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The lead study author says that purpose involves striving for something meaningful and is active, whereas life satisfaction is a passive assessment, and may depend on other things “like your general health, ethnicity, gender, or health risk factors. It’s hard to be satisfied with your life if you struggle with your health. However, you can have a strong purpose, no matter your health status.” The author recommends developing a sense of purpose at any age. “A life of purpose can energize and give hope even during those moments when the conditions of one’s life leave one unsatisfied.” [Read more ...] |
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As a poet, she wonders about holding the space for poetry in the ordinary. “What if poetry didn’t live only in verses but in conversations, gestures, and the smallest interactions?” She seeks to live poetically by her presence. “How can I serve through my being? Service, I’ve learned, is as much about how we show up in the world as it is about what we do. It’s in the way we greet a stranger, hold space for someone’s story, or infuse gratitude into the mundane… to let the small ripples of your being touch the vastness of theirs…” [Read more ...] |
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Like ancient alchemists who sought to transmute lead into gold, Zulma Reyo aims to help individuals transmute aspects of their beings back into light, helping us see that the philosopher's stone has been within us all along. Her Inner Alchemy framework, drawn from multiple Eastern and Western spiritual and esoteric traditions as well as psychotherapeutic and healing approaches, offers practical tools and processes for transforming and mastering our inner selves, vibrating our material bodies at higher frequencies in alignment with the vibrations of our original light Source. Zulma's teachings - now developed as a formal offering via gifted multi-year programs at School of Consciousness in Mallorca, Spain - incorporate a theory of energy and matter beyond the platitudes of "love and light". She encourages us to embrace all aspects of the self and to harness, rather than repress, the wounded, lower vibratory, or unhealed parts, alchemically transforming them into their highest versions. Read more and RSVP for the upcoming Awakin Call with Zulma here. |
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'The Best Day Of My Life' by Douglas Harding The best day of my life—my rebirthday, so to speak—was when I found I had no head. This is not a literary gambit, a witticism designed to arouse interest at any cost. I mean it in all seriousness: I have no head. It was eighteen years ago, when I was thirty-three, that I made the discovery. Though it certainly came out of the blue, it did so in response to an urgent enquiry; I had for several months been absorbed in the question: what am I? The fact that I happened to be walking in the Himalayas at the time probably had little to do with it; though in that country unusual states of mind are said to come more easily. However that may be, a very still clear day, and a view from the ridge where I stood, over misty blue valleys to the highest mountain range in the world, ... [Read more] Seed questions for reflection: How do you relate to our head being no mere nothing but a container for everything? Can you share a personal story of a time you felt you had lost your head and gained the world? What helps you reconcile stopping to think with stopping thinking? |
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"In the cause of unity and love, say to each person: your light shines in me." The video clips, like the one about moving from "Me to We to Us" and also James' suggestions for caregivers, capture some special moments and stories from the call. Yet, they simply cannot replace the vibrational energy or full-body experience of the call. If you have the space for it, please consider giving yourself the gift of experiencing the full call -- hearing their voices and words flow -- so as to allow yourself to tune in to the ineffable space between words. Then, perhaps consider returning to the distinct video clips as a beautiful way to home in on some the themes that emerged during the conversation. |
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Enjoy a couple recent stories from our KindSpring community :) kat94: Right Timing |
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As we stand at the precipice of endings—of species, ecosystems, organizations, and systems themselves—the work of hospicing is to move beyond fear and embrace the deep transitions ahead with wisdom. To be stewards of this time, we must develop the practices and capacities to tend to these endings, not with urgency or control, but with a kind of stillness that invites the birth of new ways of being. Endings are not failures; they are part of a cycle that requires presence, reverence, and humility. Our hyperfocus on growth and expansion has left us ill-prepared to sit with death—whether it be the death of industries or the biosphere—and this discomfort with grief prevents us from being fully alive in the present. How might we allow the crumbling of outdated structures without rushing to rebuild too quickly? How might we hold space for what is irreversibly changing, without rushing to save or fix ... [Read more] Seed questions for reflection: What does wide-boundary intelligence mean to you? Can you share a personal story of a time you were able to support a deep transition with conscious closure? What helps you companion endings with reverence? |
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A Meditation on Crafting a Beautiful Human "Flute-making and human-making are similar arts. Both driven by The Muse, both dancing and reavealing the music that we are, allow these ideas to percolate into your bones..." begins Buddhist teacher Tarchin Hearn. In a short film, Tarchin and flutermaker Kevin Falconer weave the parallel experiences of crafting the shakuhachi flutes and crafting a well-integrated human being. Watch here: |
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Songs In The Spirit of Interfaith Compassion
Grammy-winning folk singer, Carrie Newcomer, sang her soulful song "I believe," on the daily wonders we might encounter. (As a bonus, she also shared 'Stones in the River,' singing, "I can live divided or bent / Conspire in my own diminishment / Or believe in the better world I've dreamt / That grows from inside out.") Wakanyi Hoffman, ubuntu wisdom scholar, offered a beautiful 'Song for Mother Earth' which combines the Indigenous Wisdom and Christian traditions in which she was raised. The Baha'i sacred poet and mystic, Chelan Harkin, brought a poetic excerpt from her book, The Prophetess, in which she invokes, "the mapless wildlands of the new frontiers of love." Nemo Patel, a service-oriented hip-hop artist whose music and its heartfelt messages have touched more than 100 million people from all walks of life worldwide, joined us as well. He shared some of his faith journey - and the stirring song inspired by this journey, "Dear God." And Reverend Heng Sure, one of the senior-most Western Buddhist monks alive, who served on the founding team of United Religions Initiative, offered a profound song, "She Carries Me" as well as a Dedication of Merit. Read more about the Interfaith Compassion Challenge here.
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How Death Cafes Celebrate Life “Grief is this wild animal that is not predictable, but as humans we like to feel control and have approaches and ways to do things, but working with death and grief is all about being in the moment, not trying to put a fixed process on anything,” said Anthea Grimason, an end-of-life doula and Death Cafe host. Death cafes, thought to have begun in East London nearly 15 years ago, give people who are grieving a space to share and listen to one another's questions and experiences around death. Today, it is estimated there are approximately 19,000 death cafes around the world. Read the full story here.
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Inner Alchemy: The Path Of Discernment, Self Mastery, And Transformation
Recently, James O’Dea and Nipun Mehta held an impromptu and heart-opening Awakin Call. James, who embodies the places where mysticism meets activism, has always been a champion for bridging the inner and outer worlds. 
Helenconnell2: This Week, I Made ...
Throughout the 21-day Interfaith Compassion Challenge held this fall, big-hearted guests joined weekly calls with their songs and stories inspiring compassion and a deep recognition of the interconnected webs woven between all things. Below are a few samplings of the magic!
