Glimpses From the Healing Spiral of Words

The beautiful words you will read below arose in the consciousness of participants in my recent writing workshop at the Garrison Institute. The workshop was based on Healing Rhythms of Words, my system of creative, psychological, and spiritual growth through rhythmical writing. Each of the brief passages here offers a glimpse into one moment of our weekend-long journey through different language…

neuroarchitecture

Design on the Brain

The term “neuroarchitecture” may sound like an industry buzzword, but in the rapidly evolving and intersecting world of technology, science, and design, it’s an idea worthy of greater attention. This burgeoning field applies the scientific rigor of neuroscience to the world of design, seeking to better understand how humans perceive and experience built spaces at a biological level. The ultimate…

Aphorisms for Our Age

The wisdom of our ancestors should be cherished. Those ancient bags of bones earned their knowledge by suffering through eons of abhorrent hygiene, repulsive cuisine, and horrendous wifi. Thus we should totally preserve the sayings passed on down to us. But also, it might be time to tweak them. After all, our ancestors created these sayings in times of abhorrent…

personal and social change

Changing for Real

Renowned teachers and authors Ethan Nichtern and Sharon Salzberg will be leading a retreat on “Real Change” at the Garrison Institute on December 14-16, 2018. We talked with them recently about the nature of both personal and social change, and how creating supportive communities is essential to the practice of Real Change. Nora Boxer: Why do we paradoxically both want change…

feminine leadership otto scharmer

The Future of Leadership Will Be More Feminine

Dr. Otto Scharmer is an action researcher who co-creates innovations in learning and leadership that he delivers through classes and programs at MIT, MITx U.Lab, the Presencing Institute, and through innovation projects with organizations in business, government, and civil society around the world. He is the author of Theory U, Second Edition and co-author of the newly released Leading from the Emerging…

New Ways of Connecting with Food, Farm, and Farmer

On the Pathways Toward Planetary Health – the interconnected road to ecological civilization, Half-Earth, regenerative economics, and pervasive altruism – there must be awareness and a bedrock of underlying values. There must be an ethical framework and a capacity to generate solutions. There must be a basic morality.  But there also must be something good to eat. And plenty of…

Like the Wild Geese

“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting- over and over announcing your place in the family of things.” –Excerpt of “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver It can feel rather lonely sometimes when leading mindfulness programs or endeavoring to gather the support needed to…

The Compassionate Bliss of the Artist

“Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” –Percy Bysshe Shelley Tenzin Robert Thurman, speaking at the Artist and Buddhist Contemplatives gathering at the Garrison Institute, offered this idea in a talk titled The Buddha Emanation Body as the Original Buddhist Art Piece. It raises the question, What kind of a world do we want to create? Bob talked about…