Part Five—Quiet Together—we’ll turn to the social kind of silence, exploring practices for getting beyond the noise and finding renewal in shared settings, including our workplaces, at home with our families, and among our friends. Finally, in Part Six—A Society That Honors Silence—we’ll zoom out to questions of public policy and cultural change, imagining what it would mean for our cities, our nations, and even our whole world to reclaim reverence for the wisdom of quiet. In this book, we’ll explore ideas and practices that might help you to become more patient, aware, and even effective in your work, your home life, your management of big... posted on Oct 4 2022 (3,201 reads)

prayers of thanksgiving every morning before rising and every night before lying down to sleep. Others offer thanks throughout the day, such as before meals. Other less frequent special events, such as births, deaths and marriages, may also be heralded by such prayers. When Defoe depicted Robinson Crusoe making thanksgiving a daily part of his island life, he was anticipating findings in social science and medicine that would not appear for hundreds of years. Yet he was also reflecting the wisdom of religious and philosophical traditions that extend back thousands of years. Gratitude is one of the healthiest and most nourishing of all states of mind, and those who adopt it as a habit ar... posted on Nov 13 2022 (4,987 reads)

warns of the "flaming sword" of our fight or flight reactions. Abiding in a foundation Swaraj and Satyagraha, however, a Heartivist is ready for Rev. Howard Thurman's bold new proposition: "Do not ask what the world needs. Go out and do what makes you come alive, because what the world needs most are people who have come alive." That what the world needs most are people who can wager their base impulses and salt-doll identities for the opportunity to be guided by wisdom of a benevolent Soul Force. The most influential figure in Howard Thurman’s life was his grandmother, and this clip shares more about her invocation of such a Soul Force that transcend... posted on Feb 2 2023 (8,889 reads)

informal care to elders. In Seattle, there's a great example -- a senior center called the Mount. The unique thing about this place is that they put a nursery right in the senior center! It allows for intergenerational learning. Now if you think about it, that's a really brilliant idea because both seniors and toddlers have a lot of time capital. You put them together and it allows for a lot of different exchange of wealth. Seniors have stories; they have experience; they have wisdom. Kids have curiosity, energy, and enthusiasm. And bringing those resources together allows for so much new value to be created. Another type of capital is community. We think of contrib... posted on Apr 19 2016 (51,407 reads)

from it. He will draw heavily on this model in his presentation; it is just here, in my estimate, that the book’s most original and helpful contributions lie. But Teasdale is also a committed spiritual seeker (I am honored but a bit embarrassed that he counts himself as one of my students), and his decades of inner work on both Eastern and Western spiritual paths bear fruit in this book’s wise, accessible, and kindly demeanor. It is itself his “Exhibit A” of the wisdom transformation he will gently lay before us here.   His underlying thesis may at first sound like simply a rebooting of the old “left-brain/right brain” dichotomy, populariz... posted on Mar 13 2023 (3,424 reads)

home here… The friend is like wax in the rays that fall from our own hearts. My friend does not take my word for anything, but he takes me. He trusts me as I trust myself. We only need to be as true to others as we are to ourselves that there may be ground enough for friendship. Art by Sophie Blackall from Things to Look Forward to Complement these fragments from The Journal of Henry David Thoreau — a biblical kind of book, replete with his deep-souled wisdom on how to see more clearly, the myth of productivity, the greatest gift of growing old, the sacredness of public libraries, the creative benefits of keeping a diary, an... posted on Mar 27 2023 (5,481 reads)

Wonder in an Anxious Age (public library) — a shimmering chronicle of her own quest for “a better way to walk through this life,” a way that grants us “the ability to sense magic in the everyday, to channel it through our minds and bodies, to be sustained by it.” Art by Dorothy Lathrop, 1922. (Available as a print and as stationery cards.) May — who has written enchantingly about wintering, resilience, and the wisdom of sadness — reaches for the other side of that coma of the soul: This life I have made is too small. It doesn’t allow enough in: enough ideas, enough beliefs, enough enco... posted on Apr 25 2023 (3,798 reads)

Sit,” because they're not listening to the words, they're listening to your tone. So yes, play, experiment, try them. Aryae: Is there a particular voice which is alpha? Barbara: Earth, Aryae: Earth.  Barbara: My animal talking to your animal. Aryae: Wow. David who asked that question further says, “Thank you very much for bringing up the value of singing and group harmony; this is marvelous. In Lebanon we need every bit of wisdom to get people together.” Barbara: Yes, yes. Barbara: I have a new friend named Micah Hendler. He'd be a great guest for you all who had a chorus in Jerusalem, made up ... posted on Apr 28 2023 (2,535 reads)

television ever did. The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are. So make up your own rules. Someone asked me recently how to do something she thought was going to be difficult, in this case recording an audio book, and I suggested she pretend that she was someone who could do it. Not pretend to do it, but pretend she was someone who could. She put up a notice to this effect on the studio wall, and she said it helped. So be wise, because the world needs more wisdom, and if you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would. And now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fanta... posted on May 21 2023 (4,502 reads)

are well-named. Derived from the Greek, the word means to sparkle. Like many things Greek, it can be traced back to a beautiful nymph. Beautiful Greek nymphs fall neatly into two categories — the be-sought, and the besotted. Amaryllis was besotted– with a disinterested shepherd. She turns, as the spurned in Greek legends often do, to the Oracle of Delphi– that dispenser of non-linear advice, who excels at keeping things interesting. Oracular wisdom suggests Amaryllis adopt a 30-day regimen of piercing her heart with a golden arrow while standing at the cottage door of her crush. She complies, and on the final day of this rather risky... posted on Jun 3 2023 (3,580 reads)

Tippett, host:It has ever and always been true, as David Whyte reminds us, that so much of human experience is a conversation between loss and celebration. This “conversational nature of reality” — indeed, this drama of vitality  — is something we have all been shown, willing or unwilling, in these years. Many have turned to David Whyte for his gorgeous, life-giving poetry and his wisdom at the interplay of theology, psychology, and leadership, his insistence on the power of a “beautiful question” and of everyday words amidst the drama of work, as well as the drama of life. The notion of “frontier” — inner frontiers, oute... posted on Jun 18 2023 (4,188 reads)

all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy — to be a man who is brisk about his food and his work,” Kierkegaard admonished in 1843 as he contemplated our greatest source of unhappiness. It’s a sobering sentiment against the backdrop of modern life, where the cult of busyness and productivity plays out as the chief drama of our existence — a drama we persistently lament as singular to our time. We reflexively blame on the Internet our corrosive compulsion for doing at the cost of being, forgetting that every technology is a symptom and not, or at least not at first, a cause of our desires and pathologies. Our intentions are th... posted on Jul 2 2023 (5,927 reads)

and annihilating. So I could grasp something during that time of confusion, sadness, and desolation; memories came flooding over me. These memories felt like hormones that had some function for the autonomic systems of my soul. Memories arose like chemicals, memories like medicine, a pharmacy of memories stored deep within me, waiting for an emergency alarm. The memories that came up were ones of childhood, of love, of holding hands, or eating together, of learning, trust, promises, wisdom, things left beautifully unspoken. I quickly realized that these memories were not random reminiscing or seductive sentimentality. They were part of an ancient, evolved healing mechanism. ... posted on Jul 18 2023 (4,835 reads)

Cloud Never Dies weaves together original film and photographic archives, telling the story of a humble young Vietnamese monk and poet whose wisdom and compassion were forged in the suffering of war. In the face of violence, fear, and discrimination, Thich Nhat Hanh’s courageous path of engaged action reveals how insight, community, and a deep aspiration to serve the world can offer hope, peace, and a way forward for millions. The film’s release on April 2, 2022 coincides with the release by his students of an Open Letter calling for peace and an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine: https://plumvillage.org/articles/an-o... Content Warning: This film includes a few b... posted on Jul 29 2023 (4,602 reads)

Such acceptance, Kurtz wrote, “was one of Dowling’s great gifts to Bill Wilson and through him to Alcoholics Anonymous.” The divinization of thirst is a classic Christian message. Father Ed would have known it from Augustine’s words to God at the start of his Confessions: You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” When Bill asked Father Ed’s opinion on another issue, the priest again drew upon ancient wisdom: Bill spoke of his own difficulties in prayer and his continuing problem in conveying the meaning of his “spiritual experience” to alcoholics. There was a move afoot within the f... posted on Aug 2 2023 (6,389 reads)

misty waterfalls, and formidable geysers for the promise of water’s endowed healing properties. In almost every religion, water has the ability to absorb prayers and bestow blessings. “Water holds memories since time began and has a living spirit just like we do,” says Chenoa Egawa, a member of the Lummi tribe and a ceremonial leader, storyteller, artist, and environmental activist who is dedicated to bringing healing to our Mother Earth.  Our bodies’ innate wisdom understands how essential water is, as it makes up more than half of our body weight. “Water has the ability to cleanse itself, and because we are largely made of water, we are a part of ... posted on Aug 14 2023 (2,443 reads)

This was true democracy in action. Local community. It’s the sort of thing that makes me giddy and grateful.  Afterwards—speaking of philosophers—I decided to visit my friend Aristotle, who lives in a house on a hill at the west end of the ranch. We sampled various kinds of cookies and sipped decaffeinated green tea, and we vented, kvetched, and rhapsodized, as we are prone to do. Mostly kvetched, if the truth be told. Aristotle just turned ninety, and I seek the wisdom of an elder from him, but he is too modest to admit he has acquired any. Somehow I found myself telling him a little about the sad history of my family of origin, how noisy my ghosts can be, an... posted on Sep 24 2023 (3,064 reads)

about the bigger picture or who or what is harmed. How might our art help people move away from this left dominance? At these early stages of our collaboration, I illustrated Daniel Siegel’s (2008) "River of Integration" for Helen in my studio. Using this visual reference we were able to see how being mindful and present can balance the right/left hemisphere, creating a greater capacity to experience compassion and empathy. We both sensed these ideas held seeds of wisdom about how to approach our work. As I deepened my understanding of IPNB principles by teaching them to Helen, she became a student, listened, took notes and asked lots of questions. We pondered ... posted on Sep 26 2023 (3,211 reads)

family felt he had special gifts. I called him my interdimensional DJ. He loved music! He'd play his radio while he's watching TV. I remember this one time, I was in my mom's kitchen. I was in my early 20s. And I was bemoaning the fact that, “I don't have any money.” Cue the interdimensional DJ, and he starts playing, “Take this job and shove it. I ain't working here no more.” I'm like, yeah, exactly. I should shove my job. So he just had this wisdom about him and this cleverness. The night of the fire, I retreated to my mom's house, and I was laying on the sofa and kind of going in and out of these crazy dreams. At one point, he turned... posted on Nov 20 2023 (2,587 reads)

while back, Pavi and I had the privilege of hosting an Awakin Call with David George Haskell. I was recently reviewing this beautiful call, rich with insights and poetic wisdom, and wanted to draw out some of his excerpts from it. David George Haskell is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist whose work is located at the throbbing intersection between science and poetry. He integrates rigorous research with a deeply contemplative immersive approach. His subjects are unexpected and unexpectedly revelatory. His widely acclaimed book, the Pulitzer finalist The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature (Viking 2012), chronicles the story of the universe in one squ... posted on Jan 7 2024 (5,089 reads)