Simple practical weekly inspirations to improve various aspects of your thought patterns, emotions, habits and lifestyle.

A WORD, A THOUGHT, A QUESTION

Spiritual guidance comes in many forms: a clear thought during quiet time, helpful words from someone we meet, or lessons we learn by observing nature. These messages are part of our daily experience, waiting for us to notice and listen to them.This issue’s contributors share remarkable stories of guidance and inspiration. Daaji offers insights on being in the presence of one’s spiritual guide. Sara Bubber offers a children’s story about recognizing hidden gifts, and Fiona Neary shares her artwork and a story of meeting her spiritual guide. Jason Nutting shows us how to slow down, and Jack Canfield discusses the role inner inspiration played in his success, among other topics.

September 2025 Edition

Being with the Guide

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">ALANDA GREENE reflects on beauty’s surprising power to shift perspective, open hearts, and call us into reciprocal relationship with the world, beginning with one transformative moment in her garden.</h4>Carrying two red onions just pulled from the garden soil, I squatted at the compost to wash them. Mired in grumpy thoughts, I hardly noticed peeling back the outer layers, feeling wronged in a situation, reviewing the ways how and basically stating my case, though to whom I couldn’t say. Not the onions. As I pulled the red outer layer of one onion from its bulb, sunlight caught it and turned onion skin into brilliant ruby light. My mind stopped, I gasped at this exquisite color, felt awe and wonder. Peevish thoughts were gone; they seemed silly and unimportant in this bright glory, this heart-stopping beauty before me. The world felt changed. My mind was changed.Certainly, I had been moved by beauty prior to this red onion ruby brilliance: light shimmering on the lake, the call of a loon, the scent of jasmine in the evening, the perfection of a newborn child’s fingernail, the shimmer of birch leaves in a breeze. But the red onion event caught me by surprise and altered my mind and heart so entirely in the moment that it initiated a curiosity about beauty, about its potential, its mystery.Not long after this experience, I read about Jacob Boehme, a Lutheran shoemaker with no formal education. One day, as he focussed his attention on sunlight reflected in a pewter bowl, he was transported in a vision that revealed the spiritual structure of the cosmos. Several years later, he began to write about what he experienced, creating through the remainder of his life, thirty-two books about the cosmic relationship of humans, human purpose and the Divine. His books are still widely read and discussed. Staring at sunlight in a bowl had a far greater impact on Boehme than the red onion skin did for me, but in both cases, the power of beauty had significant effect.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/beauty_yes_wow_thanks2_ece1f3e0d4.webp" alt="beauty-yes-wow-thanks2.webp"></figure>&nbsp;Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and survivor of Auschwitz, told how he and other prisoners sat on their hut floor, exhausted from the day’s work, when another prisoner rushed in and bid them come outside. There the men stood in awe, deeply moved by a radiant sunset. For a time, their circumstances were transcended. Beauty doesn’t make grief, ugliness, pain and devastation go away. It makes them bearable and offers hope, a portal to more.In her book Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer tells of the beauty she encountered as a young girl when intense purple asters and brilliant goldenrod grew together each year. She asked: Why do they stand beside each other when they could grow alone? [I]s it only happenstance that the magnificence of purple and gold end up side by side? What is the source of this pattern? Why is the world so beautiful?These questions were later offered as part of her response to her university entrance interview, when asked, “Why do you want to become a botanist?” The questions were dismissed. “Not science,” said the professor. Many years later she had her PhD in botany but along with it a sense of having lost something of her indigenous understanding, of her wonder at the beauty of the world. She was invited to a Navaho woman’s presentation about plants and was jolted by what she heard. She spoke of beauty, Kimmerer said. It took her back to her entrance interview when her enthusiasm for becoming a botanist was so soundly rejected. “Beauty is not a valid scientific study,” she was told. Hearing the Navajo woman speak, Kimmerer understood that she should have explained to the professor that her questions were bigger than what science could teach.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Beauty doesn’t make grief, ugliness, pain and devastation go away.&nbsp; It makes them bearable and offers hope, a portal to more.</h4><hr>&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/beauty_yes_wow_thanks3_4172a0789c.webp" alt="beauty-yes-wow-thanks3.webp"></figure>&nbsp;It was the reciprocal learning from both her Indigenous background and scientific study that revealed an understanding of the asters and goldenrod. The reciprocity of blazing gold and intense purple made something of intense beauty. She realized: That pairing of purple and gold is lived reciprocity; its wisdom is that the beauty of one is illuminated by the other. Science and art, matter and spirit, indigenous knowledge and Western science – can they be goldenrod and aster for each other? When I am in their presence, their beauty asks me for reciprocity, to be the complementary color, to make something beautiful in response.Her entrance interview reminded me of a first-year English class when we were reading John Keats’s poem Ode on a Grecian Urn. As I was pondering words from the closing—Beauty is truth, truth beauty—the professor belittled them. He stated that Keats “had obviously run out of inspiration. Anyone could have written that. Besides, who can say what beauty is? It’s a matter of opinion, of taste.” My ideas were still forming, my understandings were felt more than articulated. I did know, however, that beauty was not a matter of opinion nor of fluctuating fashion, but a matter of inner experience. I knew that Keats had not lost his connection with this inner knowing. I feared the professor had.Keats’s statement that equates beauty and truth has never settled into a defined meaning. It continues to stimulate my exploration the way any good poem does, without necessarily landing on a definitive explanation. Many years after that English class, I was pleased to find the words of the Arab mystic, scholar and poet, Ibn ‘Arabi, “Beauty is the welcoming openness of the Truth toward us.” Beauty does act like an opening to something more real, like a door to expanded understanding, like the experience of an expanded heart. Like truth. The mind ceases its treadmill chatter, time stops, everything is held in the present moment of wonder and awe. Beauty changes the world because it changes perception, alters the mind."Let the beauty you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground," said Rumi. An individual experience of beauty becomes the opening to meaning, blessing, purpose. That which is felt as beautiful can be a path that blesses existence and serves the world. This echoes Kimmerer’s feeling of the reciprocity of beauty. When in its presence, she felt compelled to make something beautiful in return.Conscious action in the name of beauty is demonstrated in the work of Trebbe Johnson, who founded Global Earth Exchange, an organization that supports people and communities in going to wounded places of our earth and expressing simple acts of beauty there. This global action grew from her own work, which she described in her book, Radical Joy for Hard Times. &nbsp;As she searched for a way to deal with the sorrow of places that had been destroyed, polluted, damaged, desecrated, she found that creating beauty there brought a sense of healing and contribution. It also helped her see the beauty that was still present in the destruction.I experienced the potency of such action after large pieces of our local forest were brutally cleared of all growing things, the land left with piles of log and debris waste, bared to dusty soil. It felt heart-breaking. For several months afterward, I carried in my car a small pack with a few harmonic tuning forks in it. Whenever I drove past one of these areas, I stopped, carried the forks with me onto the land and played harmonious sounds for it, asking for healing for its wounds, expressing sorrow for what had been done, apologizing for this human action. Reading about Trebbe Johnson’s work, I understood from my own experience how powerful such actions could be and how meaningful it was to see them grow into a global community of action.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/beauty_yes_wow_thanks4_f0e1446c6b.webp" alt="beauty-yes-wow-thanks4.webp"></figure>&nbsp;The red onion experience had prodded me to explore beauty. Having the blessing of a garden gave ample opportunity to do this daily. I began to notice abundant places where beauty brought me to a halt in wonder. It was while writing a book about garden learnings (The Impermanence of Broccoli and Other Lessons from the Garden) that I was introduced to another understanding of beauty.I learned that something actually happens in the brain in an encounter with beauty. Research in the fields of neurobiology, psychotherapy, and psychiatry shows that humans perceive the world in vastly different ways, depending on which hemisphere of the brain is dominant. A simplified summary of how brain hemispheres and beauty are related goes like this.The worldview of technologically developed cultures tends to be a left-brain dominant one, seeing things as separate from each other and seeing the natural world as unconnected to humans, a resource to be used. In addition, humans operate more in left brain perception when they feel threatened and unsafe, and respond unconsciously with a flee, fight or disassociate behavior. Beauty, it turns out, activates the brain’s right hemisphere and brings a balancing influence to the left-brain sense of isolation, separateness, despair, fear or overwhelm. Beauty activates a sense of the present moment and this also balances the left brain tendency to respond with actions of retreat and shutting down when feeling threatened and unsafe. When both hemispheres function in balance, there is greater awareness of wholeness, connectivity, and the now. Beauty and presence can be corrective influences, antidotes to closing down awareness when anxiety and grief emerge in response to what has happened to our world. &nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">As she searched for a way to deal with the sorrow of places that had been destroyed, polluted, damaged, desecrated, she found that creating beauty there&nbsp; brought a sense of healing and contribution.&nbsp; It also helped her see the beauty&nbsp; that was still present in the destruction.</h4><hr>For the sake of this world in these troubled times, we can’t afford these conditioned responses of shutting down or cutting ourselves off. The need is to stay receptive and present, to be awake, able to recognize appropriate responses for the situation that may emerge. Beauty here can function like the reciprocal pairs mentioned by Kimmerer, in this case pairing both sides of the brain, for each to illumine the other.When she asked herself why the world was so beautiful, Robin Wall Kimmerer realized that it didn’t have to be, that it could have been created in an ugly way. Her insight into the reciprocity of beauty evoked understanding that an encounter with beauty is a call to offer beauty in return. The mythological tales of returning to the perfection of Shambala or the Garden of Eden are the possibility when we take up this insight, each of us offering our part in restoring the earth to a beautiful garden. I recall the words of Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh: When we appreciate and honor the beauty of life, we will do everything in our power to protect all life.This may be one aspect as to why beauty is elevated in spiritual traditions worldwide, that it can offer a path to wholeness. In its deliberate exploration, I have had glimpses of its larger potential but suspect it holds much more than I comprehend. That beauty opens the heart, that it brings the perceiver to the present moment, that it suspends the chatter of the mind all suggest its potency in encouraging these traditional spiritual practices of being present, stilling the mind, opening the heart.&nbsp;Kabir Helminski, a modern Sufi lineage holder and teacher writes that presence is the state of heartful awareness that allows us to open to ever more subtle experiences of meaning, inspiration, and beauty. We are back to the reciprocity of asters and goldenrod, in this case, presence and beauty, each activating and lighting the other.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/beauty_yes_wow_thanks5_b7964aeb91.webp" alt="beauty-yes-wow-thanks5.webp"></figure>&nbsp;I feel like beauty is a dimension of spiritual learning that I have overlooked. Qualities such as love, compassion, presence, acceptance, forbearance, forgiveness, attention—these ideals are often challenging, especially in difficult moments. Maybe they’re supposed to be, as difficult moments reveal the extent that the ideals have been integrated. But beauty as an ideal? How great is that? It recalls the words of Dr. Zack Bush: If we make a conscious effort to elevate beauty in our work and our relationships, we can focus on doing our highest work and witnessing, with pleasure, the fabric of reality.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/beauty_yes_wow_thanks6_fcdbdbdeed.webp" alt="beauty-yes-wow-thanks6.webp"></figure>&nbsp;It’s a gift, certainly, full of wonder. As I notice and appreciate it, beauty appears unbidden more and more. The garden flowers are fabulous, but so are the bubble patterns in a boiling pot of pasta, the design harmony of a sliced cucumber, the swirl of water when mopping a floor. Can responding to this beauty really be a spiritual practice? An ideal that illuminates and strengthens other ideals? I want to answer Yes. Wow. Thanks.The Navajo prayer, In Beauty I Walk, ends with the statement: It is finished in beauty. I don’t know what this means, but wonder: could it be that all our offerings in life are completed in beauty?<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">The garden flowers are fabulous&nbsp; but so are the bubble patterns in a boiling pot of pasta,&nbsp; the design harmony of a sliced cucumber,&nbsp; the swirl of water when mopping a floor.&nbsp; Can responding to this beauty really be a spiritual practice?&nbsp; An ideal that illuminates and strengthens other ideals?&nbsp; I want to answer Yes. Wow. Thanks.</h4><hr>

Beauty. Yes. Wow. Thanks.

<h4>Through a simple technique, JASON NUTTING encourages us to slow down.</h4>“When we connect with the heart, time slows down, and in that stillness, everything finds its place.” —DaajiIn a world that never stops moving, the idea of slowing down can feel almost counterintuitive. Yet in the rush of everyday life, the simple act of slowing down offers hidden opportunities to reshape our reality and reconnect with our deeper selves. The SLOW–DOWN technique is a powerful practice that invites us to shift from impulsive reactions to thoughtful responses, opening the door to a more intentional, centered, and fulfilling life.“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” —Viktor Frankl<h4 style="text-align:justify;">The Origins of Perception and Its Impact on Our Lives</h4>From the moment we are born, we begin to absorb the world around us through the lens of those who raise us and the culture in which we are immersed. These early experiences shape our perceptions, which in turn dictate how we see and interact with the world. These learned perceptions, while deeply ingrained, are not always accurate reflections of reality. Instead, they are often colored by past experiences, societal expectations, and unconscious biases—what Yoga calls samskaras.As we navigate life, these perceptions influence our thoughts, behaviors, and expectations. We unconsciously build our reality based on these perceptions, leading us to form rigid ideas of how life “should” be. When the reality of our world doesn’t align with these expectations, we experience conflict—a conflict that triggers our survival mechanisms, activating a program designed to protect us.Survival mechanisms are an automatic response to perceived threats, leading to behaviors that are driven by the need to defend and attack. In this state, known as the “Red Zone,” our nervous system is in overdrive, our thoughts race, and our emotions intensify. We find ourselves stuck in a cycle of judgment and reaction, unable to see beyond the immediate threat to our sense of security.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">The Power of the SLOW–DOWN Technique</h4>The SLOW–DOWN technique is a transformative practice designed to interrupt this automatic response. By consciously slowing down, we create space between the event and our reaction, allowing us to shift from a reactive state to a more mindful, responsive one. This shift moves us from the Red Zone into what is known as the “Green Zone,” where we can engage with the world from a place of awareness, calm, and clarity.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/slow_down_technique2_b595edcd90.webp" alt="slow-down-technique2.webp"></figure>&nbsp;At its core, the SLOW–DOWN technique is about changing our state of being. It helps us move from Event-Judgement-Reaction—a cycle where we automatically judge and react to events based on our conditioned perceptions—to Event-Awareness-Response, where we consciously choose how to respond to what is happening in the present moment.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">The Subtle Power of the Heart</h4>The heart is more than just an organ—it is the seat of our emotions, our essence, and our connection to the deeper truths of life. As you practice the SLOW–DOWN technique, consider adding a focus on the heart to bring an even greater sense of calm and connection to the process.As you say the words “SLOW–DOWN,” gently direct your breath towards the heart, breathing in slowly and deeply into this center of your being. Visualize your heart gently slowing its rhythm, creating a soothing effect that ripples through your entire body. With each exhalation, imagine releasing the tension, stress, and overwhelm, allowing your heart to guide you towards a state of peace and centeredness.This subtle integration of heart-focused breathing helps to deepen the SLOW–DOWN practice, anchoring your awareness not just in the mind but also in the heart. It is here, in this heart-centered space, that true transformation begins to take place.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">The Benefits of SLOW–DOWN</h4>Mastering the SLOW–DOWN technique offers a wide range of benefits, both immediate and long-term:<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li style="text-align:justify;">Conscious Awareness: The practice connects us to our awareness, helping us recognize when we are triggered and allowing us to step back from automatic reactions.</li><li style="text-align:justify;">Mindful Response: Instead of reacting impulsively, we learn to respond thoughtfully, taking into account the present moment and our true intentions.</li><li style="text-align:justify;">Will of Volition: SLOW–DOWN engages the will of volition, empowering us to make conscious choices that align with our values and goals.</li><li style="text-align:justify;">Growth Focus: By moving into the Green Zone, we maintain momentum toward personal growth, preventing procrastination and fostering progress.</li><li style="text-align:justify;">Enhanced Health: The technique activates the body’s recuperation system, reducing stress and promoting overall well-being.</li><li style="text-align:justify;">Heart Connection: SLOW–DOWN helps us tap into the heart, connecting us to our creative potential and sense of purpose.</li><li style="text-align:justify;">Integrity of Behavior: When practiced regularly, SLOW–DOWN fosters the Head-Heart-Hand connection, leading to a life of integrity where our thoughts, emotions, and actions are in harmony.</li></ol>&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/slow_down_technique3_6ecf5a45c3.webp" alt="slow-down-technique3.webp">&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/slow_down_technique4_42411ae9b4.webp" alt="slow-down-technique4.webp"></figure>&nbsp;<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Practicing the SLOW–DOWN Technique</h4>The beauty of the SLOW–DOWN technique lies in its simplicity and accessibility. It can be practiced anytime, anywhere, making it a valuable tool for anyone looking to bring more mindfulness and intentionality into their daily life. Here’s how you can start incorporating this practice:<h4 style="text-align:justify;">1. Become Aware:</h4>The first step is to recognize when you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or emotionally triggered. This awareness is crucial to interrupting the automatic response cycle. This can be related to the practice of distinguishing between the “I” of identification (the ego) and true presence (your real self). This means recognizing and harmonizing yourself with the parts of your identity that are driven by fear or past conditioning.“The voice of the heart is the voice of the conscience. The voice of the ego is the voice of the mind.” —Chariji<h4 style="text-align:justify;">2. Slow Down:</h4>Once you have identified the stress or upset, take a moment to consciously slow down. Say the words “SLOW–DOWN” out loud or to yourself, drawing out the syllables slowly:“Slowwwwwww–Downnnnnnn.”As you do this, breathe deeply into your heart, allowing your breath to soften and calm your entire being. Repeat this three times, taking a deep breath between each repetition. Allow yourself to fully experience the pause between each breath, creating a space for calm and clarity to emerge.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">3. Integrate into Daily Life:</h4>The SLOW–DOWN technique is most effective when practiced regularly throughout the day. Use it during transitions, such as after a phone call, while taking a break, or when moving from one task to another. Each time you use the technique, you are training your mind to shift from judgment to awareness, from reaction to response.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/slow_down_technique5_5e902212d8.webp" alt="slow-down-technique5.webp"></figure><h4 style="text-align:justify;">The Transformation of Conflict</h4>As you practice the SLOW–DOWN technique, you will notice a transformation in how you perceive and respond to conflict. The tension in your body will ease, and you will gain clarity about the underlying program that has been activated. Instead of being controlled by the automatic reactions of the past, you will find yourself more grounded in the present and able to see the situation from a new perspective.For those moments of deep activation, consider incorporating the Heartfulness practice of cleaning or seeking a sitting with a trainer. This additional support can help release the energy of the activated program, further deepening your practice of SLOW–DOWN.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Embracing the Practice of SLOW–DOWN</h4>In a fast-paced world, the ability to slow down is not just a luxury—it is a necessity for living a conscious, purposeful life. The SLOW–DOWN technique offers a practical and powerful way to reconnect with your true self, break free from the automatic reactions of the past, and cultivate a life that aligns with your deepest values and aspirations.As you integrate this practice into your daily routine, you will find yourself moving through life with greater ease, clarity, and intention. The conflicts that once seemed insurmountable will become opportunities for growth and learning. Your relationships will deepen, your health will improve, and your sense of purpose will become clearer.Ultimately, the practice of SLOW–DOWN is about reclaiming your power to choose how you live your life. It is about shifting from a state of survival to a state of thriving, from reacting to responding, from being driven by fear to being guided by love. As you embrace this practice, you will discover the deep peace and joy that comes from living in harmony with yourself, your heart, and the world around you.As Daaji beautifully says, “When we connect with the heart, time slows down, and in that stillness, everything finds its place.” Let the practice of SLOW–DOWN be your guide on the journey to a life of conscious, intentional, and wholehearted living.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/slow_down_technique6_fbff1d993c.webp" alt="slow-down-technique6.webp"></figure>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">As you embrace this practice,&nbsp; you will discover the deep peace and joy that comes from living in harmony with yourself,&nbsp; your heart, and the world around you.</h4><hr><figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/slow_down_technique7_9acf453b70.webp" alt="slow-down-technique7.webp"></figure><h4 style="text-align:center;">Tip:&nbsp;</h4>To fully unlock the potential of the SLOW–DOWN technique, integrate it with consistent Heartfulness practices. Start your day with morning meditation to center your mind and connect with your heart, setting a calm and focused tone for the day. Follow this with the afternoon cleaning process to release accumulated stress and emotional burdens, clearing the way for deeper awareness and more effective use of the SLOW–DOWN technique throughout the day.

The Slow-Down Technique: A Transformative Practice for Conscious Living

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Love of Nature

Reuniting Soul and Soil

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A poem on a spiritual journey, inner peace & the Nile.

Where Love’s Camels Lead From the Nile to the Mountain - part 1

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Find Your Eternity

Emotional Evolution through the Heart Region

A Pause is a Moment of Integration

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Chicken Soup for the Successful Soul - Part Two

The Mysterious Mountain Guide

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The Engine of our Existence

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Mastering the Four Listening Skills

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The Art of Delegation

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">ROSALIND PEARMAIN speaks of the attitude of softness, the world of the senses—of hard and soft, force and forcelessness, warmth and cold—and how we harken to a more profound and beautiful world at the core of our being through the heart.</h4>&nbsp;We are living in a time of hardening edges, of ever harsher decisions affecting millions of our fellow human beings.On the other hand, Babuji stressed from the very origins of Heartfulness that it was fundamentally based on a forceless force—on softness.Another Heartfulness Guide. Chariji, often reminded us of the strength of a tiny plant root in breaking up rocks:“What is this miracle, you see, that the softest thing can penetrate the deepest, hardest substance known? Whereas a hard thing can only up a hard thing. Can you break water by bashing it with a crowbar?“It was a tremendous risk that the Masters took, Lalaji and Babuji. Because it’s like building a house of butter and then asking the people who come in to have torches in their hands. The whole thing would melt. But they had this almost nonsensical stupid faith, that a soft thing can never be broken.“And we have also, in our fairy tales, that when the wind blew, all the hard trees which would not bend were just blown down, and the soft things which were willing to bend, bent almost to the Earth, recovered. It is the soft which wins the battle always. Not the hard, you see; the hard is broken. It survives until it meets something harder than itself. But the soft, nothing in the universe can break it. Nothing in the universe can destroy it.”<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Our journey in forceless force</h4>It seems that as human beings our souls choose to inhabit a specific existence in time and space as it unfolds on our planet and in relation to all creation.So we find ourselves inhabiting a field of feeling unique to each. Is it woven from DNA and patternings that have been transferred into this lifetime? This field of feeling has many layers and dimensions and knots that we perceive through different sensory gateways. They could be in terms of color or light, density and heaviness, warmth and cold, sound, or as qualities of touch. With the help of a being who is attuned to subtlest dimensions, we can harken to a more profound and beautiful world that is ours at the core, and long to return to this original part of creation.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/the_power_of_softness2_6da4490505.webp" alt="the-power-of-softness2.webp"></figure>&nbsp;The core of this sensibility is in the organ of the heart which integrates energetic information from the nervous system, from the organs, from viscera, from the brain, from soul. Furthermore our heart can be seen as a kind of organ of sensibility and perception whose intelligence can refine throughout life as it links with the capacity of the mind to focus <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/lack-of-awareness" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">awareness</a> with the array of feeling at the most subtle levels.In this vein, then, our existence is a field of vibratory exchange with environment, with all sentient life forms, with human beings. This vibratory array is like a glimmering or a shimmering, sometimes soothing sometimes discordant, similar to the domain of music.It seems to me that the <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/spirituality-in-daily-life" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spiritual journey</a> can bring us closer and deeper to the source of all manifestation of life, as a sound of love resonating through all creation. It is potentially experienced by us in layers of a kind of infinite softness that absorbs and transforms and brings everything into a larger field of connectivity which can keep expanding and softening as it moves towards a steady flow of coherence that can integrate increasing complexities within evolving life.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/the_power_of_softness3_b5a40fe2a1.webp" alt="the-power-of-softness3.webp"></figure>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">It seems to me that the spiritual journey can bring us closer and deeper to the source of all manifestation of life, as a sound of love resonating through all creation.</h4><hr>Heartfulness gives us a resource emanating from the most profound and subtle level of vibration; the very original stir, in which to be reminded through a silent soft intimation felt within the heart of our source. This awakens our dormant longing to be dissolved into this field, and resonate in harmony with a nameless and marvelous ultimate. It is in the service of coherence, beauty, truth, and infinite love that we feel our longings for this return to our origin. Our individual journey is shaped by our intrinsic uniqueness and the kinds of samskaras and tendencies that need to be dissolved and reconciled with this core longing.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr>

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The power of softness

Ravi Venkatesan and Mark Milton explore listening skills and empathy.

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The superpower of listening

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">This World Storytelling Day, March 20, we bring you a story by SARA BUBBER, based on a common folk template. May the stories within the story entertain you!</h4><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Stories have been a tool in the passage of rites from one generation to the next since time immemorial. Entertainment, knowledge, wisdom, and education was passed down in the form of stories.</h4>Once upon a time, the Earth was an open canvas. People lived a nomadic life. Traveling from one place to another for food, shelter, and clothing was a common sight. With no radio, television, and phones the only way to entertain each other was to tell stories. Stories about new roots, giant trees, and scary tigers. Travelers were given lodging in exchange for stories, work could also be done by telling stories.One such day, a group of friends were traveling. After a long day they were tired and were trying to decide who would fetch firewood and cook for the group. They tried many ways of deciding but then saw a young girl who was coming the same way. They thought they could get her to cook for them while they rested. They asked her where she was from and if she cared to listen to some stories.The young girl loved stories. She immediately agreed. The group of travelers asked if she wanted to make the story session interesting. They placed a little bet. The travelers would tell the girl a story that was absolutely impossible. If the girl said that the story was impossible, she would have to cook food. The bet also went the other way. The young girl would tell a story, and if the travelers would say that it was impossible, they would cook for her instead.The story session began.One of the travelers started: “My grandfather was a poor farmer who worked in a rich household. He was always called names for working as a slow and careless worker. He prayed to God every day. However much he tried, he couldn’t work faster and was scolded endlessly. One day, the God he prayed to appeared in front of him and when he woke he had great strength. The next day as he was scolded, the energy he had felt rushed through his veins, he grew in size, lifted the house, and took a big leap. The house shook, the cupboards fell, the beds flew out and the windows shattered. He kept flying high until his employer begged him to stop. His employer not only stopped calling him names but also gave him the place of a family member.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/tale_of_tales2_7bab8dfbf1.webp" alt="tale-of-tales2.webp"></figure>&nbsp;“How was the story? Does someone disagree?” No one disagreed.Another traveler continued: “Once there was a famine in my grandfather’s land. My grandfather was a very weak person. One day, in a fight with his brother, he had to leave home. He thought of finding fame for himself. He walked into a forest and came across a man painting. He painted a deer and, as my grandfather continued watching, to his surprise the deer came alive. He thought it was such an amazing device, that he wanted to possess it. When he got the chance, he went ahead and painted a boat with the owner of the brush in it. He added winds on the lake and blew the owner away. Now he had full possession of the paintbrush. He took the brush back and painted clouds and grains which solved the problems of his village. He became the treasurer of the village and one day, he created a son from the paintbrush. He was so exceptional that there was no girl to match him. Then he created a fully grown young girl as a match for his son. And thus, I was born from parents who were painted. The brush is gone, but it seems like my smooth hair is a gift from the paintbrush. I use the best herbs from the best orchard that my grandfather painted.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/tale_of_tales3_5c925060a1.webp" alt="tale-of-tales3.webp"></figure>&nbsp;“This is my story, do you agree?” “Yes we all do.”Now it was the little girl’s turn. She began her story. “My grandparents possessed many things. They were well respected in their community, and helped many people achieve greatness. They possessed hulk-like strength and various magical possessions. One day, in a civil strife, the servants of the house ran away with the chest of hulk strength and some of the magical possessions like a wish-granting paintbrush. My parents looked for it all their life, and today I set off in search. I have finally found all my family possessions with you. It seems you are the long lost servants of our family who have our possessions.&nbsp;“This is the end of my story. Do you agree?” “Yes we do.” The little girl continued, “That is wonderful news, now, give my possessions back.” “But… no we do not agree,” said the group. “Oh, then you must cook for me.” And the little girl, using her wit, rested as the team cooked for her.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/tale_of_tales4_c3079e9217.webp" alt="tale-of-tales4.webp"></figure><hr><h3>Interesting facts about stories</h3><h4> &nbsp;Aesop’s Fables</h4>Aesop was a slave who lived in ancient Greece. He wanted freedom more than anything else. He noticed the supervisor of slaves and began to tell stories every day. The supervisor was impressed and one day asked Aesop what he wanted. Aesop asked for food for all his fellow slaves. His selfless gesture made the supervisor give Aesop and his community the freedom they deserved. These tales were combined into the <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/once-upon-a-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aesop’s Fables</a> that you have all loved growing up!<h4>Grimms’ Fairy Tales</h4>Grimms’ Fairy Tales is a German collection of fairy tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, first published on December 20, 1812. It is considered the seminal work of Western children’s literature and is listed by <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/master-yoga-2024-unesco-paris" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UNESCO</a> in its Memory of the World Registry.<h4>Panchatantra&nbsp;</h4>Panchatantra is a collection of stories from ancient India based on politics, behavior, communication, and economics. These stories are based on the Vedas, Upanishads, the Ramayana and Mahabharata as a trove of wisdom. The princes of Amarasakti had no interest in pursuing their studies and thus a teacher, Vishnu Sharma, made a comprehensive manual for these princes to be taught in the form of stories. The Panchatantra started the story within a story form of learning, which delights young readers to this day. &nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/tale_of_tales5_3adb201b5e.webp" alt="tale-of-tales5.webp"></figure><hr><h4>Activity 1</h4>Guess these popular stories from the details: 1. A young girl who loses her shoe that gives her the chance to marry a prince:……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………2. A boy who climbs a tall natural element that grows from magic beans and finds treasures in the clouds:&nbsp;…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. A prince who moves to the forest with his brother and wife to live for fourteen years. The wife is kidnapped and he goes to rescue her with an army of monkeys:……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4. A little creature born into a family of ducks goes into the world alone to find his true form:……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5. Two unusual friends who come together near a riverbank. The friendship ends when one large friend asks his tree-dwelling friend for his heart:&nbsp;……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………<hr><h4>Activity 2</h4>Write your own story here. It can involve animals, kings, kingdoms, humans, plants, or anything else that tells a story.Create a story with a beginning, some problems that come up, and a solution to end the story.&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">AI generated images</h4><hr>

Join Sara Bubber’s adventure tale this World Storytelling Day.

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The tale of tales

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">LYNNE McTAGGART is one of the central authorities on the new science of consciousness, and the award-winning author of seven books, including the internationally bestselling The Intention Experiment, The Field, The Bond, and The Power of Eight. Here, Lynne is interviewed by PURNIMA RAMAKRISHNAN about the transformative power of intention, the profound impact of group intention, and the potential for individuals to create significant change in their lives and the world.</h4>&nbsp;Q: Lynne, welcome. You are known for your pioneering work in the science of intention in <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/the-journey-of-total-health" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">consciousness and healing</a>. You’ve explored this science behind intention so deeply. Can you share how you personally define the power of intention?&nbsp;LM: Okay, well, first of all, it’s important to understand that our thoughts aren’t locked inside our heads. They’re trespassers, and they can go out and affect other people and things. We’ve seen that from countless studies on everything from single-celled organisms to human beings. In my own work, I’ve seen that we can affect everything from making plants grow faster, to purifying water, to lowering violence in war-torn and violent areas, and even healing people of things like post-traumatic stress disorder. And I’ve seen it in big groups and small groups. Essentially, thoughts are energy, just as everything else in the body is a collection of energy and energy fields of different varieties. And those thoughts can go out and affect things.I see an intention as a focused thought. You and I are having about 80,000 thoughts a day, and most of them are undirected, most of them are negative. And they oftentimes undermine our life because we’re focusing on negative outcomes, instead of intending for what we want.So, I always teach intention as a respectful and very specific request to the universe. And I find it gets amplified in small and large groups.Q: During your intention experiments, have you encountered any surprising results? Are there poignant moments, epiphanies, which have made you stop and think? What has defined or redefined your expectations of these intention experiments?LM: I think many of the peace intention experiments really surprised me. I wasn’t at all sure they were going to work when we started in 2007. We started with simple things, trying to affect the light emissions of a leaf. And then we moved on to seeds, trying to make them grow faster. And then we moved on to water, trying to purify water, then trying to lower violence in areas.My first experience of something mind-blowing was the seed experiments. I did my very first seed experiment in 2007 when I was speaking in front of an audience in Sydney, Australia. I worked with the University of California’s Dr. Gary Schwartz, a noted psychologist who has a special laboratory with the Laboratory for Consciousness and Human Evolution. He prepared four sets of seeds, each set with 30 seeds, and had his team photograph them and send them to me. And I showed these to the audience and allowed them to select one of the four seeds to send an intention to. So we sent an intention to seed group A for ten minutes. After we were done, I called Dr. Schwartz and told him we were done, but I did not tell him which seeds we sent the intention to. I told him as that was the cue for him to plant the seeds.Five days later they measured the seeds. After they’d measured them, I unblinded the study and told them which seeds we’d sent an intention to. And lo and behold, those seeds grew taller than any others.We did this five more times in different locations with different-sized audiences. And every single time the seeds that were sent an intention grew taller than the controls. But here’s the fascinating part—I was with my audience in Sydney, Australia, and the seeds were back in Tucson, Arizona, 8,000 miles away. Plus, we weren’t sending an intention to the seeds themselves, only to a photograph of the seeds, a symbolic representation of the seeds. So I realized from that very early time that we essentially create a psychic-internet when we make an intention in a group scattered around the globe. That I could see over and over again with the other intention experiments.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Essentially, thoughts are energy, just as everything else in the body is a collection of energy and energy fields of different varieties. And those thoughts can go out and affect things.</h4><hr>Another one that blew my mind was a Sri Lanka peace intention experiment we ran in 2008, when Sri Lanka was in the midst of a 25-year civil war. We did a peace intention for 10 minutes a day over eight days with 15,000 people participating from around the globe. Now, during that week, to my alarm, violence went up rather than down. And I had a professor of statistics doing the analysis. It then plummeted after that. But a more interesting thing happened. The government won a few decisive battles during that week that turned around the entire course of the war. For some time, both sides had been at a stalemate. Then, within a few months, the government was able to take back the north, which was held by the rebel forces. And a few months later, that 25-year intractable war was over.Now, did we do this? Well, it turned out that during the week of our intention pivotal battles occurred, and that was cause for an extraordinary surprise. When you do one experiment like that, it means nothing. There are too many variables in a war. But when you keep doing it and keep getting results, as we’ve done with peace intention experiments, they start becoming interesting.For instance, in 2017, we ran an experiment to lower violence in St. Louis, Missouri, officially the most violent place in America. And we chose a neighborhood called Fairground that was the most violent of all. We had very accurate police data. I once again asked Dr. Jessica Utz from the University of California to analyze data from several years beforehand to six months afterward, to look at the effect of our intention. She found that violence had been going up in all areas of St. Louis, and continued to go up everywhere except the neighborhood we intended where violence went down by 43%. And so it’s happened over and over again.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/intention_revolution2_38d89b0431.webp" alt="intention-revolution2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_intention_revolution2_38d89b0431.webp 110w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/small_intention_revolution2_38d89b0431.webp 353w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/medium_intention_revolution2_38d89b0431.webp 529w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">I always teach intention as a respectful and very specific request to the universe. And I find it gets amplified in small and large groups.</h4><hr>Perhaps the one that amazed me the most is an intention experiment I did that same year, at the end of 2017, with eight Arab cities and a large audience of Israeli Jews. I had special equipment so we could put cameras in eight different locations in Arab cities. Each different Arab city had an audience there. And the ninth camera was with an audience of Israeli Jews. I asked them all to make an intention to lower violence in an area of Jerusalem that was suffering from a high degree of violence.Before that, I had to broker the entire thing, as nobody was speaking to anyone else. They started talking, because I could call on the different places. They would talk to me, and then they would also communicate with the people in all the other locations. And they started sending love to each other, they started sending “Your God is my God,” talking about beautiful visions of people coming together from both sides. There was a big love fest. I found that every time I put together polarized and hated enemies, they seemed to come together after these intention experiments.Since 2008, I’ve run 41 intention experiments, and 37 have shown measurable significantly positive effects. I also surveyed the people involved, and for those who responded, about 40% have reported more peace in their own lives. They’re getting along better with estranged partners or parents or children. They’re getting along better with bosses and coworkers. They’re feeling more love for everybody, and around 50% consistently report they feel more love for everyone they meet.Essentially, they’re hugging strangers and peaceful things happen in their lives. Also, about one-third have reported an improvement in a health condition or a downright cure. So that is the biggest and most amazing effect, the mirror effect of these intentions: the people who are sending intentions are being healed as much as the targets.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">So that is the biggest and most amazing effect,&nbsp; the mirror effect of these intentions:&nbsp; the people who are sending intentions&nbsp; are being healed as much as the targets.</h4><hr>Q: I was blown away by the seed experiment. How has the scientific community embraced this, or conversely, what are the challenges you’ve faced to try to share this with them?&nbsp;LM: I'm not interested in the scientific community because they aren’t going to accept it. Scientists are supposed to be explorers and very few of them really are. There are a lot of reasons for that. People lose their positions at universities for stepping out of the accepted paradigm. So I don’t need to convince scientists. There are enough scientists who are true explorers, who are fascinated by my work, and who have helped to measure the work.I work with people at prestigious universities to run the intention experiments—Princeton, Penn State, University of California, University of Arizona, and others in Europe. I choose people who are open-minded enough to do decent research.There are skeptic organizations who attack my work, but they attack it in the flimsiest of ways. My book, The Field, had more than 400 solid scientific references. I had interviewed exhaustively—frontier physicists, biologists, etc.—and had them check every last fact in that book to make sure I had written it correctly. The skeptics have said the book was based on nothing more than Star Wars, which is just incorrect, close-minded, and ignorant.So, I’m not interested in that. I’m interested in getting this information out to people so they can understand that we have extraordinary capabilities waiting to be unleashed, and we are very different from what we are told in mainstream orthodox science.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/intention_revolution3_b56b5be71b.webp" alt="intention-revolution3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_intention_revolution3_b56b5be71b.webp 214w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/small_intention_revolution3_b56b5be71b.webp 500w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/medium_intention_revolution3_b56b5be71b.webp 750w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;Orthodox science is only 300-plus years old, and new studies and discoveries are being found in universities, in little pockets of academia here and there, that are completely transforming the way we think about ourselves and our world. And we’re far greater than we’ve been told!Q: Thank you for that very candid response. For someone who’s intrigued by your work, who’s curious about your work, and who wants to start applying this <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/how-to-manifest-peace" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">power of intention</a> in their own life, how can they begin?LM:&nbsp;They can join my community and my website. When they join, they receive some basic tools and information about how to do intention and how to form a group. They can also read my books. <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/the-intention-revolution" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Power of Eight</a>, the last book published on this topic, has basic descriptions of how to do intention in a group. For people who really want to learn more, I have a whole series of foundation courses.I also have a <a href="https://lynnemctaggart.com/courses/intention-masterclass/the-power-of-eight-intention-masterclass-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">year-long masterclass</a>, my kingpin course, where I work with people live and interactively for a year. Participants start working in groups after six weeks, and each group meets once a week. Under my instruction, they use intention for relationships, for health and healing, for finances and career, and for life purpose. There’s specific information and instructions, and I coach them throughout the year.So there are all kinds of things at all kinds of price points, including free, and every intention experiment is free. I feel everybody should be able to participate.Recently, Gaia released a documentary about my work with large and small groups, The Power of Eight, plus the intention experiments. They interviewed the various scientists who’ve worked with me, and numerous people who have had extraordinary healings with The Power of Eight, too. And it will culminate in an intention on February 1, 2025. I’m going to have a live audience at Gaia’s headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, and we’re also going to livestream it around the world.It's an invitation. So everyone can take part by going to <a href="https://lynnemctaggart.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://lynnemctaggart.com</a>, where there are instructions.Q: I am really looking forward to it.To be continued.

Explore Lynne McTaggart’s groundbreaking work on intention and its transformative power in healing.

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 Unleashing our extraordinary capabilities