We’re celebrating 10 years this summer, and this stunning new video has us all sorts of sentimental. We are overwhelmed with gratitude for this family and can’t wait to reunite with you on August 11th-14th for the best Beloved yet.

A film I made last night based on my favorite quotes from Alan Watts about how the way of looking at your life as a journey can be the most destructive way. Please have a listen to his wise words.

How do we respond to difficult times? We turn to our spiritual practices. Here are some of our tried-and-true ones.

As in any art form, as we release judgment, silence our mind, breathe deep into the process, and find bliss in each step; we realize that we are boundlessly assisted in our authentic and heart-centered expression. We step out of the way. We realize that the Art is not born of us, but through us, and in this understanding we are humbled, yet profoundly empowered. Each creation is an offering: a positive reflection of ourselves and humanity, a celebration of evolving consciousness, an opportunity for healing and deepening, a vision of a bright future and Now.

“The secret of attraction is to love yourself. Attractive people judge neither themselves nor others. They are open to gestures of love. They think about love, and express their love in every action. They know that love is not a mere sentiment, but the ultimate truth at the heart of the universe.”

Tom makes the audacious claim here that faith communities are uniquely situated to lead the evolution of human consciousness to help create a more just, caring and sustainable world. Crazy Wisdom is dedicated to answering how we just might go about doing that.

On this evening, the discussion turned to the question of what people of different religions do when they lose things. One of our Muslim students spoke up right away. “When I lose my keys, or something else, I do what other Muslims do. I repeat the phrase “ya seen” forty times. And then very often I find what I lost!” I couldn’t help asking: “What does ‘ya seen’ mean?”

Spiritual practices are the best ways we know to demonstrate kindness and courtesy toward the Earth, to express our gratitude and wonder, to yield to the mystery and the beauty of it all. In observance of Earth Day we offer a set of practices (based on the Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy) you can do to honor the Earth over the next months.

What’s Life without Moments? Vacations should be a time to go away and come together. From now on lets take our #WholeVacation

No matter the absence of stars
that leaves the night in darkness;
no matter the empty bowls
when the children are not fed;
no matter criminal words
are spoken without recrimination;

We are an Easter people! We believe that faith can move mountains, and that caterpillars can be transformed into butterflies.

(This is adapted from emails I sent to students, faculty, and staff in the course on mindfulness I’m teaching at the USC Keck School of Medicine, through our Mindful.USC.edu initiative:) Mindfulness: A short course Mindfulness is “paying …

Moving further into the Inspired by Hollywood series, we went to see the movie Selma. What a powerful film and so timely. That black men are still twenty-one times more likely to be killed by police than white men* in America is staggering and the media’s attention, drawn to this truth by the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, has drawn our attention, too. Watching Selma brought home the shameful truth that in far too many places, racism still rules the streets.

May the fire in us nurture the Earth and not consume its life.

May the fire in us consume our greed and save this sacred Earth.

Holy is my birth and sacred is my mother.

Shalom, Shalom, Shalom, Shalom.

Give me warmth in my loving,
Strength through forgiving,
Peace in my being,
Today and all my life.

Leader: Creator God to you we pray; –
All: Help us hear your children’s cry.
Leader: Most joyful God to you we pray; ‑
All: Help us share your children’s joy.