... posted on Sep 24, 6421 reads

A Video Game to Cope with Grief
When Amy Green's young son was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, her undeniable grief was paired with immeasurable hope, resulting in the creation of a video game, "That Dragon, Cancer." In this Ted Talk, Amy shares how through tuning into moments of play and joy throughout her son's journey, she was able to find a way to acknowledge her pain without denying herself the mystery of grace. Click pl... posted on Oct 2, 2316 reads

Agnes Binagwaho: A Doctor with Sassitude
"Years before she became the health minister of Rwanda, Agnes Binagwaho tried to lock a fellow pediatrician in a hospital room. She saw a doctor in an examining room with a mother who held her sick daughter in her arms. And he was asleep. Binagwaho was appalled. She examined the girl herself in a separate room and then asked a nurse to shut the door on the doctor, who wouldn't be able to get out w... posted on Nov 9, 2371 reads

South Korea's Solution for Food Waste
Since 1995, South Korea has managed to increase its food waste recycling levels from 2 percent to a remarkable 95 percent. Their secret? Requiring citizens to discard their food waste in biodegradable plastic bags priced by volume. As a result, citizens are becoming much more aware of the amount of food they discard and many are turning to urban farming as a means of putting their food scraps to g... posted on Oct 24, 10458 reads

Bye Bye Plastic Bags
"Five years ago, two young women decided they were going to do something about the plastic problem on their island of Bali. And Bye Bye Plastic Bags was born. How young? So young one of them couldn't make it to our midweek interview. "She's at school," explained 18-year-old Melati Wijsen, talking about her 16- year- old sister Isabel."She's just halfway through grade 11 and she's putting her focus... posted on Oct 30, 10239 reads

Parenting Advice from Kahlil Gibran
Kahlil Gibran, writer, poet, and visual artist, offered parents sage advice on understanding the role of a parent who brings life into the world. In a world that too often overlooks the tenderness and simplicity of children, Gibran reminds us that children are a gift. They do not belong to us as possessions nor do they live to fulfill our dreams. In his great book The Prophet, Gibran says, "You ar... posted on Oct 21, 12880 reads

How Emotions Change the Shape of Our Hearts
"A record of our emotional life is written on our hearts," says cardiologist and author Sandeep Jauhar. In a stunning talk, he explores the mysterious ways our emotions impact the health of our hearts -- causing them to change shape in response to grief or fear, to literally break in response to emotional heartbreak -- and calls for a shift in how we care for our most vital organ.... posted on Nov 11, 19413 reads

Creative Chaos
The transcendent artistry of Green Renaissance Films allows us to enter into the life of a young man who has journeyed through mental disorder and arrived at a place of wholeness with an openness to the chaos of life. He has come to realize that he does not need to hold fear at bay by trying to order his world, controlling everything. Rather he embraces the chaos and unpredictability of daily livi... posted on Oct 12, 2594 reads

Our Emerging Universe
What is the significance and fundamental importance for humanity of "emergence?" It may at first seem abstract but something that emerges has unique properties that were not present in the parts creating it. Therefore it is fundamentally a life-giving source of energy. In this talk Daniel Schmachtenberger outlines emergence as essential to understand the nature of the universe we live in and what ... posted on Nov 13, 5129 reads

I Vow Not to Burn Out
Mushim Patricia Ikeda felt she was on a path toward burnout as she sought with others to "engage with systemic change, grow and deepen our spiritual practice, and also care for our families" when there seemed to be no time or space for deep rest. Yet in spite of it she found a path of hope. She asks us, "How can you make your life sustainable--physically, emotionally, financially, intellectually,... posted on Nov 17, 5416 reads

20-Year Reforestation Project Plants 2.7 Million Trees
"When celebrated Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado took over family land in the state of Minas Gerais, instead of the tropical paradise that he remembered as a child, he found the trees cut down and the wildlife gone. He was devastated. It was 1994 and he had just returned from a traumatic assignment reporting on the genocide in Rwanda. "The land was as sick as I was -- everything was destr... posted on Mar 10, 2063 reads

What Focusing on the Breath Does to Your Brain
What if you could regulate your stress levels by controlling your breath? A new study from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research suggests that while fast breathing rates may promote feelings like anxiety, stress, and fear, slowing down our breath may reduce these very same emotions. This article from Greater Good Magazine examines how breathing impacts various regions of the brain responsib... posted on Nov 5, 27128 reads

A Tribute to Mary Oliver
H. Emerson Blake observed of Mary Oliver; "She was, in many ways, the quintessential Orion writer--fully devoted to taking notice of nature, and unflinching in her investigation of the emotional relationship between people and nature." Orion Magazine published this short tribute to Oliver in honor of her birthday this past September. It includes one of her poems titled 'Blueberries.'... posted on Nov 14, 11899 reads

A Chorus of Thank Yous
"Thanksgiving is a formal holiday for giving thanks, for sharing community with family and friends, but its also the holiday that represents most vividly the paradox of feeling gratitude even as we suffer or cause the suffering of others...For me, Thanksgiving is about paradox, about the challenge to do or think, be and hold opposing thoughts or circumstances at once. It is gratitude for the human... posted on Nov 28, 4090 reads

Slow Media
Jennifer Rauch took a six-month break from the Internet, iPhone, email and ebooks. Instead of unplugging she says, "I was replugging into relationships, into nature and into my community." She argues that Carlo Petrini's (Slow Food) principles "good, clean, fair" also apply to digital media. In regard to "clean"-- is the production of electronic products environmentally sustainable? With regard to... posted on Dec 1, 1811 reads

Spirit Bathing for the Worried and Beleaguered
"As expressed in a thousand ways in the Brussats book "Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life", the Spirit resides not only in formal religious rituals and spiritual practices, but in everyday life -- nature, a cats eyes, a beautiful painting, a colorful salad, a lover's embrace, a new place. This means that I can Spirit Bathe anywhere, anytime. I can be in my kitchen or kneeling ... posted on Dec 6, 7374 reads

When I Wrote My Mom a Thank-You Letter
"In the waning days of 2015, I decided to mark a milestone birthday by simply saying "thank you." My plan was to write one letter each week of that year to someone who had helped, shaped, or inspired me on the road to the person I am today. Nothing fancy: just one gratitude letter at time. I later called this letter-writing spree my Thank-You Project--and it would change my life in a profound, pos... posted on Dec 9, 8816 reads

Silas Hagarty: Just Start Walking
Silas gives an analogy about how he approaches making his films. If I needed to get somewhere, I could ask, Richard could take me two hours west of here? You might end up saying, "Let's do it!" But the approach I've always loved is just to start walking. You just start going in that direction. What I found is that oftentimes people would stop and ask, "Where are you walking to?" And they'd give me... posted on Dec 17, 2666 reads

Cultivating Hospitality
"Each of these three types of hospitality has strengthened my ability to accommodate the strange -- that thing or quality that is different from what I experience. At the very least, I hope these offered thoughts can help you glimpse a future of open doors, loving hosts, and loving guests." In this post Christopher Chavez shares his thoughts on hospitality of place, mind and heart.... posted on Dec 22, 4827 reads

Cats, Cancer, and the Kindness of a Stranger
"I had all three of my sons, plus three of their friends. This was the first time in over five years that my oldest son, Lee, 18 years old, came along. His special needs had evolved to where he no longer enjoyed leaving home very much or being outside in nature. Most recently, he did not want to leave our 3 beloved cats--especially his handsome tuxedo cat Norman Ruffles." A summer trip with teenag... posted on Feb 12, 7909 reads

Why I Run
"It is just after 4:00 am. I was dreaming about Missoula, running around Mount Sentinel just before dawn. I threw on a blue hoodie and began reciting in my sleep why I run." Inspired by Terry Tempest William's evocative reflections in "Why I Write," long-distance runner and writer Nicholas Triolo offers this lovely stream of consciousness exploration of why he runs.... posted on Jan 12, 11822 reads

Erich Fromm's Six Rules of Listening
"Listening, Erich Fromm argues, is 'is an art like the understanding of poetry' and, like any art, has its own rules and norms. Drawing on his half-century practice as a therapist, Fromm offers six such guidelines for mastering the art of unselfish understanding.... posted on Jan 9, 30539 reads