Sangha of Auspicious Companions

April 17, 2017

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Love Your Enemies. What Does It Mean? Can It Be Done?

Love comes in a variety of forms. We can love our families, our friends, our work, our home… but have we been able to fully embrace the possibility of loving our enemies? Here Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast translates this idealistic-sounding notion into a real world, every day context. Brother David proposes that so long as we have rigid convictions, we make ourselves ‘enemies’ of those who oppose them, whether it be a long standing disagreement, or brief ill-feelings. Brother David redefines what it means to love, allowing the expression of compassion and respect to be our anchor for coming back to a loving stance even with those who oppose us. This illuminating article shares ways we can cultivate this approach in our own lives. { read more }

Be The Change

The next time you feel a sense of friction between yourself and someone else, take a moment to consider that there are always things you can’t see about the other person. Reflect on the fact that their perspectives and personality have been shaped by many forces. Allow yourself to respect their reality, whilst being aware that differs to your own.

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In Other News

• KarmaTube Video: Earth Guardians: Responding to Global Crisis
• DailyGood: Viktor Frankl & the Search for Meaning
• Awakin Reading: We Were Made for These Times

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April 16, 2017

Small Acts of Kindness

Featured Kindness Stories

	He brought his RV filled with goodies to the beach cleanup.
	She wanted to grow Madrone trees from seeds to bring their “soul” to her new surroundings.
	The absurdity of water bottles, where clean water is available helped her make this shift.

Idea of the Week

April 16, 2017

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He Quit His Corporate Job to Help His City’s Needy

How much of a difference can one person possibly make? Here’s a great example. Five years ago, Goutham Kumar decided to walk away from a successful career and commit to helping others full time in his hometown of Hyderabad, India. It wasn’t enough to be a passion; he wanted it to be his profession. First he started Save a Life, which aims at rescuing and rehabilitating the homeless. Then he started a nonprofit called Serve Needy, which helps the poor and homeless. He opened an orphanage to shelter and educate children. He started a program to collect leftovers and distribute meals to hundreds of people daily. He is making available a mobile ambulance to provide medical and emergency services to the poor. His message to others? Come forward and serve. More on this remarkable man and his inspirational example. { read more }

Be The Change

Get involved. Help Serve Needy, volunteer locally, or start your own project to serve others. { more }

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April 15, 2017

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Billy Barr: The Snow Guardian

Who is Billy Barr and how has he single-handedly produced remarkable evidence of climate change? For the past four decades, Barr has lived alone in a cabin in the remote, ghost town of Gothic, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains, one of the United State’s coldest locations. With no external incentives, or formal training in the field, he began keeping meticulous snowfall records to escape boredom during the harsh winter months. Now his extensive research is invaluable to the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab and many other scientists around the world. This short video offers a compelling glimpse of Barr’s unconventional life and contributions. { read more }

Be The Change

The attention Barr pays to his surroundings is extraordinary. In these changing times, what is one small action you can take each day to tune into your own current reality?

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April 14, 2017

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Viktor Frankl & the Search for Meaning

Few books of the last century have had a greater impact on our quest for meaning than Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. This all-time bestseller was written by a Jewish man who had just lost everything in the Holocaust. When Frankl, emaciated from concentration camps, returned to his beloved Vienna, no one was there to meet him. His mother had been gassed at Auschwitz. His brother had been killed in another camp. His wife, Tilly, had starved to death in the women’s camp at Bergen-Bergen. Now, he wondered, what was the point of his life? Frankl poured out Man’s Search for Meaning in just nine days, weeping in an empty room with windows bombed out from the war. Seventy years later, the book remains a classic textbook for college students and a guidepost for people all faiths. Read on for an interview between professor Fran Grace and Frankl’s grandson Alexander Vesely and Mary Cimiluca, Frankl family advisor, about their film Viktor & I. { read more }

Be The Change

Think of a dark period in your life. Is there something meaningful you can salvage from that situation? Is there a way to understand what happened and work to keep it from happening to someone else?

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Earth Guardians: Responding to Global Crisis

DailyGood // Conversations // iJourney // HelpOthers

MovedByLove // CF Sites // Karma Kitchen // More

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April 13, 2017

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For the Love of Bees: A Conversation with Meredith May

“(My grandfather) instilled in me a love of bees and their gentle nature, but I think what I absorbed from it– without even realizing it — is how his relationship with the bees gave him a relationship with everybody up and down (Big Sur).” Award winning journalist, writer, and beekeeper, Meredith May talks about family, beekeeping, and storytelling. { read more }

Be The Change

Be a voice for bees. Learn more about bees at ApiAnon, a community for professional apiculturists, enthusiasts and bee lovers. Help spread awareness by talking with friends and family and advocating for change in harmful agricultural practices and government policies. { more }

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April 12, 2017

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This Is A Poem That Heals Fish

What is a poem? The beautiful children’s book, ‘This Is a Poem That Heals Fish’, follows the journey of a young boy seeking to answer just that. Written by French poet Jean-Pierre Simen and brilliantly translated into English by Claudia Zoe Bedrick, the story is as moving as it is profound. Poetry, by its very nature, is often elusive, and this is reflected in the responses of the characters who are tasked with defining it. “A poem”, one replies, “is when words beat their wings. It is sung in a cage.” By the end of the story, the young boy learns that a poem is made up of far more than the words that compose it. And perhaps can only be defined by those who bravely ask the question. { read more }

Be The Change

Where do you encounter poetry in your own life? Share your responses in the comments section here. { more }

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April 11, 2017

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Jeannie Kahwajy: Catching Everything As Help

“I want to catch what people are offering, catch everything as help; like Aikido. Aikido is a martial art where it doesn’t matter what intention somebody is moving towards you with. I can always catch it as helpful energy — I get to develop this redirecting skill.” Jeannie Kahwajy is an executive coach and the CEO of Effective Interactions. She believes an attitude of love is the most effective way to show up for all our interactions. It’s a theory she’s put to the test (often with jaw-dropping results) in challenging encounters with diverse personalities, including a purse-thief on board a moving train, a seemingly biased employer, a cocky student, and a rude colleague. In this in-depth interview she shares fascinating stories of her approach, and helpful guidelines for putting it into practice. Learn more from this dynamic leader who is dedicated to the proposition that there’s no good reason to have a bad interaction. Ever. { read more }

Be The Change

Practice using the three ‘mantras’ Kahwajy shares in her interview to catch everything as help this week.

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