Rethinking the Bucket List
How would you live every day as if it were your last? Go skydiving? Attempt to ride a bull for 2.7 seconds? Kathleen Taylor has spent over 20 years as a counselor and community engagement facilitator for the dying and has found that in the last chapter of their lives, most people become their authentic selves. They become courageous - they change their minds, apologize, forgive... they find joy i... posted on Oct 15, 11659 reads

Bruce Lee's Never-Before-Seen Affirmations
"Although Bruce Lee is best known for his legendary legacy in martial arts and film, he was also one of the most underappreciated philosophers of the twentieth century, instrumental in introducing Eastern traditions to Western audiences. A philosophy major in college, he fused ancient ideas with his own singular ethos informed by the intersection of physical and psychological discipline, the most ... posted on Oct 19, 15511 reads

Gabriel Meyer: Stretching Identity
"It's simple. The deepest stuff is the simplest stuff. You don't have to be complicated to be deep. You have to be simple to be deep. That's when you really connect. There are no intermediates in the neural reality. There's nobody. There's not like an agent between you and God. There are no booking agents for that. That's direct, you know?" Through his music, storytelling and more, sacred activist... posted on Oct 20, 2450 reads

Life in the Time of Cholera: Lessons on a Pandemic
"As sirens fill the streets of London, George Prochnik recalls a revolutionary poets account of the 1832 cholera pandemic that unfolded in Paris. While watching history repeat itself in devastating refrain, George wonders: What is hysteria? What is necessary passion and courage? How can we respond both lucidly and compassionately?"... posted on Oct 23, 4484 reads

Creating Magic from Fragments
For all of us who have ever gathered a collections of fragments, scraps and bits; formed them into little beings and spent precious magical moments with these friends we've formed. This bittersweet little gem is for us.... posted on Oct 30, 3191 reads

What Is Solidarity?: Reflections on Justice
"Etymologically, solidarity comes from the Latin word solidus, a unit of account in ancient Rome. It then merged into French to become solidaire referring to interdependence, and then into English, in which its current definition is an agreement between, and support for, a group, an individual, an idea. It is essentially a bond of unity or agreement between people united around common cause. True ... posted on Nov 1, 6700 reads

What Is Compassion?
"Compassion literally means to suffer together. Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with anothers suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering." We are living in a time where a deep understanding of, and value for, compassion is more critical than ever. More from Dachner Keltner on the evolutionary roots of compassion here.... posted on Nov 8, 7445 reads

Re-Inventing Work: An Interview with Matthew Fox
An Episcopalian priest and theologian, Matthew Fox began his career as a member of the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church but was expelled in 1993 by Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI. Among Foxs teachings the Catholic hierarchy found most objectionable was his belief in original blessing, which became the title of one of his most popular books. The concept was in direct c... posted on Nov 12, 29189 reads

What is Time and Does it Always Move Forward?
"While we take for granted that time has a given direction, physicists don't: most natural laws are time reversible which means they would work just as well if time was defined as running backwards. So why does time always move forward? And will it always do so?"... posted on Apr 7, 7616 reads

The Hero/Heroine's Journey: Responding to the Call of Our Times
"I believe we have entered a sacred and very difficult time, a time in which the Hero/Heroines Journey is for all of humanity, not just individuals. How will we engage the forces of destruction the whole world faces?"John Kinyon has dedicated his life to the work of conflict resolution and nonviolent mediation. Here he shares more about the call of our times.... posted on Dec 10, 6243 reads

Lydia Fairhall Amplifies Love
"Lydia Fairhall has lived many lives in this one life. She is a Worimi woman, born on Bundjalung country, now living between the Kulin nations and Gubbi Gubbi country. From experiencing trauma in early life to an art-filled, soulful adult life as a mother, producer, executive, singer/songwriter and custodian of ancient wisdom, Lydia is the embodiment of compassionate resilience." More in this inte... posted on Dec 19, 4415 reads

When Love Rescued Christmas
At the tail-end of a year full of disasters, Laura Grace Weldon experienced a breakdown moment as she considered her children's empty Christmas stockings. Read on to hear how her 11-year-old daughter's heartfelt and hilarious response restored her perspective, and inspired a beautiful, anonymous act of generosity towards another family in crisis.... posted on Dec 25, 6464 reads

Art for the Sky
Daniel Dancer is an art-activist who creates and films gigantic living paintings made of people that only make sense from the sky. Why? To bring people together, often young students, to create flashes of beauty that teach tangibly about the power of unity, the importance of nature, and the impermanence of just about everything. Listen as Dancer elaborates on the many lessons that the community ca... posted on Dec 26, 2449 reads

what is unveiled? the founding wound (poem/directive)
"a body is always a body
individual or collective
(whole or in many pieces)
alive or, later, dead
a body is aways vulnerable"
So begins this electric poem/directive by writer adrienne maree brown, that brings an unflinching gaze, open heart and clear voice to the realities of our times, and to the possibilities of healing.... posted on Jan 14, 6878 reads

Musicians on Kindness
What if kindness was a form of music, with its own rhythm, its own flow, its own song?" This engaging video points out the give and take of the whole human experience through highlighting music, with its reciprocal energy which inspires both the musicians and their audiences. The featured street musicians reflect on the power of music to make kindness contagious.... posted on Jan 15, 2755 reads

Kiss the Ground: The Soil Story
"Science meets inspiration in this tale of nature's best hidden innovation: soil. 'The Soil Story,'made by Kiss the Ground, is a five-minute film that shares the importance of healthy soil for a healthy planet. Learn how we can "sequester" (store) carbon from our atmosphere, where it is harmful, and pull it back into the earth, where it belongs, through regenerative agriculture, composting, and ot... posted on Jan 22, 5884 reads

Contact with the Sacred
With spectacular visual images, this film reminds us of the necessity of connecting with the sacred in everyday life. It honors the sacred through sensory feelings of connection, with both the vast expanses such as mountain tops and waterfalls, and with the single dandelion sending its seeds into the future. This connection is further enhanced by the peaceful music that accompanies the images, pro... posted on Jan 29, 4149 reads

Tea, Ink, Life's Mystery
"Amidst the hectic streets of San Francisco,
an elderly man, a small calming dot of black in a fast-moving wave, is momentarily glimpsed on the streets then reappears translucently through glass. He is visible only to those that take the time to see. What is singular about the man is his mesmerizing slowness. Silent Crescendo,
directed by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee for The Global Oneness P... posted on Jun 6, 2870 reads

Barrio De Paz: Peace Town
"Everything in society tells us to distrust others. I think it's the other way around. We need to profoundly trust in those around us, in their potential and in who they are," the grandmotherly Nelsa Curbelo Cora says. In 1999, she walked into the violence infested city of Guayaquil, Ecuador to BE peace. Through her grassroots work, many of Guayaquil's most dangerous gangs have disarmed, agreed to... posted on Feb 18, 2206 reads

The Caribou Guardians
High on a forested mountain in northern British Columbia, in the traditional territory of the West Moberly Dunne-za First Nations (WMFN) and Saulteau First Nations (SFN), Starr Gauthier is on patrol with a twelve-gauge shotgun slung over her shoulder and a laptop bag in hand. Starr is a Caribou Guardian charged with tending to the Klinse-za Caribou Maternity Pen built by these First Nations, as pa... posted on Feb 28, 3157 reads

Bloom
Neighbors and plants can surely help us bloom, especially in the hard times. Stuck in her apartment, a lonely woman waits for time to pass until one day she hears a knock at the door. On her doorstep, she finds a plant left by a friendly neighbor and discovers the joy that caring for others can bring. This tender animation was made by students of the Animation & Illustration department at San Jose... posted on Mar 5, 3070 reads

Joining Our Wildernesses
Liz Tichenor was ordained as a priest at 27. Just a few months before her ordination, Tichenor lost her mother to suicide. A year and a half later, her infant son, just 40 days old, died from a likely curable but misdiagnosed medical condition. Her stunning memoir, "Night Lake: A Young Priest Maps the Topography of Grief," shares a story of finding a way forward through searing tragedies, and slow... posted on Mar 10, 6453 reads

The Nature of Plastics
"All plastic begins in a factory. That much we know. But where it goes next remains poorly understood. Only 1 percent of the plastic released into the marine environment is accounted for, found on the surface and in the intestines of aquatic animals. The rest is a little harder to measure. Some presumably washes back ashore. An untold amount settles, sunk by the weight of its new passengers. (One ... posted on Mar 12, 3184 reads

All Cats Are Black
"My biggest regret is that I wasn't born beautiful-- there, I've said it."Jenny Jackson delivers these words with captivating candor in this poignant, short film by Green Renaissance. Lacking the experience of warmth and kindness in childhood, Jackson grew into a person she barely recognized. In her forties three words on a sandwich board brought a moment of self-reckoning that ripened over slow y... posted on Mar 16, 4135 reads

She Convinced a Community to Love a 'Bad Omen'
Leptoptilos dubius is the name of a gangly stork, "Once close to extinction, the bird has rebounded in biologist Purnima Devi Barman's home state of Assam in northeastern India. And that success, according to widespread consensus, is primarily because of Barman, who has single-handedly transformed the species from a reviled nuisance to a beloved cohabitant among a surprisingly broad cross-section ... posted on Mar 19, 5831 reads

How to Be Resilient
One definition of resilience is: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. This past year, many of us have faced adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stresssuch as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors. Let this three-minute video be a meditation on resilience, taught by the rivers of the world.... posted on Mar 20, 4621 reads

Poetry Calls Us To Pause
"It is the simple topic, a commonality that I choose to explore, so when I walk down a street, open a can of soup, view a fading poster on the wall, or imagine what I might write in wet cement, I ask myself what am I noticing and what is my response in the moment." Poet Elizabeth Brule Farrell shares more about her calling, and offers a selection of her wonderful poems here.... posted on Mar 27, 5370 reads

Picture a Face
"Your phone rings in the middle of the night. As you reach blindly to answer, do you fear that someone you love has been in an accident? Has suddenly died? For a time, early in my marriage to Jihong, such calls would often wake us. The phone was on Jihong's side of the bed. He'd lift the receiver to his ear and mumble a dazed hello. "Go back to Japan!" a loud male voice would yell, or something wo... posted on Mar 31, 4633 reads

It Couldn't Be Clearer
"Interrelatedness is one of Brian Swimme's powers of the universe that I have been contemplating. I could have accompanied this particular exploration with any picture I have. Every flower, every leaf, every tree trunk, every mushroom is only here because of a web of relationships. With air, water, fungi, microbes, insects. With their fellow plants, the soil their roots penetrate, the beings growi... posted on Apr 3, 5407 reads

Reclaiming Our Common Home
"The path to an ecological civilization is paved by reclaiming the commons--our common home, the Earth, and the commons of the Earth family, of which we are a part. Through reclaiming the commons, we can imagine possibility for our common future, and we can sow the seeds of abundance through 'commoning.'" Vandana Shiva shares more here.... posted on Apr 19, 6849 reads

Imagine a World Without Prisons
Deanna Van Buren designs restorative justice centers that, instead of taking the punitive approach used by a system focused on mass incarceration, treat crime as a breach of relationships and justice as a process where all stakeholders come together to repair that breach. "Imagine a world without prisons," Van Buren says. "And join me in creating all the things that we could build instead."... posted on Apr 30, 2029 reads

A Day with the Langs
For over twenty years artists Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang have been collecting plastic trash washed up on a pristine beach in Point Reyes National Seashore. Their meditative practice, and the art they make from the collected detritus, is a small song of hope in the face of the worldwide blight of single-use plastic. ... posted on May 1, 2914 reads

The Spell of the Sensuous
David Abram's book, "The Spell of the Sensuous" draws on diverse sources, ranging from Balinese shamanism, and Apache storytelling, to his own experience as an accomplished sleight-of-hand of magician to surface the subtle and far-reaching influence of the natural environment on human cognition. Here is a selection of powerful excerpts from the book.... posted on May 13, 3730 reads

We're Gonna Carry That Weight A Long Time
"All houses have memory. Life's big occasions--the triumphs and heartbreak--drift through like smoke, leaving barely a trace. It's the small moments they remember: the hollow at the turn of the stair, the scratches around the keyhole, or wood darkened by touch. "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives," wrote Annie Dillard, and the houses we spend them in record it all."... posted on May 27, 4315 reads

Asha Gond at the Skating World Championships
Change means movement. If you want change you have to disrupt something. See how one skateboarding park in a rural Indian village rippled out into changes in gender restrictions, caste restrictions and poverty restrictions through the voices of Ulrike Reinhard, the founder of the skateboarding park, and Asha Gond, a young member of the tribal community in the village of Janwaar.... posted on May 28, 2322 reads

Rumi, Grace & Human Friendship
Tami Simon speaks with Coleman Barks-- a leading scholar and translator of the 13th-century Persian mystic Jelaluddin Rumi-- about the extraordinary friendship between Rumi and his teacher Shams Tabrizi.... posted on May 29, 5514 reads

To Become a Better Leader, Question Your Assumptions
"When Wharton management professor Adam Grant sat down to write his new book, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, he wanted to make the case for why executives should reconsider their approaches to how to manage people in a modern workplace and embrace new ideas, based on systematic evidence." Here he discusses why it's important for leaders to question their assumptions around ... posted on May 30, 5380 reads

The Forest of Orchids
"As Colombia continues to suffer violence and unrest, one family seeks to change the country's story from one of destruction to one of restoration and healing by planting thousands of native orchids across a mountainside."... posted on Jun 2, 4124 reads

What Critically Ill Kids Can Teach Us
"In 2013, Shay Beider accompanied an anxious little boy into the office of Dr. Fayez Ghishan, the Physician in Chief and a pediatric gastroenterologist at Diamond Childrens Hospital in Tucson, Arizona. The boy was soon to undergo an endoscopy, an invasive scope to examine the digestive tract. Such procedures could be traumatic for children because they required an IV placement; nurses often had to... posted on Jun 18, 4605 reads

Donella Meadows: Dancing with Systems
"We can never fully understand our world, not in the way our reductionistic science has led us to expect. Our science itself, from quantum theory to the mathematics of chaos, leads us into irreducible uncertainty. For any objective other than the most trivial, we can't optimize; we do'nt even know what to optimize. We cant keep track of everything. We can't find a proper, sustainable relationship ... posted on Jun 22, 5025 reads

The Clearness Committee: A Communal Approach to Discernment
"I want to describe a method invented by the Quakers, a method that protects individual identity and integrity while drawing on the wisdom of other people. It is called a Clearness Committee. If that name sounds like it is from the sixties, it is--the 1660s! From their beginnings over three hundred years ago, Quakers needed a way to draw on both inner and communal resources to deal with personal p... posted on Jul 1, 8068 reads

Seven Lessons Learned from Leaves
"I've been thinking more deeply about leaves --what these simple gifts of nature can teach us, and how they can help us overcome the challenges we face in life. Over the past year, I jotted down thoughts in a vintage leather-covered notebook that I keep on my desk. And in the spirit of this deeper exploration, I used a macro lens on my camera to reveal a closer look at the wondrous structure of le... posted on Jul 12, 12111 reads

The Two Driving Forces of Creativity
"Two helpful words to keep in mind at the beginning of any writing adventure are pleasure and spaciousness. If we connect a sense of joy with our writing, we may be inclined to explore further. What's there to find out? Perhaps too much stock has been placed in big ideas or even small ones -- a myth! but regularity seems like a key. Dont start with a big idea. Start with a phrase, a line, a quote... posted on Jul 24, 6109 reads

Leverage Points & the Power to Transcend Paradigms
"Folks who do systems analysis have a great belief in 'leverage points.' These are places within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything. This idea is not unique to systems analysis -- it's embedded in legend. The silver bullet, the trimtab, the miracle cure, the secret passage, the mag... posted on Jul 25, 6521 reads

How to Recapture Your Imagination
"If you had the spyglass, you could see anything in the world. If you had the spyglass, there was nothing from which you couldn't glean information. It had mesmeric power over the people. It had been created by a king who gave it to his daughter, to be used for the strangest of courtships. If you wished to marry her, you had to achieve only one thing. You had to disappear. You had to become a magi... posted on Aug 2, 3515 reads

Hilma af Klint: Enigmatic Mystic & Mother of Abstract Art
"In 1986, those art historians who see art as some form of linear progression 'improving' with time received a rude shock. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art's exhibition The Spiritual in Art -- Abstract Paintings 1890 -- 1985 introduced a hitherto unknown woman artist. The issue was not just that this art was so exquisitely beautiful -- but that the paintings had been painted in the early 20th ... posted on Aug 17, 6771 reads

Doubts
This delightfully animated poem by Julie Flanders urges you to "construct an orchestra of belief in your head," thereby getting rid of the doubts that can eat your dreams. Do not let them in, do not let them play, because doubts will take over your mind as they linger, and never go away. Doubts serve as clouds blocking the sunshine that leads to happiness and joy.... posted on Aug 20, 3281 reads

Vandana Shiva: For Love of Mother Earth
"Vandana Shiva started out in quantum physics, something her school didnt even teach, but which she taught herself well enough to eventually study for a PhD in Canada. Somewhere in there, she met the tree huggers of the Chipko movement in the forests of Uttarakhand, the forests her father worked when she was a child, and it became clear that a life other than the one she intended lay in front of h... posted on Aug 23, 4957 reads

A Surgeon's Compassionate Pricing Model
As a surgeon based in eastern Nebraska, Demetrio Aguila, MD, has drawn patients from 34 states, 6 countries, and 4 continents, not only because of his innovative, life-changing surgeries for people suffering with chronic pain, but because of the compassionate payment option he offers: in lieu of dollars, patients can donate community service hours for their procedures. For example, if a patient ne... posted on Aug 25, 5032 reads

I Don't Seem to Be Fine
A disorder caused by a medical treatment for malaria, a too-common affliction for children in Uganda, can lead to constant pain and a debilitating handicap for the children who receive this treatment. Ugandan medical professionals have developed a successful surgical remedy that, along with physical therapy, greatly improves the children's quality of life. With support from a team of medical colle... posted on Sep 4, 2095 reads