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 (21,259 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 (6,804 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)

Native Women Reclaim Land Plot by Plot, by Julian Brave NoiseCat
TE LAND TRUST AND PLANTING JUSTICE Corrina Gould co-founded the Sogorea Te Land Trust to reclaim Ohlone land in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the San Francisco Bay Area, demand for land seems endless. Property values are sky-high, rents are backbreaking, and people just keep coming. Over 2 million more are expected to settle here by 2040. Bulldozers and backhoes reshape neighborhoods. Cranes dominate the horizon. Land, with a home or high-rise plopped atop, can build a fortune for its owner. Today’s land rush is nothing new. For more than 200 years, there has been a run on Bay Area real estate — a relentless wave of colonization, the... posted on Dec 18 2018 (5,474 reads)

Finding Hope in Hopelessness, by Margaret Wheatley
the world grows ever darker, I’ve been forcing myself to think about hope. I watch as the world and the people near me experience increased grief and suffering, as aggression and violence move into all relationships, personal and global, and as decisions are made from insecurity and fear. How is it possible to feel hopeful, to look forward to a more positive future? The biblical psalmist wrote, “Without vision, the people perish.” Am I perishing? I don’t ask this question calmly. I am struggling to understand how I might contribute to reversing this descent into fear and sorrow, what I might do to help restore hope to the future. In the past it was easier to bel... posted on Dec 26 2018 (19,587 reads)

Weaving Big Connections from Small Acts, by Awakin Call Editors
Tehven thought he needed to leave his home state of North Dakota to have a meaningful life.  But when he went to college, he discovered the art of applying small town values to a university setting.  This began a trajectory of service - Pay it Forward Tours with college students; Students Today, Leaders Forever; world travel; and ultimately a return to North Dakota where he co-founded Emerging Prairie, a startup news and events organization.  Greg is the curator of TEDx Fargo and hosts  1 Million Cups , an organization that supports entrepreneurs. He is an adjunct professor at North Dakota State University's College of Business.  He is a husband and ... posted on Jan 2 2019 (3,297 reads)

Eight Inspiring Moments from 2018, by Jeremy Adam Smith
need hopeful news. Research suggests that people who consume negative news regularly “tend to have less trust in political leaders, lower evaluations of other people and communities, and more psychological problems,” as Jill Suttie reported this year in Greater Good.  Hearing good news has the opposite effect: People become more generous, politically active, and mentally and physically healthy. “Journalists will always have to report on inherently negative issues,” says media researcher Karen McIntyre of Virginia Commonwealth University. “But reporting in a constructive way would hopefully help people have a more realistic picture of th... posted on Jan 27 2019 (9,000 reads)

The Universe as an Infinite Storm of Beauty, by Maria Popova
a universe of atoms… an atom in the universe,” the Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman wrote in his lovely prose poem about evolution. “The fact that we are connected through space and time,” evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis observed of the interconnectedness of the universe, “shows that life is a unitary phenomenon, no matter how we express that fact.” A century before Feynman and Margulis, the great Scottish-American naturalist and pioneering environmental philosopher John Muir (April 21, 1838–December 24, 1914) channeled this elemental fact of existence with uncommon poetic might... posted on Jan 31 2019 (6,780 reads)

When Crafts Become Activism, by Tracy L. Barnett
Collective Mini Protest Banners are posted in public areas to provoke positive thought and action. This one is on Brick Lane in the Whitechapel District of East London. Photo from Craftivist Collective Sarah Corbett never dreamed a cross-stitched teddy bear could change her life and how she approached her career. But looking back, she realizes that that’s when it all started. Corbett, a professional campaigner for causes and charities, was preparing to board a train from London to Glasgow to give yet another workshop on training people as activists. But she was exhausted, stressed, and burning out. With a five-hour journey ahead of her, she couldn’t work b... posted on Jan 10 2019 (11,355 reads)

Waiting to Unfold, by Mirka Knaster
many times have artists thought, while working on a project, "Will I ever get this completed?" How often do we face seemingly unsurmountable obstacles on the path to turning our vision into reality? And when will we reach the level of proficiency and excellence we aspire to? Anyone engaged in creative activity of whatever form is familiar with this terrain. Yet to overcome doubt and frustration, to master any craft or art, we have to cultivate a particular quality. It is one that appears opposite to what we want, which is usually immediate gratification: Patience, a virtue extolled by spiritual traditions around the world. Given the nano-second nature of our technological... posted on Jan 11 2019 (7,850 reads)

Simplify Technology with Limits, by Leo Babauta
am no technophobe, but I do believe in living consciously … and technology has a tendency to overrun our attention and our lives. It’s designed to do that: tech companies are motivated to keep our attention in their apps, their websites, their devices. They’ve found incentives for us to keep using the technology, shiny new things every second, powerful recommendation engines, tapping into our desire not to miss out, to be entertained, to run to comfort. But you know all that. The problem comes when we try to figure out how to get a grip on it all, to tame technology to do what we need and then let it go so we can be more present, go outside more, move more, be conn... posted on Jan 12 2019 (7,530 reads)

What's In the Way is the Way, by Tami Simon
Simon: You’re listening to Insights at the Edge. Today, my guest is Mary O’Malley. Mary is an author, counselor, and acknowledged leader in the field of spiritual awakening. Through her writing and teachings, she empowers people to replace fear, hopelessness, and struggle with ease, well-being, and joy. With Sounds True, Mary has published a new book entitled What’s in the Way Is the Way: A Practical Guide for Waking Up to Life. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Mary and I spoke about the eight “spells” that keep us feeling separate from life. We talked about life as an intelligent process that we can trust and the im... posted on Mar 13 2019 (10,923 reads)