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June 29, 2018

What I Learned About the Heart from a Man Who Lost His

Written by Daisy Hernández

Daisy Hernández has spent the last four years researching Chagas disease, a heart condition afflicting about 7 million people primarily in Latin America. But she has also learned about the heart’s metaphorical condition — and what happens we we stop seeing each other’s hearts.

June 19, 2018

What to Do When You’re Frozen by Overwhelm

Written by Sharon Salzberg

It can be difficult to discern between sloth and the need for rest. Removing the judgment that can come with experiencing sloth can help us move toward a life that brings us energy.

June 18, 2018

Look Well to the Growing Edge

Written by Parker J. Palmer and Carrie Newcomer

To see life steadily and see it whole, we must find ways to hold the paradox of life-in-death and death-in-life.

June 15, 2018

Being Present to Fatherhood, at the End of Fathering

Written by Ben Katt

A conversation among a group of fathers opens up space for Ben Katt to reflect on what his vasectomy has meant for him — and mark the ceremonial transition, as one era of fatherhood ends and another begins.

June 8, 2018

All My Life, I’ve Imagined Myself in Paintings

Written by Anya Jaremko-Greenwold

From a young age, writer Anya Jaremko-Greenwold imagined herself inside paintings: “It didn’t so much matter whether the artist had invited any visitors — if no human figures stalked the work, so much the better. I’d have the place to myself.” On art appreciation as a worldview and an inheritance — in all of its beauty and consequence.

June 7, 2018

The Problem with Simplicity

Written by Miguel Clark Mallet

As a culture, we celebrate simplicity and its convenience. But the truth is always more complex, embedded in larger systems and worlds. Miguel Clark Mallet on the possibilities that open up when we accept the value of complexity.

May 16, 2018

No Painless Way Through Life Exists

Written by Miguel Clark Mallet

We may have no control over the wild, unpredictable world that we live in, but we do have control over how we choose to live our lives: to offer compassion, to pursue justice, to love and be loved.

December 11, 2017

The Problem with Midlife Is That We Think Life Is Over

Written by Ali Schultz

We’re told what success and fulfillment look like at every stage of life. But do external standards set us up for a feeling of failure? On the transformation of turning 40 — and middle age as a singular threshold of becoming.

September 27, 2016

The Absurd Courage of Choosing to Live

Written by Jennifer Michael Hecht

To embrace life despite the truth of suffering is an audacious act. Jennifer Michael Hecht guides us through Albert Camus on the myth of Sisyphus, as a reassuringly contrary argument for life over death.

September 7, 2016

Speaking Without Thinking: A Profile in Courage?

Written by Parker J. Palmer

Weary of political correctness, but wary of its opposite, Parker Palmer offers up some practical wisdom on owning our shadow selves with grace and asking the same of our leaders.

August 10, 2016

A Gardening Poem about Living

Written by Parker J. Palmer

Is a life made, or grown? A contemplation from Parker Palmer and Marge Piercy on the quiet, joyful work of tending to ourselves as wild, flourishing thickets of life.

March 4, 2016

Gutsy Girls and Emotional Daredevils

Written by Courtney E. Martin

What has your grandest adventure been? Between adventure and safety lies a world of possibility. Courtney Martin's case for gutsy endeavors, big and small.

December 12, 2015

My Life with the Boating Party

Written by Gary Nelson

Familiar items are strangely comforting throughout life, much less in difficult times. A gay man discovers himself through his ongoing relationship with a Renoir painting.

September 2, 2015

A Wilderness Pilgrimage: Where We Go When We Die

Written by Parker J. Palmer

Our columnist ponders the resurrection that takes place under the most destructive circumstances and the "vast web of life in which body and spirit are one."

February 16, 2015

Mary Oliver’s Cancer Poem

Written by Mariah Helgeson

The highly acclaimed and beloved poet Mary Oliver reads her four-part poem, "The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac," — a poem in which she explores death, purpose, and the call to live after being diagnosed with lung cancer several years ago.

April 9, 2014

The Growing Edge of the Beginner’s Mind

Written by Parker J. Palmer

Parker Palmer encourages us to look with child-like imagination to better understand the world's mysteries.

April 5, 2013

Harmony in Ordinary Life with the Dalai Lama and Dinah Washington (video)

Written by Trent T. Gilliss

A short film, "Happy Life," elevates the everyday routines of ordinary people with the words of the Dalai Lama. A magical six minutes.

March 22, 2013

On Being More Than Ourselves Alone

Written by Paul Martin

Bedridden with an incurable illness, writer Paul Martin on navigating paths of pain and difficulty, and the depth and mystery of joy.

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