Vietnam was a clear success story of the COVID-19 pandemic by May 2020, recording very low infection rates and being widely praised for locking down early to prevent serious outbreaks. But on July 25, the virus mysteriously resurfaced after 99 days of no infections.
I know you're carrying a lot right now. In your life, in your mind, inside your emotional body, too. The load is heavy. I just want you to know, I feel you. Today, I want to send you some tender love. It won't solve everything, but it might lighten the load for just a moment or two.
- Sarah Mane By
There are many virtues appropriate to our present circumstances that are extolled in the wisdom of Sanskrit: Abhayam (अभयम्) fearlessness; Balam (बलम्) strength; Buddhi (बुद्धि) reason, Kshamā (क्षमा) patience and forbearance, and so on.
Every day, everyone we meet can be assisted by simply our changing our attitude and our focus. We can all change the world today. On passing people in the street, on the bus, in places of work and play, bless them...
The offering of food and material goods to monks is an essential part of the daily practice of Buddhism in Thailand. The belief is that through the act of giving, lay Buddhists – followers of the faith who have not been ordained – receive, or make, merit.
Our five senses, our fantastic curiosity, our exhilarating emotional capacity are just a few of our avenues to gladness. Even when headlines clamor, or life deals tough challenges, we can find numberless reasons to feel grateful and hopeful.
During this pandemic, so much has been taken from us. Everyone is missing something important for them. For us, the fact that we cannot do our workshops, work that we have done for the past 45 years and we dearly love, causes hurt to our hearts.
Low-wage service workers increasingly are facing new physical and emotional hazards in the workplace as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to interviews with workers we conducted in April.
A few years ago, I discovered with wonder a new form of magic: expressing appreciation to others for something they had done. And modern life offers us a thousand different opportunities to manifest that magic.
We have all suffered, and will suffer, our own falls. The fall from youthful ideals, the waning of physical strength, the failure of a cherished hope, the loss of our near and dear, the fall into injury or sickness, and late or soon, the fall to our certain ends. We have no choice but to fall, and little say as to the time or the means.
After asking more than 3,000 students about kindness, I’ve learned a lot about just how children and adolescents understand and enact kindness, especially at school. The results might surprise parents and educators.
And in this period of sheltering at home, 33 years ago, this is the most important lesson I learned. The practice of gratitude is powerful and can bring us through even the hardest times.
Like millions of people across Europe, I had. My London street had come alive – despite lockdown – with people cheering from their doorsteps or pavements, and children’s faces appearing at open bedroom windows.
A lot of books have been written about gratitude. I think it is a well-received idea that gratitude is a nice thing to do. But I want to address the use of gratitude in our most vulnerable times, when it is not about being polite, nice or wanting to be liked.
To recognize and appreciate blessings we must develop an "awareness" of them. We must develop the habit of seeing that which is the norm, rather than that which is the exception.
Most of us were taught that saying “thank you” is simply the polite thing to do. But recent research in social psychology suggests that saying “thank you” goes beyond good manners
- Aaron Jarden By
Christmas can be a stressful time of year. You will blow your budget, your relatives will annoy you, and you’ll receive gifts that go straight to Vinnies...
This year we expect that sales will break all records! However, we cannot help but think that this anniversary celebrates the coming to earth of one of humanity’s greatest avatars – who, additionally, lived in total poverty according to his own words.
As a physician, I have helped to care for many patients and families whose lives have been turned upside down by serious illnesses and injuries.
- M.J. Ryan By
We can’t wait until everything is OK—with us or with the rest of the world—to feel thankful, or we will never experience it at all. “The world is too bent for unshadowed joy,” Lewis Smedes points out, and so we must catch and kiss our joy as it flies by, even in the midst of sorrow or suffering.
- Alan Cohen By
When I heard this story, I stopped in my tracks. What a powerful model for compassion in action! I pray that I might be so sensitive to support others in their sense of well-being and transform potentially painful situations with a stroke of kindness.
- Jude Bijou By
Here are some questions and answers about caretaking and speaking up with those we serve, from a cancer diagnosis to dementia and all stops in-between.
Workshops for elder care clinicians significantly improved their comfort and ability in identifying and helping address spiritual needs in their patients, research shows.