Read

The Language of Love

The Language of Love

By Tommy Housworth As a teenager, I awaited Valentine’s Day with the kind of naive optimism Charlie Brown had forwinning the affections of the Little Red Haired Girl in Peanuts. My awkward high school (andcollege) years were filled with clumsy, insecure attempts at...

Tempering Time

Tempering Time

BY MATTHEW ROBERTSON Over the holidays, I revisited one of my favorite films: Interstellar. Framed as a sweeping space odyssey, it explores themes of love, survival, and the future of humanity. Beneath its epic scale, however, lies a quieter and more radical...

Playing Small Ball for Peace

Playing Small Ball for Peace

BY TOMMY HOUSWORTH “I think the world is going to be saved by millions of small things.” – Pete Seeger It was, perhaps, the last thing I expected on a Saturday morning, but you never know when paying attention will pay off – even when scrolling through social media. A...

Wild Horses and Other Teachers

Wild Horses and Other Teachers

by Tommy Housworth Our minds can sometimes seem like wild horses but even when they aren’t charging around, mindfulness takes work. For many of us, maintaining intentional awareness of the present moment is, in fact, our greatest challenge. Thankfully, there are...

Befriending the River

Befriending the River

Our Ceaseless Swimming Lessons By Tommy Housworth There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly.  Know the...

A Greeting for All Seasons

A Greeting for All Seasons

by Carol S. Hyman What do you say at this time of year? Season’s greetings? Happy holidays? While these expressions may upset folks who’d like something more specific, most of us respond well to them as gestures of good cheer. Still, they can feel a bit bland. So this...

An Old Song, a New Gig, and Encouraging Words

An Old Song, a New Gig, and Encouraging Words

by Carol Hyman It feels risky to admit to optimism these days when doomsaying is so prevalent and irony is fashionable. But without ignoring how much work we have to do, I’m cheered by some of the changes I see unfolding around me. I don’t think it’s naïve optimism:...

Dickens and digging within

Dickens and digging within

by Carol Hyman If you’re going to borrow, borrow from the best. So how about this? “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the...

Crying through the “Ode to Joy”

Crying through the “Ode to Joy”

by Carol S. Hyman ‘Tis the season when the mind turns to giving. But how many gifts through the years are keepers? How many do we even remember? Diamonds may be forever but most stuff tends to go the way of all things. So what do we keep? Memories, of course, but...

The Webb Telescope & the Infinite Onion

The Webb Telescope & the Infinite Onion

by Carol S. Hyman Outer space has always fascinated human beings. The Webb Telescope, which recently went into orbit a million miles from the minds that conceived and executed its launch, lets us see energy dancing in space so distant we can’t measure it in miles. We...

Try a Little Tenderness… & Tenacity

Try a Little Tenderness… & Tenacity

by Carol S. Hyman In these days when individual psyches erupt in unthinkable violence and our social fabric seems to harbor dark and toxic stains, it can be tempting to turn away and ignore the ugliness and hatred. After all, even if we suspect that we are all parts...

How to Heal Pain We Can’t See (or Don’t Want To)

How to Heal Pain We Can’t See (or Don’t Want To)

by Carol S. Hyman Like most small children, I ran to my mother whenever I was hurt. The first time I brought her a splinter too deep for tweezers, she told me to sit tight and she’d be right back. When she returned with a needle and book of matches, I was curious,...