of Pádraig Ó Tuama, an extraordinary healer in our world of fracture. He leads the Corrymeela community of Northern Ireland, a place that has offered literal refuge and seeds of new life in and since the violent fracture that defined that country until the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. But Pádraig and Corrymeela extend a quiet, generative force far beyond their northern coast. They’ve learned what they know the hard way, yet they carry it with an infectious, calming joy. “Over cups of tea, and over the experience of bringing people together,” as Padraig describes it, it does become possible “to talk with each other and be in the same room with t... posted on May 6 2017 (9,593 reads)

and the way each individual life is its own way in to this question is, “What does it mean to be human?” And I also know every one of our sense of that is constantly evolving across life. But there’s some things you’ve said about writing that I just find so intriguing. I feel like the way you’ve written about them is how writing forms you as a human being. Like you wrote somewhere, “It’s an endeavor I grew into and now provides a solid deep joy. Perhaps this joy from writing is seated comfortably in my core because of the life lesson it’s provided. Writing has shown me what happens with patience.” And some place else, you wro... posted on May 12 2017 (6,164 reads)

and family can play with him, because I simply cherish these moments. There can be a lot of judgment about moms, about their decision to stay at home or go back to work, or about the lack of a decision to be made and how they just have to make it work. Moms often have to wear two hats, they often have impossible and endless jobs to do, and they can often feel like they’re doing a bad job at both. This video honors all of those decisions and non-decisions, honors the strength and love and joy that mothers have in the face of impossible and endless tasks, and inspires us all to be a bit more like the amazing mothers that we all know. Q: Can you share a story about how you've been... posted on May 14 2017 (13,489 reads)

a 25-hour day, and our circadian cycles are 24 hours long, so if we do make it there and live there, it’s like crossing three time zones every two days. They figured out a way to zap you with certain wavelengths of light at certain times of day that will actually give you a 25th hour of the day. “Time can go faster, or slower, depending on what drug [a person takes] or what they’re doing—meditation, ecstatic experience, entertainment experiences—there’s a joy in it. The disconnection from the clock itself is exhilarating, whichever way it happened.” Of course you’re spending that hour of the day being exposed to peculiar wavelengths of l... posted on May 23 2017 (17,630 reads)

is clear that different musical rhythms evoke radically different moods. There are rhythms of control, as with marching music; rhythms of exploration as with jazz; rhythms of sadness as with the blues; and rhythms of devotion as with gospel. Each style of music evokes a different set of emotions, memories, and spiritual or energetic responses. Can we then use rhythms of speech to elicit sadness, anger, or fear? Can we counter these dusky tempos with lighter, upbeat rhythms in order to elicit joy, affection, or courage? What are the qualities of vibration that impart these special, substantive meanings? What, for example, is the vibratory quality of a sincere apology as opposed to an insin... posted on May 24 2017 (8,496 reads)

rewards weren’t satisfying me. It wasn’t enough. So I explored other avenues, and one of them was service. Helping other people and the community, without any personal agenda. Right in the heart of Silicon Valley, we started an organization called ServiceSpace that initially built websites for nonprofits and eventually manifested a wide array of other projects. As far as motivations go, this kind of service for me was partly about extrinsic impact and partly about intrinsic joy. I enjoyed it more, but it got me curious about what lay further on the intrinsic end of the spectrum. That’s what got me to pursue stillness. I noticed that the quieter my mind became, t... posted on Aug 17 2017 (21,380 reads)

those things.      Now, maybe 17 years later, it's an established foundation and it's making a contribution. From this perspective now I can say, I still am a personality born with all kinds of issues around money. I was born into a situation that grew into this abundance of money. Then I took the step and some part of me is happy that that money is behind me in some bank. I feel it’s just so important and, even though it still brings me issues, there's joy that it’s doing what it's doing, and that it's contributing to such an evening where we're talking about this question. I’m glad, if not comfortable, to be part of the beau... posted on Oct 2 2017 (10,644 reads)

others. And that has nothing to do with age, but when you do get to be of a certain age where you are not involved in earning a daily bread, you can begin thinking about how you can help others. And having the constructive aging program in nursing homes, and community centers, and VA hospitals means that there is an unlimited amount of good that people can do if they want to get involved. It doesn’t require very much time -we’re talking about an hour and a half, and it brings such joy into people’s lives to know that they are being considered and cared about. Our first lesson, now understand we have 1200 topics, is on happiness and the power of a smile. That also happens ... posted on Nov 1 2017 (8,028 reads)

and wonder to all manner of things. Inspired by this experience, we, at A Network for Grateful Living (gratefulness.org), extended an invitation to our community to submit odes to “ordinary things.” The response was happy and immediate. Our inbox steadily filled with poems celebrating weeds, streetlights, shoes and crickets. There were love letters to a blender bottle, an acorn, slippers, an iPad – even to the veins on the top of someone’s feet! This glimpse into joy elicited by simple things has been a true gift and we are grateful to each one of the authors who expressed their adoration in a buoyantly broad range of styles and focus. In order to refine th... posted on Sep 24 2018 (9,605 reads)

because it is all-powerful. But why see death as a hangman when it is truer to see it as a harvester leveling the earth with its scythe? Oddly, we take hope from the seasons — the rebirth of spring after the death of winter — or from the rising and setting of the sun. But no spring, no dawn beyond death, has ever been proven. Death is an endless night so awful to contemplate that it can make us love life and value it with such passion that it may be the ultimate cause of all joy and all art. G by David Hockney Seamus Heaney contributes a poem for G — an ode to language itself, the riverine fluidity and richness of it: Guh. Guh. Like breath being sh... posted on Dec 16 2017 (6,915 reads)

and it just tickled me to no end. I really kept trying to imagine the curator, this child, maintaining and following this. And there's so many more pieces around this, from how it brought others there--or, I attended a workshop in July and was given a little stone with the word courage on it, and I wanted to leave that there. Yeah, there are neighborhood treasures for us if we develop the eyesight to find them. Anne: Oh, thank you, Andy. I can imagine the child who created this, and the joy of seeing what's taken and what's added. I can imagine a daily ritual of visiting the garden too. Andy: I took Benson there Monday. Seattle has had a pretty rainless summer, so I notice... posted on Apr 7 2019 (7,395 reads)

aspirations can lead to mutual growth and unprecedented emotional satisfaction, or instability and deep dissatisfaction. How can we make marriage work? In addition to surveying the history of marriage, Finkel pulls from research to offer advice to modern couples wanting a fulfilling relationship. He suggests learning to lower expectations as needed, spending more time together communicating and playing, and “love-hacking” the relationship by infusing more touch, gratitude, and joy into it. His book is full of useful tips for making your marriage a happier, longer-lasting one. Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body, by Daniel Gol... posted on Nov 27 2018 (14,748 reads)

situations. She has co-authored several Verbal First Aid books with Acosta, including The Worst Is Over: What to Say When Every Moment Counts, which the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health called “the ‘bible’ for crisis communication.” In 2017, Prager published a different kind of book, What the Dolphin Said, about her journey to understand the non-verbal communication dolphins use to bring healing, comfort, and indeed, joy, to children and adults with all kinds of disabilities, as well as to able-bodied divers, sailors, surfers, and others who encounter them in the ocean. As she became more familiar with the dolphin... posted on Mar 28 2018 (16,799 reads)

intimate sphere. It gives rise to compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and empathy, and thus informs how we treat others and how we act in the larger world. ~ Kristi Nelson The benefits of gratitude range from deeper sleep and better health to higher self-esteem and enhanced stress resilience. Gratitude has also been shown to enhance our relationships. And, if that’s not enough, gratitude makes us happier. As Brother David Steindl-Rast writes, “The root of joy is gratefulness … For it is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” Kripalu presenter Kristi Nelson has experienced this truth firsthan... posted on Oct 17 2018 (22,154 reads)

speak at community and senior centers. He has also performed on Dr. Bill Thomas’ Second Wind Tour and Age of Disruption Tour, a series of performances designed to engage communities who are building new and vastly more rewarding visions of aging. The spirit of interconnectedness, generosity, hope, and love that infuses the work of MWH epitomizes grateful living. MWH creates a vital space for people to be with and move beyond trauma and pain in a way that cultivates wonder, joy, and community. Mulondo tells us more about the inspiring work of MWH. What sparked the founding of Musicians for World Harmony? In 1988, I was invited by a man by the name of Glenn Ivers to... posted on Oct 12 2018 (6,623 reads)

Yeah, so my wife Christy, I just feel so grateful that I get to do life with her. We've been married for a little over two years. She is patient, kind, and generous without even knowing she's generous.  She runs a flower shop called ‘Love Always’. It was named in honor of a great grandmother who used to sign her letters ‘Love always, grandma.’ Her grandma did that and her mom did that. Christy happens to sell flowers, but her pursuit is to spread love and joy in our community. So her team often goes the extra mile.  They give a little bit more than necessary, to spread love and joy through floral design. And it's working. I feel like my... posted on Jan 2 2019 (3,193 reads)

I explain the exercise to them and sit back. I’m not teaching, but they bloom like flowers! The inmates are our brothers and sisters.  And they are so talented, so full of hope, and generosity. It is a blessing to be with them. I receive way more than I give. The Theater Arts classes, and College Guild are the bright spots of hope and beauty in our prison system. You can see in a human being’s face—you can even see it in a dog—when the face changes, and joy begins to appear.  I was watching them, thinking, “This is what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to show up and then this grace is going to pass through them.”  At th... posted on Feb 23 2019 (7,655 reads)

of which is the closure of the dark psychic life—can help us understand how, in our modern comings and goings, happiness is so easily fetishized, so passionately pursued, and yet so defiantly in short supply.             A friend of mine, Charles Eisenstein—whose son Cary you once played with in New York when you were in your second year—told me a story of a woman he met who radiated a heart-warming and magnetic joy. He went on the prowl, trying to sniff out a story. He asked her: “Why are you so happy?” The woman replied: “Because I know how to cry.”      &... posted on Mar 21 2019 (6,842 reads)

with each of us taking turns beginning a poem and alternating lines. We sent daily e-mails to each other which included our blossoming collaborative poems. Whenever one of us felt a poem was finished (usually Aaron), we would tell the other, and then a new poem would begin. This book is a compilation of those poems and the experiences we had while creating them. My hope is that it will help others who have suffered strokes or other life changing events to know that old practices can bring new joy and hope and help us to connect and reconnect with those we love.  It is meant as a testament to the power of words and language in healing, not only physical healing, but emotional, psycholo... posted on Jun 29 2019 (9,110 reads)

a positive difference. We find deep equanimity in activism itself. Grief as Gateway Grief is not weakness—it is a form of moral intelligence and even wisdom. It takes us through a necessary gateway. It took me decades to fully appreciate how holy it is. I have learned from a whole series of “dark night” journeys dating back to the 20th century. But then, in 2016, the gates of grief swung open more widely than ever before. I had for so long lived such a blessed and joyous existence, I was a bit unprepared. But for me 2016 was not just an election year with all the shock many of us felt about the outcome; it was also a year of an alarming series of record high gl... posted on Feb 3 2020 (8,656 reads)