Miscellaneous
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Pollyanna was not an optimist and why optimism is the best strategy
All that most people know about Pollyanna is that calling someone that name is not a good thing. It is an effective way to discourage someone from undertaking something overly optimistic. The reference dismisses optimism as a way to support health and happiness and build success. But few people Read More...
How should we measure the happiness of a country?
It’s tough enough to assess how happy one person is, let alone a whole country. There are some things we know aren’t correlated — money, objects — and others that show just part of the picture. Typically, researchers resort to questionnaires: how do you rate yourself on a scale from one to Read More...
Holocaust survivor shares story of hope through music in new movie
At 109 years old, Alice Herz Sommer is not only the oldest Holocaust survivor, but also the oldest pianist in the world. Alice Herz Sommer has been playing piano for over a century. Even today, outside her home in North London, people congregate on the street to listen to hear play piano. A new Read More...
Awful to awe inspiring- decommissioned guns get second life as art
The city of Culiacán, Mexico has been described as a mausoleum mixed with an amusement park. Death in the city is seen everywhere, from the giant marble crosses towering over cemetery walls to the roadside shrines paying homage to the recently departed. Culiacán is home to one of the most Read More...