A Bit of Heaven, by Phyllis Cole-Dai
me tell you about Don. He’s a retired DC firefighter, about to turn 89, living alone in his Maryland apartment. Father of six, grandfather to a tribe, he’s an Irishman, and darn proud of it. Around the start of the pandemic, he dropped me a line out of the blue, a reader offering his take on my novel Beneath the Same Stars. Since then, we’ve struck up a fairly regular email correspondence. We share stories about family escapades, our bad knees, the loved ones we’ve lost and are losing, the dear ones who take care of us and bring us joy. We banter about politics and public health and books and the best way to cook broccoli. We swap original poems. We ... posted on Aug 4 2020 (8,494 reads)

DH Lawrence on Trees, Solitudes and What Roots Us, by Maria Popova
walk among trees is to be reminded that although relationships weave the fabric of life, one can only be in relationship — in a forest or a family or a friendship — when firmly planted in the sovereignty of one’s own being, when resolutely reaching for one’s own light. A century ago, Hermann Hesse contemplated how trees model for us this foundation of integrity in his staggeringly beautiful love letter to trees — how they stand lonesome-looking even in a forest, yet “not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche.” Celebrating them as “the most penetrat... posted on Jul 27 2020 (6,058 reads)

Bill Drayton: Half the Population is Out of the Game, by El País Semanal
País Semanal November 10, 2019 A fighter for civil rights who was raised to value empathy and was fascinated by Gandhi's India, Bill Drayton believes that Ashoka’s entrepreneurial model, to which he has dedicated himself for years, can change the world. Drayton created Ashoka 40 years ago and it now has the largest network of social entrepreneurs on the planet. Drayton insists that technological progress creates a new inequality that must be addressed before any other. The search for solutions to social problems should not be a bureaucratic and bland task. Ideally, people would deal with it with the spirit and drive of a Steve Jobs-type of person. Drayton recognize... posted on Jul 29 2020 (3,705 reads)

Breathing Miracles Into Being: The Linda Scotson Technique, by Awakin Call Editors
Scotson is an artist-turned-neuroscientist, and founder of the Linda Scotson Technique (LST) -- an approach that has restored functionality and well-being in the lives of thousands of people navigating a wide-range of health conditions, including autism, brain injuries, anxiety, hypertension and much more. Three days after his birth, Linda Scotson's son Doran was given a terrible prognosis. His back arched, his hands were fisted, his eyes crossed, he couldn't hear. She was told that he had severe athetoid cerebral palsy and severe bilateral hearing loss.  His doctors explained that he would never be able to sit, stand, walk independent... posted on Jul 30 2020 (13,596 reads)

What Qi Gong Taught One Doctor About Healing, by Cynthia Li, MD
following piece has been adapted from Thrive Global I first met Master Mingtong Gu 8 years ago. A friend had invited me to his studio in Petaluma, CA, for a qigong workshop. Qi (“chee”) means life-force energy, gong means cultivation. Slow, easy movements. Low risk enough. And evidence-based. I was a doctor of internal medicine, trained to think critically and methodically, cautious of anything that might fall into the realm of “miracles.”  But I was also desperate. I had suffered for years with complex autoimmune illnesses, including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and chronic fatigue syndrome—the shadow conditions of Western medicine. Despite conv... posted on Aug 3 2020 (13,978 reads)

Finding Balance in an Unstable World, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
by Diane Barker The present pandemic, which in a few short months has wreaked havoc across our world, is most likely caused by an imbalance in the natural world, as loss of habitat and biodiversity is not only driving animals to extinction but directly causing animal viruses to spread to humans. In response our leaders are using the images of conflict: “We are at war with Covid 19,” we keep hearing; it is an “invisible enemy” we need to “vanquish.” But although this virus is disrupting our lives, causing sickness, death, and economic breakdown, it is itself a completely natural phenomenon, a living thing reproducing itself in the way nature in... posted on Aug 9 2020 (15,474 reads)

The Soil's Story is the Story of Us, by Annie Leonard, Tom Newmark
Arias, senior farmer at Finca Luna Nueva, harvesting turmeric. Photo by Tom Newmark. Wendell Berry called it “the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.” Ninety-five percent of our food is grown in it, it stores and filters our water and provides a home for the majority of life on the planet, and yet most of us rarely pay much attention to it. We dump poisonous chemicals on it, inject it with synthetic nutrients, slash it with plows, strip it of its natural diversity, and bury our trash in it. But soil has a story to tell us, and we are all a part of it. For as long as humans have engaged in agriculture, and even bef... posted on Aug 13 2020 (6,379 reads)

The Dugnad in Our DNA, by Phyllis Cole-Dai
it with me: dugnad (doog-nod). It’s a Norwegian word I learned this week; an ancient word, traceable to the Viking Age, when villagers would labor together to bring ships ashore after long seafaring trips. That’s dugnad. In later centuries, Norwegian farming communities would work together to prepare for harsh winters and to survive other hardships. Dugnad. In the 1940s, Norwegians rallied to resist five brutal years of Nazi occupation. Dugnad. Traditionally, dugnad is the collective effort of individual Norwegians who sacrifice their personal desires, and allow their own sense of “normal”... posted on Oct 3 2020 (8,192 reads)

Crochet Jam: Radical Social Justice Through Folk Art Traditions, by Ramekon O'Arwisters
Jam 2017, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU),  photograph courtesy VCUArts Excerpts from an unpublished manuscript... Creativity makes us kin . . . the goal is to quickly and easily engage participants in a relaxed and creative state by transforming cloth strips into soft sculpture, using folk-art tradition of rag-rug making. Crochet Jam . . . is a bridge that unites people and cultures. I grew up on a small farm. My father harvested a bounty of vegetables–cabbage, green peas, onions, white and sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, beets, squash, cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupes, green and red peppers, lettuce. We raised pigs, chickens; and even earthw... posted on Oct 14 2020 (6,490 reads)

8 Questions to Help Navigate Election Stress, by Jeremy Adam Smith, Jill Suttie
are you doing? For Americans facing the COVID-19 lockdown and economic instability through the spring and summer, that became a difficult question to ask—and to answer. Things were already pretty bad. And then the presidential election began in earnest. A new survey from the American Psychological Association finds that this election is a significant source of stress for more than two-thirds of American adults—up from half during the 2016 presidential election. According to a new report based on three surveys by the nonpartisan organization More in Common, “About 7 in 10 Americans are worried about the risk of widespread violence brea... posted on Oct 21 2020 (11,456 reads)

Thomas Merton and the Language of Life, by John Justin David
early Greeks defined presence as the fundamental characteristic of being alive.1  I believe it is not easy for any of us to be fully present, and that we settle for shadows and glimpses, for fleeting moments that sift through our hands and are gone. We may become clouded from impinging distractions as we are carried into countless pressures, anxieties, and demands; or else we try to escape through the many abundant and tempting means at our disposal; or we seek to overpower obstacles through adrenalin-driven pursuits, or with our intellects, determination, and skillful maneuvers, or by other strengths and capabilities, continually striving for something out of reach, or... posted on Oct 26 2020 (6,022 reads)

Remembering Our Way Forward, by Rose Zonetti
has carried me through a year that has been marked by the pandemics of Covid-19 and racism, political strife, and an escalating climate crisis. I’ve held close – as gently as possible — reliable truisms: Change is the only constant. Life tends toward life. I affirm: I’m not alone. In the end, death comes to us all — I have only to decide how to live life now. Showing up for myself, for others, and for what I care about — with all my human imperfectness — makes me more alive. I ask myself: What is the opportunity? What remains true? These words certainly don’t solve the ongoing and pervasive strain, grief,... posted on Nov 16 2020 (6,429 reads)

Lessons in the Old Language, by Matthew C. Bronson
the very earliest time When both people and animals lived on earth A person could become an animal if he wanted to and an animal could become a human being. Sometimes they were people and sometimes animals and there was no difference. All spoke the same language That was the time when words were like magic. The human mind had mysterious powers. A word spoken by chance might have strange consequences. It would suddenly come alive and what people wanted to happen could happen— all you had to do was say it. Nobody could explain this: That’s the way it was. -- Nalungiaq, Inuit woman interviewed by ethnologist Knud Rasmussen in the early twentieth century. The ... posted on Dec 5 2020 (7,441 reads)

KindSpring: Top 10 Stories of 2020, by KindSpring Editors
who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.” --Viktor Frankl Every year we share the top 10 most inspiring kindness stories featured on our website or the weekly newsletter throughout the year. These stories range from chance encounters of anonymous acts of kindness to deliberate, thoughtful ways that everyday people choose to make the... posted on Jan 2 2021 (12,956 reads)

We Must Deepen Our Capacity for Healing, by DailyGood Editors
the wake of disturbing recent events in America's capital, community leaders, activists, authors, artists and teachers are speaking up for justice and peace. Here we share timely reflections, resources and inspiration from various voices that DailyGood has featured over the years. Parker Palmer: Author, educator, activist Wed., Jan. 6, 2021, is now engraved in American history as yet another date that reveals how fragile our democracy is—and how strong. Like a KKK rally, the insurrection brought us face-to-face with an evil that has lived among and within too many Americans from the start of this country. Many have been laid low by this latest edition of u... posted on Jan 9 2021 (8,868 reads)

What Mediators Can Do to Strengthen Democracy (+50 Questions to Ask in Political Arguments), by Kenneth Cloke
Director of the Center for Dispute Resolution, a world-recognized mediator, dialogue facilitator, conflict resolution systems designer, teacher and more. Given the political polarization, deep divisiveness and unrest rearing its head in the United States, he recently shared a detailed list of 10 actions that can help us transform autocratic, power-based political conflicts into democratic, collaborative efforts. In addition he offered up a set of 50 questions that can be used in political arguments with friends and family to help make true dialog possible, and more productive. The following posts are sourced from Kenneth Cloke's Facebook... posted on Jan 10 2021 (16,111 reads)

The Sword & The Shield: The Struggle for Black Freedom in America, by Awakin Call Editors
Dr. Peniel Joseph was growing up in New York City during the 1980s and 1990s, a child of a Haitian immigrant single mother, he learned about how the civil rights movement had transformed America, ended legalized segregation, secured black voting rights and moved the nation closer to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a "beloved community." Yet his own lived experience involved fielding racial slurs at his mostly white high school in Queens, and in other ways absorbing the racial divisions that persisted in the social, political and cultural landscape of New York City in that day. This included an incident that shaped his early life, in which a black man was chased to d... posted on Jan 12 2021 (2,688 reads)

Fallow & Productive, Creativity & COVID-19, by Mirka Knaster
year will certainly go down in history—world history and personal history. We each have a story to tell about how the pandemic has affected us and those we know. One of good fortune is about staying safe and healthy; one of misfortune is about getting sick and dying. I am grateful that other aspects are not so dire, not so black and white. In some recent discussions with friends who are also creatives, I have heard a variety of responses to the question, “How has Covid-19 affected your creativity?” Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley (1882-1885), by Paul Cézanne. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Source: commons.wikimedia.org/... posted on Jan 18 2021 (6,116 reads)

Deschooling Dialogues: On Initiation, Trauma and Ritual with Francis Weller, by Francis Weller, Alnoor Ladha
is an edited transcript of a conversation that took place on November 4, 2020 as part of an interview series titled, Deschooling Dialogues. Alnoor Ladha (AL) interviews Francis Weller (FW), a psychotherapist, writer and activist who pioneered the method of soul-centered psychotherapy. He is the author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief; The Threshold Between Loss and Revelation (with Rashani Réa) and In the Absence of the Ordinary: Essays in a Time of Uncertainty, which is the focus of this interview. The first chapter of the book, Rough Initiations, is featured in Kosmos Journal.  AL: Hello ... posted on Feb 3 2021 (12,532 reads)

The Reverence Movement, by Aqeela Sherrills
of Aqeela Sherrill's TEDx talk below​ S​o it's been a great deal of time​, since we've seen an effective movement​,​ that possess​es​ the power and the capacity to address the deep and seemingly fixed flaws in our society and c​ulture's core​.​ â€‹ A​nd I believe that we now exist in a time where the heart has been prepared for a new movement​. Where love becomes a practice as opposed to an idea​. W​here vulnerability and humi​l​ity becomes s​trengths​ as opposed to weaknesses​.​​ I call this â... posted on Feb 19 2021 (6,297 reads)