It is also a call for grief, outrage and humility amongst practitioners; an invitation to create emerging, embodied cultures; the opening of spaces for spiritual and political practice as on-going praxis; the reimagining of community-building amongst those working within and affected by this growing and powerful sector of philanthropy; and a provocation to become contextually relevant beings in troubled times.  Although the etymology of the term philanthropy simply means “the love of humanity”, it has come to refer to an industry of non-governmental organisations that formally provide grants, ostensibly for public benefit. Much of the focus of this book is on institu... posted on Sep 20 2022 (4,563 reads)

I was growing up, my mama made up songs for everything.  Potty training? Sing about it.  Your heart’s deepest longing? In song.  I learned: like birds, we sing.  Simple plain,  because we’re alive.  For me Song is a protection mantle, a wise friend, a presence meditation, a comic relief.  Song anchors us in our breathing bodies, resonant chambers.  Song lives in the crosshairs of Right Here + Right Now. Turns out there’s an upwelling of folks who need to sing like we need to breathe.  We are finding each other and reclaiming our voices as a pathway to Belonging. We  bask in the pleasure of harmony and the power of ... posted on Sep 28 2022 (5,525 reads)

and reward, encouraging people to perform tasks even if chronically stressful, under circumstances they might naturally want to avoid. “My own workaholism as a physician earned me much respect, gratitude, remuneration, and status in the world, even as it undermined my mental health and my family’s emotional balance,” he continues. “And why was I a workaholic? Because, stemming from my early experiences, I needed to be needed, wanted, and admired as a substitute for love. I never consciously decided to be driven that way, and yet it ‘worked’ all too well for me in the social and professional realms.” Dr. Gabor Maté recently spoke with ... posted on Oct 2 2022 (6,154 reads)

delight. People who had been pretending for the past hour not to notice each other’s existence were suddenly grinning at each other like, is this guy serious? At the next stop, just as promised, the driver reached out his hand, palm up, and waited. One by one, all the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mimed the gesture of dropping something into his palm. Some people laughed as they did this, some teared up but everyone did it. The driver repeated the same lovely ritual at the next stop, too. And the next. All the way to the river. We live in a hard world, my friends. Sometimes it is extra difficult to be a human being. Sometimes you have a bad day. ... posted on Nov 16 2022 (13,978 reads)

gone/ is not quite gone, but lingers./ Not the language, but the bones / of the language.  Not the beloved, / but the dark bed the beloved makes / inside our bodies."  -- Danusha Laméris Danusha Laméris’s poems have been called “wise, direct, and fearless” (American poet Dorianne Laux). She began writing poetry, as she believes many people do, from a place of heartbreak, and not knowing what to do with it. Her first book of poems, The Moons of August (Autumn House, 2014), came on the heels of a rapid succession of deep losses in her early 30s. “I’ve buried a lover, a brother, a son,” she ... posted on Nov 29 2022 (2,864 reads)

I want to talk about the meaning of words, how we define them and how they, almost as revenge, define us. The English language is a magnificent sponge. I love the English language. I'm glad that I speak it. But for all that, it has a lot of holes. In Greek, there's a word, "lachesism" which is the hunger for disaster. You know, when you see a thunderstorm on the horizon and you just find yourself rooting for the storm. In Mandarin, they have a word "yù yī" -- I'm not pronouncing that correctly -- which means the longing to feel intensely again the way you did when you were a ... posted on Dec 10 2022 (5,865 reads)

the trailblazing composer Julia Perry wrote, “has a unifying effect on the peoples of the world, because they all understand and love it… And when they find themselves enjoying and loving the same music, they find themselves loving one another.” But there is something beyond humanistic ideology in this elemental truth — something woven into the very structure and sensorium of our bodies; as the great neurologist Oliver Sacks observed, “music can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation.” Psychologist Dacher Keltner examines what that unmediated something is and how it pierces us in a portion of his altog... posted on Jan 16 2023 (3,675 reads)

had enjoyed all that noise and human celebration of the war’s end. They are not afraid of us. They coexist with us, hiding in their nettle fortresses, waiting for the right moment to sing. We honor their sound by calling it a song, by deciding it to be something worth taking seriously as music and finding a way to join in. I say this again and again, a refrain in and of itself. The same simple message, one easy way to make nature matter. Listen to it. Don’t sit passively, but love it enough to want to play along. It’s got room for you. Trailer for Nightingales in Berlin, a feature documentary directed by Ville Tanttu, featuring David Rothenberg. For more i... posted on Feb 21 2023 (2,584 reads)

biomusic. Biomusic: it’s the voices of birds. It's the voices of whales. It’s the sound of leaves and trees in the wind. It’s the sound of the human heartbeat. There’s something that happens. Did you ever listen to a form of music that you thought was strange? After a little while longer you listen to it some more— its less strange. Over time it becomes familiar. Over time, you might actually look forward to it. Who knows? Eventually you might actually love it. So when Plato said beware of the change to a strange form of music— because society changes? Well when I started listening to this strange form of music something happened. I cha... posted on Feb 27 2023 (2,123 reads)

or grass- or pasture-raised meats and eggs and fatty fish Fiber Phytonutrients Micronutrients (e.g., vitamin D, zinc, magnesium, B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids) Optimal hormone levels (supported by healthy lifestyle or bio identical hormone replacement) Adequate and ideal light exposure at the right times of day Optimal hydration Clean air Exercise and movement Restorative practices (yoga, meditation, breath work) Sleep and health circadian rhythms Community, love, and belonging Meaning and purpose By adding the good stuff and removing the bad, you activate your body’s natural healing systems, its innate intelligence that is designed to cr... posted on Mar 2 2023 (4,379 reads)

anger, and even outrage can lead not only to burnout, but to a fixation on the externals of the problem. The attention of the activist can get trapped in the field of action and disconnected from the nurturance of being itself. Likewise the challenge for the spiritual seeker is to avoid becoming self-absorbed. As the Dalai Lama has pointed out, it is not enough to meditate and to develop compassion for others, one must act. Robust action can be surrendered to the highest principles of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation as Gandhi and others have demonstrated. These exemplars of higher consciousness have paved the way for a more universal shift in human consciousness. To stand in ... posted on Mar 3 2023 (2,337 reads)

longing is itself the only real raw material of friendship — only by surrendering to it, with all the vulnerability this demands of us, do we become receptive to the longing of others, the mutual yearning for connection that is shared heartbeat of humanity. Thoreau quietly intuits this equivalence, so that when he does connect, when he does feel the warm glow of friendship envelop him, it is nothing less than an exultation: Ah, my friends, I know you better than you think, and love you better, too. Illustration by Maurice Sendak from a vintage ode to friendship by Janice May Udry At only twenty-four, Thoreau had arrived at a foundational fact of livi... posted on Mar 27 2023 (5,497 reads)

control that leads to anxiety problems, release the self-criticism that leads to apathy and depression, and remain present with their vulnerability and benefit from the healthy power of emotion. And this is something you can learn to do, too. How to recognize unrest We are always vulnerable, with limited control over the things that matter to us. Maybe you want your brother to quit drinking or your kids to get along or your boss to stop being so critical, or you want to protect those you love from harm or you want an end to world hunger and climate change, or you want this magical moment where everyone is all together at Thanksgiving feeling so close and connected to last forever. Whe... posted on Apr 5 2023 (6,151 reads)

it truly lifted me up.  I discovered that my deep need for affirmation turned out to be the engine under everything. It determined the triggers I had resonated with, how I had perceived the world around me, the feelings I suppressed and how I had responded. I had outsourced what I neglected to own up to.  In the people around you, you meet yourself During this period, I met countless entrepreneurs and professionals who similarly had outsourced their pain; to their loved ones, friends, co workers, partners, even to the way they build their businesses.  In particular, I saw how much loss and waste was created by ignoring their core pain. In them I met ... posted on Apr 9 2023 (3,390 reads)

existential problems — loneliness, misery, grief, alienation — “with no inkling of insight into the person’s primary human responsibility for a commitment to sustain and nourish himself.” Lying fallow is how we begin to nourish ourselves, how we begin to take responsibility for ourselves as transient miracles of aliveness and creative agents of destiny. Complement with May Sarton’s stunning poem about the relationship between solitude, presence, and love and Hermann Hesse on solitude and how to find your destiny, then revisit two centuries of titanic minds, from Kierkegaard to Sontag, on the spiritual and creative rewards of boredo... posted on Apr 20 2023 (4,931 reads)

as a woman. In giving me that small gift, she gave me a reminder for my life -- to not take things for granted, to live up to my ideals, and to share.   Just thinking of Ms. Macias leaves me with a nostalgic feeling of gratitude. And it makes me wonder how many influences I have had in my life that I never fully recognize. The teachers who saw me when I wanted to be invisible, and who believed in me when I was afraid to speak in front of the class. The aunts and uncles that loved me even when I didn’t give them anything in return, too consumed with growing up and my own life. The siblings that loved me no matter how hard I was on them. The great friends I’ve ... posted on Dec 22 2014 (22,607 reads)

miss it.” “Oh, every night there’s a fresh crop. You’ll have to come again. The plants will bloom and bloom all summer, if we do the secret thing.” “Water them?” you say. She shakes her head. “Pick off the dead blooms?” “Nothing so hard,” she says. “What then?” you say. “Show up,” she says, “and pay attention. That’s why they bloom for us—to remind us how to love.” Excerpt from Staying Power: Writings from a Pandemic Year (Bell Sound Books, 2021). ... posted on May 20 2023 (4,458 reads)

foot away from mine.  I am now going to try to put into words what was a wordless experience. I am engulfed in the most beautiful, gentle and tender gaze that I have ever beheld. Her eyes are huge and luminous. They are profoundly deep. As I look into them it is as if she has invited and allows me to see into her soul. I offer her the same invitation. My thoughts disappear and the moment is timeless.  I am at complete peace. I understand everything and I want nothing. I experience love and acceptance and the divine all at once. I don’t know how long we both looked into each other’s eyes and this experience lasted.  When my thoughts finally returned, the firs... posted on May 22 2023 (6,920 reads)

you read is to get this pizza. Once the promotion stopped, the kids [who initially read for pleasure] were less likely to read.” So that means that certain kinds of rewards—like getting candy for practicing the piano or a new pair of earrings for baking a sibling’s birthday cake—could actually demotivate kids from being creative. “If a reward is related to competence in that area, that’s different,” says Kaufman. “If you have a child who loves to draw and you get them a really nice set of colored pencils, you’re rewarding their interest and efforts.” 5. Listen for creative micro-moments In his book Killing Ideas... posted on May 29 2023 (3,129 reads)

Speech Delivered to Dharma Realm Buddhist University May 20, 2023   Thank you, President Susan Rounds and to the distinguished faculty and board of DRBU. Special thanks to the many dear friends who are part of the extended community here and have been shining lights for me for more than a decade now. Above all, warmest Congratulations to all of you in the Class of 2023. And to the families, friends, ancestors, and loved ones – near and far – who have set in motion and nurtured the ripples that allow us to be here today. It’s customary, I realize, for the person standing here to pretend or at least attempt to share with you sto... posted on May 30 2023 (8,551 reads)