Having it Out With Melancholy
With great care and attention, make a hot cup of tea. Take it to a room with a window. Sit down, take off your glasses and exhale slowly. Listen to this hauntingly beautiful recording of Jane Kenyon's...
View ArticleThe Sound of the Genuine
"Cultivate the discipline of listening" for your genuine self. This is the advice that Howard Thurman gave in 1980 during his commencement address at Spelman College. How many of us ever take the time...
View ArticleWislawa Szymborska: The Poet and the World
Poets are Fortune's darlings according to Wislawa Szymborska. Despite the trials and tribulations, the frustration of not feeling comfortable calling oneself a poet and the real threat of claiming the...
View ArticleStone by Stone
Facing a row of heavy sodden soil to be turned by hand, and looking up at the wider project of other rows; these moments come up in so many ways over and over in our lives. "How will this all get...
View ArticleOpen Source Seeds
At a time when the monopolization of genetic resources by corporations is reducing diversity and limiting the variety of seeds available to farmers and gardeners, OpenSourceSeeds is licensing seeds to...
View ArticleSuiseki: The Japanese Art of Stone Appreciation
It's a tradition in Japan: suiseki are natural stones that suggest natural scenes or animal and human figures. The stones should not be modified and are displayed as found (a single cut is allowed)....
View ArticleLunar Wisdom: An Interview with Anthony Aveni
According to cultural astronomer Anthony Aveni at Colgate University, the moon and the sun are in a cosmic dance that defines our very relationship to life. Yet in modern western culture, we barely...
View ArticleAt the Tip of Time's Arrow
Close your eyes and imagine this moment, right now, as the tip of an arrow called eternity. What do you see? What do you imagine? What do you sense but have no words for? Dive into this meditation on...
View ArticleHow Nature Makes Us Healthier and Happier
Studies show that communing with nature is beneficial for your health and your life socially, psychologically, and emotionally. The article in Yes Magazine discusses what these research studies have...
View ArticleWho Do You Choose to Be?
There have been other historical times that were volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, and leaders arose to guide people through them. We are again in one such time. Margaret Wheatley calls on...
View ArticleThe Greatest Danger
"Thich Nhat Hanh was asked, "what do we most need to do to save our world?" His answer was this: "What we most need to do is to hear within us the sounds of the Earth crying."...What disintegrates in...
View ArticleSocial Bite: Cafes Helping People Out of Homelessness
In the hustle and bustle of daily life, it's easy to forget about our homeless population. In the United States alone, in just one night there are over half a million homeless people, a quarter of whom...
View ArticleHead, Heart and Hands: 25 Years of Schumacher College
Inspired by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's vision, Schumacher College uses head, heart, and hands to teach its student body not only knowledge but wisdom by encouraging creativity and service....
View ArticleSeven Ways to Help High Schoolers Find Purpose
How do we bring engagement, real-life lessons, and a sense of meaning into teens' lives? Patrick Cook-Deegan discovered after years of experience and research that the most fulfilling and useful...
View ArticleBeing and Doing
Sometimes life seems like a never-ending battle between doing and being. If I wish to be present, I need to turn my attention toward myself, but most of us lose our connection with ourselves as soon as...
View ArticleFly by Light Music Video
In the shadow of our nation's capital, high school students face more than just the challenges of schoolwork. They have to deal with inner-city gangs, drug dealers, drive-by shootings, a lack of role...
View ArticleJulian Treasure on 5 Ways to Listen Better
In our louder and louder world, says sound expert Julian Treasure, "We are losing our listening." In this short, fascinating talk, Treasure shares five ways to re-tune your ears for conscious listening...
View ArticleGreat Writers on the Letters of the Alphabet
Late in life the English poet, novelist, essayist, and social justice advocate Sir Stephen Spender asked artist David Hockney to draw each letter of the alphabet, then invited twenty-nine of the...
View ArticleThe Remarkable C3 Coach of Panchavati Express
This year, the unique C3 A/C Coach or the "Adarsh" ("ideal" in Hindi) Coach on the Panchavati Express, a train running between Mumbai and Nashik, India observed its 10th anniversary. This is no...
View ArticleThe Impermanence of Broccoli
In this piece, Alanda Greene explores our connectedness to the world around us through the simplicity of gardening and practicing yoga. In our daily lives, it's easy to get caught up in the hustle and...
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