Miscellaneous
Art in Afghanistan: You Can Help
When we hear someone talk about Afghanistan, the conversation is often peppered with words like “war.” “conflict,” and “tragedy.” But there is another world in Afghanistan, one of every day life. Afghanistan as Afghans live it. This fall, Mountain2Mountain, a non-profit that develops Read More...
That Pain in Your Political Gut? It’s Telling You Something
(Read this Article to Survive the Convention Season and Feel Better About Politics) Lucky us. Florida is the birthplace for what passes for political discourse these days. Yep, the Sunshine State is where the modern political era got its start. So you may think I’m crazy for predicting that a Read More...
Perfect Day: Music as a Mode of Travel
September 2, 2009 was a perfect day. And by some miracle, I found a way to share it with you. That day I was on a songwriting retreat at a tiny, beloved island in the border waters of Minnesota and Ontario. The days are long there. I awaken before dawn and slip into the cool, still water before Read More...
Peace Recipe
This past month I received a lovely email from a woman named Monique Constant in Canada who’s an Odereader. She’d read one of my posts and wanted to thank me. Very nice when that happens. But then … she went on … “There is something I would like to share with you, I wrote this Read More...
Garden Exchange and Social Connections
When my friend and I set out on a walk through her neighborhood, we never imagined we’d stumble upon an inspiring and heartwarming event along the journey; but, that’s one of the greatest things about life and its myriad potentials unfolding. Some blocks into our excursion, we came across a Read More...
Where Do You Find Meaning?
In an online kindness class I facilitated not too long ago, I asked this question of the participants: Where do you find meaning? I gave them a little exercise to help, too, which was to choose a relatively small, personal object and place it somewhere so they’d encounter it each morning. I asked Read More...
Peacespeak
One of the tenets of Buddhism is Right Speech. In his book on the subject, Bhikkhu Bodhi writes, “Speech can break lives, create enemies, and start wars, or it can give wisdom, heal divisions, and create peace.” I believe the first tenet of peacespeak is silence. Getting to silence within Read More...
Find Your Rhythm and Balance
Do you know what supports your rhythm, allowing you to be your healthiest, happiest and most radiant self? Seasons circle ‘round, and here in the Northern Hemisphere the shift into fall is bringing forth bright festive foliage, the need for warm layers and a shift toward indoor activities. Read More...
Invest in Trees
My daughter was making her first journey to Appalachia! And knowing we would not see each other that Christmas I leapt at the chance to create a holiday with her in October. Fortunately Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year, upon which I could readily build, with vast support Read More...
What is nonduality, and how does it connect people?
Photo credit: Emily Goodman Often, we focus on ourselves as separate individuals. We concentrate on our own problems and desires and make them the center of our world. We look out for number one. It’s simple to act as individuals—our society values taking care of ourselves before others and Read More...