Sangha of Auspicious Companions

November 15, 2022

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Alison Thompson Responds with Heart

“I first met Dr Alison Thompson in Sri Lanka in 2005, when we were both involved in Sri Lanka’s tsunami recovery effort. She immediately struck me as someone down-to-earth and highly motivated to get real, practical work done. Alison wasn’t attached to a famous aid organization, let alone staying in a five-star hotel or shuttled around in a huge Land Rover. She wasn’t someone interested in having meetings about meetings. She is a doer, not a talker: a people-mover who mobilizes her people to get the job done. Alison is a full-time trailblazing humanitarian, a first responder. Her Australian passport reads like an atlas. Alison founded , which has grown into a network of more than 30,000 humanitarian volunteers worldwide. In 2001, she rollerbladed into Ground Zero at the New York World Trade Center, to offer first aid to survivors. This was her moment for an epiphany: Alison would dedicate her life to helping others…This year, Alison has been in Ukraine, where she trains Ukrainian civilians and soldiers in first aid and helps to evacuate orphans from the country.” More in this inspiring interview. { read more }

Be The Change

Learn more about the work of Third Wave Volunteers, an organization Thompson founded, that includes over 30,000 medical, and non-medical first responders.

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Inspiring Links of the Week

November 14, 2022

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The Inward Migration

“As the world falters, threatening native ecosystems and Indigenous lifeways, acclaimed Australian Aboriginal author Alexis Wright turns inward to the dwelling place of ancestral story. From here, she considers how her ancient culture has responded to ongoing destructionand how to bear witness to the creation of a post-apocalyptic world.” { read more }

Be The Change

Who are the most powerful storytellers you are tuned into in these times? Take a moment to reflect on this question with friends and/or family today.

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November 13, 2022

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Why You Should Write That Thank You Note

“Students of mine in a political philosophy course at Indiana University are reading Daniel Defoe’s 300-year-old Robinson Crusoe, often regarded as the first novel published in English. Marooned alone on an unknown island with no apparent prospect of rescue or escape, Crusoe has much to lament. But instead of giving in to despair, he makes a list of things for which he is grateful, including the fact that he is the shipwreck’s sole survivor and has been able to salvage many useful items from the wreckage. Defoe’s masterpiece, which is often ranked as one of the worlds greatest novels, provides a portrait of gratitude in action that is as timely and relevant today as it has ever been.”Richard Gunderman shares more on the benefits of an attitude of gratitude. { read more }

Be The Change

Write and send a thank you note today.

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November 12, 2022

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Thanksgiving Address

Says Robin Wall Kimmerer,”You can’t listen to the Thanksgiving Address without feeling wealthy. And, while expressing gratitude seems innocent enough, it is a revolutionary idea. In a consumer society, contentment is a radical proposition. Recognizing abundance rather than scarcity undermines an economy that thrives by creating unmet desiresThe Thanksgiving Address reminds you that you already have everything you need That’s good medicine for land and people alike.” This wonderful recording of the Thanksgiving Address captures the multidimensional ways that the Haudenosaunee greet and give gratitude for the natural world. { read more }

Be The Change

Read a related excerpt from Kimmerer here, “Allegiance to Gratitude.” { more }

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November 11, 2022

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Dancing in A-Yard

DANCING IN A-YARD is a documentary that takes viewers into California State Prison where maximum-security inmates serve life sentences. The film follows the story of four men who were convicted as teenagers and sentenced as adults.
All four sign up for a powerfully transformational dance class in prison with French choreographer Dimitri Chamblas. You can watch the trailer of the film here. { read more }

Be The Change

Challenge yourself to see someone in your community with new eyes this week. Look into their eyes and greet your own humanness.

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A Yard

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November 10, 2022

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The Woman Who Saved Native Song

“In the early twentieth century, the U.S. government continued its assault on Native Americans by demanding they relinquish their tribal languages and belief systems, teach their children English, and enter the American mainstream. As a result of this concerted erasure campaign, the average American came to see indigenous peoples as living fossils on the brink of cultural extinction. Frances Densmore — a young music teacher from Red Wing, Minnesota — was appalled. In consonance with the eternal truth that the best way to complain is to create, she set out to singlehandedly preserve a vital aspect of indigenous culture, the one art that is the heartbeat of every culture: music.” Maria Popova shares more. { read more }

Be The Change

Learn more about Densmore and her life’s work here. { more }

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November 9, 2022

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Messengers from the Past

“The Crown Jewel of our National Wildlife Refuge System, the Bosque del Apache, has been my annual pilgrimage site for a decade. The largest single population of sandhill cranes migrates to the Bosque late in the fall to overwinter along the Rio Grande. I have seen these cranes with crimson crowns in Southern California and at the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in British Columbia but they descend on the Bosque in staggering numbers. In the evenings, you stare at cranes with serpentine necks flying in over skies streaked rosy pink and clementine. New Mexicos skies can be striations of color approximating infinity but these numberless flocks of cranes and geese outdo the theatrics of the sky. When the cranes begin their fairylike descent onto milky-blue sheets of water, you find yourself in a place where humans are far outnumbered by birds. You let the primal orchestra of cranes and geese remind you of the place your ancestors came from.” Priyanka Kumar shares more in this excerpt from her new book, “Conversations with Birds.” { read more }

Be The Change

Take a few moments today to pay attention to the birds or other forms of life around you today.

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November 8, 2022

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Tyson Yunkaporta: Humans as a Custodial Species

“You don’t need to believe in ghosts to balance spirit and live the right way in this world. You can use any metaphor you like–for example ego, id, superego and persona. Frontal lobe, monkey brain, neo-cortex and lizard brain. Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d’Artagnan. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy. Monkey spirit, Pig spirit, Fish spirit and Tripitaka. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Whatever stories your cultural experience offers you, you can still perceive spirit through metaphor and bring it into balance to step into your designated role as a custodian of reality. Some new cultures keep asking, ‘Why are we here?’ It’s easy. This is why we’re here. We look after things on the earth and in the sky and the places in between.” Aboriginal scholar, arts critic and researcher Tyson Yunkaporta explains how humans became a custodial species and their role to increase the connections within the world. { read more }

Be The Change

For more inspiration, check out this in-depth interview with Yunkaporta, “Indigenous Thinking for Troubled Times.”

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