The Promise and Paradox of Community, by Margaret J. Wheatley & Myron Kellner-Rogers
human beings have a great need for one another. As described by the West African writer and teacher Malidoma Some, we have "an instinct of community." However, at the end of the 20th century this instinct to be together is materializing as growing fragmentation and separation. We experience increasing ethnic wars, militia groups, specialized interest clubs, and chat rooms. We are using the instinct of community to separate and protect us from one another, rather than creating a global culture of diverse yet interwoven communities. We search for those most like us in order to protect ourselves from the rest of society. Clearly, we cannot get to a future worth inhabiting through t... posted on Jun 4 2017 (12,605 reads)

Elisabet Sahtouris on Ecosophy, by Awakin Call Editors
Elisabet Sahtouris is an internationally known evolution biologist, futurist, professor, author and consultant on Living Systems Design. She shows the relevance of biological systems to organizational design in business, government and globalisation. She is a Fellow of the World Business Academy, an advisor to EthicalMarkets.com and the Masters in Business program at Schumacher College, also affiliated with the Bainbridge Graduate Institute's MBA program for sustainable business.  Dr. Sahtouris has convened two International Symposia on the Foundations of Science and written about integral cosmologies. Her books include A Walk Through Time: from Stardust to Us and... posted on Aug 11 2017 (11,666 reads)

The Grace of Great Things. Reclaiming the Sacred in Knowing, Teaching, and Learning, by Parker J. Palmer
all know that what will transform education is not another theory or another book or another formula but a transformed way of being in the world. In the midst of the familiar trappings of education—competition, intellectual combat, obsession with a narrow range of facts, credentials—we seek a life illumined by spirit and infused with soul. This is not romanticism, as John Cobb (President of the Naropa Institute and host of the Spirituality in Education conference) has properly cautioned us. I saw the other day a remarkable documentary called The Transformation of Allen School. Allen School is an inner-city school in Dayton, Ohio. It was for many years at the bottom of the l... posted on Aug 25 2017 (15,901 reads)

Why is it so Hard to Change People's Minds?, by Elizabeth Svoboda
opinions are often based in emotion and group affiliation, not facts. Here’s how to engage productively when things get heated. It’s probably happened more than once: You spend a lot of time trying to convince someone that their opinion on a particular issue is wrong. You take pains to make sure your argument is air-tight. But instead of coming around to your point of view, your conversation partner pushes back, still convinced of her ultimate rightness. “What do you mean poor people need social programs? They have the same opportunities as everyone else!” By the end of your debate, you’re faced with the same stalemate you had at the beginning—and y... posted on Sep 8 2017 (11,313 reads)

Living in Deep Time, by Krista Tippet
13, 2017 Image by Steve Pavey / Hope in Focus Richard Rohr Living in Deep Time Men of all ages say Richard Rohr has given them a new way into spiritual depth and religious thought — through his writing and retreats. This conversation with the Franciscan spiritual teacher delves into the expansive scope of his ideas: male formation and what he calls “father hunger”; why contemplation is as magnetic to people now, including millennials, as it’s ever been; and how to set about taking the first half of life — the drive to “successful survival” — all the way to meaning. Transcript Krista Tippett, host: I’... posted on Sep 11 2017 (15,067 reads)

Luc Reynaud: Welcome to My House, by Awakin Call Editors
Luc Reynaud was born and raised in the beautiful state of Washington and has had many seeds of music planted in him through his loved ones.  He eventually started his own band, Luc & the Lovingtons, and has toured the world over. Luc's journey has been inspiring, full of beautiful miracles, heartfelt service, dedication to the planet, and bringing light to the darkness. He is a shining example of how to follow our heart, dissolve our ego, and become an instrument of something much greater than ourselves. We welcome you and we are so excited to have you with us today. How are you? Luc: Hey, I'm good Nimo. Thanks for that sweet introduction. (laughs) Ni... posted on Jun 3 2019 (5,178 reads)

Kindness as an Avenue to Awe, by Awakin Call Editors
would happen if schools focused on kindness and gratitude before achievement and academics? This is a question that Andy Smallman not only entertained, but also acted upon. In 1994, Andy with a group of dedicated parents and their children started Puget Sound Community School [PSCS] “founded upon the belief that people are intrinsically compelled by their own curiosity and desires to learn, and when provided a positive and supportive environment…will enthusiastically pursue meaningful and challenging tasks.”  At PSCS, kindness was not just a concept, it was part of the curriculum—a class. The kindness class became so successful, that Smallman o... posted on Apr 7 2019 (7,815 reads)

Why Your Brain Needs to Dream, by Mathew Walker
shows that dreaming is not just a byproduct of sleep, but serves its own important functions in our well-being. We often hear stories of people who’ve learned from their dreams or been inspired by them. Think of Paul McCartney’s story of how his hit song “Yesterday” came to him in a dream or of Mendeleev’s dream-inspired construction of the periodic table of elements. But, while many of us may feel that our dreams have special meaning or a useful purpose, science has been more skeptical of that claim. Instead of being harbingers of creativity or some kind of message from our unconscious, some scientists have considered dreaming... posted on Apr 22 2018 (17,464 reads)

What the Dolphin Said, by Leslee Goodman
Simon Prager, PhD, is a therapist, author, and teacher who trains first responders and medical personnel around the world in Verbal First Aid, the protocol she and colleague Judith Acosta, LISW, developed to create calm, relieve pain, promote healing, and even save lives in emergency situations. She has co-authored several Verbal First Aid books with Acosta, including The Worst Is Over: What to Say When Every Moment Counts, which the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health called “the ‘bible’ for crisis communication.” In 2017, Prager published a different kind of book, What the Dolphin Said, about her journey to unders... posted on Mar 28 2018 (17,160 reads)

Sarah Kay Performs with Wonder, by Nathan Scolaro
Scolaro on Sarah Kay For over a decade, 28-year-old Sarah Kay has touched millions of people with her exquisite spoken word poetry. Her TED Talk, “If I should have a Daughter” has had over 9.5 million views, showing us the power of poetry in an often-cynical world. Whenever I watch Sarah perform, something remarkable happens. My heart rate quickens, I want to be more present. I want to feel more, love more, because she holds up a mirror to the deepest parts of our humanity—highlighting life’s nuances to make us taste, touch and feel the moment. Growing up in New York City the daughter of two photographers, Sarah was... posted on Jun 17 2018 (10,821 reads)

Embrace the Grace, Celebrate the Infinite, by Nipun Mehta
What a great joy to be with you on this special day. Thank you, Dr. Carmen Valdes, Miss Ana Lim, distinguished staff and colleagues, and the larger Assumption family. And to you, the graduating class of 2018 -- congratulations! Assumption College might be the only place where two alumni have gone on to become president of the country, many alumni go on to become pioneering entrepreneurs, and numerous alumni go on to become nuns!  What an honor to be here in a space that encourages such a wide spectrum of value for society. Now, usually, commencement addresses are meant to affirm that you have the grit to conquer the world. But that's not sufficient for a class that chose its mot... posted on Jun 11 2018 (15,095 reads)

The Practice of Walking, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee & Hilary Hart
the busy-ness of our contemporary life, we are drawn into ceaseless activity that often separates us from the deeper dimension of ourselves. With our smartphones and computer screens, we often remain caught on the surface of our lives amidst the noise and chatter that continually distract us, that stops us from being rooted in our true nature. Unaware we are drowned deeper and deeper in a culture of soulless materialism. At this time I find it more and more important to have outer activities that can connect us to what is more natural and help us live in relationship to the deep root of our being, and in an awareness of the moment which alone can give real meaning to our every... posted on Jul 5 2018 (19,551 reads)

Little Panic: What It Takes to Break Free from Anxiety, by Maria Popova
and Reality are not things you can have for yourself unless you accord them to all others,” Alan Watts wrote in the early 1950s, nearly a quarter century before Thomas Nagel’s landmark essay “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” unlatched the study of other consciousnesses and seeded the disorienting awareness that other beings — “beings who walk other spheres,” to borrow Whitman’s wonderful term — experience this world we share in ways thoroughly alien to our own. Today, we know that we need not step across the boundary of species to encounter such alien-seeming ways of inhabiting ... posted on Jul 11 2018 (13,363 reads)

New Approaches to Healing Collective Conflict and Trauma, by William Ury, Thomas Hubl
Hübl: William, in all your work in conflict areas, what do you see as the symptoms of trauma? And do you see that there’s a kind of recycling of trauma as a part of the conflict you work with? William Ury: Thomas, it’s a pleasure to be speaking with you. I was trained originally as an anthropologist and was always keen to study human beings and how we related. The passionate question that’s been guiding my work is, “How can we human beings get along with each other in the midst of our very, very deep differences?” That’s led me into hot zones around the world, conflicts where you see some of the darkest and most destructive human i... posted on Nov 16 2018 (8,991 reads)

What Does It Mean to Live Wisely and Well?, by Awakin Call Editors
does it mean to live wisely and well and what does it take? How can we cultivate qualities such as love, wisdom, kindness, and compassion?”  Our guest today, Dr. Roger Walsh, addresses these questions. A man with an eclectic past, Roger has explored contemplative life as a professor, physician, therapist, celebrated author, spouse, spiritual practitioner, and inquisitive human being.   He is a former circus acrobat, as well as a record holder in the fields of high diving and trampolining. Roger claims to have no final answers about life and meaning; yet through a combination of spiritual wisdom and practical tools, he offers hope and healing for us all, individually... posted on Jan 17 2019 (6,391 reads)

Mary Oliver: Instructions for Living A Life, by On Being
Oliver was one of the most beloved poets of our times. A writer who was dazzled by her daily experience of life, and dazzled the rest of us by telling about it in her poems and essays. She deliberately stayed out of the public eye and what follows is one of her rare interviews. Read on for a glimpse of the remarkable woman who  once wrote: "When it's over, I want to say: all my life/I was a bride married to amazement./I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms." What follows is the transcript of an On Being interview between Krista Tippett and Mary Oliver. October 15, 2015 KRISTA TIPPETT, HOST: Mary Oliver is one of our greatest living poets, ... posted on Jan 18 2019 (46,546 reads)

Pauline Boss: Ambiguous Loss and the Myth of Closure, by OnBeing
following is the transcript of an interview syndicated from OnBeing, between Krista Tippett and Pauline Boss. Pauline Boss is Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Loss, Trauma and Resilience: Therapeutic Work with Ambiguous Loss, Loving Someone Who Has Dementia, and Ambiguous Loss. Krista Tippett: What we do not know about a missing loved one, the poet T.S. Eliot said, becomes all that we know. The airplane that disappears, the kidnapped child, the natural disaster that sweeps lives off a map — this is dramatic territory human beings are not equipped to master. But loved ones go missing in other ways: incremen... posted on Feb 11 2019 (10,789 reads)

Maya Soetoro-Ng: Ceeds of Peace, by Preeta Bansal
this year, we had the privilege of hosting a beautiful Awakin Call with Maya Soetoro-Ng, where we heard about her speak about a wide range of topics: from her expansive view of the role each of us can play in building peace, to how the Presidency of her brother, Barack Obama, as well as the divisive aftermath of the past several years, both transformed and reinforced her vision of the work of building peace. By way of brief background, Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng, a peace educator consulting for the Obama Foundation, was director of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Hawaii. Her brother is former US President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama... posted on Feb 24 2019 (5,967 reads)

First, the Work of Paying Attention to the World, by Awakin Call Editors
George Haskell is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist whose work is located at the thrumming intersection between science and poetry. He integrates rigorous research with a deeply contemplative, immersive approach. His subjects are unexpected and unexpectedly revelatory. His widely acclaimed, Pulitzer-finalist book, The Forest Unseen, chronicles the story of the universe in one square meter of forest ground in Tennessee. His follow-up book in 2017, The Songs of Trees, encompasses a study of humanity's varied roles within biological networks, as heard through the acoustics of a dozen trees around the world, which he visited regularly. David's innovative approaches to teachin... posted on Mar 22 2019 (5,033 reads)

Inner Strength Foundation, by The Gratefulness Team
Inner Strength Foundation (ISF) was established in 2014 to foster inner strength for outer stability in today’s youth. ISF partners with schools in the Greater Philadelphia area to offer the twelve-week ISF Teen Program — the only school mindfulness program in Philadelphia developed specifically for high school students. Through age-appropriate lessons on cultural development, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience, students become budding archaeologists of themselves. Able to excavate layers of influence and vast cultural changes, adolescents learn the invaluable skill of being able to see their personal experience in a greater context. ISF was created with an older age-g... posted on Mar 11 2019 (6,202 reads)