The only way to grasp these feelings is to box again, but punching someone out doesn’t align with who I am today. The anger I felt decades ago, the aggression that fueled my fire in battle, is a dull roar. Yes, the anger is still there. But I’ve found other ways to cope—most importantly, the way I view the anger now and what caused my angst to begin with. This process involved taking a hard and honest look at myself, and I realized building this self-awareness is a lifelong effort, so I’m never really done. Challenges, setbacks and disappointments are a part of being human. I’m wiser from the incidents that I thought would break me. The fact is, I&rs... posted on Feb 8 2022 (2,604 reads)

way back into town, who said he could give her a ride. They got to chatting and it turned out this man was a plumber and knew of an apartment that would soon be vacated. It was located right next to the university and the landlord was a friend of his. The man drove Zoë straight to the apartment so she could take a look and meet the landlord and she signed the contract right then. Such surrender – and trust in God and in humankind – manifests in the diverse threads of her life as an artist, sustainability researcher, and spiritual seeker. “Surrendering reminds me that my way is always inferior to the way of life,” she says, as she describes a brok... posted on May 24 2022 (2,996 reads)

the mama follows. Many indigenous cultures I know do the same, mama follows the children. We, westerners, think children are empty heads we have to fill with our ideas, needs, knowledge, manners, morals. Now I understand that a mother, or father following children (to protect, to be sure) allows the children to learn. What I learn from experience becomes part of how I survive. What someone teaches me from a book is not an experience. As most of us who read, I spent the first many years of my life memorizing so-called facts and information and often un-understood demands. I was fortunate that I grew up in two cultures, among people who expected me to learn what I needed to survive by mysel... posted on Aug 17 2022 (3,603 reads)

in our mailbox courtesy of FDR's recently created social security fund. But I knew I was lucky. I was raised by a mother who gave me a voice. Mary Olivia Gaughan was a quiet, beautiful woman with a magnificent face. She was gentle and easy. Peace and calm were her nature. Nothing rocked her in the essentials: her God, her faith, her belief in our people, her belief in our need to survive and thrive. She was always good, always simple, and an always-present focus was the center of her life and loves. That simplicity rattles a less-than-perfect me even now. I secretly envied those virtues. None of us could misbehave around her. We do not know how this happened, but we all behaved, a... posted on Aug 24 2022 (2,186 reads)

to confront a high degree of uncertainty because of the nature of existence. The world is unpredictable, and because humans are intelligent and have the capacity for self-awareness, we’re able to mentally “project” ourselves into the future—that is, we’re able to envision different possible futures. We can imagine ourselves in different places, enjoying myriad experiences, with various people, in a host of different contexts. But we’re also aware that life does not always go as we imagine: We know that we could be struck down with a terminal illness, run over by a bus, attacked by a stranger, caught in a natural disaster, abandoned by our partner, ... posted on Sep 14 2022 (6,032 reads)

FUERTH LEMLE April 11,1916---April 17, 2011 For the first 58 years of my life, I would have to say that my relationship to my mother was a complex and difficult one. She was a huge personality, full of great passions, creativity, rages, and generosity. I remember saying to friends that I loved my mother in small doses, but that she didn't come in small doses. She was a force of nature. She had no sense of boundaries; my memory of going to restaurants with Edna, was that as the waiter placed my plate in front of me, her fork would be in my food before I was even able to lift my own. She would often just show up at my house anywhere in the world, uninvited. She was also very contro... posted on Jul 1 2016 (46,424 reads)

just a little bit here.” Took another photo, and another. At one point, they moved her face to the right and to the back. Watching this, my friendly was understably furious. This is her beloved mentor, a global icon of service. How can anyone treat her like an object? She didn’t say anything until they all left, but then approached her mentor and asked, “Mother, why didn’t you say anything?” Mother Teresa responded in one sentence that would end up changing her life. She said, “My dear, there are many forms of poverty.” What Mother Teresa saw in this financially affluent person was a certain kind of poverty of spirit. But she just didn't s... posted on Apr 19 2016 (50,905 reads)

sayings in this language, much less use them in prayer or meditation? Language determines our way viewing the world. Languages have different words for the same thing, but also unique words that cannot be put into words in another language. In ancient languages, these unique expressions were all about the way people perceived their relationships to nature, other human beings, and Reality itself (a reality often translated “God”). Aramaic offers a way of looking at life as an interrelated whole, not simply at spiritual or religious ideas. Things we perceive and think about as opposites, like light and dark, or good and evil, or even maleness and femaleness, are ... posted on Mar 22 2023 (3,657 reads)

9, 2020 As we grapple with the first global pandemic lockdown of our lifetime, our daily routines have been upended, and it’s difficult to keep up with new changes. Many of us are overwhelmed by the precarious nature of our health, our loved ones’ well-being, and our financial security. But in the midst of uncertainty and fear, inspiring videos are emerging from the countries most affected by coronavirus—Iranian doctors and nurses dancing in hospitals and Italian residents singing from their balconies. This footage not only uplifts the spirit of those in close proximity, it also brightens the mood of people watching from around the world.  ... posted on Apr 18 2023 (25,775 reads)

squirrels emerged from hibernation in the spring. I’d observe the devoted dam building of beaver, slowing down rivers and streams, spreading out the water. And I’d wonder if human beings, like all of the wilder Others, had a species niche relative to the ecosystem we inhabit, which has become the entire Earth. I couldn’t imagine that human beings – unlike any of the Others – were without unique and specific purpose in relationship with the wider community of life.   What is unique about human beings? was the question that followed me. Other philosophers have supposed that our form of consciousness is unique among the animals, or our symb... posted on Jul 1 2023 (2,340 reads)

to cry. One of the significant rituals of this grieving culture is called a wake. James Joyce’s epoch-defining novel Finnegan’s Wake references this ritual. To this day, over half of the funerals in Ireland involve some form of a wake. At a wake, the body of a loved one is laid out in their home. For two or three days, the family stays with the body, and the community comes and pays their respects and shares their sympathies. • • • • • Every life is like a day. We begin the night before and, in the darkness, we are formed as a word that strikes a spark. This spark lands like a seed coming to the ground in the soul of the womb. Then mir... posted on Jul 18 2023 (4,810 reads)

a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.” -Albert Einstein I want to tell you a love story. It spans 20 years. A woman exploring tidepools was approached by a 24-legged sunflower sea star who came out of the sea grass, touching her shoe and exploring her pant leg.  The woman fell in love with that beautiful creature, and it changed her life forever . The woman is me, an artist, psychotherapist, and student of Relational Neuroscience and  Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB). In my role as an artist, my work addresses ... posted on Sep 26 2023 (3,174 reads)

Dinner Parties Taught Me About the Art and Importance of Social Gathering As of a month ago, I very rarely invited friends over to my house. It just felt like there was always a reason not to: I’m too busy. It’s too much work. I can’t afford to make a fancy meal. I’d have to find someone to watch my daughter. My house is a mess. But these “reasons” were actually just excuses—artificial barriers I’d constructed to keep my private life private, and to stave off the vulnerability of showing my friends what was behind the curtain of my less-than-perfect life. I was always game for meeting up for lunch at a restaurant, or a play d... posted on Nov 8 2023 (2,871 reads)

book? What do any of us think is going to happen? If perhaps now with fewer so-called gatekeepers, “how to get published?” is not the dark and menacing question it once was, it seems to me that it is worth all of us to explore, on the front end, what our motivations and hopes might be, not how, but rather “Why To Get Published?”             I spent a great deal of mental and emotional energy early in my writing life untangling writing from publishing. I understood that I could control whether or not I worked on any given day; whether my story or poem or novel was published was then beyond my control. Writing... posted on Nov 29 2023 (2,544 reads)

gift that a blessing can be, the doors it can open, the healing and transfiguration it can bring” and inviting us to “rediscover our power to bless one another.” Art by Coralie Bickford Smith from The Fox and the Star He writes: There is a quiet light that shines in every heart. It draws no attention to itself, though it is always secretly there. It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty, our desire to seek possibility, and our hearts to love life. Without this subtle quickening our days would be empty and wearisome, and no horizon would ever awaken our longing. Our passion for life is quietly sustained from somewhere in us that is wedded ... posted on Dec 11 2023 (5,781 reads)

was asked to share one story from my life when I could remember my heart really expanding. And as I looked over the course of my life, I couldn't find one thing that stood out. What I saw was, what many of you will know actually, which is deep suffering and how light is so intimately connected with the dark. It's luminous darkness. It's a deep light. And the way that our suffering breaks us open so that we may be able to receive that light. And it's not owned, right? It's not our light. It's not my light. It is the light of existence. And it's able to come through us I think, when we meet our suffering. And so I did -- I had a huge amount of suffering in my time, and, at the risk of soundi... posted on Apr 26 2024 (3,242 reads)

river delta, ChatGPT emerges as a digital oracle, beckoning us to traverse the labyrinthine pathways of ethical exploration. In the alchemical crucible of inquiry and imagination, I find solace in the whispered wisdom of Rainer Maria Rilke, echoing through the annals of time. A friend, upon reading the above passage, likened it to a hot air balloon, floating far into the sky. ChatGPT can write such passages that feel disconnected from the human process, from what she called the “salt of life.” If we are to move beyond solutions that replicate the status quo in our institutions and our thinking, we will have to stretch what we think of as “intelligent” or creative b... posted on May 15 2024 (2,583 reads)

to fix the economy? Next time you buy coffee, purchase a cup for the person behind you. Or as you grind your way through the morning commute, pick up the tollbooth charge for the driver behind you, draped over his steering wheel and ranting at the long delay. You've heard that famous Gandhian quote about being the change, well these are good measures to start with, packing more punch than you might imagine. This approach to life starts with the following premise: What exactly did I (or you) do to deserve to be alive? If you can process that question and come out thinking it was a gift that you can't ever pay back, then beginning a life of greater giving is the only logical and remote... posted on Jul 9 2011 (31,452 reads)

fewer hours could save our economy, save our sanity, and help save our planet.     Millions of Americans have lost control over the basic rhythm of their daily lives. They work too much, eat too quickly, socialize too little, drive and sit in traffic for too many hours, don’t get enough sleep, and feel harried too much of the time. It’s a way of life that undermines basic sources of wealth and well-being—such as strong family and community ties, a deep sense of meaning, and physical health.   Earn less, spend less, emit and degrade less. That's the formula. The more time a person has, the better his or her quality of l... posted on Jan 12 2012 (45,085 reads)

You start to look at people and situations with an eye for what you can offer them and not vice versa. You break the tiresome tyranny of questions like "What's in it for me?" The mindset shifts from consumption to contribution. Paradoxically, serving in this way, you are no longer operating from a space of scarcity. Your cup fills and overflows. 2. Serve to express gratitude Such joyful gratitude becomes a foundation in service. When you acknowledge the fullness of your life, you can manifest a heart of service in any situation. In that sense, service doesn't start when we have something to give -- it blossoms naturally when we have nothing left to take. And that is ... posted on Dec 27 2011 (37,507 reads)