On The Wisdom Daily this week (Oct. 19-23), we examined why moments of boredom are profoundly beneficial, how blame can make serious crises all the more difficult to solve, what it takes to “go public” with your political beliefs, what secular students seek by formally studying religious traditions… and more. Did you grow wiser this week? We hope The Wisdom Daily played a part. Beyond Bored: Entering the Soul of Creativity – Adam Lavitt Recently, I introduced meditation to my high school spirituality class. I joined them, closing my eyes, peeking......
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As we start another new week here at?The Wisdom Daily, we hope you’ll spend time with some wise essays and smart Q&A’s that we’ve spotted online recently – featuring insights about well-meaning condolences, the power of nature to emulate or replace religious traditions, the imagination required to truly understand the past, the empowering people you want to surround yourself with… and more. Whatever’s transpiring in your life, may you find the words of wisdom you need. 1. Since You’ve Been Gone “You never actually move on from it. As a little......
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Not long ago, Dan Harris, anchor for ABC’s Nightline, published a book about quieting his racing mind through meditation: 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works — A True Story. A New York Times nonfiction bestseller (now available in paperback), 10% Happier does have a few ideas, summarized here, that you owe it to yourself to consider – whether you already meditate, have considered trying, or never plan to do so. 1. Don’t necessarily give up grand......
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On The Wisdom Daily this week (March 16-20), we discovered a shift in traditional rituals, a film about setting your own pace, a musical trigger for useful memories, a family thrilled to win against cancer, a strategy for chronic complaining, a suggestion for reforming racists and a troubling case of injustice in America. Did you grow wiser this week? We hope The Wisdom Daily played a part. The Future of Funerals – Brad Hirschfield How we deal with death says a great deal about how we think about life. No surprise,......
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Besides breathing, there may be no more common activity than walking. The movie Journey to the West (based loosely on a classic Chinese tale) first arrived in our country with an acclaimed Tribeca Film Festival premiere, and it’s an extraordinarily unique film – well, actually, it’s not a film as we typically think of scripted movies, but more a meditation on walking as a spiritual practice. And I’ve never seen anything like it. Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang filmed an exquisite series of 14 long takes that follow Lee Kang-sheng, donning a bright......
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Sometimes clergy and other spiritual teachers do smart things. And sometimes they do less-than-smart things (I’m trying to be charitable here). But sometimes they just annoy the hell out of me. In this news report about “spas for the soul,” we get an example of all three! Read on to see what I mean. You may be asking, what is a “spa for the soul”? Is it simply a cool name for a church, synagogue, temple or mosque? Or is it a place with massages and treatments that are so good, you......
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Why we sleep is a question that has captivated philosophers and scientists for millennia. If you really think about it, letting go of all activity and going to sleep for several hours every day – becoming totally unconscious and completely vulnerable?- is actually quite bizarre.?Yet sleep is not just a human need: every species of animal on the planet is known to sleep in some fashion. Recent findings have shown that when we sleep, our brain undergoes a sort of mop-up process that removes waste products linked to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.......
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