Suleika Jaouad: Transforming Isolation into Creative Resilience
"According to a recent poll from the American Psychological Association, nearly half of U.S. adults said the pandemic has made planning for their future feel impossible. It makes sense. We can't go back to the lives we had before the coronavirus pandemic, but what lies ahead is murky. Many of us feel frozen, caught in a holding pattern -- in the liminal space between what was and what will be. Sul... posted on Dec 14 2022, 2,067 reads

James Bridle: An Ecological Technology
"In this expansive interview, writer, artist, and technologist James Bridle seeks to widen our thinking beyond humancentric ways of knowing. In questioning our fundamental assumptions about intelligence, they explore how radical technological models can decentralize power and become portals into a deeper relationship with the living world."... posted on Dec 13 2022, 1,317 reads

Carl Safina: Mother Culture
"Only humans inhabit a wider swath of Earth than sperm whales, but humans seldom glimpse them. The whales range from 60 degrees north to 60 degrees south latitude, usually in waters whose depth exceeds 3,000 feet, far from most coasts. Not only that, they can move 40-plus miles a day, around 15,000 miles annually. This makes studying their wandering lives almost impossible. Here though, water of p... posted on Dec 12 2022, 1,356 reads

You Can Grow New Brain Cells
Can we, as adults, grow new neurons? Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret says that we can, and she offers research and practical advice on how we can help our brains better perform neurogenesisimproving mood, increasing memory formation and preventing the decline associated with aging along the way.... posted on Dec 11 2022, 3,728 reads

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
"Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: 'sonder.' Or maybe you've watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. Thats called 'lachesism.' Or you were looking... posted on Dec 10 2022, 5,300 reads

Storytelling & the Art of Tenderness
"Like all orientations of the spirit, tenderness is a story we tell ourselves -- about each other, about the world, about our place in it and our power in it. Like all narratives, the strength of our tenderness reflects the strength and sensitivity of our storytelling. That is what the Polish psychologist turned poet and novelist Olga Tokarczuk explores in her Nobel Prize acceptance speech." Maria... posted on Dec 09 2022, 3,785 reads

Shinrin-Yoku: Forest Bathing
Hopefully you have a little piece of green forest--a kind of a heaven on earth-- where you can find peace. If so, you already have experienced the health benefits of soaking up the beauty of nature. Forest bathing, in Japan where the practice originated, is called shinrin-yoku. This is the practice of walking through the forest slowly and quietly as a way to heal body, mind and spirit. This film, ... posted on Dec 08 2022, 2,113 reads

Fishing Before You Know How to Fish
"Through the pines and the one maple I hear her.

I shouldn't have gone fishing if I didn't know how to fish.

I shouldn't have gone fishing if I didn't know how to fish."
Author and activist Courtney Martin shares more in this lovely poem on life, love and our human unpreparedness.... posted on Dec 07 2022, 1,862 reads

I Practice Philosophy as Art
"If we want to understand what kind of society we live in, we have to comprehend what information is. Information has very little currency. It lacks temporal stability, since it lives off the excitement of surprise. Due to its temporal instability, it fragments perception. It throws us into a continuous frenzy of topicality. Hence its impossible to linger on information. That's how it differs from... posted on Dec 06 2022, 2,015 reads

The Middle of Somewhere
At Elizabeth Sproul Ross's Shenandoah Valley farm, "she invites artists and art students to share her rustic studio for weeklong retreats. Her roots here reach back to the 1700s, when Scots-Irish ancestors settled this land. Now paintbrushes replace plows, as it's become a getaway from city life for those seeking new skills. And with each group, this spry 70-plus-year-old still climbs the hill beh... posted on Dec 05 2022, 1,801 reads