do. I almost walked right by them after I'd written it, but then I thought, why not tell your muse they are your muse? What harm could it do? I'm new to poetry, but, I like that it is so much easier to share than an entire play. You can just give someone a poem. I'd like to share it with you all too. I do think art heals, opens us up and bridges the gaps, and makes us feel less alone. It's true for me anyway. And I loved watching them skate, their glee filled me with happiness. Skaters in red and black Boards twirling beneath white sneakers Young gifted and Egging each other on A soft yehhhhhh Jubilant grins Smack talk Whooo there it... posted on Feb 11 2021 (9,965 reads)

that it’s possible for life to be one eternal summer and that we have uniquely failed to achieve that for ourselves. We dream of an equatorial habitat, forever close to the sun, an endless, unvarying high season. But life’s not like that. Emotionally, we’re prone to stifling summers and low, dark winters, to sudden drops in temperature, to light and shade. Even if by some extraordinary stroke of self-control and good luck we were able to keep control of our own health and happiness for an entire lifetime, we still couldn’t avoid the winter. Our parents would age and die; our friends would undertake minor acts of betrayal; the machinations of the world would event... posted on Feb 17 2021 (11,626 reads)

the Christian esoteric tradition, a path beyond the mind Put the mind in the heart…. Put the mind in the heart…. Stand before the Lord with the mind in the heart.” From page after page in the Philokalia, that hallowed collection of spiritual writings from the Christian East, this same refrain emerges. It is striking in both its insistence and its specificity. Whatever that exalted level of spiritual attainment is conceived to be—whether you call it “salvation,” “enlightenment,” “contemplation,” or “divine union”—this is the inner configuration in which it is found. This and no other. It le... posted on Apr 10 2021 (8,836 reads)

the rest of me into its greater wisdom. As the energy rose through my system, I began to feel another remarkable condition. I felt a deep, generous, intense, and impersonal love that connected me to all living things. I would simply look at my friends, feeling this overwhelming love and compassion, and could say nothing. I could not express the fullness of my awakened love. The exquisite energy that moved through my centers, up and along my spine, gave a fullness of being, a blissful happiness that accepted all, rejected nothing. All was light; different shades, varying tones, some dark and some radiant but all was light nonetheless. It was ecstatic, as in a state of eros, a ... posted on Aug 10 2021 (2,787 reads)

we spend our days,” Annie Dillard wrote in her timelessly beautiful meditation on presence over productivity, “is, of course, how we spend our lives.” And nowhere do we fail at the art of presence most miserably and most tragically than in urban life — in the city, high on the cult of productivity, where we float past each other, past the buildings and trees and the little boy in the purple pants, past life itself, cut off from the breathing of the world by iPhone earbuds and solipsism. And yet: “The art of seeing has to be learned,” Marguerite Duras reverberates — and it can be learned, as cogn... posted on Aug 11 2021 (6,083 reads)

minds, we would have no knowledge whatsoever about our humanity; we would have no knowledge whatsoever about the world. We would have no pains, but also no joys. We would have no access to love or to the ability to create. And of course, Scott Fitzgerald said famously that "he who invented consciousness would have a lot to be blamed for." But he also forgot that without consciousness, he would have no access to true happiness and even the possibility of transcendence.  So much for the wonder, now for the mystery. This is a mystery that has really been extremely hard to elucidate. All t... posted on Aug 15 2021 (8,230 reads)

just were frightened. The unknown proved not to be nearly as fearful as the present year of COVID. This is multiple times more severe. More fearful. More real. It’s more real than the devastation annually of the polio virus.  What we are going through now is unknown to mankind. And one wonders  how we will eventually cooperate, if we are going to cooperate, to the ideas of the infection, infection control, and terrible, terrible consequences to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  This is serious. We need to ask ourselves, just how can we accept the concept of such a dynamic new threat that is and will shake up the world? What is your advice as we move th... posted on Aug 21 2021 (13,116 reads)

steps that have been proven to make people healthier. Apparently, I had given him one to get outside and take in the natural beauty of the sunset. “Thank you, Mr. T.,” I said. “That means a lot to me, and your feedback really helps!” I had heard that nature can make people happier and healthier, but, embarrassingly, I envisioned it for more “outdoorsy” people like me, whatever that means. Also, I assumed it would offer just a slight bump in the happiness quotient. Mr. T. had shown me that I had underestimated both the impact of getting outside and who could be helped. As a result, I became determined to dig a little deeper to understand t... posted on Oct 25 2021 (6,686 reads)

see everything as pointless: “Everything seems futile here except the sun, our kisses, and the wild scents of the earth.… Here, I leave order and moderation to others. The great free love of nature and the sea absorbs me completely.” But it is possible that reading certain texts in states of severe depression may not be helpful for everyone. While Camus invites readers to imagine being happy about living a pointless life, this act of wilful and defiant happiness can feel unimaginable and ridiculous when depressed. On the other hand, this counterintuitive resolution could be just what a person needs, simply because it presents the idea that there is ... posted on Nov 13 2021 (5,657 reads)

long time ago, because I haven’t been anywhere in two years) I’m on a train and suddenly, it gets stuck between DC and New York, and suddenly, the people who do the road repair and the train repair and they’re very important to me, but otherwise, it’s like, they’re invisible. And so, both through lovingkindness toward neutral people, and just that reflection, I really tried to remember how intricate this world is and how many people I’m counting on for my happiness, for my well-being.   TS: OK. Now, you mentioned in the very beginning of our conversation that you wrote Real Change for two types of people: the caregivers; and t... posted on Apr 8 2022 (2,690 reads)

existential pain. But let me throw in a specific curveball…  What if they are suffering yet there is not much that you can do about it?  This challenging scenario can arise for many reasons. Sometimes, the solutions are not known or available. Sometimes, your ability to help is limited.  Sometimes, the person cannot receive your help. One of the toughest aspects of unconditional love, is this ability to care about someone’s well-being and happiness, yet also be able to bear witness to their pain. Of course, we want to intervene because we don’t want them to suffer.  We want to take action, roll our sleeves and get invo... posted on Apr 15 2022 (11,395 reads)

child, and the whole group was looking forward to her having her baby. And she took some time off after the baby was born, and then she came back, brought the baby with her, and she talked about it. She said, When I became pregnant, everybody said, Congratulations, great, great, great, great, great. And when I had the baby, everybody said, Congratulations, great, great, great, great, great. Nobody told me that I had at that point mortgaged my heart for the entire rest of my life, because my happiness now depends on this baby being well and healthy and nothing bad happening to it. Nobody tells you that. They don’t say, when they hear — they don’t say, Uh-oh, brace you... posted on May 8 2022 (4,381 reads)

Those root words are, you know — [laughs] it’s connected together. The humus is the foundation of the forest. It’s where the decay happens. It’s where the nutrients are. It’s where most of the carbon in the soil is. It’s an absolutely fundamental part of the being of the forest. And humor, [laughs] for example, is — that is also our, what makes us fundamentally happy and interesting people and gives us — makes us relax and enjoy our lives; happiness; to be human. [laughs] And I love that you’ve made that linkage together. That is brilliant. I love it. Tippett:[laughs] Oh, OK. Well, thank you. I’m happy to discuss it with ... posted on Jun 1 2022 (3,908 reads)

about poverty, racism, or sexism—three cancers of the modern Western world with serious health impacts that are thoroughly documented but seldom discussed. For example, the average life span of people living in areas of Chicago that are just a few miles apart can differ by close to 30 years. The Myth of Normal—written with the help of Maté’s son, Daniel—prescribes a more authentic self that breaks free of the world’s expectations of us, offers a path to happiness, and also promises to alleviate physical ailments, because, as Maté reminds us, the mind and body are not separate. The former physician, now approaching 80, has spent decades expl... posted on Oct 2 2022 (6,154 reads)

the idea that good things happen to good people. I research a form of Christianity nicknamed "the prosperity gospel," for its very bold promise that God wants you to prosper. I never considered myself a follower of the prosperity gospel. I was simply an observer. The prosperity gospel believes that God wants to reward you if you have the right kind of faith. If you're good and faithful, God will give you health and wealth and boundless happiness. Life is like a boomerang: if you're good, good things will always come back to you. Think positively. Speak positively. Nothing is impossible if you believe. ... posted on Nov 7 2022 (7,452 reads)

as Mother Teresa’s. Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly. And someday, in 80 years, when you’re 100, and I’m 134, and we’re both so kind and loving we’re nearly unbearable, drop me a line, let me know how your life has been. I hope you will say: It has been so wonderful. Congratulations, Class of 2013. I wish you great happiness, all the luck in the world, and a beautiful summer.    *** For more inspiration, join an 11-day Kindness Challenge, hosted by ServiceSpace, that starts this weekend. M... posted on Feb 11 2023 (50,232 reads)

in their later years. Binge drinking, depression, violence -- all these rates go down. You wouldn't think of that when you're thinking of the dining table because you're just having a meal together, but those relationships start to have all these ripple effects. Robert Waldinger, at Harvard, is the director of one of the longest studies on the good life. After 75 years of studies, they issued one major finding: good relationships are the key to better health and to more happiness. It comes down to relationships. And we don't have to go farther than Robert Putnam's seminal work, “Bowling Alone”, to see that this is actually in decline. We used to b... posted on Apr 19 2016 (51,474 reads)

teaching on awakening mind, he is able to demonstrate how a mindful self “bootstraps its way” deeper and deeper into responsive and hypervitalized reality, the “presence” so universally cherished among mindfulness afficionados. Conceptual knowing is indeed a powerful analytical and problem-solving tool; Western civilization rose on its back. But the difficulty arises when we try to use it to attain the one thing it manifestly cannot deliver: lasting personal happiness. The reason for this failure is ultimately attributable neither to human sinfulness (as Western spiritual teaching has tended to emphasize) nor to human illusion (as the Eastern tradition ha... posted on Mar 13 2023 (3,431 reads)

bit about that? Chelan:  Mmm, yeah, I’m so glad you bring that up. Yeah. So, gosh, it was another thing, it was so strange. I just decided to spend a summer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with Michael Penn and his amazing wife, Kathy Penn. And I was just so attracted to both. I’d met Michael and Cathy briefly, and I was so incredibly attracted to them, on a spiritual level. I just needed to be near them. That summer was profound in many ways. It was really an experience of happiness that transcended these mental, emotional deep struggles. And it really gave me an experience of -- just that environments could be created that were so spiritual in nature that you could sti... posted on Apr 1 2023 (4,467 reads)

aspects of the insect have long intrigued humans of a more mystical bent. The man’s research revealed that dragonflies have held special meaning in cultures around the world and across time. Some peoples have revered the dragonfly, others have feared it. Of course that says more about us humans than the insect. What struck him as especially peculiar is that Asian and Native American cultures have traditionally associated the dragonfly with positive qualities—prosperity, harmony, happiness, good fortune, and purity—while a number of European societies considered it to have a harmful and even demonic nature, calling it such things as the witches’ animal, devil&rsquo... posted on Apr 6 2023 (5,217 reads)