Sangha of Auspicious Companions

August 16, 2023

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Hope and Feathers

“Africa is a place we all have in common. It is the widely acknowledged cradle of humankind, as most anthropologists agree that our hominid ancestors likely evolved there. So an Evolutionary Eve, mother to all of us regardless of race, ethnicity, or nationality, likely padded across the African plains. Given this multimillion-year perspective, I or anyone else should’ve been awestruck at the prospect of treading the same ground as some australopithecine grandparent. But that was not necessarily the case. Twenty-one of us, including a dozen or so students and a handful of older lifelong learners, were “sacrificing” spring break to study the wildlife ecology of the North Cape. I was along as the co-leader, the trip ornithologist, the designated birder. Professionally, I was well equipped to do the job. Cleverly disguising myself as a wildlife ecology professor, I’ve gamed the system, teaching field ornithology and researching bird habitat relationships, at times going to “work” to do things most folks only find time to do on vacation. For the wildlife work I do, the trip promised to be a dream experience. For the black man that I am, the promises were less certain…” J. Drew Lanham shares more. { read more }

Be The Change

Lanham is the author of, “The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature.” More in this On Being interview with him. { more }

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August 15, 2023

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Eating the Wild

“In recent decades, and especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a growing interest in foraging and cooking with food gathered from the countryside around us. In this article, Charlotte Maberly talks to the distinguished Scottish food writer Fi Martynoga about the benefits of eating wild food, and also looks at the history of the movement and its wider implications in terms of health, food justice and food insecurity. An important aspect of the contemporary movement is its potential to reconnect us with the natural world and change our relationship with it.” { read more }

Be The Change

For more inspiration check out, A Delicious Revolution,” by Alice Waters. { more }

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Inspiring Links of the Week

August 14, 2023

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The Many Lives of Water

“The water present with us on Earth has been here since the beginning of time. People have long journeyed to distant hot springs, mineral pools, misty waterfalls, and formidable geysers for the promise of waters endowed healing properties. In almost every religion, water has the ability to absorb prayers and bestow blessings. “Water holds memories since time began and has a living spirit just like we do,” says Chenoa Egawa, a member of the Lummi tribe and a ceremonial leader, storyteller, artist, and environmental activist who is dedicated to bringing healing to our Mother Earth. Our bodies innate wisdom understands how essential water is, as it makes up more than half of our body weight. “Water has the ability to cleanse itself, and because we are largely made of water, we are a part of that cleansing cycle as well,” Egawa says. “That is why it is so important to offer gratitude and prayer to water as we use it throughout our day.”” More in this beautiful piece from YES Magazine. { read more }

Be The Change

For more inspiration, check out, “Taiji Quan: The Way of Water.” { more }

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August 13, 2023

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The Radical Act of Letting Things Hurt

“When psychotherapist Megan Devine — creator of the excellent resource Refuge in Grief and author of its portable counterpart, It’s OK That You’re Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn’t Understand (public library) — watched her young, healthy partner drown, the sudden and senseless loss suspended her world. As it slowly regained the motive force of life, she set out to redirect her professional experience of studying emotional intelligence and resilience toward better understanding the confounding, all-consuming process of grief — the process by which, as Abraham Lincoln wrote in his immensely insightful letter of consolation to a bereaved friend, the agony of loss is slowly transmuted into “a sad sweet feeling in your heart, of a purer and holier sort than you have known before”; a transmutation in which skillful loving support can make a world of difference — support very different from what we instinctively imagine helps.” More in this post from The Marginalian. { read more }

Be The Change

For more inspiration, check out this interview with Francis Weller, “The Geography of Sorrow.” { more }

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August 12, 2023

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A Case for the Porch

“Lately I’ve been trying to think like a porch. Trying to think between the natural and the human. Thinking how best to build during a climate crisis. I came across John Cage saying that progress in art may be listening to nature. He thought this activity could best play out on a porch, where we can hear natures symphony and then breathe our own masterpieces. Can we play our porches like instruments? So that we listen to but also learn from nature? Doing this will take practice. Porches are good for that too…” { read more }

Be The Change

Check out Charles Hailey’s piece, “A Case for the Porch.” { more }

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August 11, 2023

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Cup of Karma

In the fall of 1987, Polly Simpkins met a man on the midnight train from Copenhagen to Amsterdam who shared with her his philosophy of life which focused on appreciating the people we love in this world. Cup of Karma was born to spread this message by bringing together Polly’s love of people and her love of tea. Tea brings people together and Cup of Karma hosts events at which storytellers share the story of one person in their lives who has influenced them. There is good karma in every cup of tea and shared stories of appreciation and celebration of the special people in our lives who have touched us through love and learning. { read more }

Be The Change

Host your own tea and storytelling event where guests share stories about a special person in their lives, in a spirit of love and appreciation.

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August 10, 2023

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Maggie Smith: Writing in a Way that is Brave, Real, and True

“Bestselling poet Maggie Smith has a gift for embracing the complexity of our human experienceand for writing about it with piercing intensity, clarity, and beauty. In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Maggie about her approach to her craft and to life, and how writing can serve as a pathway to self-discovery and release. Featuring a reading of the beloved poem “Good Bones,” this insightful episode of Insights at the Edge explores metaphor and life in sensory experience; poetic memoir; Maggie’s “drill-down” exercise; entering the territory of our pain; balancing a creative life and domestic responsibilities; the notion of “containing multitudes”; being an integrated, whole person; intuition and the deep knowing of what is brave, real, and true; sitting with the splinters (instead of sanding them down); allowing full wingspan for both individuals in a relationship; endurance versus closure; forgiveness versus acceptance; taking a bird’s-eye view of our experiences; making life more beautiful for everyone; and more.” { read more }

Be The Change

Read some of Maggie’s poems here. { more }

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August 9, 2023

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Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir

“Writer Amy Tans hit debut novel, The Joy Luck Club (1989), catapulted her to commercial and critical success, spending over 40 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. With the 1993 blockbuster film adaption that followed, which was selected for the National Film Registry in 2020, as well as additional bestselling novels, librettos, short stories and memoirs, Tan firmly established herself as one of the most prominent and respected literary voices working today. Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir is an intimate portrait of the groundbreaking author that interweaves archival imagery, including home movies and personal photographs, animation and original interviews to tell the inspiring story of Tans life and career.” In the film Tan speaks with, “with remarkable frankness about traumas she’s faced in her life and how her writing has helped her heal. The film traces her meteoric rise from the point when she picked up fiction writing as a mental break from her heavy freelance business writing schedule and was offered three book deals after completing only three short stories. Born to Chinese immigrant parents in Oakland, California in 1952, it would be decades before Tan would come to fully understand how her mother’s battle with suicidal tendencies was rooted in a legacy of suffering common to women who survived the ancient Chinese tradition of concubinage. However, this legacy provides Tan an inexhaustible well of creative inspiration, and her work has made her a global icon for Asian Americans. Tans other bestselling novels include “The Kitchen Gods Wife,” “The Hundred Secret Senses,” “The Bonesetter’s Daughter,” “Saving Fish from Drowning” and “The Valley of Amazement,” and her work has been translated into 35 languages.” You can watch the trailer for the film here. { read more }

Be The Change

For more inspiration, check out this article, “Amy Tan on Learning How to Become the Narrator of Her Own Life.” { more }

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