Monday, January 16th, 2012
By Diana Rico For Ode Magazine’s December 2011 Issue Five years ago, I was coming out of Vidiots, my favorite video store in Venice, California, when I spotted him sitting on the ground against the painted brick wall. He was dressed in rags and his skin had that dusky look of someone long homeless. “A dollar so I [...]
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
by Jaggi Vasudeva Make your life into a giving. When I say a giving, it is not to be understood as an act. Giving as an act is a deception because, after all, what can you give? Everything that we have, including this body, we have taken from this planet. What we can give is [...]
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
by Judith Thompson We live in an exciting time. As cultural historian, Thomas Berry put it: “We are between stories.” The old story — bracketed on the one side by reductionist scientific materialism, and on the other by institutional religious dogmas — is no longer able to guide us toward human or planetary flourishing. Instead, [...]
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Everyday Creativity by Ruth Richards I’m rather good at maps. I’m also good at using a GPS device. But I forgot the maps and here we were, late afternoon, last day of vacation, my daughter my cousin and I, driving along a two-lane highway in midstate Oregon. No other car in sight, and the sun [...]
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Giving Somebody Your Heart by Christopher Lowman In every interaction you have with another human being—doesn’t matter who—you always have two main choices. (The keyword is choice.) One choice usually leads to logical (boring) interaction, politeness, formalities. And, more importantly, a lack of connectivity. The other usually leads to interesting discussion, love (yes, love), aliveness, friendship, gift [...]
Monday, September 19th, 2011
by Dr. John M. Kalb Be kind whenever possible. It’s always possible. —The Dalai Lama Wouldn’t it be great if we could lose weight just by being nice? Bear with me as I make the case that the answer is most assuredly yes. I invite you to suspend judgment for a moment and take a [...]
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Difference Between Eah and Oh! by Jerry Winstorm After walking some distance, stopping for a cup of tea, and winding my way back to the apartment, I happened upon an older, homeless man in an alley. He was surrounded by several overstuffed plastic bags, and had apparently spent the night in the alley. When our [...]
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
by Paul Buchheit What will you do if you’re too tough to be a good woman, too sensitive to be a good man, too selfish to be a good husband, too lazy to be a good employee, too shy to be a good friend, too caring to be rational, too fat to be pretty, too [...]
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
–by Joseph Bruchac , Parabola In the old days, no one ever stole. Those who were well off always shared what they had. If there was any thing someone wanted, that person had only to ask the owner and that thing would be given. And no one minded if someone borrowed something and then brought [...]
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
by Kent Nerburn Remember that you don’t choose love. Love chooses you. All you can really do is accept it for all its mystery when it comes into your life. Feel the way it fills you to overflowing, then reach out and give it away. Give it back to the person who brought it alive [...]
Saturday, June 4th, 2011
“For Attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed. Remember, if you ever need [...]
Friday, May 27th, 2011
May morning be astir with the harvest of night; Your mind quickening to the eros of a new question, Your eyes seduced by some unintended glimpse That cut right through the surface to a source. May this be a morning of innocent beginning, When the gift within you slips clear Of the sticky web of [...]
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
Many of us were raised in families where emergency medical treatment of minor childhood cuts and abrasions were treated with iodine, a Band-Aid and a hug. If you fell off your tricycle and scraped your knee, then your pain, tears and fears were soothed by the attending adult or teenaged baby sitter who would often [...]
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
by Eknath Eswaran Gandhi wanted so deeply to help the world that he dedicated his life to siphoning every trace of self-interest out of his heart and mind, leaving them pure, radiantly healthy, and free to love. It took him nearly twenty years to gain such control of his thinking process, but with every day [...]
Sunday, May 1st, 2011
“It’s only since I’ve been walking everywhere that I noticed the “grot spots” and dangerous locations in my town. Safe and snug from my car, I hardly noticed what life was like for the more vulnerable pedestrian. Speaking to local residents I came to realize that other foot-traveling folk had the same concerns about litter, [...]
Friday, April 29th, 2011
Venture into a Panera Cares café and you’ll see the same menu and racks of freshly baked breads that are staples at the 1,400 Panera Bread restaurants across the United States. The only thing missing is the cash register. Instead, there’s a donation box where customers pay on the honor system. “We tell you the [...]
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
By Danielle Sacks It’s 8:30 a.m. in Silicon Valley, and Neal Gorenflo is already busy sharing. Inside his Mountain View town house, just a few short blocks from the Caltrain station where commuters pour out each morning on their way to Google, Gorenflo hands over his 15-month-old son, Jake, to a nanny he shares with [...]
Monday, April 18th, 2011
Across the Country, Food Co-ops by the Students for the Students By Barry Estabrook Feb 17 2011, 9:25 AM ET 4 Barry Estabrook When Panda Express, a 1,300-outlet Chinese fast-food chain, announced plans to open a branch on the campus of the University of California-Berkeley, a group of students protested (not surprisingly, given that their [...]
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
–from www.dailygood.com During this past year I’ve had three instances of car trouble: a blowout on a freeway, a bunch of blown fuses and an out-of-gas situation. They all happened while I was driving other people’s cars, which for some reason makes it worse on an emotional level. And on a practical level as well, [...]
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
Peace begins with you. Peace is possible with you. Yours is this life, the gift that you have been given. Realize what a gift you have been given. Understand the beauty that is dancing in front of your very eyes. Don’t wait. This is your time. Grab the request for peace in your heart, find [...]
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
The Canadian Press Burmese monks defied a repressive regime and led a series of pro-democracy protests in 2007. Associated Press Good news begets better people. That was the conclusion of new research released Tuesday by the University of British Columbia, that found people with a strong sense of “moral identity” were inspired to do [...]
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
by Charles Eisenstein For words to truly be powerful, we must align them with our creative intention. Only then can we create the stories of our lives. Unconscious lying sabotages our credibility to ourselves and others. If we cultivate the habit of speaking truthfully and treating our word as golden, then when we declare great [...]
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
A new type of gift economy A new tool for community building Twelve people spanning all generations sit in a circle, cross-legged on the floor of a warm room. People look at each other and smile, greeting newcomers as they enter through the front door and join the circle. In the middle of the circle, [...]
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
Our present nature believes that everything worthwhile, i.e., pleasurable, has to do with what we can extract from our relationships, business, money, powers, etc. We look into this world that we see as being outside of us, hoping to find something in it to complete us. What we don’t see is that the nature that [...]
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Here are a few recent Facebook posts from Suzanne Eder, that I thought would be good to put here — thanks, Suzanne: Sometimes it’s easy to confuse self-love with self-indulgence. Loving ourselves doesn’t mean excusing and continuing to indulge in our thoughts and behaviors that are negative or life-depleting. It is about understanding that all [...]
Saturday, February 5th, 2011
Today, just around three short months from the day I walked into the Gifting Tree office in Ashland, Oregon and met Jack Leishman, I am on the road to recovery and health. I am 67 years young now and in much better health now than I was when I first met Jack. Having Diabetes, high [...]
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Money makes him uncomfortable, so Vinod Sreedhar refuses to charge for his workshops. He accepts whatever people want to pay. He trusts the universe to provide for him. Here he is, in his own words (Photo: APOORVA GUPTAY) With three years of experience making such a living, I’m often asked whether I’ve been exploited. It’s [...]
Thursday, January 27th, 2011
Re: Quantum touch by Joanna… I feel as though I opened up my heart to a true teacher and friend when I met Joanna. She was very kind and even on the phone asked me to show up at her place as though I were visiting a dear friend. I loved the idea and needed [...]
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
May you travel in an awakened way, Gathered wisely into your inner ground; That you may not waste the invitations Which wait along the way to transform you. …May you travel safely, arrive refreshed, And live your time away to its fullest; Return home more enriched, and free To balance the gift of days which [...]
Sunday, January 16th, 2011
Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence. Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path. … May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame. May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul. Take time to celebrate the quiet [...]
Friday, January 14th, 2011
Belief in abundance is crucial to the transformation of your daily *grind* into a joyful *groove*, because virtually all suffering derives from belief in scarcity. When you believe there is PLENTY of good stuff – time, energy, and especially LOVE — most problems simply dissolve. For example, you wouldn’t worry about your children’s behavior if [...]
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Money makes him uncomfortable, so Vinod Sreedhar refuses to charge for his workshops. He accepts whatever people want to pay. He trusts the universe to provide for him. Here he is, in his own words With three years of experience making such a living, I’m often asked whether I’ve been exploited. It’s quite the contrary, [...]
Saturday, January 8th, 2011
There is a distinction between fearfully avoiding a moment and creating a pause. When waiting indecisively in confusion and fear, we are looking and acting outside of ourselves, dependent on others’ ideas and outside resources. But by purposefully allowing a pause, we use the time gained to clarify and strengthen our position. Allowing our clock-driven [...]
Thursday, January 6th, 2011
Here is a link to a new website put together by some of the folks in the Bay Area Gift Circle Network. Every time you go to the site, you’re asked to make an offer that anyone else who goes to the site can “cash” in on. This quickly adds many new offers, which creates [...]
Saturday, December 25th, 2010
The following is from Alpha Lo’s blog on Gift Culture and Gift Economy, called The Open Collaboration Blog at http://opencollaboration.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/gift-circle-faq/ . It seems fitting to look at how we can share our gifts and be open to both receiving and giving, on this eve of Christmas, 2010. You might want to look into starting a [...]
Thursday, December 9th, 2010
When we gift our services, we create social capital; when we aggregate the cognitive surplus of that community, we discover our organizational capacity; and when the Internet connects those strands into a collective network, the feedback loops between givers and receivers exponentializes the number of gifts. We end up rekindling a “gift economy”. At a [...]
Saturday, December 4th, 2010
Wherever I go and ask people what is missing from their lives, the most common answer (if they are not impoverished or seriously ill) is “community.” What happened to community, and why don’t we have it any more? There are many reasons – the layout of suburbia, the disappearance of public space, the automobile and [...]
Saturday, December 4th, 2010
The Gift Culture movement is a paradigm shift. Its viewpoint is both ancient and modern, cutting through disconnection to our essential nature. It goes beyond the idea of bartering to look at the fundamental nature of our world and universe. It is about discovering gifts we didn’t know we had, living in a place of [...]
