upon the page. I felt like I showed up to clean up the wreckage of Sandy with just a bucket and a mop. But more than her stories and her pains and her questions hitched to a prayer for answers, I felt my own emotions rushing back. I began nodding my head. I sucked back the tears. And I thought, “Goodness, I never had the courage to admit I felt this way. Ever.” Instead, when my own life carried the same echoes of her print on the page, I ushered myself into a life of writing love letters to others, and I covered my wounds with thin lined paper. I never faced the reality or taught myself this truth (this truth would have changed everything from the beginning): Lonelines... posted on Sep 15 2013 (30,230 reads)

there was so much to do. But instead I put on my running shoes and my favorite hat. With each step, I got closer to what mattered and farther from what didn’t. Letting go wasn’t my first response. But I did it. Today I lived. Today I stood in front of the mirror sizing myself up. It was apparent that stress and lack of sleep had left their mark. I wanted to dissect each wrinkle, pinch each layer of soft skin But instead I looked away and said, “Not today. Only love today.” Loving myself wasn’t my first response. But I did it. Today I lived. Today I threw together a simple dinner and scooped it onto the plate. It looked pathetic and unappea... posted on Nov 14 2013 (97,738 reads)

immigrant domestic worker in America?” Half-laughing, she pulled away to watch the audience react. Her words might suggest a disempowered victim, but her smile and laughter said something more profound. Despite many years of abuse and exploitation by multiple employers, Elizabeth has struggled, fought, and organized with other women to bring recognition and value to the “work that makes all other work possible,” and has done so from a place of enduring dignity and love. Flores, an El Salvadoran woman in her fifties, was speaking at a press conference organized by the “Alianza de Mujeres Activas y Solidarias” or ALMAS, a domestic worker organizing... posted on Jan 9 2014 (15,144 reads)

You’re free-falling. If you can free-fall long enough, you’ll go so fast your body starts to fly. Like when I jumped El Capitan—it’s a three thousand foot drop—the free-fall is for almost 14 seconds and you’re literally flying your body away from the wall. RW:  You just jump off. Bryant:  You just jump off. It’s incredible. I don’t do it anymore. It’s a selfish sport; a lot of people die. If you have family or a loved one, you shouldn’t be doing it. But it is incredible. You don’t feel any fear when you’re falling. You feel nothing but wonder, and time and seconds just stretch out forever. ... posted on Feb 16 2014 (21,957 reads)

Orunamamu The best teacher my children ever had growing up was in Kindergarten. Mary Beth Washington did almost everything contrary to the rules: she took the kids out walking in the rain; she slept with them during naptime; she came to school dressed like a circus performer. She was in love with birds, dancing, poetry and people. The School Board, more than once, voted to fire her, but the parents came to her defense again and again and won the day. She was about 30 years ahead of her time, a Flower Child before the era of flower children, with a genius for teaching kids. Once my own were in high school, the School Board finally had its way and kicked her out. I ran into her this ... posted on May 5 2014 (25,474 reads)

unnecessary procedures to extend their lives, 50 percent of all deaths occurs in facilities away from home. Of those, 40 percent occur in ICU’s, where physicians are charged with doing everything they can to keep a person alive, regardless of the outcome. Sometimes, the quest to avoid death can seem extreme, like in the much-publicized cases of Terry Shiavo and Marlise Munoz, where unnecessary life-extending procedures created exorbitant medical bills and emotionally burdened their loved ones. But, if Shiavo and Munoz are examples of a bad death, is there any better way? Is a “good death” just an oxymoron? Or can the experience of death be far more positive—... posted on Jun 24 2014 (84,488 reads)

horses but you gotta learn to ride.” Mom reminded us of that often. Many years later, Bret and I were living in New York City on 9/11. Afterward, our parents begged us to move to the suburbs, where they hoped we’d be out of danger. For Bret and me, leaving Manhattan was not an option; it was our home. Weeks of tense family discussions ensued. My parents lobbied for safety and against the new terrorist threat. Bret and I held firm in our refusal to be chased out of the city we loved. From 9/11 to Malaysia Airlines 370 to the Chilean earthquake and Washington mudslide to the Fort Hood murders (both times), the news of a community rocked by tragedy continually reminds us o... posted on Aug 9 2014 (15,314 reads)

I push my needle through the corner of one square, a thought occurs to me, something about how sadness is a sign of joy. I recall a stanza from Kahlil Gibran’s writings: Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. If TJ’s life unfolds in the way I hope it will, he will be surrounded by love and connection. He will have secure bonds with his parents, with his grandparents, with his uncles and aunts. There will be people in his life he will think of as family, even if there is no biol... posted on Sep 7 2014 (17,701 reads)

end up fixing the refrigerator. We are woven so intricately into the fabric of all beings everywhere, so deeply involved in this enormous, common web of interconnected life, that only fear and resistance and the illusion of separateness allow us to imagine we ever do anything by ourselves. We completely depend on countless others every day for our food, our shelter, our electricity, water, clothing, transportation - for virtually every need we ever have, including care and affection, love, even life itself. While it is sometimes hard for us to feel that we belong anywhere, often the opposite is equally true: It requires an enormous amount of energy to remain separate from the rest... posted on Sep 4 2014 (19,569 reads)

brain and biology, and ready to be cultivated for the greater good. The biological basis of compassion First consider the recent study of the biological basis of compassion. If such a basis exists, we should be wired up, so to speak, to respond to others in need. Recent evidence supports this point convincingly. University of Wisconsin psychologist Jack Nitschke found in an experiment that when mothers looked at pictures of their babies, they not only reported feeling more compassionate love than when they saw other babies; they also demonstrated unique activity in a region of their brains associated with the positive emotions. Nitschke’s finding suggests that this region of th... posted on Nov 5 2014 (22,317 reads)

can be disarming. That’s what Carolyn North discovered. It started with an impulse to save the leftover Thanksgiving turkey her neighbor had discarded as trash. Thirty years later, she and a rotating team of friends-turned-volunteers have been quietly recovering surplus food and delivering it to free food shelters and pantries across the San Francisco Bay Area. At the surface, it’s a simple labor-of-love initiative called Daily Bread. Last year, its 90 local volunteers delivered 32 tons of food with little overhead and virtually no budget. For volunteers, it’s a straightforward weekly routine that takes less than an hour to complete. For food donors, it&... posted on Oct 30 2014 (16,249 reads)

I traveled to a conference and heard bestselling author and scholar Karen Armstrong say to those gathered that "Spiritual and Religious Sages have long known that our egos very often keep us from being our best selves." Along with ego, I might add "insecurity," as it was these two twin chains that held me, and I imagine many other students, back. Starting college is an insecure moment in one's life. We literally leave the security of home where we know we are loved. We leave the familiar space that was high school. Our friendships there were firmly established with years or trust-building adventures and misadventures. Our social status was built via the te... posted on Nov 6 2014 (22,373 reads)

into desperate addicts and leaves medical patients unaffected. If you still believe, as I used to, that chemical hooks are what cause addiction, then this makes no sense. But if you believe Bruce Alexander’s theory, the picture falls into place. The street-addict is like the rats in the first cage, isolated, alone, with only one source of solace to turn to. The medical patient is like the rats in the second cage. She is going home to a life where she is surrounded by the people she loves. The drug is the same, but the environment is different. The opposite of addiction Bob Perkoski This gives us an insight that goes much deeper than the need to understand ad... posted on Mar 24 2015 (27,687 reads)

simply means that we do not give fear the power to silence or stop us. In my own experience, I think there’s an important difference between courage and fearlessness. Courage emerges in the moment, without time for thought. Our heart opens and we immediately move into action. Someone jumps into an icy lake to save a child, or speaks up at a meeting, or puts them self in danger to help another human being. These sudden actions, even if they put us at risk, arise from clear, spontaneous love. Fearlessness, too, has love at its core, but it requires much more of us than instant action. If we react too quickly when we feel afraid, we either flee or act aggressively. True fearlessnes... posted on Apr 25 2015 (18,743 reads)

Kay’s words… Who/what inspires me: I have always been inspired by people who can leave their home country and show love, kindness and mercy to the people who live in desperate poverty and hardship. In Cambodia, that would be someone like Marie Ens from Canada who leads ‘Rescue’ – a home for hundreds of orphan children, AIDS families and grannies. And in Mozambique, Heidi Baker from ‘Iris Global’ children’s homes is a pure example of transforming love into something concrete. Best advice: Love in the midst of pain. Forgive in the midst of evil. Comfort in the mist of agony. Kay Eva was travelling through rural Cambodia o... posted on May 17 2015 (15,539 reads)

get to something like that. Bob: It’s fabulous. Many people have said that. It’s extremely rewarding. Anyway, a year later I was on a business trip to Washington D.C. and saw a Karsh exhibit there at the Portrait Gallery. I was blown away by his prints and spent a good bit of time studying what he’d done, technically. I couldn’t imagine what he’d done in the sitting to get the iconic versions of all those famous and powerful people. I thought, I’d love to be able to do that, but it was so far outside of my thinking it wasn’t as if I was just going to go out and try it. But I did get his book. It still sits in the house here, and I look th... posted on Jun 13 2015 (15,586 reads)

this in the woods while trail riding” 12. A Palestinian Boy Practicing His Parkour Skills… 13. A Little Boy’s Happiness… 14. One Squirrel, One Thumb and LOTS of Cute… “My wife getting a hug from a baby squirrel [named Rocket] that she’s taking care of.” 15. Uplifted by Many Beautiful Smiling Faces… “Sounds cheesy, but what I really love about this is that all the people behind him who’s view he’s blocking are smiling and just seem to be really happy for him.” 16. Love That Lasts… ... posted on Jul 13 2015 (139,191 reads)

I would meet the same troubles of debilitating homesickness. But I found the campus greenhouse. I spent every waking moment between classes there, potting, pruning, watering. And I got through. I still went home twice each month. I told my friends I was needed on the farm. The truth was that I needed the farm. I hid that truth with shame. We called it homesickness, and I saw it as my great weakness. But in How to Raise a Wild Child, Dr. Scott D. Sampson gives it another name: topophilia, a love of place. And he asserts it is the key to restoring sustainability on our planet. As chief curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and host of the PBS KIDS television series Dinosau... posted on Sep 3 2015 (17,198 reads)

you keep a food journal. If you want to exercise more, you use a step counter. Another one is accountability. Most people do better when someone is holding them accountable…. For some people, it’s essential. It’s the critical piece of allowing them to change their habits. [Another is] the strategy of scheduling. Put something on your schedule, and it’s more likely to get done. One that I took for granted — it seems so obvious to me but many people really loved it — is the strategy of pairing: when you pair something that you like to do with a habit that you perhaps don’t enjoy as much. Very often people will pair going on the treadmill or ... posted on Sep 6 2015 (19,984 reads)

64-year-old, a former senior officer at the State Bank of India, talks about his disabled and wounded dogs like a father about his children—with the same love, affection, warmth, and tenderness. He is a renowned animal rights activist, the Secretary at People for Animals (PFA), Ahmedabad chapter, and an honorary Animal Welfare Officer. But nothing defines Mahendra better that his immense, undying and undiluted love for animals. It was this love that led him to establish India’s first shelter home for dogs living with disabilities. Today, in Ahmedabad, there are 25 happy dogs living comfortably in his shelter. It all started in 1998 when, while taking a midnight stroll, ... posted on Jan 11 2016 (14,391 reads)