breath-based meditations, and I’m always surprised at how centered it makes me feel. I also love to see the downstream effects this practice has in my interactions with others and my patience with my own foibles, too. Judson Brewer, associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School: Loving-kindness! It took me years to bumble my way into noticing how sweet this practice is. During my psychiatry residency training, I literally learned on the go: While biking to work, I started playing with offering kindness to drivers that honked at me, and found that when I got to the hospital I was peaceful and happy instead of angry at “those drivers.” Life-ch... posted on Aug 8 2018 (23,847 reads)

communicate the joy I felt as a young boy exploring nature; a sentiment that is still quite alive within me as I approach my seventieth birthday (how fortunate to still be here now!). Sadly, “My Song to Nature” is currently unfinished, its progress having been delayed by my recent ordeal with throat cancer. While I had managed to set the tone of the poem by writing a number of verses, I was forced to take a break as I healed from the cancer treatment. Once I became active again, work on the poem was further delayed as other projects came to the fore including my current focus on healing soundscapes. Rest assured, however, that I fully intend to complete my poem before th... posted on Jun 6 2018 (8,185 reads)

to help us think better. In particular, I found his reflections on how we should think with others to be salutary. As he points out, we can’t think for ourselves—inspirational posters to the contrary—so we should learn how to think well with others. One of the chief dangers of thinking with others is that we find it easier to think with people who think pretty much like we do. It can be threatening to encounter people who think differently from us. Drawing on the work of anthropologist Susan Friend Harding, Jacobs relies on the term “Repugnant Cultural Other” to describe how we tend to think against certain groups that our tribe considers... posted on May 21 2018 (9,340 reads)

while behind bars himself. WITO is now present in six New York City correctional facilities. Since its conception, 140 inmates have graduated from the six-month program. So far, 43 percent of those have found jobs post-incarceration. But perhaps the biggest measure of WITO’s success is the recidivism rate for its graduates, which stands at 23 percent — compared to 67 percent for New York State as the whole. Baez shows no plans of slowing down, describing his mentoring work as his calling. “These men and women will never break out of this cycle,” says Baez, “if somebody didn’t take the initiative.”... posted on Dec 5 2018 (4,364 reads)

we 'call people out'? Or call them in? How should a white anti-racist respond to racist remarks by another white person? Betsy Leondar-Wright. Photo: Rodgerrodger via Wikimedia How should a white anti-racist respond to racist remarks by another white person? How does it change things if the anti-racist is middle-class, and is reacting to the prejudice of someone who is working-class? In her book Class Matters, long-time activist and trainer Betsy Leondar-Wright tells an arresting story that turns the conventional wisdom on its head. Betsy, who is white and middle-class, was the organiser for an anti-nuclear power group in a mixed-race, mixed class neighbourh... posted on Aug 4 2018 (10,209 reads)

20,000 books is open to the kids in the low-income neighborhood where he lives on the weekends.  “This should be in all neighborhoods, on each corner of every neighborhood, in all the towns, in all departments, and all the rural areas,” Gutiérrez told The Associated Press in 2015. “Books are our salvation and that is what Colombia needs.” Gutiérrez started salvaging discarded books 20 years ago, according to the AP. He credits his work to his mother, who read to him every night despite not being able to afford keeping him in school.  “The first book I found was Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, and that little book ig... posted on Oct 16 2018 (13,655 reads)

things of all. Once we stop taking things for granted our own bodies become some of the most surprising things of all. It never ceases to amaze me that my body both produces and destroys 15 million red blood cells every second. Fifteen million! That’s nearly twice the census figure for New York City. I am told that the blood vessels in my body, if lined up end to end, would reach around the world. Yet my heart needs only one minute to pump my blood through this filigree network and back again. It has been doing so minute by minute, day by day, for the past 75 years and still keeps pumping away at 100,000 heartbeats every 24 hours. Obviously this is a matter of life and ... posted on Sep 15 2018 (9,328 reads)

could win “Yard of the Month”. Unfortunately, he lived just outside the city limits so was told he was not eligible. Undeterred, Fryer kept looking for something unique for his new garden. He found it a short drive away in Camden. A local plant nursery had some topiary for sale and Pearl asked him how they were created. So the owner gave Fryer a three minute lesson and the rest is history. From that brief study, he went back home and with every spare moment in his time off from work at the local aluminum can factory he created topiary. An amazing feat considering he did not even know the meaning of the word until that lesson. Webster’s dictionary defines topiary as ... posted on Jul 6 2018 (10,479 reads)

in the world. “The group were awarded on the basis of their unique approach to creating a community space in the heart of urban East London,” Grow Wild spokesperson Hannah Kowszun said in an email. In 2016, Nomad Projects and the Teesdale & Hollybush TRA came together to establish the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve Trust, a charity that looks after the interests of the site and makes decisions about its use. Species protecting one another Since Nomad Project began to work in the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve in 2012, it has created a model for how humans and other species can find symbiosis in an urban setting. In 2015, Phytology built a network of small ponds t... posted on Jun 13 2018 (7,106 reads)

Kosovo, is socially and physically divided, with a bridge separating Kosovo-Serbian north and Kosovo-Albanian south. It’s dangerous for Kosovar-Serbian and Kosovo-Albanian youth to meet openly, but a group of students have found a clever way to work together. Musicians without Borders created The Mitrovica Rock School to bring hostile groups together, and students initially traveled to the neighboring country of Macedonia to play in bands together.  Program manager Wendy Hassler-Forest said the initiative is about shifting people’s focus. "The whole point of the project is to take the emphasis off ethnic identity and say 'You are Dan, and ... posted on Oct 4 2018 (6,415 reads)

burn-out is to let one’s light languish until it disappears. As interdependent beings, we are responsible for making sure our flame is fueled.” - Jennifer Jean I’ve taught poetry writing workshops for 13 years, so classes now are pretty much duck soup. They’re always fun, and I always learn from my students, whether I’m teaching middle-schoolers, graduate students, or seniors at my local library. However, when I received a call two years ago from the director of Amirah, asking me to teach a poetry course to sex-trafficking survivors at their safe-house, I knew I would need to draw on more than a plucky, can-do attitude. And, I’d definitel... posted on Jun 30 2018 (12,885 reads)

and less able to act appropriately. Author Maggie Jackson put it this way: “The (distracted) way we live is eroding our capacity for deep, sustained, perceptive attention — the building block of intimacy, wisdom, and cultural progress. Moreover, this disintegration may come at great cost to ourselves and to society. . . . The erosion of attention is the key to understanding why we are on the cusp of a time of widespread cultural and social losses.”2 The best way to work with distraction is to notice how it operates in our lives. We can learn to recognize the countless diversions we create or encounter every day, understand how we are habitually hooked by them, a... posted on May 3 2021 (59,614 reads)

from their competition. And to be innovative doesn’t necessitate brand spanking new ideas or reinventing the wheel. Leveraging what already exists and adopting new ideas into the mix can prove effective — and profitable. But, as we’ll see in this chapter, for social entrepreneurs it’s more than being disruptive for the sake of competitive advantage. It’s about finding new ways to tackle social and environmental challenges because the old ways are simply not working — or not scaling at a pace that makes longterm change feasible. It’s about looking for new, creative answers to old, seemingly unchangeable problems. For Komal Ahmad, the old pr... posted on Aug 10 2018 (7,967 reads)

argue with the wisdom of slapping a dollar value on nature, there’s no denying that these are some seriously important critters. To society, though, beavers still appear more menacing than munificent. In 2013 I lived with my partner, Elise, in a farming town called Paonia, set high in the mesas of Colorado’s Western Slope. Our neighbors’ farms and orchards were watered by labyrinthine irrigation ditches, each one paralleled by a trail along which the ditch rider—the worker who maintained the system—drove his ATV during inspections. In the evenings we strolled the ditches, our soundtrack the faint gurgle of water through headgates, our backdrop the rosy suns... posted on Aug 15 2018 (8,235 reads)

ways to combat stress is to view it as a good thing. This simple mental reset stops the secondary stress of ruminating about being stressed that can last for hours or days, after we are triggered by a stressful situation. What’s more, our old unconscious expectations that are stored in the emotional brain can block our creativity. Stressful moments open the brain to revising those expectations, so it’s easier to experience a breakthrough in a love relationship, a work project, or a new perspective on life. Through the portal of stress, the synaptic connections that link neurons to bring forward in time old expectations unlock. They become fluid ... posted on Aug 17 2018 (31,129 reads)

cold…” By my friend says, “No, no, we will achieve something. Let’s carry on, we have a mission, let’s complete it.” So when I was feeling low and despondent, my friend was feeling strong. And sometimes, if my friend was feeling low and despondent, I was feeling strong. We supported each other. So I think to walk in two is a good idea [laughs]. [Laughs]. That day, I gave this leaflet to two ladies. And when they read the flier, they said, “We work in this tea factory. Would you like to have a cup of tea?” So they made a cup of tea and brought some lunch. Then, one of the ladies went out of the room and came back with four packets of ... posted on Sep 11 2018 (10,038 reads)

the natural universe, which is part of our humanity,” Rachel Carson wrote in reflecting on our spiritual bond with nature shortly before she awakened the modern environmental conscience. The rewards and redemptions of that elemental yet endangered response is what British naturalist and environmental writer Michael McCarthy, a modern-day Carson, explores in The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy (public library) — part memoir and part manifesto, a work of philosophy rooted in environmental science and buoyed by a soaring poetic imagination. McCarthy writes: The natural world can offer us more than the means to survive, on the one hand, ... posted on Aug 22 2018 (10,021 reads)

discovered that breathing more deeply helps us center ourselves, but did you know why? A friend recently emailed me an article by Dr. Shawna Darou, ND in the 11/30/15 issue of UPLIFT magazine (http://upliftconnect.com), on the mechanics of how it works. Included are exercises that can help us reduce inflammation in the body, as well as jack up a flagging immune system. The secret is to activate the Vagus nerve, which travels all the way from the brain to the digestive system, operating via the parasympathetic nervous system. So if you or someone you know complains of digestive disturbances, high blood pressure, depression or some inflammatory condition, don’t ... posted on May 8 2019 (17,009 reads)

darkness.  He brought them to a desolate cave and sealed the door.  It was completely dark.  “Find a way to dispel the darkness,” he told them. One monk found a large stick. “I will beat the darkness,” he said.  That will fix it.” The second monk found a broom and said, “I will sweep the darkness away.” The third monk pulled out a shovel, saying “I will dig a deep hole and the darkness will escape.” Nothing worked.  The darkness persisted. Then a fourth monk found a candle. He lit the candle and revealed other candles stashed in the crevices of the cave. The monks lit them and eliminated the dark... posted on Oct 27 2018 (8,592 reads)

Shamasunder is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF, and co-founder of Heal Initiative. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at Harbor UCLA. He has worked extensively in Rwanda, Liberia, Haiti, Burundi, and India. In 2010, he was named an Asia 21 fellow as well as the Northern California Young Physician of the Year. The piece below was originally published in the October 2006 edition of New Physician. Photo credit Frederic Martin Duchamp  The largest Tibetan refugee colony in the world lies five hours from where I spent the summers of my childhood at my grandmother’s house in Bangalore,India. Neither my mother nor my father n... posted on Mar 14 2019 (5,690 reads)