The pandemic has confronted us with a world seemingly out of balance, a health crisis easily becoming an economic crisis. Here in California, a summer of raging wildfires has brought climate crisis to our doorstep, the air dense with smoke, the sun rising red, ash falling. As the world spins more and more out of balance there is a pressing need to stay inwardly aligned, to keep our feet on the ground and our hearts open. We cannot afford to contract into fear or be caught in the miasma of disinformation and distortion, to be swept along by the strange currents of this time. It is essential to have a simple spiritual practice to remain centered, whether watching the breath, a prayer, or just resting in silence.
The remembrance of the heart is one such practice. Through our remembrance, the Divine becomes alive within our heart and comes to meet us in our daily life. We bring a quality of love into our ordinary life, nourishing our environment in hidden ways. But remembrance also implies forgetfulness; we remember what we have forgotten, being with the Divine as a living presence, in friendship, companionship. Initially, for an individual, awakening is always an act of grace, given as a gift to help us begin our journey home. We are given a taste of our pre-existing state of divine oneness, or presence. Spiritual practice is then a simple way to remain awake from the forgetfulness caused by the illusions of the world, and gradually lift the veils that separate us from the light within us and around us.
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UNITY IN A WORLD OF DIVERSITY
BRIAN JONES explores unity in a world full of challenges and diversity. Through different analogies and his own personal experience with meditation, he finds effective ways to achieve unity through the silence of the heart.
Spirituality
DR. ZACH BUSH is a renowned, multi-disciplinary physician and educator on the microbiome as it relates to human health, the environment, and our interconnected future. Here he extends this worldview into the spiritual realm and the field of consciousness, so as to co-create a sustainable and regenerative future for all of us, and understand the role of humanity in the greater scheme of things.
What is Success?
DR. ICHAK ADIZES shares what true success really means and what is needed to find success in everything we do.
Women & Spirituality
Mirabai Bush is the author of Working With Mindfulness, co-creator of Google’s “Search Inside Yourself” program, cofounder of the Center for Contemplative Mind and Society and a founding board member of the Seva Foundation. She teaches contemplative practices, and has facilitated retreats, workshops and courses on spirit and action for over 20 years. To commemorate International Women’s Day, Mirabai spoke with Purnima Ramakrishnan on March 6, 2021.
Katara McCarty – Exhale
Katara McCarty is the source and inspiration for Exhale, a well-being App for Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color. In December 2020, she was interviewed by Mamata Venkat about her life-long journey creating resources for some of the most marginalized people in society, and her approach to spirituality.
The Ber Tree
V. RAMAKANTHA, Ph.D., is a former Indian Forest Service officer and member of the Green Initiative at the international Heartfulness Center, Kanha Shanti Vanam, India. Having spent most of his working life living in forests and jungles, in tune with the natural world, he shares his knowledge about some of the amazing medicinal plants of India, in this case the Ber Tree.
Decision-Making versus Implementation
DR. ICHAK ADIZES explores the different qualities and skills needed to make a decision and then to implement it – when to be open-minded and when to be closed-minded, and how to find a common interest so that all stakeholders can work together to implement a decision.
THE ZERO BALANCING POINT
JANMARIE CONNOR explores some practical ways to create harmony and balance where there is tension, conflict and disagreement. How can polar opposites coexist?
Feeling, Sensitivity and Consciousnes
ROS PEARMAIN, Ph.D., has been integrating the fields of psychology, psychotherapy and spirituality, through both practical and philosophical approaches, for over 40 years. Here she explores the way a spiritual practice opens up the levels of feeling and sensitivity, as we expand into deeper and deeper levels of consciousness, and how our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies are integrated through the heart.
Creating Balance FINDING YOUR COLORS AMIDST THE BLACK AND WHITE
MAMATA VENKAT opens up about the challenge of finding selfcompassion and self-acceptance in a world of judgment and criticism. She also offers 10 tips from her own experience about how to cultivate a self-nurturing approach to life.
‘HERO PAY' FOR GROCERY WORKERS IS TERRIBLE FOR GROCERY WORKERS
“HERO PAY” LAWS, which require big wage increases for grocery store workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, are sweeping the West Coast. Store closures, unemployment, and lawsuits have followed in their wake.
Recipe Spotlight
A Healthy Berry Very Easily Turns Decadent
PEERING INTO THE FUTURE OF RETREATS
Retreat centers are ready to invite guests back onto their properties, but what that means may be vastly different in 2021 and beyond, even after the pandemic is under control.
5 PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF RETREATS
The rustic, historic property once offered hot mineral soaks in private rooms with big clawfoot tubs and one of the best and largest wood-burning saunas in the States. Days frolicking between the steaming hot mineral baths, a cold creek, and the sauna—and nights spent without phone or wifi in a simple cabin in the woods. Hot tea, a warm fire, and a cool stack of magazines: My kind of bliss.
How to Adapt ZOOMING INTO THE FUTURE
In 2020, Zoom transformed from a business tool into a lifeline. How did the company keep up? Simple, says founder and CEO Eric Yuan: It focused on fundamentals.
Scott Wiener Is California's ‘YIMBY' State Senator
IN NOVEMBER, VOTERS in San Francisco reelected California Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat, over his opponent, democratic socialist Jackie Fielder.
CALIFORNIA COULD GET $150B FROM FEDERAL VIRUS RELIEF BILL
In January, state lawmakers agreed to use $2.6 billion in prior federal relief funding to pay off up to 80% of some tenant's unpaid rent. Ting said he’d like the state to also help pay off-unpaid commercial rents to prevent small business evictions.
COMIC-CON TO REMAIN VIRTUAL IN 2021, CITES FINANCIAL STRAIN
San Diego Comic-Con will remain virtual for the July event, but organizers are planning for a smaller-scale gathering later this year.
FEDERAL JUDGE SAYS CALIFORNIA CAN ENFORCE NET NEUTRALITY LAW
A federal judge this week ruled that California can for the first time enforce its tough net neutrality law, clearing the way for the state to ban internet providers from slowing down or blocking access to websites and applications that don’t pay for premium service.
CLARKSON TEETERING ON THE EDGE!
Tells lawyers: Do what it takes to get Brandon out of my life!