is a chosen narrative, then new stories, new aesthetics, are also new truths. A century after Rilke extolled the soul-expanding power of difficulty and urged us to “arrange our life according to that principle which counsels us that we must always hold to the difficult,” Hirshfield writes: Difficulty itself may be a path toward concentration — expended effort weaves us into a task, and successful engagement, however laborious, becomes also a labor of love. The work of writing brings replenishment even to the writer dealing with painful subjects or working out formal problems, and there are times when suffering’s only open path is through an ... posted on Sep 6 2016 (10,967 reads)

or an artichoke one by one down to the heart, where, surrounded by yet one more protective choke of thistle, lies the delicious heart that distills the taste of the whole plant. So, I’m there and almost ready to take that last bite of the heart of the fruit. Like most marriages, I guess, we were a mixed bag of personality differences, varied preferences, unexamined childhood traumas, weaknesses and strengths, hopes and passions. I think he and I partnered each other with as much love and courage as we could, making every mistake in the book on a daily basis but trying to learn from them and carry on. We, with our children, were a brave but merry little band most of the time, ... posted on Sep 14 2016 (19,530 reads)

another to experience it.” He reflected how bringing the exhibition to life, the ups and downs of the journey, had been a practice of listening, of trust, of letting go of control and of collaborating in the spirit of friendship and community. As part of Buddhas on Death Row, I reached out to friends and family to mail their reflections and responses to Moyo’s opening of heart. That sharing created powerful ripples, including this note from Moyo: “All this love and belief in me from all these lovely people who love so naturally and purely is having me ask what is the real me? Is it my closed-hearted moments or am I truly an endless river of free-flowing... posted on Sep 21 2016 (11,065 reads)

Eisenstaedt, Children at a Puppet Theatre, Paris, 1963 Each summer I teach creative writing classes at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. It’s a wonderful job for many reasons: my colleagues are uniformly, eccentrically brilliant, I’ve taught at campuses all over the country, from Los Angeles to the U.S. Virgin Islands, and since the program is a sleepaway camp, the mood is always more summer vacation than school-day drudgery. But the real reason I love this job, what makes me cross an ocean and leave my spouse behind for six weeks every year, is my students: my breathtakingly intelligent students, radiating curiosity and teenage awkwardness and de... posted on Sep 28 2016 (33,806 reads)

that this gift is in each of us awaiting discovery: We are disabused of original giftedness in the first half of our lives. Then — if we are awake, aware, and able to admit our loss — we spend the second half trying to recover and reclaim the gift we once possessed. Let Your Life Speak remains an indispensable read. Complement it with philosopher Roman Krznaric on how to find fulfilling work and some thoughts on making a living of doing what you love, then revisit Palmer on the art of inner wholeness. ***** For more inspiration join the Awakin Call this Saturday with Philippe Simonin and his "Dream to Share Dreams". More ... posted on Dec 2 2016 (23,433 reads)

from a word that means to give. To forgive a debt is giving solvency to another—absolving them, pulling them out of debtor’s prison and back into the light of the living. We can also free ourselves from debtors prison. Why not do this? As Charles Dickens tells us, no one ever paid their debts while locked away in debtors prison. We can practice tuning into a frequency outside the prison of the self. We can practice saying “forgiven.” Months after the death of his beloved wife Joy, C.S. Lewis had a vivid sense of her as he took his morning bath. Up until then, he seemed always to be thinking of her absence, of the vast hole her absence left in the world. Real, li... posted on Jan 23 2017 (10,747 reads)

longing is larger and more encompassing than empathy itself. Connection does not require us to feel similarly to each other – it requires us to be ‘real’, emotionally authentic. If you have ever experienced a moment with a friend or partner when you were upset with each other, you spoke frankly with each other and this brought you closer together, then you know exactly what I mean. If we take ownership of our emotions, even being angry with each other can bring us to a deeper love. That ineffable but most fulfilling moment of connection comes from truth, not from agreement. If all we ever offer in dialogue is an empathic response, then perhaps we are not being honest &ndas... posted on May 15 2021 (43,006 reads)

matter what. I have found that so many folks living with cancer are sur­prised by who shows up and who doesn’t. As humans, we crave certainty. Se­curity. We want to know, Why did this happen? Will I be OK? What if there are no answers and no certainty to be found? What if we can’t know? Does that mean peace of mind and heart are no longer possible? Not necessarily. By letting go of what we thought we knew, we just might be able to open ourselves to finding love, support, meaning – and even magic – in the least likely of places. A deeper peace may be found in living the ques­tions, rather than clinging to our old certainty. We can move fo... posted on Feb 15 2017 (13,796 reads)

are deeper: who are you, in your depth, what is the nature of your relationships, are you bold, loving, dependable, consistency? And most of us, including me, would say that the eulogy virtues are the more important of the virtues. But at least in my case, are they the ones that I think about the most? And the answer is no. So I've been thinking about that problem, and a thinker who has helped me think about it is a guy named Joseph Soloveitchik, who was a rabbi who wrote a book called "The Lonely Man Of Faith" in 1965.Soloveitchik said there are two sides of our natures, which he called Adam I and Adam II. ... posted on Mar 12 2017 (49,719 reads)

roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a forest greater. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless. … We have been in training for a dark time such as this, since the day we assented to come to Earth. For many decades, worldwide, souls just like us have been felled and left for dead in so many ways over and over — brought down by naiveté, by lack of love, by suddenly realizing one deadly thing or another, by not realizing something else soon enough, by being ambushed and assaulted by various cultural and personal shocks in the extreme. We all ... posted on Mar 13 2020 (213,601 reads)

medical miracle ignited his passion for music and science which he channeled into his wildly successful 30+ year career as the CEO of the world’s largest and most-awarded audio communications agency, Elias Arts.  It's from this uniquely intuitive and empirical place that he stands against the conventional economic thinking that businesses exist simply to make a profit. Scott’s work is a force for bringing out the very heart and soul of business.  By designing for love in some of the world’s biggest companies, he’s a leading voice for the idea that business success is not the goal, but rather a by-product of offerings that fuel people to expres... posted on Mar 16 2017 (7,922 reads)

freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” --Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning Few books of the last century have had a greater impact on our quest for meaning than Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. This all-time bestseller was written by a Jewish man who had just lost everything in the Holocaust.  When Frankl, emaciated from concentration camps, returned to his beloved Vienna, no one was there to meet him. His mother had been gassed at Auschwitz. His brother had been killed in another camp. His wife, Tilly, had starved to death in the women’s camp at Ber... posted on Apr 14 2017 (57,628 reads)

a structured way. I've also been inspired by Buddhist writing particularly western Buddhist writers. The writings, about interconnectedness and sitting with the question rather than looking for the answer, resonates with me. My sense is that profound interconnectedness, that which is bigger than me I'm a part of and we bow to each other. I don't bow to something above. I was raised Catholic and have rejected that as a very young adult. I decided that the purpose of life was to love and be loved and that was sufficient to motivate the right kind of behavior. Beyond that, I didn't know and I was okay with that. I thought I was an atheist or an agnostic. I didn't know ... posted on May 17 2017 (21,561 reads)

garden, and have a chat with your herbs. This wild world brings us solace, peace and grace. The best- selling book and now movie, The Shack, portrays the Holy Spirit, as a mysterious woman, Sarayu, an ethereal being of mercurial wind, creativity, passion and life force. She is also a gardener! It’s no wonder that Greek teachers moved their classes to the garden for peacefulness and solitude. I, too, look for peace in the garden. My front garden is starting to look a little wild--and I love it. After our brief winter, spring appeared! The rains came...and they came...and the antique roses took it to heart. My apricot colored Perl 'd Or popped out 20 blooms, the Mutabilis held th... posted on Aug 12 2017 (15,889 reads)

and her research is frequently featured in media such as Time, The New York Times, Smithsonian, NPR, and Animal Planet and National Geographic television. She is co-editor of the anthology, Between Species: Celebrating the Dolphin-Human Bond (Sierra Club Books, 2003) and co-author of Dolphin Mysteries: Unlocking the Secrets of Communication (2008, Yale University Press). The MOON: How did you come to work with dolphins? Frohoff: I had several experiences that precipitated my love for dolphins, which led me to make a career of studying them. As a teenager, I was learning to surf in southern California and found myself—along with the other nearby surfers—surroun... posted on Jun 30 2017 (13,329 reads)

December 2016, we held our second Awakin Talks event at a local school auditorium in Mumbai. It brought together communities from our various local Awakin Circles and featured four remarkable speaker. Our last speaker was none other than Sister Lucy.  She moved us far beyond words, despite using a language she doesn't speak fluently. We love you, Sister Lucy! Rahul's Introduction: Sister Lucy, founder of Maher, was born in Kerala. At the age of 12, she moved to Mumbai. When she moved here, she saw the sight that you and I see everyday -- the slums of Dharavi. They had an impact on her that they don't have on you and I, despite of the fact that we see... posted on Jul 1 2017 (11,542 reads)

been creating social change without even having a personal bank account.  In 23 places around the globe, Karma Kitchen restaurant pop-ups invite its diners to pay-forward for the person after them; most recently History Channel produced a viral video, which included the story of a rickshaw driver who similarly unlocked a gift ecology simply by shifting from transaction to trust.  Wisdom Crafts is creating an online “labor of love” store that accepts payments of non-financial wealth.  More broadly, we've written tens of millions of lines of code to build technology for such platforms. The entire ServiceSp... posted on Jul 28 2017 (9,880 reads)

about changing the conversation we are having," says Bond succinctly, "The one we are in right now in most spheres is: 'Who is right and who is wrong?' And what Marshall came up with was, if we change the subject to, 'How can we meet more needs and make this situation work better?' That is the new conversation." Within this framework needs are defined as universal human requirements /values (such as sustenance/trust/understanding/love). They are in that sense inarguable.  "Life is having needs, " says Bond, "What do we call someone without needs? Usually we call them dead." The operating premis... posted on Jul 9 2017 (20,694 reads)

said, “If it was just a case of being positive, the friends in my stage four breast cancer support group would be alive today, because they were the most positive people you met. By telling us to just be and think positive, it makes us feel culpable in our own death, that somehow we weren’t positive enough. We couldn’t think ourselves out of the situation. It stops me from being authentic with myself, with my experience, and being able to be present with the people that I love.” Maria: How do we get unstuck? How do we be authentic with ourselves, and if we encounter someone today who says, “I’m having a really bad day?” I would never dare ... posted on Dec 11 2021 (30,807 reads)

can get a chance to export their produce for bigger benefits. He also urges the urban population to learn the basics of farming and grow as much they can on their rooftops or balconies. This will increase the food security of the nation and thus, the government will help the farmers to export too. Also, it’s only if one grows organically will the entire ecosystem get back into place. “When I started growing organically, it brought back the ecological balance and even elephants loved to stay here. Yes, they are also damaging some tea plants and sometimes my house too, but it’s fine by me. Even they need to survive so I am growing for them too. Why should I be selfish t... posted on Nov 2 2017 (13,753 reads)