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 (7,455 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 (14,801 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 (16,883 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 (22,403 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 (6,658 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 (3,221 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 (7,700 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 (6,957 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 (9,157 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 (8,721 reads)

is an excerpt from 'Love Letters from La Pineta' Introduction Writing has served as a source of healing for me twice in my life when it appeared that the bottom had fallen out of my world. Both times writing was of great comfort, taking a different form each time. First it was in the form of simple poems written in tandem through email with my son Aaron Jackson, who lived 3,000 miles away in Los Angeles at the time. Our shared writing helped me to recover my use of language and joy in life after a near death experience in the form of a brain aneurysm. The second time writing helped me to heal was through letters written to my beloved husband of 38 years after his death (he b... posted on Feb 14 2020 (4,701 reads)

of others. So too can leaning into the questions that surface the most essential aspects of our humanity: What is your pain? What do you fear? What are your hopes for your life and the lives of those you love? Listening with the intent to hear through the ears of another creates the pathway to remembering the truth of our shared being as part of the web of life.  So I remember with the intent to act. I remember that you are of me, and I am of you; that your pain is my pain as your joy is my joy. I remember the vast range of suffering that afflicted the world before the Covid-19 pandemic and that will continue to after. I remember the victims of war, oppression, disease, famine,... posted on Nov 16 2020 (6,230 reads)

together in this too muchness does not make it manageable, it does not magically make it something we can handle. But I believe it transforms us. Ross Gay speaks to this truth in his Book of Delights when he wonders aloud: “What if we joined our wildernesses together?” He rehearses all manner of wilderness, every shape of loss and grief, the theme of this past year, and then he keeps asking: “What if we joined our sorrows, I’m saying. I’m saying: What if that is joy?” The joining happens not just with people who have survived a similar loss, though that familiarity can bring a particular kind of comfort. In the first year after my son’s death, ... posted on Mar 10 2021 (6,081 reads)

This is like that. Just start doing something a little bit to extend yourself to others, to recognize others. And then, interestingly now, the research is quite powerful. It’s not only healing for them; they’re more likely to recognize you. And I sometimes refer to some aspects that are called bridging. So, we can become bridgers, and the heart of it is empathetic and compassionate listening. Paying attention to others. Paying attention to the Earth. One of my happiest, or most joyous moments on the planet was spending an hour and 15 minutes watching a spider spin a web. I don’t know if that spider was joyous that I was… TS: Possibly. jp: ... posted on Aug 31 2021 (3,378 reads)

and “grief.” But are they the same?   Grief is deep sorrow, usually in response to loss. Grief and anger are intricately linked; anger may be one stage of the grieving process.  Having attended several grief rituals, I learned from Francis that many indigenous cultures don’t equate grief with suffering. Grief is not a problem to be solved, he explained, but a human experience to be witnessed. He told a story about an elder-woman whose countenance radiated joy. Francis asked her what her secret was. “I’m joyful because I cry a lot.”  The act of grieving, in their eyes, isn’t optional. It’s a necessary release. Just ... posted on Oct 7 2021 (12,091 reads)

was the last time you were completely and joyfully astonished? What was your last amazing surprise? How often do you feel filled to the brim with “yes?” In the midst of a growing tide of chaos and anxiety, many of us retreat into the comfort of predictability.  Routines turn into ruts. The miracles of our days pass by uncherished. Surprise rarely pays us a call. Or if it does, we don’t bother to answer the door. I saw the power of astonishment beautifully displayed on a postcard-perfect summer afternoon on a Minneapolis lake. I am shooting a music video for my song “Yes,” along with two friends.  While they trail me in an... posted on Oct 13 2021 (7,452 reads)

okay. It’s just like that other kid said: you’re stronger than you know.’ “I felt so connected to that child. “I think we both felt seen. “My favorite lines of Charlotte’s Web, the lines that always make me cry, are toward the end of the book. They go like this: ‘These autumn days will shorten and grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and fall. Christmas will come, then the snows of winter. You will live to enjoy the beauty of the frozen world, for you mean a great deal to Zuckerman and he will not harm you, ever. Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song spa... posted on Mar 30 2022 (4,333 reads)

me, the first to rejoice at my scrambling into the open was my grandmother. If not for her unequivocal love, I might never have the courage to express myself at all. And, after all, isn’t art in all its forms the beautiful trail of our all-too-human attempts to say, again and again, I Am Here. “It is important to note that being seen enables us to claim our lives, and then it becomes possible to pass the gift on to others. But just as important as bearing witness is the joy with which these Bushmen proclaim what they see. It is the joy of first seeing and first knowing. This is a gift of love. “In a culture that erases its humanity, that keeps the act of inn... posted on Oct 5 2022 (4,728 reads)

a purple meadow quiver. Get still. Pet trail dogs. Buy the hat. Run out of gas. Befriend strangers. Knight yourself every morning for your newborn courage. Give grief her own lullaby. Drink whiskey beside a hundred-year-old cactus. Honor everything. Pray to something unnameable. Fall for someone impractical. Reacquaint yourself with desire and all her slender hands. Bear beauty for as long as you are able, and if you spot a sunning warbler glowing like a prism, remind yourself – joy is not a trick. - J. Sullivan  I didn’t write for nearly 8 years. Well, to be fair, I did write email campaigns and landing pages and flashy paragraphs called brand narrative... posted on Jul 6 2023 (6,538 reads)

The color combination would have been familiar to Father Ed; it was like that of the candy-striped silk shirt he wore when he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Florissant—which he last saw being used by a Jesuit brother to wipe the floors. Ever since, this shirt had symbolized for him everything he gave up in order to share in the poverty of Christ. Now, twenty-one years later, God was giving him back the colors that had been missing from his life, in a way that would bring him more joy than he could have ever imagined. “Then,” Bill said as he recalled that moment, balanced precariously upon his cane, [Father Ed] came into the room, carrying a battered black hat... posted on Aug 2 2023 (6,304 reads)