(as opposed to the mental operations of the mind), and so the instruction will be inevitably heard as “get out of your mind and into your emotions”—which is, alas, pretty close to 180 degrees from what the instruction is actually saying. Yes, it is certainly true that the heart’s native language is affectivity—perception through deep feelingness. But it may come as a shock to contemporary seekers to learn that the things we nowadays identify with the feeling life—passion, drama, intensity, compelling emotion—are qualities that in the ancient anatomical treatises were associated not with the heart but with the liver! They are signs of agitation... posted on Apr 10 2021 (8,783 reads)

a National Science Foundation grant a few years earlier to recycle steel waste, and as the first Native American to receive such a prestigious grant, he shared that he was feeling pretty cocky. He said that when he first approached the enormous mound of steel waste, his inclination was to think of it as something to be overcome, battled against. Then he told me, “I realized that the waste was not an enemy to be conquered. It was an orphan that had gotten separated from the circle of life. My job was to bring it back to the circle of life.” I was very touched by these words. This concept of waste seemed like a way to recycle damaged, toxic places in the mind as well as in... posted on Apr 26 2021 (4,923 reads)

far into Spring. The crops failed, people starved. At first they burned women as witches as a way to placate the gods. But this did not help, the Winters turned colder, the rivers froze. It makes me wonder how we will react—who will we demonize as a way to assuage our fears? Will we seek refuge in authoritarian regimes, which promise us stability; or populism, nativism, which promise us a voice? I am sure we will find a victim to blame, anything to escape the deep knowing that our way of life is over, that we cannot continue with this story of exploitation and consumerism, this plague that is burning the land. There are stories that destroy us, and stories that sustain us. This S... posted on Aug 19 2021 (6,779 reads)

didn’t expect or desire a real answer. If we got one, it had better be brief, and not too grim or involved. We weren’t up for longwinded or dreary responses. That’s not how the game was played. The pandemic might have altered our customary “How are yous?” a bit. It might have made them less superficial, and more sincere. Those three words definitely mean more to me now than they used to. How about you? As we begin to navigate the waters of postpandemic life (some of us sooner than others), I wonder: Would it be possible for us to move forward more in the spirit of Oliver Sacks? Can we ask each other, with empathy and curiosity, “How are you?&n... posted on Oct 1 2021 (3,900 reads)

I could teach, right? So that's where it started. When you were somewhat immobilized, you were discovering a new capacity for movement -- a movement almost like motionless dancing-- It certainly started out motionless, but I think even more importantly, I was finding that you could refine your awareness. You can get to a more subtle level of your whole being, and that was completely new to me. I began to be interested enough in it that I lost my despair about having lost my previous life, and began to focus on this -- because this seemed really interesting. And then I started to go to bookstores and grab books that might explain this -- books on yoga, books on martial arts- like,... posted on Oct 19 2021 (3,007 reads)

Phillip Ramakers “It’s time to shed our skins, not just confess our sins, it’s time to shed our skins, to feed the hunger within, for the paradise we have lost…” - Kira Kaipainen Nils Kercher and Kira Kaipainen are life partners and unique world musicians who take listeners on multidirectional journeys. Their music simultaneously draws listeners out into the stark realities of our greater world, while also drawing them inward into the dazzling potentials of the human spirit. Theirs is a music that believes deeply in our fundamental interconnection, and the capacity we have to heal together. They... posted on Dec 8 2021 (4,847 reads)

detailed images, and colours reveal a hidden depth, a reflection of a timeless soul, rich with experience, empathy, love and generosity.” —Paul Destrooper, Artistic Director, Ballet Victoria All photographs by Stefan Cremers.  My winter garden is quiet and lovely, with snow piled onto the shrubs and outlining the trees. For me, this is a time for resting and reflection, reading, drawing, and planning next year’s garden. Gardening has always been a part of my life. As a child, I spent summers playing in my grandfather’s stately and formal garden in Rochester, New York, where my great grandfather had managed the Ellwanger and Barry Nursery. Composed o... posted on Dec 9 2021 (6,156 reads)

name is Mícheál ‘Moley’ Ó Súilleabháin. I am a poet from Ireland. These three poems are love letters to presence. That presence we feel when we are close to the source of this life. Gratitude, Wisdom, Determination, and Belief.  All three are excerpted from my poetry book, ‘Early Music’ (Many Rivers Press). The first poem, Turas d’Anam, means ‘journey of your soul’ in the Irish language. This piece is an invitation to grant permission to yourself. To experience a deeper sense of meaning in this life. It reimagines set backs, or conscious retreat, as a strengthening tool. This poem is an invitation to... posted on Dec 16 2021 (7,161 reads)

following piece is excerpted from Your Resonant Self Workbook: From Self-sabotage to Self-care, by Sarah Peyton, WW.Norton, May 25, 2021 The stakes are so high. Self-warmth makes everything better: our health, our immune system, our life decisions, our sense of meaning, our capacity for engagement, our effectiveness, and our intimate connections with others.  But we may have agreements with ourselves, agreements we don’t even know about, to NOT be warm with ourselves. We may have contracts to not like ourselves, to be indifferent, even to hate and be cruel to ourselves. (And others.) Without knowing it, we make these self-agreements in order to leverage... posted on Jan 3 2022 (6,745 reads)

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 (2,602 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 (2,992 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 (3,593 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 (2,173 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 (6,017 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 (46,413 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 (50,796 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 (3,652 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 (25,756 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 (2,325 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 (4,805 reads)