stipends or transportation. How does the Ceres Project plan to grow? Ceres is planning mindful local growth to fully utilize the capacity of our three kitchens and two gardens; growing our Affiliate Partner network by onboarding new members and providing ongoing support; and work on policy issues including foodcare, organics, and food standards for meal providers. How does gratefulness inspire you to make change in the world? We feel profoundly grateful for and inspired by the generosity and dedication of the Ceres community, and deeply committed to use those gifted resources to the greatest good. If you could encapsulate one message for people who are served by the Cere... posted on Apr 5 2019 (4,790 reads)

Tippett:The On Being Project is located on Dakota Land. Our lovely theme music is provided and composed by Zoë Keating. And the last voice that you hear singing at the end of our show is Cameron Kinghorn. On Being was created at American Public Media. Our funding partners include: The John Templeton Foundation, harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest and most perplexing questions facing human kind. Learn about cutting-edge research on the science of generosity, gratitude, and purpose at templeton.org/discoveries. The George Family Foundation, in support of the Civil Conversations Project. The Fetzer Institute, helping to build the spir... posted on May 28 2019 (5,477 reads)

the envelope were the words “floating money.” Mary loved the everyday people—the ones who delivered letters to her mailbox and brought her clams they’d just dug up from the sand. And though she lived reclusively, she always found out who “her people” were, and found a way to help them. There are families whose rent she paid; a young girl who needed braces for her teeth, a friend, down on his luck, who needed a car and a place to stay. And while Mary’s generosity to others is its own legacy, what I want to emphasize here is her strength, for more than anything, Mary Oliver was courageous. We now know, through some of the later poems, a few of the... posted on May 26 2019 (32,090 reads)

cherry blossoms have arrived, and it feels like nature has handed us a beautiful gift. At the Japanese Tea Garden, here in San Francisco, I lean into a low hanging blossom and inhale the delicate sweet scent. The wet pink petals touch my nose, and once again, I am reminded of the generosity of nature, year after year. From the air we breathe, to the body we each inhabit, we are living a profound gift, and yet, we can struggle to see and relate to life as a gift.   In his seminal book, Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer, Brother David Steindl-Rast poses a question worth pondering: “Why is it so difficult to acknowledge a gift as a gift?” He believes that admitti... posted on Jun 23 2019 (6,845 reads)

Zoë Keating. And the last voice that you hear singing at the end of our show is Cameron Kinghorn. On Being is an independent production of The On Being Project. It is distributed to public radio stations by PRX. I created this show at American Public Media. Our funding partners include: The John Templeton Foundation. Harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest and most perplexing questions facing human kind. Learn about cutting-edge research on the science of generosity, gratitude, and purpose at >templeton.org/discoveries. The Fetzer Institute, helping to build the spiritual foundation for a loving world. Find them at fetzer.org. Kallio... posted on Jun 7 2019 (6,255 reads)

a small village in Zambia of about 3000 people situated on a gentle hillside.  Everyone lived in mud huts, no electricity or running water.  There was a pump at the bottom of the hill, to which all the villagers trudged many times a day with buckets in hand.  And yet there were geraniums planted in bleach bottles cut in half to frame the doorways of the huts.  There were dogs and cats nurtured as pets.  In the midst of what we would consider impoverishment, there was a generosity of spirit that could create room for extraneous beauty and the love of animals.  And a humbling hospitality for this wealthy American who was so busy taking video that he didn’t ... posted on Aug 20 2019 (10,256 reads)

person who brings the blessing is so deep, so deeply embedded in the Scriptures. You've led this life of such paradox. You bridge one of the wealthiest pockets in the world. Sister Marilyn: Yeah, I live in Silicon Valley!  Pavi: Soon you will be flying back to Sudan and you live a hair's breadth away from these cultures of extreme violence and the totem pole that you just described; those women who reside at the bottom. And yet you also live so close to acts of extraordinary generosity, humanity, to communities that have such a deep understanding of community that it almost puts our Western world to shame a little bit. Would you speak a little bit about the deep nobility ... posted on May 6 2021 (3,613 reads)

of lyric prose. The book is published by Milkweed. The full title is Hearth: Global conversation on community, identity, and place. It was a project funded I think by Susan O’Connor, who lives in Hawaii and has been dedicated to work of this kind for the last forty or so years. And Annick Smith is a Montana writer. She’s the partner of William Kittredge, who’s also in the book. So, they knew me; they stuck with me, actually practising the kind of kindness and generosity that they’re speaking of in the book. Also though, combined with a sort of rigour—the care they took in the editing of my work. And bear in mind: I’m the author of a book ... posted on Dec 2 2019 (5,706 reads)

to be loud and angry. What we had made with our book was a hymn of protest against the depletion of our natural world and our place in it. Our hope had been to draw the eye, the heart, and in this I think we have, to a point, been successful. But it also taught me so much about human nature. The book has become a gift, given within families, to schools, to libraries, by so many people working together, giving time, money to campaigns, and these groups of people has become connected through generosity and hope. It has been used to engage readers from 0-90 and beyond, with those at the ends of their lives finding peace in the pages, respite for the soul, meaning. And already the music, st... posted on Dec 12 2019 (6,959 reads)

in some moments, or seeking what cannot be found. Those limitations don’t simply go away—not for me, nor for you, nor for anyone. But we are privileged (even if awed) to be present in these very interesting times, facing realities that people before us couldn’t countenance without horrified despair. It may take us many tries to get this right (and even then, we are never perfect), and our failures may even be costly. But, with self-compassion, self-forgiveness, and generosity, we can see our way through. On the other side of all disillusionment and even despair, there will also be joy, and goodness, and beauty. Like spring after winter, or new growth after a ... posted on Feb 3 2020 (9,064 reads)

Zoë Keating. And the last voice that you hear singing at the end of our show is Cameron Kinghorn. On Being is an independent production of The On Being Project. It is distributed to public radio stations by PRX. I created this show at American Public Media. Our funding partners include: The John Templeton Foundation. Harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest and most perplexing questions facing human kind. Learn about cutting-edge research on the science of generosity, gratitude, and purpose at templeton.org/discoveries. The Fetzer Institute, helping to build the spiritual foundation for a loving world. Find them at fetzer.org. Kalliopeia Foundatio... posted on Apr 20 2020 (6,758 reads)

art gives us, above all else, is a warm and welcoming regard for what is other than ourselves: I would like to say that all great artists are tolerant in their art, but perhaps this cannot be argued. Was Dante tolerant? I think most great writers have a sort of calm merciful vision because they can see how different people are and why they are different. Tolerance is connected with being able to imagine centres of reality which are remote from oneself. There is a breath of tolerance and generosity and intelligent kindness which blows out of Homer and Shakespeare and the great novelists. The great artist sees the vast interesting collection of what is other than himself and does not p... posted on Jul 16 2020 (5,919 reads)

often see him sporting the same grey t-shirt since last 15 years, and using the same laptop bag and the rumors are that he doesn’t lock his small house at night.  “When you simplify, you start getting a lot of freedom to do what you really want to do” says Venkat. Venkat’s story is of mass-scale tangible impact, yet it’s also an equally powerful invisible story of ripple effect of being-the-change - his life has deeply inspired many to adopt a life of greater generosity. Venkat deeply cares about social impact and at the same time, he sees giving as its own reward and has actually turned down many prestigious awards and is not driven by milestones, but dee... posted on Jul 28 2020 (5,680 reads)

is growing Critics like Anand Giridharadas worry that asking philanthropy to solve society’s problems means the return of ‘unfettered paternalism’. Elizabeth Kolbert asks “Are today’s donor classes solving problems–or creating new ones?” and possibly, also answers her own question when she says that “We live, it is often said, in a new Gilded Age—an era of extravagant wealth and almost as extravagant displays of generosity”. Or perhaps as David Remnick comments “Philanthropy isn’t only fascinating in itself; it’s also a window into the structure of the contemporary wor... posted on Oct 9 2020 (4,972 reads)

said it really clearly. As you know, we live in this moment where — “divided” doesn’t do it. We have chasms between us. And there’s a lot of enemy feeling and language and posturing. And you said, “Loving your enemies is science.” Yes, it’s a teaching of lovingkindness, it’s a spiritual teaching, but that it’s actually the most pragmatic teaching. Salzberg:Sometimes people feel, or they say, “If I hear something like ‘generosity or kindness will help you feel more free, and free up that energy which you will need,’ then I think that’s selfish. That’s bad, because then my motive is impure.” A... posted on Oct 24 2020 (7,864 reads)

very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. The most you can do is live inside that hope, running down its hallways, touching the walls on both sides. Let me begin that way: with an invocation of your own best hopes, thrown like a handful of rice over this celebration. Congratulations, graduates. Congratulations, parents, on the best Mother's Day gift ever. Better than all those burnt-toast breakfasts: these, your children grown tall and competent, educated to within an inch of their lives. What can I say to people who know almost everything? There was a time when I surely knew, because I'd just graduated from college myself, after writing down th... posted on Nov 4 2020 (10,231 reads)

the struggles of marriage,work, and raising children; in social responsibility and in the effort to make a just and peaceful world.  In this worldview, “spiritual activism” is not a contradiction in terms but a concrete expression of love in action.  The truth is that we need both: the ascending path, which seeks the source through vision, wisdom and detachment; and the descending path,that finds the divine here on Earth and strives to express it through service,generosity and compassion.  In our lives, we naturally move from one polarity to the other: we seek out silence in search of inspiration and contentment; then we return to the world and shar... posted on Nov 18 2020 (7,334 reads)

with these experiences. Then by doing so, we not only create the neural pathways, Tami, we also stimulate the release of feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, or feel-good hormones like estrogen and oxytocin, even the very genes involved in the body’s stress response can begin to function in an improved way. These images, these experiences can be receiving comfort and support like I teach in my book, or feelings of feeling compassion or gratitude or practicing generosity, lovingkindness, mindfulness—ultimately anything that allows us to feel strength or peace inside. Experiences like this feed the prefrontal cortex, as we know, and can help us refr... posted on Dec 4 2020 (10,304 reads)

but I also texted a few dear friends to tell them I care, and to express that I am grateful for their presence in my life and in the world. My encouragement today is to claim agency and to claim love. Text, zoom, call or somehow connect with someone who you think of as a treasure in your life, someone that illuminates your life, who reminds you of the power of love and the remembrance of radiance. Reach out and affirm what keeps saving us - goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gratitude, generosity, hospitality, justice and love...always love. Lay your hand on your heart and know that you also illuminate the lives of others around you. You are also doing what you can each day, in your... posted on Jan 9 2021 (8,955 reads)

realities of life: Why choose to take the umbrella into the downpour, why choose to eat this piece of mango and not this piece of cardboard? But Watts observes that the only real contradiction is of our own making as we cede the present to an imagined future. More than half a century before psychologists came to study how your present self is sabotaging your future happiness, Watts offers the personal counterpart to Albert Camus’s astute political observation that “real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present,” and writes: I fall straight into contradiction when I try to act and decide in order to be happy, when I make “be... posted on Apr 4 2021 (7,621 reads)