A Tribute To My Father Posted by Xiaojuan Shu, Oct 13 2021 February this year on my birthday, I video called my parents in China. During the call, my mother carried my father on her back to the couch closer to the screen so that I could see and hear him more clearly. When she put him down, his heavy bones landed motionless on the couch. Over the past twenty years of suffering from Parkinson’s disease, my father had gradually lost his flexibility and strength. My mother cheered up the occasion by talking about some of the “adorable” things that I did as a child. At age five, rain or shine, I walked fifteen minutes to a public bathhouse to bathe myself every day. It became my then daily ritual. Slowly, my father turned his head toward the screen, looked into me, and raised his hand to wave... A week later, he passed away. I wondered about what kind of life my father ... Read Full Story

Karuna News: How Kindness Boosts Resiliency Posted by KarunaVirus , Oct 13 2021 Newest issue of our newsletter is out!What we already know is that acting kindly makes us feel good, but how exactly? In this week’s Karuna News, this fact is backed by neuroscience confirming that not only do acts of kindness have a contagious effect, but they also produce a warm glow that shows up in our brain’s reward system. This extraordinary effect is witnessed in practice in a diverse community in NYC's Bronx, where college students document pandemic stories of locals with surprising findings: unprecedented adversity gave rise to resounding resilience. We trace this phenomenon further away to a riverside restaurant in Thailand that transformed floods into a community dining experience, to a legally blind marathon runner and her guides in Minnesota, and to 50 thousand people who responded to a tweet from a father in England sharing his autistic teen’s simple birthday wish to make new friends. This and many more stories this week are a striking proof that one act of kindness can have a seismic ripple effect across the universe.Read the full newsletter here ...

Rupa Marya & Raj Patel: How Our Systems Fan Chronic Posted by Rahul Brown, Oct 13 2021 This week's Awakin Call guest: 'Rupa Marya & Raj Patel: How Our Systems Fan Chronic IllnessReflection questions: In what ways have you observed or experienced “inflammation” in your body or in the collective body of your community? What practices allow you tap into deeper awareness of the systemic “groundwaters” that can potentially support your personal and community journey toward well-being?