experiencing the beautiful gift of an Awakin Call with Zen monk and Tea Master, Wu De, I never would have understood the magic of tea. Other than being vaguely aware of its medicinal powers and high end varieties, there was little more that I knew and I certainly wouldn’t have equated tea with being “the great human connector”. But the wisdom with which Wu De shared with us how tea connects us back to nature, to each other, and to ourselves opened my heart to more than a different way of starting my day. Journeying from a Rural Ohio to Taiwan Suzanne: How did you find tea, being that you were born in North America? How did you listen to the self and fin... posted on Aug 5 2017 (10,240 reads)

says that for people who are passionately committed to social justice there needs to be a strong intention not to burnout, and a dedication to asking the following questions, "How can you make your life sustainable—physically, emotionally, financially, intellectually, spiritually? Are you helping create communities rooted in values of sustainability, including environmental and cultural sustainability? Do you feel that you have enough time and space to take in thoughts and images and experiences of things that are joyful and nourishing? What are your resources when you feel isolated or powerless? She said, “We can do our own mindfulness intervention and say, &l... posted on Nov 15 2017 (11,306 reads)

is for takers. Meaning is for givers. Guess who feels better? Button Lady by Lee White Something interesting has been happening in recent years. Meaning has regained a foothold in our universities, and especially in an unexpected place—the sciences. Many of the “meaning” researchers are working in a field called positive psychology—a discipline that grounds its findings in empirical studies, but also draws on the rich tradition of the humanities. Positive psychology was founded by the University of Pennsylvania’s Martin Seligman, who, after decades of working as a research psychologist, had come to believe that his field was in crisis. He... posted on Jan 25 2018 (36,651 reads)

that’s kind of a personal choice because that’s kind of where I — that’s the juncture I’m at in my life, in a sense. But of course, it’s not strictly chronological, which we’ll talk about. Fr. Rohr: That’s right, it isn’t. Ms. Tippett: Because really, it’s a template for a spiritual journey. Fr. Rohr: Very good. Ms. Tippett: And so — you know what? You just described — and you used some of the words and the images that are important to you in this — and this, I guess, was a phrase of Carl Jung, who popularized this notion of two halves of life, and that the preoccupations of the first half of life ... posted on Sep 11 2017 (15,311 reads)

GREENE shares her experiences of weeding her garden and her inner garden of tendencies and character traits, and makes peace with herself in the process. It’s late spring – the time of year when garden growth is prolific, determined, persistent.  Sometimes overwhelming. Especially the weeds. They require attention that is also determined and persistent, but in spite of my efforts there are always weeds that escape my notice and grow too big, too much. Removing them now causes disturbance or harm to the other plants. The behavior of weeds is no different from that of humans and other creatures. The weeds want to survive and have evolved ways to ... posted on Sep 20 2017 (21,073 reads)

the southern hemisphere, the night of June 20 is the longest night of the year, marking the arrival of winter. Welcoming the cold as a gift is part of being one with nature and its cycles… Recently we experienced the longest night of the year. The fact might have gone unnoticed–after all, the difference was a matter of seconds. But we all felt the coming of the cold, on time, like a boyfriend arriving for an unbreakable date. Few celebrated, because its arrival officially ends the sweetness of summer and heralds times of hardship and rigor. Cold is an absence, an absence of heat, and yet it feels like a presence…Photo: Jörg Peter/Pixabay... posted on Nov 16 2017 (14,819 reads)

teacher Pirkko Fihlman wears a traditional Käspaikka scarf during a gathering at her home in Helsinki. Credit: YES! Magazine/Katri Heinämäki. All rights reserved. Riitta Excell wore a pair of homemade wool socks: white with red floral patterns and rounded blue toes. Around her were women sipping tea and enjoying plum pastries and chicken feta pie. They wore homemade wool socks, as well. It was nearly 3 o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon, and Pirkko Fihlman’s living room on the outskirts of Helsinki was filled with black-and-white family photos, porcelain figurines of angels and birds, and embroidered rococo chairs. The clink of tea cups fell si... posted on Nov 11 2017 (12,993 reads)

mental and emotional patterns can teach us a lot about developing positive patterns, if we approach our tendencies mindfully, compassionately, and with gratefulness. I used to be a person who, though unusually optimistic and resilient in many ways, could often be prone to a negative train of thought I now playfully refer to as “awful-izing.” I have also heard this propensity called “catastrophizing.” Regardless, once aboard this train, it can take you a long way down some dark tracks before you realize you are not at all where you hoped or intended to be. The distinguishing qualities of a negative train of thought would be somewhat as follows: Somet... posted on Nov 24 2017 (19,492 reads)

Privilege of Living: A Conversation with Viral Mehta, by Pavithra Mehta August 1, 2016 Viral Mehta In mid-August 2015, Viral Mehta, a co-founder of ServiceSpace.org, was diagnosed with an acute form of bone marrow suppression. In the passages below, written half a year into the diagnosishis wife, Pavithra. “Pavi” Mehta, offers an update on Viral’s condition and speaks with him about his challenges and recovery.  -The Editors (Parabola magazine) Pavi’s Update Viral’s recovery is continuing slowly, at its own secret pace. Things are stable overall, though there have been fluctuations with his blood counts…. But the fact that h... posted on Dec 31 1969 (2,934 reads)

again I’m thinking back to the 16th of February, 2003. By that time, my own experiments with nonviolence had formed my lukewarm (at best) opinion of the marches and rallies currently in fashion. But February 16th was not a day to let skepticism reign. War was imminent and people were taking to the streets. I knew I ought be among them. And, while I cannot claim that I stepped out on that winter morning with every bit of my hardearned skepticism left at the door, I did step out. With an earnest and open heart, I stepped out. Downtown, I met up with a small group from my Quaker meeting. We wove among many thousands of our fellow San Franciscans, adding our voices to a resoundi... posted on May 25 2018 (14,736 reads)

Kevin Stark August 31, 2017 In 2008, Ecuador's leadership rewrote its constitution to include the rights of nature, effectively awarding legal rights to the environment. This change was led by many grassroots environmental advocates, including Natalia Greene, an organizer and environmental activist who played a key role in the development of the constitutional changes. In a 2015 talk about her experience, Greene said the changes were very bold: "It is very important because this means we don't necessarily depend only on the state to guarantee the rights of nature. Anyone in Ecuador can guarantee these rights." Indigenous communities have recognized the r... posted on Jan 20 2018 (12,962 reads)

Angelou once asked us to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud, but that’s harder than it looks. We’re all taught the importance of kindness when young but few manage to make it the focal point of our lives. As a result, kindness becomes a spice rather than the main course, something we try to rise to when the occasion presents itself. While some just talk the talk, however, others spend years driving a ten-ton bus covered in inspirational messages in an attempt to live that message. Bob Votruba’s home is a converted transit bus, the second he’s gone through over the past eight years. Saddened by the tragic Virginia Tech shootings of 2007, Bob searched fo... posted on Sep 29 2017 (14,171 reads)

digging time. The spring has been cold and wet, the soil is heavy and sodden. Still, it has to be turned. It’s slow work and just one narrow row of pushing and lifting the garden fork, dropping and loosening the hard lumps with strategic whacks, has me puffing and sweating. “Only one small row and I’m in this state?” I ask myself. “How will I ever get this whole garden dug?” I know the answer. One forkful at a time. If I were to use a mechanized tiller it would be faster and easier, and well-meaning friends often offer this advice every year. However, I’ve noticed that turning the soil forkful by forkful gives dirt that is laced with ... posted on Dec 2 2017 (11,304 reads)

left to metamorphose to stalks of delicate pale yellow flowers, enticing myriads of bees that hum in delight. Many of these I cut and toss over the fence for the deer that especially like these blooms. The blossoms left standing will continue to change until the tiny black bead-like seeds appear in what was the floret center. Like the bees and the deer, I delight too in this process, awed by it. I see how broccoli has so many ways of presenting itself in this world. Usually, the word conjures images of the bright green vegetable florets in a stir-fry, or crunchy nibbles on a veggie platter. Yet these small plants before me this day, with their tender heart-shaped leaves, are also broccoli.... posted on Dec 18 2017 (10,520 reads)

workshop sponsored by the the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley showcased the newest and hottest findings in the science and practice of gratitude. Impressive as the advances were, not one speaker (myself included) grappled with what may be the single biggest question that stands in the way of making the basic science useful for practical applications: What must be overcome as a culture or as individuals in order for gratitude flourish? We live in a nation where everyone is on the pursuit of happiness. Each individual has his or her own path this journey takes. For some, the search begins in books; for others it comes through service. But perhaps the most po... posted on Feb 7 2018 (17,223 reads)

about taking a backward step, which is not a very popular concept in our world, but also about coming to a place where the heart and mind are genuinely reflective, where we’re able to perceive reality in an unfiltered way. And you have this beautiful lake just to my right, and I imagine there are times when that lake is absolutely still, Lake Chautauqua is just completely still and reflects everything around it clearly. And there are times when the wind rustles the water, and the images in the lake become fractured, and you can’t see things so clearly. So the practice, in essence, is about creating an internal experience of stillness, where you’re able to perceive ... posted on Jan 23 2018 (16,670 reads)

these giant electromagnets got turned on in the ’60s, and they’ve been cranking up ever since, and anything that has the vaguest left-right charge gets pulled to one side. Everything gets purified. Psychologically, what we find empirically is that people who identify as conservative tend to like order and predictability, whereas people who identify as liberal, they like variety and diversity. I have one study where we have dots moving around on a screen. Conservatives like the images where the dots are moving around more in lockstep with each other. Liberals like it when it’s all chaotic and random. Krista Tippett, host: The surprising psychology behind morali... posted on Sep 21 2018 (17,776 reads)

day we witness the brutality of war and atrocity, and can feel hopeless or doubt that anything we do as an individual can have a positive impact. International Day of World Peace was celebrated recently so now might be a good time to reflect on how our own gratitude can make a difference. I love the Zen saying: If there is light in the soul, There is beauty in the person, If there is beauty in the person, There will be harmony in the house, If there is harmony in the house, There will be order in the nation, If there is order in the nation, There will be peace in the world. If we are to bring about world peace, we first need to ask ourselves if how we think and what... posted on Jan 9 2018 (15,023 reads)

is not like any other place that I have studied in,” says Pauline Steisel, a 23-year old post graduate student from Belgium, as she chops carrots in a steamy kitchen with several of her fellow students. “I did not expect to learn so much here about myself, about others, about sharing learning and working with others. It’s like learning about life,” she adds. Pauline has only been in Schumacher College for a few weeks but already the transformation has begun. Set in the grounds of the historic Dartington Hall in rural south west England, the college has gained an international reputation as much for its pioneering approach to student life as for its i... posted on Dec 11 2017 (9,380 reads)

Ellen in her rocking chair, photo by Annalise Hope Howard There is a defiance and a fragility about the small backyard garden that she leads us to.  We descend the three or four steps off of the rear of her beautiful row home in the museum district of the city, and we find a master’s work.  It is subtly inspiring.  Not powerful like a sweeping five-hundred page novel.  More like a beautiful haiku – one that makes you want to go home and write one yourself.  And because of its accessible holiness – you can. We sat in the backyard of the home of Mary Ellen Graham.  She is the founder and first executive director of My Pla... posted on Feb 12 2018 (12,335 reads)