Uncommon Gratitude
"When I receive a gift I am acutely conscious of both the gift and the giver, and gratitude spreads through me. This gratitude coalesces into a wish to give something back. I long to please my giver, endow that generous benefactor with something that will offer comfort, nourishment, and delight equal to what Ive received. When my benefactor is a place rather than a person, however, my role as reci... posted on Nov 25 2022, 1,516 reads

Thanksgiving Blessings
From the team at Gratefulness.org comes this rich compilation of, "blessings, prayers, and invocations from diverse traditions, for meal times, gatherings, and Grateful Living." ... posted on Nov 24 2022, 2,073 reads

Fostering Self-Organization
"When working in collaboration with others, where theres no single person in charge and the way forward is unclear, it can be hard to know when to lead and when to follow. In these situations, you may hope that people spontaneously self-organize to get things done, but the reality is that leadership always matters. Leadership is needed to facilitate conversations, weave connections, coordinate act... posted on Nov 23 2022, 1,658 reads

Ross Gay: Inciting Joy
"Now that weve defined joy, and concluded it is important, there are two guiding inquiries in this book. First, I mean to investigate what practices, habits, rituals, understandings you know, the stuff we do and think and believemake joy more available to us. What in our lives prepares the ground for joy. I mean to try to find out, in other words, what incites joy. And second, I intend to wonder w... posted on Nov 22 2022, 1,970 reads

The Man Who Planted Trees
"Who says a single person can't make a difference? This Academy Award-winning short film, based on a story by Jean Giono, was created in 1987 by renowned animator Frederick Back. It beautifully showcases one shepherd's long and successful effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps near Provence in the first half of the 20th century."... posted on Nov 21 2022, 2,409 reads

The Gift of Lewis Hyde's
"Gifts pass from hand to hand: they endure through such transmission, as every time a gift is given it is enlivened and regenerated through the new spiritual life it engenders both in the giver and in the receiver. And so it is with Lewis Hydes classic study of gift giving and its relationship to art. The Gift has never been out of print; it moves like an underground current among artists of all k... posted on Nov 20 2022, 1,855 reads

How to Have a Community Conversation
"A Community Conversation is a form of group dialogue that often addresses issues of local or larger concern. Participation is usually open to all, and may lead to some form of action, consensus or objective by the participants. Regardless of the size of the gathering, when individuals assemble to engage in dialogue related to self-determination, it often becomes a community unto itself. Community... posted on Nov 19 2022, 1,426 reads

Just Be Nice
In this brief and moving glimpse into his life, Morne Pretorius shares how the experience of a car accident ten years ago which left him in a coma for a month, has impacted his perspective on life, leading him to living gratefully every day. He reminds us to make peace with what happens in our lives, realizing that our experiences do not define our future. Speaking from the knowledge gained from h... posted on Nov 18 2022, 2,267 reads

Activating Moral Discomfort & Spiritual Community for the Earth
"The Rev. Fletcher Harper believes that he felt God while mourning his fathers death on a solo camping trip in Montana. A violent hailstorm struck one night, and he sought shelter in the lee of a rock. "At about three in the morning, I felt this deep sense of well-being, he recalls. "I realized that I was going to be OK. I thought, 'I can move on with my life now.'"Later in his life and career whe... posted on Nov 17 2022, 1,923 reads

Agent of Illumination
"Some years ago, I was stuck on a crosstown bus in New York City during rush hour. Traffic was barely moving. The bus was filled with cold, tired people who were deeply irritated with one another, with the world itself. Two men barked at each other about a shove that might or might not have been intentional. A pregnant woman got on, and nobody offered her a seat. Rage was in the air; no mercy woul... posted on Nov 16 2022, 13,854 reads