Everything Happens for A Reason & Other Lies I've Loved
"In life's toughest moments, how do you go on living? Kate Bowler has been exploring this question ever since she was diagnosed with stage IV cancer at age 35. In a profound, heartbreaking and unexpectedly funny talk, she offers some answers -- challenging the idea that "everything happens for a reason" and sharing hard-won wisdom about how to make sense of the world after your life is suddenly, c... posted on Nov 7, 8007 reads

The Queen of Basketball
This amazing film, winner of the 2022 Academy Award for Best Documentary (short subject), shares the story of Lusia "Lucy" Harris, a pioneer of women's basketball. Harris talks of her love of basketball from childhood with her characteristic good humor and humility. Criticized for her height, basketball helped her to view that as an asset. She led her college team to three national women's basketb... posted on Dec 2, 1369 reads

Fishing Before You Know How to Fish
"Through the pines and the one maple I hear her.

I shouldn't have gone fishing if I didn't know how to fish.

I shouldn't have gone fishing if I didn't know how to fish."
Author and activist Courtney Martin shares more in this lovely poem on life, love and our human unpreparedness.... posted on Dec 7, 1934 reads

Balakrishnan Raghavan: Belonging to the World
When he was ten years old, Balakrishnan Raghavan was moved to tears listening to a centuries-old Tamil hymn about Lord Shiva, sung by musician M S Subbulakshmi. "I was wailing. Subbulakshmi's voice soaring high and low, calling out to that divine-beloved, the voice of the poet who lived hundreds of years before us, the fierceness of their devotion, the ultimate surrender of the devotee, the madnes... posted on Dec 15, 2113 reads

Carol Sanford: No More Feedback
"I will admit from the start that this is a contrarian view of a subject that I love to hate: Feedback. People are often shocked that I would critique something that they think must be good for them and certainly good for others, no matter how much they dislike participating in it. After all, without feedback, how would we know how others see us? How would we get better at what we do? My answer to... posted on Dec 20, 2166 reads

On Hope: A Conversation with Jacob Needleman
"When we're in touch with another kind of consciousness, or level of understanding, that is what brings hope. It's not because it hopes for money or pleasure, or anything like that. Yes, that's a possible part of it. But it's the element--maybe even the most essential part of ourselves as human beings--it's this part that can be awakened by great ideas that speak about great questions of meaning, ... posted on Dec 26, 1829 reads

Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder
""Music," the trailblazing composer Julia Perry wrote, "has a unifying effect on the peoples of the world, because they all understand and love it... And when they find themselves enjoying and loving the same music, they find themselves loving one another." But there is something beyond humanistic ideology in this elemental truth --something woven into the very structure and sensorium of our bodie... posted on Jan 16, 3807 reads

June Jordan's Legacy of Solidarity & Love
To fulfill a humanities requirement at UC Berkeley, Sriram Shamasunder wandered into, "Poetry for the People," a course conceived and taught by the late poet-activist June Jordan. He had no way of knowing then, what a profound impact Jordan would have on the trajectory of his life. Shamasunder writes," June was both tender and fierce. At first, she was mostly someone I admired at a distance in t... posted on Feb 14, 3392 reads

Finding Wonderland
The secret is to surround yourself with people who make your heart smile. Its then, only then, that youll find Wonderland. Lize Venter speaks of her lost innocence through abuse that cast a dark line through her childhood, causing fear and nightmares. She shares her current life filled with love of her family and the many animals who are part of that family, as she urges viewers to surround themse... posted on Feb 17, 1796 reads

An Ethics of Wild Mind
"Winter is a kind of pregnant emptiness. Spring emerges out of that--it flourishes. And life flourishes in summer and then dies back into that emptiness of winter. And you realize, oh, my thoughts are doing the same thing that the ten thousand things do--they're part of the same tissue...And so that's another radical reweaving of consciousness and wildness--what I mean by "wild mind." In this conv... posted on Feb 18, 2130 reads

The Light That Bridges the Dark Expanse Between Lonelinesses
"The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love -- whether we call it friendship or family or romance -- is the work of mirroring and magnifying each others light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that per... posted on Feb 19, 7226 reads

IntraConnected: Discovering MWe (Me + We)
"We may have a mental understanding that all of life is one inseparable whole, yet how do we actually feel into this reality? And how do we relate to others and the world from this felt awareness? Dr. Daniel J. Siegel is a visionary creative thinker, professor, and founder of the field of interpersonal neurobiology. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Dr. Siegel about his book IntraConnected: ... posted on Mar 10, 2507 reads

Remote Wonders : A Conversation with Elaine Ling
"Ling explained, I love photography and medicine. Each led her in unexpected directions. She relates that, as a young doctor, one day in the waiting room a man was sitting there with a hawk on his arm and little curved knife in his belt. She said, "I have to take your picture before you come in." Not so many years later, she was in Mongolia bombing along the steppes in a jeep full of singing docto... posted on Mar 25, 1715 reads

How Much Silence is Too Much?
"As much as anyone else, I fantasize about checking out. I would love to remove the pinging notifications from my days, for my mind to wander without being thrown askew by each incoming tweet. But visions of total unplugging also seem a bit grotesque. Even if we can still shut our eyes and cover our ears, become details of the landscape, should we? Is it morally acceptable at this moment? How much... posted on Mar 29, 1799 reads

Four Ways We Avoid Our Feelings & What to Do Instead
"We are always vulnerable, with limited control over the things that matter to us. Maybe you want your brother to quit drinking or your kids to get along or your boss to stop being so critical, or you want to protect those you love from harm or you want an end to world hunger and climate change, or you want this magical moment where everyone is all together at Thanksgiving feeling so close and con... posted on Apr 5, 6292 reads

How Did You Become A Writer?
"How did you become a writer? Is a question asked of me surprisingly often when I visit schools, which I much enjoy not only as part of my overarching subtle devious plan to get on the good side of the children who will soon run the world, but also for the consistent entertainment of their artlessly honest questions (the best ever: Is that your real nose?), and for the sometimes deeply piercing de... posted on Apr 12, 1977 reads

Vivek Murthy: To Be a Healer
"We need a modicum of vitality to simply be alive in this time. And were in an enduringly tender place. The mental health crisis that is invoked all around, especially as we look to the young, is one manifestation of the gravity of the post-2020 world. How to name and honor this more openly? How to hold that together with the ways weve been given to learn and to grow? Who are we called to be movin... posted on Apr 14, 4121 reads

To Be Made Whole
"Look, we are not unspectacular things.
We've come this far, survived this much.
What would happen if we decided to survive more? To love harder?
What if we stood up with our synapses and flesh and said, No.
No, to the rising tides.
Stood for the many mute mouths of the sea, of the land?
What would happen if we used our bodies to bargain <... posted on Apr 22, 3477 reads

Early Music: Three Poems
"My name is Micheal O'Suilleabhain, I am a poet, singer, teacher and guide from Ireland. These three poems are from my collection Early Music. Each are a reflection on change, presence and inspiration in our lives. May they help you find the still point in your life today as we search for the daily good. Love from Ireland."
... posted on May 11, 4956 reads

Attention as an Instrument of Love
"How the brain metes out attention and what that means for our intimacy with reality is what the philosophy-lensed British psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist takes up in his immense, in both senses of the word, book The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World (public library) -- an investigation of how "the very brain mechanisms which succeed in simplifying the world... posted on May 23, 3567 reads

Among the Trees
"Ive had a love of trees all my life. Throughout high school, I lived in a house in the woods in Massachusetts, and even on the darker mornings of winter what kept me from being frightened was the trees themselvesmostly scrub pines, as we called them there, with struggling oaks scattered among them. Unlike the kids at school, the trees remained silent as I passed, and I took this as a sign of acce... posted on May 16, 1803 reads

On the Edge of Life & Death
The hospice community of Joseph's House in Washington, D.C. believes that no one should live or die alone. Perched on the very edge of life and death, it is a place of belonging where people are lovingly companioned all the way to the threshold of death. Grace and mystery abound in encounters between people across racial and socioeconomic differences where they meet and love each other. People are... posted on Jun 23, 2291 reads

Forests Need Its People to Survive
B. Siddan, known as the Birdman of Bokkapuram, has an expert knowledge of birds in his region of India. He enthusiastically shares his love of birds in this short video, proudly introducing them by name like the old friends that they have become after his many years of bird watching. One such bird friend, a spot-bellied eagle owl, looks down knowingly on him. In holistic conservation, which B. des... posted on Jul 8, 1203 reads

Honey Church
"Our first summer in Baltimore. The first year of our marriage--your only marriage, my second one--when my kid became our kid. This house, our home. We watched the parade of ants--polite little soldiers marching single file along the kitchen baseboards in a thin and steady stream. You took a white sheet of paper from the printer, slipped it under their quick feet, then whoosh, like a magician and ... posted on Jul 17, 2138 reads

Ode to an Ugly Cat
"Idly is not a beautiful cat. There is something about the way he looks at you that will set you on edge and it will take you a long time to get over this feeling. The edges of his ears are jagged, a little bit frayed. Old cat ears. He has scratches on his nose. He always has something sticking to his whiskers and there is nothing you can do about that. He would rather have cat litter stuck to his... posted on Jul 19, 5554 reads

It Takes Brokenness to Find It
"My father was 67 when he died, and that's too young, but lately, as I stare at some hard realities of aging and mortality, I begin to appreciate the fact that he didn't have to endure a long period of frailty, pain, and dependence. My father was himself to very the end, brilliant and good and a force of nature, the most important person in my world, and I miss him terribly even now. Maybe espec... posted on Aug 6, 3905 reads

Elizabeth Alexander: Light of the World
"In 2009 at President Barack Obama's first inauguration, Elizabeth Alexander read a poem she wrote for the occasion called "Praise Song for the Day". It was a high point in her celebrated career as a poet, essayist, playwright, and academic. She has published many books of poetry and prose, she taught at Yale for many years, and now she's teaching at Columbia, in New York City, where she was born.... posted on Oct 1, 1650 reads

17 Life Learnings from 17 Years of the Marginalian
"The Marginalian was born on October 23, 2006, under an outgrown name, to an outgrown self that feels to me now almost like a different species of consciousness. (It can only be so -- if we don't continually outgrow ourselves, if we don't wince a little at our former ideas, ideals, and beliefs, we ossify and perish.) Seven years into this labor of love, which had by then become my life and livelih... posted on Oct 24, 2415 reads

All Real Living is Meeting
Cornelius Pieztner, currently a high-impact financial professional, spent the first 45 years of his life at Camphill - a network of intentional communities co-founded by his father Carlos Pietzner. The communities were designed for children and youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Through his interactions and work with teenagers with pronounced developmental disabilities, Cornel... posted on Oct 25, 1780 reads

The Endless Vows
"There are four vows we can practice in any given moment that will return us to what matters, that will return us to ourselves and each other. They are simple and always in reach, though they require everything from us. They are the utterances: help, thank you, I'm sorry, and I love you." Poet Mark Nepo shares more in this piece from Parabola magazine.... posted on Oct 28, 2446 reads

Kabir Helminksi: Rumi & the Mysterion
"Kabir Helminski is co-director, with his wife, Camille Helminski, of the Threshold Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing the knowledge and practice of Sufism. He is the author of Living Presence and the translator of four volumes of Rumis poetry, including Love Is a Stranger and Rumi: Daylight. His new book which we discuss on the podcast is The Mysterion: Rumi and the Secret of ... posted on Oct 29, 2107 reads

The End is an Illusion
The uplifting words and music of Jont are accompanied by a heart warming video display of loving connections, providing a healing combination of "medicine the world needs right now." With the focus on a sense of belonging and living fully, it is a joyous reminder that "connecting to the love will keep us safe and we will be just fine. We will be just fine."... posted on Nov 3, 2424 reads

Grateful: A Love Song to the World
Musicians Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod brought together dozens of people from around the world to create this beautiful, heart-opening melody. Inspired by the 21-Day Gratitude Challenge, the song is a celebration of our spirit and all that is a blessing in life. For the 21 Days, over 11,000 participants from 118 countries learned that gratefulness is a habit cultivated consciously and a muscle bui... posted on Nov 23, 3905 reads

A Family Reunion at the End of the World
"Have you ever been at a reunion or a big party, when the plates are empty and conversations wind down and you think about leaving? Then you hear peals of laughter, the clatter of dishes, and contagious giggles from behind the kitchen door. Thats where the real party is, as the aunties portion out leftovers to be taken home, scrape the dishes, and laugh with their hands in hot soapy water, snappin... posted on Nov 25, 1990 reads

Life's Present: Visits with my Mother and Dementia
In a touching reflection, Jackie Bailey shares heartwarming and intimate details about caring for her elderly mother, whose demeanor has softened with age and dementia. She muses, "It's not that mum has simply forgotten all her old beefs. Getting older is making her brain kinder." Citing studies on neuroimaging and the release of oxytocin, she asserts, "older people are kinder than the rest of us.... posted on Jan 3, 2303 reads

3 Steps to a Purposeful Year
The beginning of the year often marks the possibility of fresh beginnings. We make resolutions to help things to change for the better. It may sound something like: "I don't love my job or where I live, so I'm going to make some changes." "As a coach, I'm happy when my people are ready for change," writes author Christine Carter. "But the best first move usually isn't an outer change to our circum... posted on Jan 8, 3541 reads

Power of Slow Change
"People love stories of turning points, wake-up calls, sudden conversions, breakthroughs, the stuff about changes that happen in a flash," points out historian Rebecca Solnit. Yet, meaningful transformations often take time. "You want tomorrow to be different than today, and it may seem the same, or worse, but next year will be different than this one, because those tiny increments added up. The t... posted on Jan 28, 1863 reads

Love, The Sewer District
Imagine calling your local sewer district with an urgent need -- not for a pipeliner or an engineer -- but for a listening ear. This gravity defying leap was made possible by John Gonzalez, the communications director from Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. He posted a simple message online: "just a phone number, a voicemail, and a whole lot of emotions. 216-361-6772." Through the cryptic soc... posted on Jan 30, 1701 reads

From Accessing Your Ignorance to Accessing Your Love
"Ed had an amazingly minimalist teaching style. He did not give lengthy lectures. He never used a superfluous word. Ed the teacher inverted the relationship between learner and educator. Normally that relationship is based on the professor knowing things that the students don't, a learning structure in which the professor conveys information and insights through lectures, discussions, and readings... posted on Mar 1, 3007 reads

In a Bomb Shelter Under Kyiv, a Professor Taught Peace
When the war in Ukraine started, like many people, Professor David Dowling felt helpless. "I couldn't shake off the idea that I wanted to do something more," Dowling told ABC News. Last fall, he travelled from Pepperdine University in California to war-torn Kyiv to teach a course in conflict and dispute resolution at Taras Shevchenko National University. "Being with these students, with these amaz... posted on Mar 20, 1319 reads

Never Too Late: Becoming a World Champion at 40
Deanna Stellato-Dudek, a retired figure skater, made history at the ripe athletic age of 40, becoming the oldest woman ever to win a World Figure Skating Championship. After a series of injuries pushed her to retire from skating at the age of 17 in 2001, Stellato-Dudek went on with her life -- becoming a successful aesthetician and getting married. The unfinished saga of her athletic journey, thou... posted on Mar 25, 1384 reads

When Melodies Unlock Memory Reservoirs
Candy Cohn often would speak with her late mother, Lillian, in English, with a few words here and there in Yiddish. Then, one day, Lillian "started singing a beautiful Yiddish love song called Sheyn Vi Di Levone. 'I'd never heard her sing it. I never heard her play it. The look on her face and the joy. I hadn't seen that in her in a long time,'" Candy Cohn described to WLRN Public Radio. ... posted on Mar 31, 1282 reads

Sri Lanka's Untold Story of Resilience
When the legendary Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne -- often called "the Gandhi of Sri Lanka" -- passed away last month at the age of 92, his enduring legacy of selfless love expanded in hearts across the globe. For over sixty years, Dr. Ariyaratne's humility and servant leadership stewarded thousands of self-sufficient villages in Sri Lanka. Working quietly and often behind the scenes, the unique non-governm... posted on May 7, 2294 reads

From Snow to Water
Ready to meet a compassion and business hero? Xue, an immigrant from Inner Mongolia, made her way to MIT, Wall Street and as a successful entrepreneur until a life altering experience got her to question everything in her life. She co-founded 'The Space Between', an investment fund redirecting hundreds of millions not just to grow wealth, but to ignite change and foster compassion. Its founding pr... posted on May 11, 3301 reads

Small Sounds of the Past
"In Praise of Listening" by Christian McEwen celebrates the profound impact of sound on our memories and experiences. Through evocative stories like Alice Cozzolino's pasta-making rituals with her mother and Eleanor Adams' childhood memories of island life, McEwen reminds us of the power of sound to transport us back in time. In a world filled with noise, these memories serve as reminders to liste... posted on May 20, 1729 reads

Standing in Authentic Power
Stacey Lawson relates how real power is within, and takes inner work and outer action, and how sometimes it’s hard to understand why following inner guidance leads us on a path that doesn’t end where we might have wished. She explains how during meditation she repeatedly received a powerful call to run for political office, and while it was the last thing she wanted to do, and after st... posted on Jun 5, 3137 reads

Captioning Ubuntu
Our stories are a product of countless other stories in time and space. In South Africa, there is a saying that translates to: "A person is a person through other persons." In Kenya, there is a saying that translates to, "A person is other people." Both adages echo the essence of "ubuntu" -- systems of values that honor deep interconnectedness. Storyteller and author Wakanyi Hoffman illustrates pe... posted on Jun 20, 11168 reads

Four Steps to Help People Feel Listened To
Your child announces he's in love and dropping out of college to travel with his beloved across the globe. Your uncle makes a politically charged comment over a holiday meal. A doctor brushes off your concern, reiterating a line of reasoning you've already discussed. It can be a bewildering, enraging, or disempowering experience when something so clearly true from our perspective is so adamantly a... posted on Jun 26, 4375 reads

Families in One Town Adopt 77 Children. This Couple Led the Way.
Donna Martin was one of eighteen children whose mother managed to instill respect, compassion, and unconditional love in each of them. Donna went through devastating pain and loss following her mother’s passing. After grieving for months, she felt a call to “Give back. What about those children that didn’t have what you had?” Though she and her husband were not well-off and... posted on Jul 9, 1895 reads

‘If there’s nowhere else to go, this is where they come’
Nowadays, it doesn’t take much time in a local library to realize libraries are no longer hushed spaces with people reading books. They help with forms, tutoring, testing, and lessons from knitting to coding. Besides books, they lend footballs, walking sticks, winter coats, and a litany of other items and services. It is “somewhere where everybody can come,” even those who have n... posted on Jul 11, 1421 reads