delving into the moment before it would perish forever. I knew she was dying and very close to leaving us. After a long hard struggle over nine years with cancerous peptic ulcer and a range of other complications, my mother had become too fragile to continue her fight. Frail and weak, she nevertheless kept her smile, and her tenacity with which she had brought us up against so many odds showed still. But I could tell she was scared; she didn’t want to die and not only because she loved us all so much. She was someone who enjoyed life and talking with people. She had battled cancerous tumor enough to see all of us married, and held and hugged all her grandchildren during her il... posted on Feb 19 2014 (39,792 reads)

math and science courses. Assigning students to learn material in order to help another—i.e., perhaps to tutor a younger student in math—would improve academic learning too, he argues. But perhaps most importantly, we need to understand how vital our social connections are to our happiness and health. Lieberman points to research that shows having social connection is as important to health outcomes as not smoking. Our experience of pain is lessened by the presence of those we love and our sense of worth is connected to our social standing more than to our monetary wealth. He cautions against working so hard or remaining so isolated that we eschew social ties.  Inst... posted on Feb 24 2014 (20,494 reads)

pure-blood, half-blood, and muggle-born wizards, as well as non-magical people; werewolves forced to conceal their true identities from a culture that shames them; house elves that are enslaved and inherited down through generations; prisoners tortured in Azkaban, the wizard prison; and the use of consolidated media to control public opinion. Most of all, says Slack, Rowling created a world that made "fun of normalcy as an aspiration" and believed that "the weapon we have is love." Just as Hermione Granger started the activist Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare (SPEW) to try to end the slavery of house elves and Harry started Dumbledore's Army to figh... posted on Feb 25 2014 (30,177 reads)

thankful,” writes Robert Emmons, co-director of the GGSC’s Gratitude project. “Counting blessings will be ineffective because grievances will always outnumber gifts.” The antidote to entitlement, argues Emmons, is to see that we did not create ourselves—we were created, if not by evolution, then by God; or if not by God, then by our parents. Likewise, we are never truly self-sufficient. Humans need other people to grow our food and heal our injuries; we need love, and for that we need family, partners, friends, and pets. “Seeing with grateful eyes requires that we see the web of interconnection in which we alternate between being givers and recei... posted on Mar 19 2014 (180,796 reads)

These people were, he argued, the "original affluent society." In the Western tradition of simple living, the place to begin is in ancient Greece, around 500 years before the birth of Christ. Socrates believed that money corrupted our minds and morals, and that we should seek lives of material moderation rather than dousing ourselves with perfume or reclining in the company of courtesans. When the shoeless sage was asked about his frugal lifestyle, he replied that he loved visiting the market "to go and see all the things I am happy without." The philosopher Diogenes—son of a wealthy banker—held similar views, living off alms and making his h... posted on Mar 14 2014 (42,939 reads)

new possibilities in life. "A lot of people are able to use that as the fuel they need to come up with a different perspective on reality," says Kaufman. "What's happened is that their view of the world as a safe place, or as a certain type of place, has been shattered at some point in their life, causing them to go on the periphery and see things in a new, fresh light, and that's very conducive to creativity." They seek out new experiences. Creative people love to expose themselves to new experiences, sensations and states of mind -- and this openness is a significant predictor of creative output. "Openness to experience is consistently the stro... posted on Mar 24 2014 (178,816 reads)

he believed, gave him the freedom to shape his own life by controlling his thoughts. Life may not give you what you want, but it will give you what you need. Aurelius accepted that trials and challenges were an unavoidable part of life, but his belief that life and the universe were fundamentally good helped him to accept the tough stuff. The argument goes like this: Because life as a whole is as good as it can be, the parts of life are as good as they can be, so we should love, or at least accept, every part of life. But Aurelius took it even one step further, arguing that obstacles are actually our greatest opportunities for growth and advancement. They force us to... posted on Mar 29 2014 (105,520 reads)

letting go of past hurts, we can heal not only ourselves, but our families, our communities, and our world. There were so many nights when I, as a young boy, had to watch helplessly as my father verbally and physically abused my mother. I can still recall the smell of alcohol, see the fear in my mother’s eyes, and feel the hopeless despair that comes when we see people we love hurting each other in incomprehensible ways. If I dwell in those memories, I can feel myself wanting to hurt my father back, in the same ways he hurt my mother, and in ways of which I was incapable as a small boy. I see my mother’s face and I see this gentle human being whom I loved so very much a... posted on May 6 2014 (50,175 reads)

us. Here’s my conversation with the very lyrical David Whyte. Welcome, David, to Insights at the Edge. I want to share with you a little bit about what happens behind the scenes here at Sounds True, which is: our copywriters listen to new programs that we’re putting out and they take notes on them and then they write the package copy. And before this conversation, I asked our copywriter Grayson if I could read his notes. And he said, “Yeah, sure. You’re going to love this program, Tami, it completely blew my mind.” And I was like, “Okay. Let me read the notes.” And I’m reading his fourteen pages of detailed notes on What to Remember Wh... posted on Jul 7 2014 (40,172 reads)

make public policy decisions, and think about our personal relationships. […] Our modern conception of human excellence is too often impoverished, cold, and bloodless. Success does not always come from thinking more rigorously or striving harder. In the rest of Trying Not to Try, Slingerland further explores the social and spiritual dimensions of wu-wei, how to better cultivate them in our daily lives, and why spontaneity is central to our ability to trust, play, and love. Complement it with Oliver Burkeman on how over-planning limits our happiness and success and Alan Watts on why living with uncertainty is the secret to a full life. ... posted on Jun 3 2014 (13,883 reads)

little gifts. Victoria: The way we talk about patient care in our society is almost the opposite of what’s actually happening. It’s almost like the less we care in any way for the patient the more people talk about the patient, the “consumer” of health care. What was actually meant by that saying was that caring meant doing the little things for them; it’s the little things that establish that relationship between you and the patient, not some abstract “love for your neighbor.” It’s doing something actual and physical for this neighbor. works: And it seemed like part of what made that possible was seeing other doctors doing it in the open... posted on Oct 8 2014 (22,122 reads)

pills’).” Just as important, this culture of violence can be systematically reversed through interlinked, personal and political action. For Rice, Walli and Boertje-Obed, this process ends with “the transformation of weapons of mass destruction to sustainable life-giving alternatives,” but it starts by modeling a radically different set of relationships with other people wherever they are. What shines out from Rice’s writings is always life over death, love over fear, and joyful subversion instead of the passive acceptance of our circumstances. “Dear sisters and brothers,” she begins her letters to her supporters, “united as we ... posted on Oct 1 2014 (33,828 reads)

of inadequacy, but it comes at a price. When our self-esteem rests on the premise of successfully competing against others, we are always precariously teetering on the edge of losing. Social comparison and competition also foster disconnection by causing us to view others as obstacles to overcome in order to keep our position, mark our territory, and vanquish potential rivals. We ultimately feel more separate from others when the primary goal of our desire for success is to belong and to be loved. It is quite simply impossible to be better than everyone at all times. Yet research shows that when we lose, we tend to feel highly self-critical, adding to our misery. Faced with criticism,... posted on Oct 28 2014 (110,763 reads)

because it has no other calling. It has no other work. […] I am interested in what Seamus Heaney calls the meeting point of hope and history, where what has happened is met by what we make of it. What has happened is met midstream by people who are — among the multitude of things we are — spiritual beings and all that that implies of creativity, imagination, crazy wisdom, ancient wisdom, passionate compassion, selfless courage, and radical reverence for life. And love—for one another absolutely, and that love that rises out of us, for something larger than ourselves, call it what you will. I am interested in the place, the places, where history is met by... posted on Dec 15 2014 (22,996 reads)

wonder.” Besides the simple happiness in this experience, it lifted me above the tangled pressures and worries I was stuck to like a bug on flypaper. Amazement is instant stress relief. It also opens the heart: I couldn’t any longer be even a little exasperated with my wife. Perhaps most deeply, being amazed brings you into the truth of things, into relationship with the inherent mysteries and overwhelming gifts of existence, scaled from the molecular machinery of life to the love and forgiveness in human hearts to the dark matter that glues the universe together. Wow. Really. Wow. How? Opportunities for amazement are all around us. I think back to that lo... posted on Jan 13 2015 (25,517 reads)

yet, self-care is what empowers us to give back to the world, fully and joyfully. Start your practice by taking just a few moments each day to affirm your commitment to eat well and live a healthful life.  Each bite of food contains the life of the sun and the earth. The whole universe is in a piece of bread. —Thich Nhat Hanh I choose well so that I can feel well. —Nathalie W. Herrman Preparing fresh, healthy meals instead of processed food is an act of love toward myself and those I cook for. I live healthfully for myself but also for the ones I love so that they may be empowered to improve their health as well. I’m honest with myself ab... posted on Feb 2 2015 (69,019 reads)

children in highly inflected speech. “Oooh, little one.” [demonstrates] RW: That’s so interesting. GN: It’s instinctive. There’s something there. So the pitched speech, which is the beginning of music, modulates the relationship between the infant and the mother—as do the mother’s gestures. There’s this kind of song and dance which is the infant’s first experience of human relationship. And it’s all one thing. Song and dance and love are one thing. Which is why to me it’s such a sorrow that, with the professionalization of music in this culture, so many people think, “I can’t sing.” Mothers are not sin... posted on Jan 18 2015 (28,277 reads)

have tried to distinguish between lives high on happiness and lives full of meaning. By their definition, happiness is a positive feeling or emotion. We say we are happy when things are going well for us, when we are feeling more positive emotions than negative ones, when we feel satisfied with our lives. The time span of happiness is typically short: a good day, a stellar semester, a great year. A wedding can bring us happiness in a moment or a weekend, for example, because of the fun and love involved, because of the good food and good music and good company. But a wedding can also bring meaning to our lives. More than a balance sheet between positive and negative feelings, meaning... posted on Feb 5 2015 (36,402 reads)

want to wish. She wanted to know how to live life with no regrets. Out of Patti’s vision and sense of urgency, the No Regrets Project was born. Between radiation treatments, spinal surgery and a bucket list trip to Alaska, Patti wrote essays, talked with anyone who would listen, dreamed and created. In the end, she developed five simple, personal practices to help herself live life more fully: be grateful every day, trust – take the risk, courage to be me, choose joy, and love myself & share it. While the phrases may be simple, accomplishing them is not. The development of the No Regrets Project is Patti Pansa’s legacy to all of us.  Be Grateful Every... posted on Mar 4 2015 (48,693 reads)

fabulous, old planet of ours." ~Arne Naess Much more than a simple ecology, ecosophy is a wisdom-spirituality of the earth. ‘The new balance’ is not so much between man and Earth, but between matter and spirit, between spatio-temporality and consciousness. Ecosophy is not simply a ‘science of the earth’ (ecology) and even ‘wisdom on earth,’ but the ‘wisdom of the earth itself’ that occurs when a man knows how to listen with love. ~Raimon Pannikar As conscious observers, we tell each other our realities as stories; as conscious actors, we create our realities. It takes time for the new scientific stories of a co... posted on Feb 26 2015 (22,283 reads)