Wangari Maathai: Marching with Trees, by On Being
follows is the transcript of an On Being interview between Krista Tippett and Wangari Maathai. Krista Tippett, host: It’s delightful to see the late, remarkable Wangari Maathai inspiring a new generation of girls through the popular Rebel Girls book series. I’ll never forget the day I interviewed her. She’d won the Nobel Peace Prize two years earlier — the first African woman to do so, and a biologist. She’d flown from Kenya to an event in Minnesota, and we felt so privileged to have an hour with her. But we ended up spending three hours together in her hotel room, stranded by snow. Her personal presence, her visceral power and radiance, wer... posted on May 28 2019 (5,238 reads)

We Are Designed for Connection, by Tami Simon
Simon:You're listening to Insights at the Edge. Today, my guest is Diane Poole Heller. Diane Poole Heller is an established expert in the field of child and adult attachment theory and models trauma resolution and integrative healing techniques. She's developed her own signature training series on adult attachment that she calls DARe, Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience. She's the author of a new book called The Power of Attachment: How to Create Deep and Lasting Intimate Relationships. In this conversation with Diane, we talk about different styles of attachment, these unconscious blueprints that are so deep in all of us and have such an incredible impact... posted on May 27 2019 (11,301 reads)

Justin Michael Williams: Stay Woke, by Tami Simon
to Insights at the Edge, produced by Sounds True. My name is Tami Simon, I’m the founder of Sounds True. I’d love to take a moment to introduce you to the new Sounds True foundation. The Sounds True Foundation is dedicated to creating a wiser and kinder world by making transformational education widely available. We want everyone to have access to transformational tools such as mindfulness, emotional awareness, and self-compassion regardless of financial, social, or physical challenges. The Sounds True Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to providing these transformational tools to communities in need including at-risk youth, prisoners, veterans, and those i... posted on Feb 17 2020 (6,580 reads)

Living Gratefully in the Time of Corona Virus, by The Gratefulness Team
Network for Grateful Living we often refer to gratefulness as an orientation to life with an unconditional and expansive embrace. One that isn’t reserved for that which is pleasant, desired, or going our way, rather an embrace that accepts and includes the great fullness of life — the entirety of our experience. Such an embrace opens us to the teachings and opportunities within every moment. It offers us what we need not merely to survive difficult times but to appreciate their gifts, even when the gifts take time to reveal themselves. When life feels too small or too big to handle, too predictable or too uncertain, this is when we need gratefulness ... posted on Mar 15 2020 (54,431 reads)

How I am Finding Purpose and Connection in a Pandemic, by Aanchal Dhar
was 5 p.m. on Friday, March 13, and I could feel myself slowly beginning to unravel.  As a millennial living alone in a small studio in San Francisco, I felt paralyzed knowing that orders to shelter in place would likely soon go into effect, trapping me in just 300 square feet for the unforeseeable future. The coming weeks loomed bleak and lonely, a growing shadow of despair that I knew would engulf so many of us. I was at a loss for what to do next.    My first instinct was to call Kate, a friend in her 60s, who offered some of the best advice I’ve ever received. “Find a way to transform your anxiety into action,” she said.  Maybe it ... posted on May 23 2020 (9,893 reads)

Activism in a Pandemic: Progressive Examples from Australia's Past, by Iain McIntyre
month the Commons Library provides a small taste of actions and events which challenged the status quo and pointed to better ways forward via our ever growing From Little Things Big Things Grow: Events That Changed Australia list. These posts generally focus on events from a particular month, but in response to the Coronavirus pandemic we’re also sharing protests, campaigns and events from the past which highlight ways in which we can undertake action whilst maintaining safe health practices. Please note: Levels of restriction and legal parameters vary across countries and even within countries. Many places are experiencing changing laws and different levels of polici... posted on Jun 2 2020 (4,880 reads)

Othering & Belonging, by Awakin Call Editors
powell is one of the foremost public intellectuals in the areas of civil rights, racism, ethnicity, housing and poverty. Despite a distinguished career, powell spells his name in lowercase on the simple and humble idea that we are part of the universe, not over it. He has introduced into the public lexicon the concepts of “othering and belonging.” For powell, "othering" hurts not only people of color, but whites, women, animals and the planet itself, because certain people are not seen in their full humanity. Belonging is much more profound than access; “it’s about co-creating the thing you are joining” rather than having to conform to rul... posted on Jul 18 2020 (5,898 reads)

Seven Ways to Live in the Direction of Your Purpose, by Jill Suttie
of the people I know seem to have a deep sense of purpose. Whether working for racial justice, teaching children to read, making inspiring art, or collecting donations of masks and face shields for hospitals during the pandemic, they’ve found ways to blend their passion, talents, and care for the world in a way that infuses their lives with meaning. Luckily for them, having a purpose in life is associated with all kinds of benefits. Research suggests that purpose is tied to having better health, longevity, and even economic success. It feels good to have a sense of purpose, knowing that you are using your skills to help others in a way that matters to you. But... posted on Aug 12 2020 (10,983 reads)

Are You a Highly Sensitive Person?, by Tami Simon
follows is the transcript of a SoundsTrue interview between Tami Simon and Elaine Aron. You can listen to the audio podcast here. Tami Simon: Welcome to Insights at the Edge, produced by Sounds True. My name’s Tami Simon, I’m the founder of Sounds True, and I’d love to take a moment to introduce you to the new Sounds True Foundation. The Sounds True Foundation is dedicated to creating a wiser and kinder world by making transformational education widely available. We want everyone to have access to transformational tools such as mindfulness, emotional awareness, and self-compassion, regardless of financial, social, or physical challenges. The Sounds True... posted on Nov 17 2020 (9,591 reads)

5 Tips for Teaching in Times of Civil Unrest, by Ida B. Wells Project Team
STUDENTS’ FEELINGS. LISTEN AND QUESTION. Students will have powerful feelings about the changing world around them, do not shut them down. Do not tell them how to feel. Your goal is to help students explore, process, think critically and grow. Don’t substitute your feelings or perspective for the “correct” answers. Their experiences, thoughts and feelings are valid. Hear their anger and hurt. You can encourage respectful disagreement while also maintaining a safe space for vulnerable populations. Put strong discussion guidelines in place and stick to them. Don’t be shocked by student responses, learn to question and talk them through their feelings i... posted on Jan 13 2021 (6,382 reads)

The Biology of Wonder: Finding the Human in Nature, by Andreas Weber
Feeling as the Moving Force in All Life For 150 years, biology, the ‘science of life,’ made no great effort to answer the question of what life really is. Biologists had a concept they thought to be sufficient for their research: Most of them assumed organisms to be tiny machines. Today, this belief has been shaken. Only a few years ago we witnessed researchers celebrating the ‘decoding’ of the human genome as a secular breakthrough. They seemed to be on the verge of unraveling the mechanics of life. But not much has happened since then. The boom has come to a standstill. We don’t hear much from geneticists these days. Certainly, they have been ... posted on Jun 29 2021 (4,000 reads)

Letters to a Young Poet: Communing with Rilke's Prophetic Musings , by On Being
follows is the transcript syndicated from an OnBeing interview between Krista Tippett, Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows. You can listen to the audio version of the interview here.  Krista Tippett: If you have listened to On Being for any period of time, you have probably heard me invoke Rainer Maria Rilke. His works of prose and poetry are enduringly beloved — the Sonnets to Orpheus; the Duino Elegies; the Book of Hours. But none of his words have carried more persistently across time than his Letters to a Young Poet. It’s a small volume of ten letters Rilke wrote between 1903 and 1908 to a young military cadet and would-be poet, named ... posted on Jul 9 2021 (4,550 reads)

Indigenous Knowledge and Gift Giving, by Jeanette Armstrong
would like to share my language with you, and give you greetings from all of my family and my community and my people, the Syilx. I give thanks that I am able to share some words with you. I’m from an oral culture, and so that’s how in this article, I share some of my ideas about giving—the concept of gift—and some ideas about my own people’s understanding of giving, in terms of land, community and family, as well as the individual, because I believe something is really wrong in the world today. The only thing that I can offer is my thinking. How it might be put to work, how it might be incorporated, or how it might be thought of in terms of the change that... posted on Jul 13 2021 (9,025 reads)

Singing: Most Companionable of Arts, by On Being
follows is the syndicated transcript of an On Being interview between Krista Tippett and Alice Parker MS. TIPPETT:I’m Krista Tippett, and this is On Being. [music: “Adeste Fidelis” by Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Shaw & Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus] MS. TIPPETT:Alice Parker has composed operas, cantatas, and suites for chamber ensembles, as well as hundreds of anthems and songs. She is Artistic Director of the non-profit Melodious Accord. She was born in 1925 in Boston, Massachusetts. MS. TIPPETT:I just want to say before we start that although you are all about music, and composing, and singing, and conducting, you write beautifully a... posted on Oct 24 2021 (3,622 reads)

Designing & Supporting Peer-Driven Change, by Ashoka.org
a novel approach to addressing poverty, Maurice Lim Miller shifts ownership and priority-setting to low-income working families through an approach that enables families to self-organize, support each other as they gain fiscal independence and confidence, and move into roles as active consumers of social services who deliver feedback, not passive beneficiaries. The New Idea Having advanced more traditional anti-poverty and job training efforts in the 1980s and 1990s, Maurice saw that progress was slow and, more worrying, that the funding and incentive structures to aid the transition of low-income Americans into the middle-class were misaligned with desired outcomes. He found that p... posted on Feb 23 2022 (2,367 reads)

Our Evolutionary Leap, by Tami Simon
follows is the transcript of an interview between Tami Simon and Lynne Twist syndicate from SoundsTrue. You can listen to the audio recording of the interview here. Tami Simon: Welcome to Insights at the Edge, produced by Sounds True. My name’s Tami Simon, I’m the founder of Sounds True. I’d love to take a moment to introduce you to the new Sounds True Foundation. The Sounds True Foundation is dedicated to creating a wiser and kinder world by making transformational education widely available. We want everyone to have access to transformational tools such as mindfulness, emotional awareness and self-compassion, regardless of financial, social or phys... posted on Mar 12 2022 (3,025 reads)

In Praise of Black Capped Chickadees, by Bill Sherwonit
like to offer some words in praise of chickadees. Though seven different species inhabit North America, four of them in Alaska, here I will focus on the black-capped chickadee, the bird that transformed my life nearly three decades ago. Because they’re among the most common birds to inhabit the Anchorage area—and much of our continent—nearly everyone can recognize black-capped chickadees (which I sometimes simply call black-caps) and their familiar chick-a-dee-dee calls. At the same time, I suspect that most people largely ignore black-caps, don’t give them much thought, simply because they are so common (those who put out bird feeders being exceptions... posted on Oct 18 2022 (7,463 reads)

Creatures that Don't Conform, by Lucy Jones
the woods near her home, Lucy Jones discovers the magic of slime molds and becomes entangled in their fluid, nonbinary way of being. Lying at the edge of our understanding, slime molds invite us into their mystery and remind us of the vast possibilities of life on Earth. THE EARTH IS STITCHED together with slime mold, and we are stitched with slime, too. But we have overlooked this fact of life. My own creeping awareness of this began with a photograph. I was reading a copy of New Scientist magazine in October 2021 when I turned the page and paused. What on earth was that? It looked like a gelatinous raspberry, but each drupelet was elongated and stood erect on i... posted on Feb 5 2023 (4,373 reads)

Our Tenuous Boundaries: A Life in 10 Sea Creatures, by Ashia Ajani
Sabrina Imbler was in college, they enrolled in a class they thought was about whales, but which turned out to be about whaling. In one of 10 brilliant essays in their new book, Imbler recalls the class, which focused on “the systematic hunting and harvesting of the animals that brought human populations to the verge of unimaginable prosperity and whale populations to the brink of extinction,” with their ex, during the denouement of their relationship. Contemplating the necropsy of a whale and how this might be a way to analyze the death of a relationship, Imbler was reminded of “all the ways we shoehorn distinctions between ourselves and other animals, often harming b... posted on Mar 30 2023 (1,875 reads)

How to Grow Re-Enchanted with the World , by Maria Popova
are seasons of being when a cloak of meaninglessness seems to slip over you, over everything, muffling the song of life. It is not depression exactly, though the two conditions make eager bedfellows. Rather, it is a great hollowing that empties you of that vital force necessary for moving through the world wonder-smitten by reality, that glint of gladness at the mundane miracle of existence. A disenchantment we may call by many names — burnout, apathy, alienation — but one that visits upon every life in one form or another, at one time or another, pulsating with the unmet longing for something elemental and ancient, with the yearning to see the world as beautiful again and ... posted on Apr 25 2023 (3,987 reads)