The Moment I Knew Gratitude is the Answer to Every Question, by Kristin Meekhof
can’t change the past losses, but we can change the way in which we relate to our losses, and for this I am infinitely grateful." It’s October 2007, and it is pitch black outside. The birds are not even awake, and I’m rumbling through my purse, going to turn on the car, to make sure the seat warmer on the passenger side is on because my husband’s frail and skinny body gets cold easily. I’m going through a mental checklist: grab snacks, bottle of water, cash. I go back into the kitchen. My husband Roy is up and ready. I see the clothes are loose fitting, kind of hanging on him, but he still looks healthy in so many ways. I gr... posted on Jun 7 2018 (22,549 reads)

The Rejuvenating Power of Rest, by Matthew Edlund, M.D.
is the original transformative technology. Through rest we rebuild, rewire and renew ourselves - literally. The process is fast. The skin on your face is replaced in two weeks. Gut lining cells take two days. And that’s complete replacement. Partial rebuilding is even faster. A recent article in the New York Times looked at autophagy, how cells internally recycle. Heart cells may last 50 years, but their subcellular innards are functionally replaced in three days. Those proteins pumping away may last thirty or 60 minutes before they’re dumped, cut up and made into something else. In the ways that matter you’re getting a new heart in three days - a proce... posted on Jun 1 2018 (12,897 reads)

Ann Medlock: Sticking Her Neck Out for Our Common Humanity, by Awakin Call Editors
Medlock is a writer and social activist who founded the Giraffe Heroes Project, a nonprofit organization that's given countless people around the globe the stories and inspiring examples of real heroes—people sticking their necks out for the common good—for more than three decades.  In 1983, concerned that too few people were actively participating in their own democracy, she launched the organization as a call for a spotlight on and inspiration for more brave, active, citizens:  Ann sought to get the stories of such people told on radio and television in order to inspire others into active participation in public life. The organization has since honor... posted on May 10 2018 (11,867 reads)

When Rivers Hold Legal Rights, by Shannon Biggs
17, 2017 Winding its way through dense forest laced with hidden waterfalls, the Whanganui River is the largest navigable river in Aotearoa, the Maori word for New Zealand. With the passage of the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill in March, the river became the first water system in the world to be recognized as a rights-bearing entity, holding legal “personhood” status. One implication of the agreement is that the Whanganui River is no longer property of New Zealand’s Crown government — the river now owns itself. Photo by Kathrin & Stefan MarksIn March, the Whanganui River in New Zealand became the first water bo... posted on Jun 2 2018 (6,895 reads)

The Wisdom of South Korea's Garden Hacking Grandparents, by Patrick M. Lydon
the Garden-Hacking Grandmas and Grandpas of South Korea Know. Gardening here is not a hobby. It comes from the realization within people that there is inherent value in tending a garden and taking time to be a part of nature. More than a century ago, urbanist Ebenezer Howard invented the concept of a “garden city”—a city with a bustling urban core, fanning out in to green neighborhoods, and then farther out into farmland, all of it theoretically connected in a semi-closed sustainable cycle. As a kid growing up in San Jose, California, I wondered why I’d never seen one of these cities, especially because the idea was so old. With its low-density swath... posted on Jun 28 2018 (6,322 reads)

I Will Teach You: by Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, by Tae Yun Kim
a miracle would free her to live her own life As the following passage opens, the young Tae Yun Kim, a South Korean girl who has been separated from her relatives by the horrors of the Korean war, has returned to her family. –The Editors Eventually, I was reunited with my family, and when the war was over, I went to live with my grandparents. One blue-gray morning in Kimcheon, South Korea, I was awakened by a shout. Although the war had ended, sudden sounds still had an unsettling effect on me. Cautiously I slid open the rice paper window in the room. My uneasiness disappeared as I saw something that instantly captivated me. There, in the early morning fog, my uncles w... posted on Jun 12 2018 (8,276 reads)

Circles of Time, by J. Stephen Lansing
has been suggested that the linear theory of time is related to the experience of time in the Northern (and Southern) hemispheres, where it is marked by seasonal changes: life begins in the spring, matures in the summer, and dies in the fall, to begin a new cycle the following spring. Bali, however, lies in the region of tropical rain forests near the Equator where there are no reasons to synchronize the growth schedules of all livings things. Instead, the processes of growth and decay proceed at different rates all over the forest, all the time. A flower is on a short, rapid growth cycle; a tree, a much longer one; a rock, longer still. The cycles mesh in this world, the Middle World, to... posted on Jul 3 2018 (6,986 reads)

Kelly Orians: Getting Out and Staying Out, by Leslee Goodman
Orians is a staff attorney at The First 72 Plus, a New Orleans nonprofit founded by six formerly incarcerated people to help other formerly incarcerated men and women navigate the first 72 hours of their release. She is also the co-founder of Rising Foundations, a partner nonprofit that provides pathways to self-sufficiency for formerly incarcerated people, with an aim to stop the cycle of incarceration in low-income communities through small business development and home ownership.   Even as a high school student growing up in Castle Rock, Colorado, and then as an undergraduate at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Orians was attuned to the failure... posted on Jul 16 2018 (7,647 reads)

Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, by Ben Goldfarb
excerpt is from Ben Goldfarb’s new book Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018) and is reprinted with permission from the publisher www.chelseagreen.com Close your eyes. Picture, if you will, a healthy stream. What comes to mind? Perhaps you’ve conjured a crystalline, fast-moving creek, bounding merrily over rocks, its course narrow and shallow enough that you could leap or wade across the channel. If, like me, you are a fly fisherman, you might add a cheerful, knee-deep angler, casting for trout in a limpid riffle. It’s a lovely picture, fit for an Orvis catalog. It’s also wrong. Let’s... posted on Aug 15 2018 (8,099 reads)

Opening Your Heart to Bhutan, by ted.com
are cowering on the floor. Above you is an unknown man. He is pointing a gun at your head. He has your life in his hands. What matters to you now? What do you know which is of any use? This is the situation I found myself in in September 1997, in a hotel room in Jakarta, Indonesia. I believe it was the start of my awakening.  At the time of this incident, I was working in the financial markets in Hong Kong, making significant size investments for a global bank. I had made the decision to move into a financial career after the death of my father. He had always felt that I would suit such a career, and so I finished my studies in Fine Art and decided to grow up and get ... posted on Sep 7 2018 (6,796 reads)

Breathing into Balance, by Patty de Llosa
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 (16,851 reads)

Horse Herd Dynamics & the Art of Organizational Success, by Kelly Wendorf
have a folding plastic chair that I keep near the horse paddock, home to a small family of six horses. Many times a week, I hoist the chair over the railing, unfold it in the middle of the enclosure and just sit. It’s the perfect way to not only ‘share territory’ with my equine companions (a deceptively simple but potent training technique), but to observe their behaviors. Sometimes things are tangibly still, like sitting inside a Tibetan monastery. Sometimes, things are moving—one horse pushing another with silent subtle gestures, which leads to the movement of others—a sea of to and fro. At other times, things are playful and robust, with dust flying and ... posted on Sep 22 2018 (21,260 reads)

Stranger Kindness, by Bonnie Rose
summer, I invited our congregation to participate in a kindness challenge. I said, “Approach strangers and ask, ‘Is there anything I can do or say to help you have a better day?’ Since I encouraged the congregation to engage in this practice, I thought I should give it a try as well. Not that I wanted to. At all. I had many concerns. I’m reclusive by nature. I was afraid people would think I was weird. Or even worse, people would ask me to give something beyond my capacity to give – and then I would feel like a disappointment when I couldn’t deliver. I often tell people to serve beyond their comfort zone t... posted on Oct 6 2018 (11,777 reads)

Musicians for World Harmony, by Samite Mulondo
is a great force for healing – something we all need in our lives…We are more committed than ever to the importance of our work. That’s because it is so powerful – able to build bridges between people, able to evoke memories and emotions, and as more and more research is showing – able to help people feel better. Since 2002, Musicians for World Harmony (MWH) has used the healing power of music to serve at least 10,000 people impacted by disease, aging, war, and cultural divides. Its work in the U.S. and Africa has touched seniors living with dementia, children living with Nodding Syndrome and AIDS, communities living with the impact of war, refuge... posted on Oct 12 2018 (6,805 reads)

The Nun Who Has Saved Thousands of Lives From Violence, by Christa Hillstrom
This Indian Nun Witnessed a Woman’s Murder, She Saved Thousands More from Domestic Violence As India honors the first anniversary of the Delhi gang rape that rocked the nation, YES! talks with Sister Lucy Kurien—whose life was changed forever when she saw a young woman set on fire. If you sit in the slums on the outskirts of Pune in the evening, you will hear shouting and yelling from all sorts of places, Sister Lucy Kurien says of her home in South India. Much of the fighting is fueled by alcohol, and sometimes it explodes into bruises, scars, and broken bones. "The women don’t even retaliate." It's a sound the Catholic nun from Kerala has ... posted on Oct 22 2018 (6,983 reads)

In the Footsteps of Kabir, by Linda Hess and Sukhdev Singh
the most-quoted poet-saint of north India is Kabir, the illiterate, 15th century mystic who belonged to a class of weavers in the ancient city of Varanasi. Kabir was a 'nirguni', one who believes in a formless divinity that can be discovered both within and without. His poetry scorns outward rituals and displays of piety with a whip-like wit, exhorting his listeners to seek the divine through self-interrogation, and to recognise the impermanence of manifest reality. What follows is an excerpt from the book ‘The Bijak of Kabir’, by Linda Hess and Sukhdev Singh. There are volumes of legendary biography about Kabir, but the widely accepte... posted on Nov 19 2018 (14,357 reads)

The Meadow Across the Creek, by Thomas Berry
essay is published in The Great Work: Our Way Into the Future, by Thomas Berry I was a young person then, some twelve years old. My family was moving from a more settled part of a Southern town out to the edge of town where the new house was still being built. The house, not yet finished, was situated on a slight incline. Down below was a small creek and there across the creek was a meadow. It was an early afternoon in May when I first looked down over the scene and saw the meadow. The field was covered with lilies rising above the thick grass. A magic moment, this experience gave to my life something, I know not what, that seems to explain my life at a more profound level than ... posted on Nov 21 2018 (5,691 reads)

Sustainability and the Sacred, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
following article was originally published in 2013 Recent droughts, hurricanes and floods have made us more and more aware of the reality of climate change, and the disastrous environmental effect of our industrialized, materialistic civilization. As our world stumbles to the brink of ecological collapse — the “tipping point” of irreversible climate change — sustainability has become a vital issue. But before we can respond we need to recognize what Earth we are trying to help, what ecosystem we are working to sustain. Does sustainability refer to “sustained economic growth,” and an environment that is able to sustain our present human civilizati... posted on Nov 22 2018 (6,432 reads)

Consider Your Wake , by Andy Smallman
are lots of ways to consider how what we do impacts the people around us, both right away and in the future. Perhaps the most common is the idea of the “footprint” we leave behind. Me, I prefer the image of a boat’s wake and used it for years in my conversations with the teenagers I taught. Among the things I like about the wake image is that a wake is strongest when it’s new and close, and it comes in contact with lots of things as time passes. In this way it is significant both right away AND in the future, the form of significance just being different. Understanding this, I think, helps people become more mindful of their actions, their words, and th... posted on Dec 15 2018 (7,697 reads)

Scilla Elworthy: A Business Plan for Peace, by Awakin Call Editors
distinguished activist for peace for over 30 years, Dr. Scilla Elworthy has met with scientists and nuclear weapons policy makers from all five nuclear powers. She founded the Oxford Research Group, Peace Direct, and co-founded 'Rising Women, Rising World' and FemmeQ, and was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is interviewed here about her latest book, "The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World without War." In it, she points out that while 1,686 billion dollars is spent on militarization every year, it would only cost two billion dollars to put into action methodologies that are known to work to prevent war and armed conflict worldwide. What fol... posted on Feb 15 2019 (7,776 reads)