Share "St. Cuthbert (634 - 687) was an Anglo-Saxon who was educated at the Celtic monastery of Melrose, one of the many Anglo-Saxon saints who had a Celtic education and who sought to reconcile both peoples in the peace of Christ. He was consecrated bishop of Lindisfarne rather against his natural inclination to live a hermetic existence on the Inner Farne Island. His dying words on March 20 are a testament of peace: 'Always preserve divine charity among yourselves, and when you come together to discuss your common affairs, let your principal g...

Share "Just as there are seasons in the world around us, so there are in our interior life," Teresa of Avila wisely observed. "We cannot expect it to be otherwise." Spring is a season of renewal and rebirth. It's a time when buds become leaves and flowers, when healing rain washes city streets and falls like grace on parched country fields, when the hard ground beneath us softens to allow shoots of new life to emerge. As outside, so inside. Spring is a time for cleaning out and making way for fresh possibilities and new commitments. It's a time...

Share Today is the birthday of Sir Richard Burton (1821 - 1890) who was one of England's greatest explorers, a renowned anthropologist, a brilliant linguist, an accomplished translator (including the Kama Sutra and 16 volumes of Arabian Nights), an inexhaustible writer of 50 books, and an obsessive traveler whose journeys to Africa, Asia, and the Americas made him a man in perpetual motion. His lifelong quest for gnosis led him to participate in a number of esoteric religious communities. The key to appreciating this extraordinary man is found ...

Share Born on this day in 1848 in Monmouth, Indiana, Wyatt Earp grew up to be a man always on the move. True to his vagabond spirit he worked as a railroad man, a saloonkeeper, a gambler, a gunslinger, and a law man. From the lips of a family patriarch, he heard the following words: "Nothing counts as much as blood, the rest are strangers." Writer and director Lawrence Kasdan quotes that line in his film Wyatt Earp (1994), in which his us-against-them philosophy brings this legendary cowboy both bane and blessing. Star Kevin Costner sits easy i...

Share St. Patrick's Day brings to mind everything from wearing green to shamrocks to good luck to party times in pubs and street parades. Tradition has it that St. Patrick, the fifth century Christian who is now the patron saint of Ireland, died on this day. It's been celebrated as a religious holiday in Ireland for 1000 years. Prayers & Mantras Begin your celebration of this feast day by using this prayer by Living Spiritual Teacher Edward Hays from his Prayers for the Domestic Church.. A Blessing Prayer for St. Patrick's Dayby Edward Hays...

1. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. THE SWEEPSTAKES IS SPONSORED BY MINDFUL COMMUNICATIONS & SUCH, PBC, 515 NORTH STATE STREET, SUITE 300, CHICAGO, IL 60654 2. Entry Period: AWE by Dacher Keltner (the “Sweepstakes”) commences at 12:01:01 AM (EST) on April 1st, 2023 and ends at 11:59:59 PM (EST) on May 31st, 2023 (the “Sweepstakes Period”). 3. Eligibility: To take part in the Sweepstakes, participants must be legal res...

My work as a coach, consultant, social entrepreneur, and as an athlete has been hyperfocused on performance. People and organizations alike all over the world come to me to help them reach their “full potential,” or optimize it at a minimum. They come to me to help them through the journey of change and transformation, whether that be for themselves or their team of thousands. They want to learn techniques, processes, leadership styles, and habits to help them in this quest for optimizing their performance at every level. Yet, after nearly two ...

Share National Freedom of Information Day offers an opportunity to reflect on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and what it means for citizens of the United States. It celebrates the March 16th birthday of U.S. President James Madison (1751 - 1846), who was a strong advocate for transparency in government. FOIA was conceived by John Moss, a Democrat elected to Congress in 1952 during the heightened secrecy of the Cold War. He believed that "The present trend toward government secrecy could end in a dictatorship. The more information that is...

Share “We are more moth than we know: small, frustrated, capable of only tickling a world that we wish would feel our heft. We share that attraction towards the brightest object in our field of view, an equal fascination with candles and conflagrations. We sense the danger, but we can’t look away. In fact we are drawn to circle it endlessly, getting closer and closer until it consumes us. Even when we think the sky might be falling, we stay to watch. It is elemental to us, this alertness, this panicked, flitting attention. “Fire is the shadow s...

Share Katherine May is a British author of subtlety and patience, and this book of hers cannot help but awaken wonder in the reader. It is a memoir of her experiences of unlearning, in pilgrimage, at play, in flight, removing her shoes, and generally re-entering life with awe. She writes beautifully. These are the opening lines: “Lately I wake in the night and a few panicked seconds pass in which I can’t locate myself. I could tell you my name, certainly, but not which version of me I’m dealing with.” When she writes, “I increasingly feel that ...

Share The slaughter of more than 400 unarmed Vietnamese civilians in My Lai and My Khe on March 16, 1968, is one of the most horrific incidents in American military history. It occurred in the aftermath of the surprising Tet offensive, when the North Vietnamese launched a violent and successful attack on major towns and cities of South Vietnam. Two commanders for a retaliation move — Lieutenant Colonel Frank Barker and 2nd Lieutenant William Calley — met no resistance in Son Mỹ, a patchwork of hamlets in Quang which included My Lai. American so...

Adobe Stock/ Davide Angelini Whether you’ve found this page because you’re a young person interested in mindfulness and meditation or someone who cares about a young person and is looking for resources to support them, welcome. We’ve curated this page with the help of WholeSchool Mindfulness to create a take-what-you-need hub of meditations to support people juggling the myriad challenges facing people in their youth. Continue reading to learn more about this initiative or scroll down for a selection of meditations curated especially for you by...

Illustration by Spender Creelman Movement is a valuable ally in bringing more calm, focus, and clarity to our state of mind. Gentle movement helps us tune in to the daily routines that we might otherwise go through on autopilot. This not only refreshes our perspective, it refills our cup with gratitude for what, and who, is present with us. Cultivating a spirit of playfulness and appreciation along the way lets us connect more easily with the people we care about, and it grounds and calms our nervous system. While some yoga poses aren’t availab...

Share Albert Einstein was one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. He became famous for his theory of relativity but left behind a wide-ranging repertoire of wisdom in his observations about reality, wonder, mysticism, curiosity, imagination, and more. In celebration of his birthday, we begin with the following piece by Edward Hays, a devotional master who shares Einstein's respect for the spiritual practice of wonder: "The great genius Albert Einstein was nicknamed by his parents as a child, der Depperte, or, the dopey one. Albert was so...

Share "Our prime purpose in this life is to help others," observes His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. "And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." The Dutch translator for His Holiness, Berthe Jansen, brings these teachings down to some of the smallest among us: children's relationship with insects. Some kids have it out for bugs; others are simply unconscious of the these tiny beings' right to live. Jansen introduces us to Bu, a child walking in the ...

Share “More than just a simple ameliorative, every element of the wonder cycle, from openness to awe, supports a more resilient psyche in even some of the most extreme and terrible situations. This attribute of wonder [resilience] means we can reap some benefits even in challenging times. “From prison to space, wonder even promotes emotional regulation in what are known as isolated, confined, or extreme environments. “An absence of wonder, which can occur from a dearth of any of the wonder cycle elements, creates emotional and physical distress...

Share This book is dedicated to exploring and encouraging one of the 37 practices in our Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy. Author Monica Parker comes at the subject of wonder not as a spiritual teacher but as an expert in human analytics, neuroscience, and helping companies and organizations navigate change. There is an “emotional language of wonder” Parker says, that’s found in every language and culture in the world. She summarizes: “It’s intriguing to see the similarities of 'wonder' across languages and eras: both a noun and a verb, the same ...

Share On this day in 2013, a papal conclave elected Jorge Mario Bergoglioto to succeed Pope Benedict XVI as the 266th pope of the Catholic Church. He was the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, the first Jesuit, and the first to choose the name Francesco — Pope Francis — in honor of St. Francis of Assisi (1181 – 1226). He was named Person of the Year by Time magazine in 2013 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. Since his election, Pope Francis has delivered talks, writings, and encycl...

Share The Ten Most Spiritually Literate FilmsTen More Spiritually Literate FilmsThe Ten Most Spiritually Literate International FilmsThe Ten Most Spiritually Literate Documentaries Each year we see hundreds of movies and review those we can recommend to you as good companions for your spiritual journey. We encourage you to see these movies in the theater or via DVD or a streaming service. Click on the links to read full reviews. The Ten Most Spiritually Literate Films Cha Cha Real SmoothDirected by Cooper RaiffA touching dramedy about a twenty-...

Share Marcel (voiced by Jenny Slate) is a 1-inch-tall shell who lives with his grandmother Nana Connie (Isabella Rossellini) in an Airbnb house. Because of their size, they have had to devise some ingenious ways to get by. Marcel rolls around the house inside a tennis ball. Nana Connie uses the wire fittings from a bottle of wine as a walker. They have attached a line between the mixer in the kitchen and a tree outside so when they turn on the mixer, it shakes the oranges out of the tree. The fruit supplements what Nana Connie grows in her gard...