A Good Death: An Interview with Stephen Jenkinson, by Leslee Goodman
master’s degree in theology from Harvard University and a master’s in social work from the University of Toronto, Stephen Jenkinson was the director of counselling services in the palliative care department at a major Canadian hospital  in  Toronto for several years, where he encountered the deep “death phobia” and “grief illiteracy” that most of his patients and their loved ones brought to their deathbeds. This work motivated Jenkinson to encourage people to prepare for their death well before its arrival so that they might be free to “participate emotionally in their deaths as they participate in other major life even... posted on Apr 26 2019 (21,880 reads)

This Library Takes an Indigenous Approach to Categorizing Books, by Sydney Worth
than a century, the Dewey Decimal Classification system has dictated the way libraries organize their collections. And the way they organize and sort information says a lot about what kind of information is prioritized—and what’s left out. Books on Indigenous communities often get looped into the history section. As a result, information on Native peoples literally gets left in the past. Xwi7xwa Library (pronounced whei-wha) at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, is working to change that. The library aims to counter Western, colonial bias and better reflect the knowledge of Indigenous peoples. By offering an alternative to the widely ... posted on Apr 19 2019 (5,913 reads)

If Life Wins There Will Be No Losers, by Ruth Gordon
never change things by fighting against the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.” Buckminster Fuller In recent years there's been a global awakening to the momentous choice humanity now faces: do we cling to the old system and choose extinction, or create a new system that grants us a future worth living? Movements such as Standing Rock, Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future are giving voice to the widespread longing for a tenable alternative to capitalism – our urgent need for new, regenerative ways of living: systems of life that use clean renewable energy, restore... posted on Jul 2 2019 (6,904 reads)

Coastal Communication: A Mother and Son's Moving Collaboration, by Jane Jackson, Aaron M.P. Jackson
follows are selected excerpts from 'Coastal Communication', by Jane Jackson, Aaron M.P. Jackson Introduction On June 2, 2006, my husband Blyden’s 70th birthday, I had a life altering experience. After arriving home from an exhausting day at work, I was suddenly unable to speak or move my arm. I just wanted to lie down and sleep, which would have been the worst possible thing for me to do. Blyden, a former Emergency Medical Technician, immediately recognized that I might be having a stroke of some kind because of my inability to speak and the pupil of one of my eyes being dilated. He and our daughter, Gail, rushed me to the Bayonne, N.J. Medical Center, near where we ... posted on Jun 29 2019 (9,417 reads)

From the Rink to the Research Lab: How a Former Olympian is Transforming the Mental Health Landscape, by Emily Rose Barr
not every day you find yourself chatting with a former Olympian, let alone one whose discipline and determination on the ice has translated effortlessly into shifting the mental health landscape as we know it. Last month, I was privileged to speak with Rachael Flatt, a former competitive figure skater who took seventh place at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Down-to-earth and deeply insightful, it’s no surprise that the 26-year-old, aptly known as “Reliable Rachael”, has already made quite a name for herself. At the time of our call, Rachael had just completed the first year of her Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina... posted on Jul 1 2019 (4,538 reads)

Mercy Needs to Be Where the Need is Greatest, by Awakin Call Editors
follows is the transcript of an Awakin Call interview with Sr. Marilyn Lacey in August of 2019. You can listen to the recording of the entire call here.  Mercy Beyond Borders Micro-Ent moms in Uganda grateful for their business loans Pavi Mehta: Now it's my pleasure to introduce Sister Marilyn, who just flew in from Haiti six hours ago and graciously joined us this morning. Sister Marilyn Lacey is the Founder and Executive Director of Mercy Beyond Borders, a nonprofit organization that partners with displaced women and children overseas to alleviate their poverty. She's been a Sister of Mercy since 1966 and holds a Master's degree in Social Work from ... posted on May 6 2021 (3,584 reads)

Where Climate, Architecture and Kindness Intersect, by Stephanie Van Hook
to “Nonviolence Radio” on Apple Podcasts, Android or via RSS. The following is a transcript of “Nonviolence Radio’s recent interview with architect, educator and climate activist Pete Gang. Today’s show is going to be about climate coping, and the ways that different professions can shed light on constructive avenues that we go in, in order to build a more just and resilient and sustainable future that improves human thriving and incorporates the human being with all the rest of life in a way that deeply addresses what the true crisis is at the root of climate disruption. And this will be the first in a series tha... posted on Oct 18 2019 (2,678 reads)

The Deep Heart, by Tami Simon
December 10, 2019 TS: Welcome to Insights at the Edge, produced by Sounds True. My name is 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 Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to providing these transformational tools to communities in need, including at-risk youth, p... posted on Dec 23 2019 (8,971 reads)

Teaching & Learning from the Heart in Troubled Times, by Rabbi Ariel Burger
is quiet as I write this. It is so quiet that I can imagine the cries of those who suffer: the pangs of hunger in Yemen, the hundreds of Rohingya who continue to flee Myanmar to the world's largest refugee camp, children pining for their parents at the U.S. border, and so many more. Our earth cries out for relief as its trees burn and its glaciers melt. News of yet another school shooting, this one in Santa Clarita, California, has just appeared on my newsfeed. When I read the news, I am filled with frustration at the endless cycles in which we appear to be caught, and humanity's seeming inability to grow and change. Many of the structures of society appear to be organized to m... posted on Mar 23 2020 (7,063 reads)

16 Teachings from COVID-19, by Marian Brehmer
try to re-create ourselves when things fall apart. We return to the solid ground of our self-concept as quickly as possible. (…) When things fall apart, instead of struggling to regain our concept of who we are, we can use it as an opportunity to be open and inquisitive about what has just happened and what will happen next. That is how we turn this arrow into a flower.” — Pema Chödrön A lot is being said these days. Clarity can be hard to come by, silence even more so. Overwhelmed by the cacophony of voices, I sat down to synthesize some perspectives that shine light on the corona crisis. Most of you will already have come across some of thos... posted on Apr 5 2020 (64,498 reads)

Where Fear Meets Hope: Stories from Here and There, by Emily Rose Barr
we grow accustomed to life under lockdown, we are discovering the richness that can emerge from the quiet, contemplative nature of solitude. Hoping to tap into the inner wisdom of our collective attempt to find light amidst darkness, writer Emily Rose Barr asked one simple question of individuals across the globe: What are you doing that's bringing a little extra joy, light, or laughter to your days? As the answers poured in, she realized that perhaps the paradoxes of our time -- hope and fear, connection and isolation, anger and compassion -- are not meant to be reconciled, but simply to be lived. Read more to learn how the discomfort of uncertainty invites us to take care ... posted on Apr 29 2020 (8,000 reads)

COVID Era Shows Gandhi's Ideal of Practical Idealism is Possible, by Michael Nagler
new society can be developed from the inspiring ways people around the world are responding to this unprecedented disaster. April 21, 2020 In Wuhan, China, the Honda factory has returned to full production. People, most of them still masked, go here and there in this industrial city of 11 million, steadily resuming their normal, pre-pandemic lives. We are happy for them, but — at the same time — this is not the “normal” we want. As was seen recently on a wall in Chile: “We Won’t Go Back to Normal, Because Normal Was the Problem.” Joe Biden himself has just said, “When we come out of this, we can’t just go back to business as usual.&r... posted on May 7 2020 (8,001 reads)

Notice the Rage. Notice the Silence., by On Being
Tippett, host: Resmaa Menakem is a therapist and trauma specialist who activates the wisdom of elders and a very new science, about how all of us carry the history and traumas behind everything we collapse into the word “race” in our bodies. He helps explain why vulnerabilities and inequities laid bare by the pandemic have fallen hardest on Black bodies. He illuminates why all of the best laws and diversity training have not gotten us anywhere near healing. We recorded this interview just before lockdown, in Minneapolis, where we both live and work. We offer up Resmaa Menakem’s intelligence on changing ourselves at a cellular level — as, in Minneapolis and... posted on Jun 6 2020 (19,152 reads)

Turning to Face the Dark, by Ariel Burger, Parker Palmer
May of 2019, Rabbi Dr. Ariel Burger sat down with educator and writer Parker J. Palmer for an unscripted conversation. What emerged was a wide-ranging contemplative dialogue on suffering, healing, and joy. Parker is the author of “Five Habits to Heal the Heart of Democracy”, The Courage to Teach, Let Your Life Speak, On the Brink of Everything, and seven other life-changing books. Ariel is the author of “Teaching and Learning from the Heart in Troubled Times” and Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom. Ariel Burger: Parker, thank you for making the time to have this conversation. Parker Palmer: Th... posted on Jun 9 2020 (7,882 reads)

How to Support Antiracism in Yourself & in the World, by Karla McLaren
do we build a more loving and inclusive world? In 2016, when the serious troubles in the United States began to boil and coalesce into ever deepening and blatant racism, I went into a period of study with my friend and colleague Amanda Ball. We read everything that we could get our hands on about race, prejudice, and discrimination, and we educated ourselves from the ground up. There was a lot that we didn’t know, because things are set up so that we don’t know. Luckily, there is a vibrant community of writers and speakers who are sharing valuable knowledge. I have listed some of them below if you want to learn. On the night of the 2016 election, I found many new org... posted on Jun 29 2020 (15,067 reads)

Voting as an Expression of Love and Gratefulness, by The Gratefulness Team
we approach the 2020 election in the United States (US), the Gratefulness Team has been reflecting on the gift of the right to vote here and throughout the world. Over the course of history, many have fought for this privilege with their lives, and we can show our gratitude by embracing the opportunity to vote whenever and wherever we can. This includes not only major national elections but all of the democratic decisions with which we’re presented in our local communities and day-to-day lives. Though we typically think of voting in purely political terms, we can think about every choice we make as a vote and every moment in our lives as an election. We vote with our bodies, ener... posted on Oct 31 2020 (4,697 reads)

What Is Solidarity?: Reflections on Justice, by Alnoor Ladha
was born when all I once feared, I could love. – Hazrat Bibi Rabia of Basra, 7th century Sufi saint Survival has become an economizing on life. The civilization of collective survival increases dead time in individual lives to the point where the forces of death threaten to overwhelm collective survival itself. Unless, that is, the passion for destruction is replaced by the passion for life. – Raoul Vaneigem, The Revolution of Everyday Life One of the great crises of our times is the crisis of meaning, which is both a symptom and a cause of the broader polycrisis – the convergence of ecological, political, spiritual and social breakdown. Traditionally held cer... posted on Nov 1 2020 (6,552 reads)

Sustainable Social Change and Philanthropy, by Awakin Call Editors
a professional grantmaker and manager with some of the world's leading foundations, David Bonbright sought innovative approaches to strengthening citizen self-organization in place of prevailing bureaucratic, top-down models. While with the Ford Foundation, David was declared persona non grata by the apartheid government in South Africa for helping fund the liberation struggle. In 1990, in the final years of that struggle, he entrepreneured the development of some key building block organizations for civil society in the new South Africa. He then founded and now runs an international nonprofit dedicated to bringing constituent feedback to social change practice. He had an unexpected i... posted on Dec 8 2020 (3,859 reads)

Praying for the Earth, by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
online in The Huffington Post, 2011 Prayer is the simplest and most natural way to communicate with the Divine. Prayer is the heart speaking. There are the prescribed prayers, the rituals of inner communion. But there are also our personal prayers, our way of being with the Divine, with the sacred that is our deepest nature and that of the world around us. In whatever way we are drawn to pray, there is a pressing need at this time to include the earth in our prayers. We are living in a time of ecological devastation, in which our materialistic culture has had a catastrophic effect on the ecosystem. Our rivers are toxic, the rainforests slashed and burned, vast tracts ... posted on Nov 20 2020 (8,134 reads)

Mark Wolynn: Healing Inherited Family Trauma, by Tami Simon
Simon: Welcome 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, a... posted on Dec 4 2020 (10,162 reads)