How Small Moments of Empathy Affect Your Life
"Greg Depow at the University of Toronto and his colleagues conducted a study on people's experience with empathy in their everyday lives, to find out how it affected their actions and well-being. Their findings shed some interesting light on how small moments of ordinary, everyday empathy work to benefit us all."... posted on Sep 8, 6802 reads

Nature is a Jazz Band, Not a Machine
"From genetic engineering to geoengineering, we treat nature as though its a machine. This view of nature has deep roots in Western thought, all the way to Descartes and Hobbs, but its a fundamental misconception with potentially disastrous consequences, argues Jeremy Lent. His work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization's existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-aff... posted on Sep 12, 4862 reads

Working to Welcome and Resettle Afghan Refugees
"We've had 5,300 people sign up to be volunteers. That's beyond a record for us. We typically work with about 350 volunteers a year. We have more people who want to volunteer than we have things for volunteers to do at this point. But we're so grateful for all these people who want to step in and help." A number of different organizations are helping resettle the over 20,000 Afghan refugees who ha... posted on Sep 14, 2108 reads

The Difference Between Healing & Curing
"In my thirty years of working with cancer patients, I've seen a profound distinction between curing and healing. Curing is what a physician seeks to offer you. Healing, however, comes from within us. It's what *we* bring to the table. Healing can be described as a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual process of coming home." The founder of Commonweal, Dr. Michael Learner shares more. ... posted on Oct 2, 2899 reads

What Makes A Good Life?
What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, you're mistaken. As the director of a 75-year-old study on adult development, he shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life.... posted on Sep 24, 4180 reads

A Case for the Porch
"Lately I've been trying to think like a porch. Trying to think between the natural and the human. Thinking how best to build during a climate crisis. I came across John Cage saying that progress in art "may be listening to nature." He thought this activity could best play out on a porch, where we can hear nature's symphony and then breathe our own masterpieces. Can we play our porches like instru... posted on Sep 25, 3972 reads

I Want to Raise Questions: A Conversation with Hung Liu
"The reality today is that it's a quick, changing world. So many things are going on. But still, overall you have to anchor yourself. I still believe in my paintings. I still want to do my painting stroke by stroke. I still want to find some truth through the process. It's not simple. The good thing about being an artist is that I can use my work to transform something -- to reach, so I can raise ... posted on Oct 10, 1519 reads

Touch as Nutrition
Is it any coincidence that when a friend or loved one does something nice for us, we feel "touched"? As John Tuite, founder of The Centre for Embodied Wisdom, tells us, "We mistakenly think that touch occurs on the periphery of our self, a skin thing." But as he shares, touch is a crucial piece of our health and development, and one we all too often go without as we get older. ... posted on Oct 16, 45520 reads

The Art of Engagement
Alice Fox manages a plot of land that provides her with food for her body, materials for her art, and sustenance for her spirit. Sustainability underpins all of her work. She looks closely at everything she finds on this plot of land, engaging with it, finding ways to utilize it or at the very least to appreciate it. By noticing the detail in everything she discerns the possibilities it offers. Th... posted on Oct 21, 2106 reads

Wendell Berry on Hope & Place
"It is hard to have hope. It is harder as you grow old,
for hope must not depend on feeling good
and there is the dream of loneliness at absolute midnight.
You also have withdrawn belief in the present reality
of the future, which surely will surprise us,
and hope is harder when it cannot come by prediction
any more than by wishing. But stop dithering.
posted on Oct 31, 17460 reads

The Woman Beside Wendell Berry
"Here's my portrait of Tanya Berry: This white-haired 81-year-old is a fiercely independent thinker who embraces interdependence. Someone with a deep humility who gives others credit reflexively, and a self-confidence that makes her comfortable telling you what she believes she's good at. A kind person who doesn't hesitate to offer blunt advice. A woman who kept records of her prodigious canning i... posted on Nov 24, 6244 reads

Universal Human in Training
"We are in the midst of an unprecedented transformation in human consciousness. Unprecedented. Our perception is expanding beyond the limitations of the five senses. Together, they form a single system whose object of detection is physical reality. Now we are acquiring another sensory system: we are becoming multisensory. We are transiting from a five sensory species to a multisensory species, and... posted on Oct 30, 3313 reads

Ten Ways to Make Your Time Matter
"As a recovering 'productivity geek,' I know how it feels to become swept up in the idea of discovering the perfect system of time management. But I was eventually forced to accept that my struggles to achieve a sense of perfect control or mastery of my time were counterproductive, leading not to a life of more meaning but one of more overwhelm and stress. I came to see that I needed to give up th... posted on Dec 12, 14097 reads

The Heritage of Afghanistan
"Robert Abdul Hayy Darr, who since 1985, as director of the Afghan Cultural Assistance Foundation, has been helping Afghan refugees adapt to life in new homelands. He is also a long-time lover of Afghani-Persian culture who has translated several works of Persian poetry into English, and a follower of the Sufi tradition with a deep knowledge of the works of Ibn Arabi. In this conversation with Jan... posted on Nov 14, 2787 reads

What Almost Dying Taught Me About Living
"The hardest part of my cancer experience began once the cancer was gone," says author Suleika Jaouad. In this fierce, funny, wisdom-packed talk, she challenges us to think beyond the divide between 'sick' and 'well,' asking: How do you begin again and find meaning after life is interrupted?"... posted on Nov 5, 9751 reads

The Peacock Mosaic
When their school closed during the pandemic, the teachers and families of the East Bay Waldorf School in El Sobrante, CA, all scrambled to put together backyard pods for the coming school year. They took the challenging hand they were dealt and made the very best of it, creating something beautiful, including a new re-birthed school.... posted on Nov 6, 4529 reads

We're All Human
The filmmaker of this video shares a transformative moment with a person experiencing homelessness: Walking along a busy street in Edinburgh, my eye caught a sign resting at the feet of a man sitting on the pavement outside a posh hotel. It simply read, 'I am a human being.' It stopped me dead in my tracks. Kneeling down to take a closer look, I struck up a conversation with Sparky. And what start... posted on Nov 7, 2458 reads

Little Amal: Walking the Path of Hope for Refugees
"Little Amal," a 9-year-old Syrian refugee girl, has big, expressive eyes and loves jumping in puddles as she travels on foot to the UK in search of a new home. But Amal isn't just any girl -- she's a giant puppet more than 11 ft. tall. She's the centerpiece of The Walk, a traveling arts festival. For the past three months, Amal and the crew have travelled from the Syrian-Turkish border to the UK ... posted on Nov 11, 2432 reads

A Better Place: Playing for Change
Musicians from around the world come together in song to speak up for equality and social justice. Whether they are performing from backyards, city street corners, by the oceanside, or in a park, they all give voice to the rights of people everywhere to live in freedom, dignity and peace. "If you feel it, through the music, we can make this world a better place."... posted on Nov 12, 2092 reads

How Does Your Worldview Affect Well-Being?
"Our worldview, our beliefs about what reality is, our views on what (if anything) has value and meaning, what Aldous Huxley called an individual's philosophy of life, contributes more significantly than we often think to our mental well-being. From pessimism to existentialism, might reading certain philosophical ideas actually lead to depression? The connection is not so simple. Philosophy can bo... posted on Nov 13, 6031 reads

Happiness Family Farm
Happiness Family Farm is a Black-owned CSA farm in Portland, Oregon. Rosata, her husband, Prosper, and son, Japhety, work year-round to harvest fresh fruits and vegetables for the local community. They feature a unique assortment of vegetables from all over the world, bringing a taste of home to many in their community.... posted on Nov 26, 1787 reads

The Golden Rule & The Transformation of Being
"The most ancient of principles that binds all religious and philosophical traditions together is what we have come to call 'The Golden Rule.' Simple in its statement, its actual practice seems at best fitful and, for many, difficult to impossible, from the level of our ordinary consciousness. To be able to practice the principle even with those we already love is not always easy. To practice it w... posted on Nov 29, 4336 reads

The Path of Reconciliation
"Opposites arise in the field -- good, bad, darkness, light, joy, sorrow. These qualities arise in concert, each a complement to the other. But the human brain struggles with opposites. We attach to one side of an equation and call it Reality. Our point of view is never the whole picture. Fortunately, the Universe is maintained by scientific/spiritual laws. We're familiar with laws of science. The... posted on Dec 20, 5742 reads

What Defines You
Danielson Okeyo of Cape Town, South Africa, saw himself as something of a Superman because of his physical abilities. A series of injuries made him question who he was when he was no longer defined by what he could do. Okeyo takes us along on his journey to connect with the healing power of nature by befriending the ocean. In the process he realizes that nature accepts us as who we are. As he open... posted on Dec 18, 2530 reads

Rediscovering Gentleness
"At the end of Craig Foster's 2020 documentary film My Octopus Teacher, he shows his son the wonders of nature along the shore and in the sea. He says the most important thing to learn is a gentleness that thousands of hours in nature can teach a child. The word 'gentleness' suddenly stood out and could well be the best description of the film. It is a word rarely used today." Karachi-based artist... posted on Dec 22, 5241 reads

A Solstice Invitation
The solstice in December marks the first day of winter. In the Northern hemisphere it is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Ever since ancient times, this day has been celebrated across the world as a time of renewal, a kindling of hope in the depths of darkness. depended. From contemplative artist and dharma coyote Aura Glaser comes this poetic Solstice invitation. ... posted on Dec 21, 7100 reads

When There Is No Language Speak Kindness
"Perhaps, you also grew up with this notion: that to be of value, it has to be big. And what if that notion is not true? What if it is the seemingly small actions that are in fact, of great value? What if these seemingly small actions are what connect us one to another and open the gateway to deeper understanding?" Kristin Pedemonti shares more.... posted on Dec 25, 2520 reads

The Gurukul System of Training: An Indigenous Pedagogy
"It all began with a simple yet deep dissatisfaction when I was 20. On the first day of my first job, I spurned the possibility of how my time would be spent. With a clear intuition that I did not want to engage in commercial work whose end was just financial transactions; an inward journey had unknowingly begun. The discomfort, which was actually a yearning for something more than the perceivabl... posted on Feb 9, 2749 reads

The Log- Year 2
There are some things we see without seeing, but in them a whole world is held unto themselves. For the last couple of years, wildlife photographer Robert Bush Sr. has had a trail camera situated above a stream in the Pennsylvania wilderness. The "log" videos are mesmerizing and entertaining, as we observe how integral this log is to the life of the forest. What appears to be just a log is so much... posted on Jan 8, 3698 reads

Calligraphy-- A Sacred Tradition
"Ann Hechle is a major figure in contemporary western calligraphy. The breadth of her subject matter reflects a personal journey which has immersed her in the sacred literatures of the world. In this interview, she gives us privileged access to her magnum opus, her 'Journal', in which she explores the principles of form and order -- the sacred geometry -- which are the well-springs of the creative... posted on Jan 13, 5270 reads

Welcome
"Only a person who intended to enter room 520 would walk to the end of the long hospital hallway, and that morning I had gone there as part of my rounds. I was in the midst of my second unit of training to become a healthcare chaplain, this one in a struggling hospital that served the most disenfranchised. Our patients were those without friends or family, or those whose friends and family could n... posted on Jan 21, 4602 reads

Peace Is Every Step: Thich Nhat Hanh's 95 Year Earthwalk
"Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who was one of the worlds most influential Zen masters, spreading messages of mindfulness, compassion and nonviolence, died on Saturday at his home in the Tu Hieu Temple in Hue, Vietnam. He was 95. A monk with global influence and an ally of Martin Luther King, he championed what he called 'engaged Buddhism,' applying its principles in pressing for peac... posted on Jan 22, 9581 reads

Retriever of Souls
"At night, only at night, her mind grows timber-thickso dense and brambled, there's no way to find her, let alone bring her back to bed. Gone, then, is the tumbleweed-haired, half-feral kid who rode her goat every morning to the preschool up the hill. The kid who by fourth grade volunteered at the local vet clinic, where she sat with the grieving, while their pets died. More than once, I've been a... posted on Jan 30, 5452 reads

Hargila: A Story of Love & Conservation
In an age of massive global extinctions, a remarkable wildlife biologist in Indias Northeast shows the life-saving impact of simple, direct local action. When Dr. Purnima Devi Barman decided to dedicate herself to the survival of the Hargila, Assam's resident greater adjutant crane, the local population in Guwahati was a mere 20 nests. The scruffy, prehistoric bird was detested and routinely kille... posted on Feb 11, 2125 reads

The Power of Placebos
"Since the 1800s, the word placebo has been used to refer to a fake treatment, meaning one that does not contain any active, physical substance. Today, placebos play a crucial role in medical studies in which some participants are given the treatment containing the active ingredients of the medicine, and others are given a placebo. These types of studies help tell researchers which medicines are e... posted on Feb 12, 5400 reads

Starling Murmurations: The Science Behind Nature's Great Display
"Watching starling murmurations as the birds swoop, dive and wheel through the sky is one of the great pleasures of a dusky winters evening. From Naples to Newcastle these flocks of agile birds are all doing the same incredible acrobatic display, moving in perfect synchrony. But how do they do it? Why dont they crash? And what is the point?"... posted on Feb 18, 5324 reads

Understory: A Journey into the Tongass National Forest
Tongass National Forest, the largest temperate rainforest in the world, is in jeopardy. Covering most of southeastern Alaska, it is part of the world's last intact temperate rainforests which spans from Northern California to Alaska. Three friends who care deeply about the perils to the forest caused by the logging of old growth trees, document the "battle against short sighted greed and the ruin... posted on Feb 19, 1828 reads

False Alarm: A Plea for the Earth Music Video
Wake up to the ways the Earth cries out for our care. Ryan Amador and Alixa Garcia team up to show us both the hope and the destruction happening all around. Watch it all the way through without averting your gaze or closing your heart.... posted on Mar 11, 2200 reads

Oncology Yoga: Tapping into the Wisdom of the Body
"As an integrative yoga teacher with a background in various yoga modalities, I aim to follow the needs of my students as they arise, not only those needs affected by their internal atmosphere, but also the collective needs. Meeting them where they are. This is a simple story of how this aspect of yoga intensified in my life. I will tell it primarily through the voice of 2 of my students, who tell... posted on Mar 16, 3773 reads

Jewels: A Three Part Chant
"Every time I go into the darkness, I return with fistfuls of jewels." So begins a three-part chant in praise of winter's gifts, by singer-songwriter, voice coach and author Barbara McAfee. Her soulful music is accompanied by exquisite visuals, the work of nature photographer Julie Brown. Watch the music video and read Barbara's description of the song's origins here.... posted on Mar 19, 8610 reads

Seek Silence
Silence helps us to explore our shared humanity as it speaks to the part of life that is beyond words. This video created by Green Renaissance and filmed in South Africa encourages us to hear the words that silence whispers to our hearts and to find a quiet space in the busyness of life, wherever we live. It invites us to explore what silence means to us.... posted on Mar 26, 3315 reads

A Selfless Respect for Reality
"Thinking about our current global situation, I recall the work of Kazimierz Dabrowski, the Polish psychiatrist and psychologist who proposed a theory of personality development called positive disintegration. This is a transformational approach to psychological growth based on the idea that crises are important for our personal maturation. Dabrowski's concept is similar to a tenet of systems theo... posted on Mar 31, 4418 reads

Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention
"I think there's a more interesting definition of attention that's been developed really in the last five years in this new attentional environment that comes from a man named James Williams Dr. James Williams who was at the heart of Google for many years, was horrified by what they were doing to our attention, quit, and became, I would argue, the most important philosopher of attention in the w... posted on Apr 4, 9311 reads

The Anatomy of Anxiety
"Anxiety is "that hypervigilant feeling that escalates swiftly to a sense of catastrophe and doom," writes Ellen Vora, M.D., in her new book, The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Bodys Fear Response. Anxiety is "as grounded in the body as it is in the mind." Too often, she argues, we turn to only mental solutions for what is in part a physical problem."... posted on Apr 7, 9043 reads

Centering: In Pottery, Poetry, and the Person
"Governed by her conviction that "poets are not the only poets" and that artists don't leave their art at the studio, M.C. Richards explores the poetry of personhood through the metaphor of centering, drawn from the craftsmanship of pottery --a potter brings the clay to the center of the wheel, then begins the process of giving the amorphous spinning mass the desired shape." Maria Popova shares mo... posted on Apr 10, 3846 reads

Ukrainian Teens' Voices from the Middle of War
"A colleague from Kyiv, Ukraine, whom Ill call N.M., sent me brief essays her students wrote on what they would do when the war ends. As both a scholar and a novelist, I knew that these voices, which expressed a beautifully straightforward and pure yearning for the simplest things that are lost in war, needed to be heard by the world."... posted on Apr 11, 4842 reads

Reflections of a Jungian Analyst
At the end of her training, artist and psychotherapist, Rue Harrison had the good fortune to have Gareth Hill as her supervising consultant. At the conclusion of her work with Hill, she asked Gareth if he'd be willing to share some of his own experiences in a recorded interview. What follows is an inspiring example of the archetype of the wounded healer and the deep power of suffering transformed.... posted on Jul 23, 3156 reads

Sharing the Joy of Simple Living
Ever dream of living a simpler, more community-rooted lifestyle? Ever wondered if you & your friends really could grow your own food? Or build your own house? What would it look like to dedicate your pursuits and personal interests to match up with an intention of peace, respect for nature, long-term sustainability...and JOY? Meet several young people who made this dream their reality with a proje... posted on Apr 16, 2477 reads

Living in the Time of Dying
"This recent film, Living in the Time of Dying, made by the Australian film-maker Michael Shaw in response to his own dawning awareness of species extinction, asks bluntly: "Are humans likely to become extinct?" To find answers, Michael sold his home and with his partner Michelle Walker set off on a journey around the world to interview four people who have been speaking on the issue. The result i... posted on Apr 21, 4468 reads

To Observe that Kind of Devotion
"Orion's poetry editor Camille Dungy recently sat down with poet, friend, and Orion board member Major Jackson to discuss their thoughts on literary stewardship, environmental writings complicated legacy, the sacred inner lives of Black children, small towns, urban parks, building community, talking to foxes, and connection to the natural world." Check out their conversation here. ... posted on Apr 28, 1723 reads