Karla Sachse is an artist based in Berlin and Herzfelde whose practice spans visual poetry, language-based installations, and memorial works in public spaces. Emerging from the Mail Art movement, she leads collaborative projects with Womanifesto and has exhibited at Documenta 15 and the Sharjah Biennial.

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Karla Sachse

<h3 style="text-align:center;">ART ESSAY</h3>&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/what_the_hands_see2_b437eb2065.webp" alt="what-the-hands-see2.webp"></figure>&nbsp;<h4>Artist KARLA SACHSE in conversation with VANESSA PATEL about paper, politics, and the body as a vessel for memory.</h4>Looking through your catalog, Karla, I’m struck by such a rich body of work. I saw some of it while you were producing it and again at one of your Berlin shows. You’ve used paper in such unique ways! You’ve taken something seemingly fragile and transformed it into something enduring. Why paint on paper, rather than canvas, for instance?At first, I painted on canvases and boards, but soon I started thinking that other people were better at painting than I was. Changing to paper made it easier to destroy the works later. You can’t do that to a canvas. You can’t tear it up. You can crumple paper and throw it away—which I never did!You’ve used everything—scraps of paper, documents, ticket receipts, shredded paper, newspapers, paper in all forms.There is one sentence I recited yesterday at the Free University of Berlin during a talk. It says about paper: “solid stuff and fluid again and often sliding off the hands of the creators”—just describing the material. I liked the idea of using things that were already used, with a history and a story inside them.Absolutely, every tiny little bit of paper has a story to tell. Was this way of working inspired by your early days in East Berlin?It was when I met my partner, Joseph, who was already involved in this international Mail Art network [a decentralized global exchange in which artists mailed small artworks to one another, creating connections that bypassed official state channels and, in East Germany, offered a rare and sometimes risky way to reach the outside world] and was making things that could fit into an envelope to protect them and, hopefully, keep them out of the control of the secret service. So, the first things I did were small, and some I never showed during that time in East Germany because they were political. I would cut out newspaper reports and comment on them, and this was dangerous.That would’ve gotten you into a lot of trouble!<figure class="image image_resized image-style-side" style="width:25%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Karla_Sachse_3c1867b455.webp" alt="Karla Sachse.webp"></figure>Yes, and I had a son, so I didn’t want to go to prison. But I also did bigger works. I got the opportunity to do my first room installation in June 1989. I filled a room with paper: the walls were covered with blank, beautiful, whitish papers, and the floor was littered with crumpled papers, so you had to wade through it.Central to this was a tall column of newspapers, the main organ of the Communist Party, which, of course, you couldn’t read there and which almost nobody wanted to read anymore. I could make a statement and still look “innocent,” with “blue eyes,” as we say. “I’m not guilty, I just put these beautiful newspapers in a stack.”That was really clever. You’ve done extensive work with frottage, making rubbings, and you seem to see images in discarded objects and bring them to life. How do you decide what you want to take a rubbing of?&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/what_the_hands_see4_774014ae33.webp" alt="what-the-hands-see4.webp"></figure>&nbsp;Where I have my country garden now, there are many large and small rocks deposited during the Ice Age. I thought something must have happened to them when they were brought here by ice. So, I looked at their surface. We humans always want to see ourselves reflected in things!I placed some paper on one rock, and then you have this surprise. There’s something that looks like eyes showing up, and then you examine by touch, and the stone itself tells you where to stop. But it’s always different from what your eyes have seen.I did an exhibition called The Hands See Different. The rubbing hands see differently from the eyes, and it’s always a surprise.You sent me some beautiful, fine muslin cloth some time back, and I used this instead of paper—for example, to rub the ghosts of the place out of the walls of a former power plant in Denmark. The cloth hung and moved in the space, so it came to life in a different way.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/what_the_hands_see5_1478d0e852.webp" alt="what-the-hands-see5.webp"></figure>&nbsp;I shouldn’t have a favorite, but my favorite body of your work is Baskets of Experience. They’re woven paper objects resembling body parts, and you explained that each one you made in a different country using the newspapers you found discarded in that place. How did you conceptualize these “vessels”?I learned how to weave baskets at a Womanifesto workshop in Thailand in 2001. It needed a lot of patience, and I knew immediately I would like to shape body parts from the rolled-up paper.At that time, there was a big discussion in the media about prenatal diagnostics, the ultrasound, and the doctors had so much control, and that made me furious. So, there in Thailand, I made a uterus, which was part of [contemporary art exhibition] Documenta 15 and is now in the archive of Womanifesto in Thailand. I knew immediately that I would continue working on this.Wherever I had time—let’s say, a week or more—I started to weave a new object. Before traveling, I would wonder, what do I have to do with Denmark? What do I have to do with India? And I asked my body which part of it would relate most to that special place I was going to. So, for India, I made a longing vessel—a heart—because India is the heart of the world for me.I was going to ask you why the heart for India, and I know you’ve been there a few times and worked there as well.When we had the residency in Kochi, Kerala, there was enough time to weave the heart. From the beginning, it was essential for me to include people’s opinions and stories. So, I asked everyone who worked with us or was around us for their “heart” experiences, the pains and pleasures.They wrote them down on paper and, in front of their eyes, I rolled up the paper—so you could see that it was handwritten, but you couldn’t read it anymore. The secret was kept and included in the basket weaving. This was, from the beginning, another idea of collaboration, which is very important for me.That’s such a uniquely inclusive way to give them a voice and space while at the same time respecting their privacy and innermost feelings. And again, those vessels are holding their stories.In 2023, when we had this big exhibition at the Bangkok Art &amp; Culture Centre in Thailand, I had a great opportunity to create an installation. The woven objects hung from the ceiling to eye level, so visitors moved between them.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/what_the_hands_see6_3bfcb8bbaa.webp" alt="what-the-hands-see6.webp"></figure>&nbsp;Many young people were visiting this exhibition, which we don’t often see in Berlin and in the West. You could see that they tried to read or to figure things out—and perhaps to “weave” their own story in response.What did you want them to feel and experience when they saw these body parts in basket form?From the creation point, it’s an experience of myself, of my body and mind related to a certain place. But because the pieces have shapes you can recognize, if you have some idea of anatomy, you can include your own experiences. You can ask yourself, what do I think and feel about my own digestion, through the intestine, and mentally?I love the eyes—the five eyeballs.Yes, the eyes are very, very special because I did them in Vietnam after talking to war veterans. You cannot ask them directly about their experiences, so I asked them what they’ve seen in their life.They didn’t talk about the war, but about their surroundings and their life in general. So, these eyes are particular. They represent five different people, and to this day, they’re very touching for me as well.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/what_the_hands_see7_286ad4ed7f.webp" alt="what-the-hands-see7.webp"></figure>&nbsp;I know you as an artist, but a big part of your life has been as an art teacher, and you’ve influenced so many young people. What did you gain from it? How did that process help you in your creativity?In my studio at school, the students did painting. I could help each of them individually with what they needed to know about their work. Of course, I used to expend a lot of energy to prepare all this teaching, but I always had the feeling that I got back the same amount of energy from their being, their youthful being.Nowadays, it’s great to have a community of young people. When I’m having a show opening, I like seeing young people out there, not just people my age.Yesterday, I gave a talk at one of the universities in West Berlin to thirty-five students, and I showed some of my work. They’re studying literature, and the seminar was about Concrete and Visual Poetry. Very soon, they started asking very intimate questions about the political situation and other matters related to my work.They’re all born after the Berlin Wall came down, so they’re not directly affected by that situation. Again, it was an immense pleasure to see these young people watching and being curious.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/what_the_hands_see8_45eaee66c5.webp" alt="what-the-hands-see8.webp"></figure>&nbsp;Karla, your work is multi-locational; you’ve worked and exhibited all over the world. Has this kind of wanderlust come from perhaps living for some time in a closed environment, confined to a space with restrictions?&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">From the creation point, it’s an experience of myself, of my body and mind related to a certain place. But because the pieces have shapes you can recognize, if you have some idea of anatomy, you can include your own experiences. You can ask yourself, what do I think and feel about my own digestion, through the intestine, and mentally?</h4><hr>&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/what_the_hands_see9_c339c54bd9.webp" alt="what-the-hands-see9.webp"></figure>&nbsp;I had worked with some underground groups before to change our society. But when the Wall was coming down, it was clear we were going to the Western system immediately, which was not a good situation for many people.I thought, well, it’s too late for me. I couldn’t go live in New York for a year as I would have liked because my son was small.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/what_the_hands_see10_f499b61b76.webp" alt="what-the-hands-see10.webp"></figure>&nbsp;But since then, I’ve been to all the continents with projects and within Europe through this Mail Art network. At first, I didn’t want to go to Paris and London so as not to destroy my <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/authenticity-and-acceptance" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">illusions</a> about them, but I finally went after visiting many other European countries.I’ve seen one of the pieces from your work, Settled Down Women, which are full-sized collages of female figures. Can you talk a little bit about that work?This was an outcome of the Mail Art network. I used to correspond with an artist in Brussels, Belgium. He invited me to a show in the former monastery for nuns in Brugelette.This made me think about the <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/1-5-degrees-of-peace" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">feminist</a> writings and stories that came from the West, and although I’ve never really had to deal with the problems of patriarchy, I was very much in solidarity with the cause. So I made these twelve matriarchal figures—four white ones representing young virgins, four red ones representing the mothers, and four black ones representing the older women. These represent the holy trinity that existed long before the one in Christianity.I worked on these for over fifteen days without sleep, and once they were done, I rolled them up and sent them off to Belgium, not really knowing what would happen to them. Fortunately, I had an aunt who invited me to visit her on her eighty-fourth birthday, and I was able to obtain an illegal substitute passport to travel to Belgium. So, I saw the exhibition there in this monastery.That’s incredible. You made this before the Wall came down, posted them off in a roll, and saw them displayed! That must’ve been mind-blowing.&nbsp;It was mind-blowing because they were all hanging in one big space, and you could see them from the back as well—it was beautiful, more abstract than from the front.Later, they were shown in another place in Belgium and in a church in Denmark. When they came back to me, I thought, I’ll never show them again (which I regret), so I sent them to women I knew around the world to display so others could see them.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/what_the_hands_see11_2e1fb892b2.webp" alt="what-the-hands-see11.webp"></figure>&nbsp;Your matriarchal figures have traveled out of East Berlin and gone everywhere. Is there anything that you wanted to share that we haven’t talked about?Yes, in my catalog, there is a statement called “Matter – Language – Space.” I wrote this in 1998, and it’s a bringing together of all my work.It reads like poetry to me.Yes, exactly this. You can read it in columns, top-down, or horizontally across the columns, and it still makes sense.&nbsp;That’s a wonderful note to finish on. I’ve discovered even more aspects of your work, and there’s more yet to explore. Thank you, Karla, for your time, and please continue making these amazing connections.To discover more about Karla Sachse’s art and ongoing projects, visit her official website: <a href="www.karla-sachse.de">www.karla-sachse.de</a><hr>Artwork by KARLA SACHSE<hr>&nbsp;

What the Hands See

Karuna is the Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Revenue Officer at Nature’s Fynd. She is an accomplished brand builder and Emmy award winner with 25 years of success transforming the world’s most iconic brands.

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Karuna Rawal

Nature’s humble superfood

Kasha is a Gen Z filmmaker, photographer, writer, social entrepreneur, and advocate for climate justice, peace, and gender equality. She founded The Global Sunrise Project and her first documentary, The Sunrise Storyteller, was screened at over 60 film festivals and has won over 29 awards.

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Kasha Sequoia Slavner

<h4>KASHA SEQUOIA SLAVNER discusses her journey as a filmmaker and activist, her new documentary, 1.5 Degrees of Peace, highlighting the interconnectedness between peace, and climate justice, and the value of the intergenerational connect. She is interviewed by PURNIMA RAMAKRISHNAN in the GLOW webinar series.</h4><hr>Q:&nbsp;&nbsp; Hi Kasha, thanks for joining us today.KS:&nbsp; Thank you so much. It’s an honor to be here.Q: You’re a Gen Z filmmaker, photographer, writer, and social entrepreneur, who is a passionate advocate for climate justice, peace, and gender equality. You founded The Global Sunrise Project at 15. You are a frequent UN Youth Delegate, have won the Diana Award and the Kim Phúc Award for Youth Peace leadership, and are one of the voices of SDG16+. You are also the 2021 Global Youth Climate Network Ambassador. Your first feature documentary, The Sunrise Storyteller, was screened at over 60 film festivals and has won over 29 awards.How did you come to do all of these amazing things?KS: I have been a social justice advocate since I was little, working in my local community. I grew up with a single mom who was highly passionate about gender equality, <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/what-the-hands-see" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">feminist</a> issues, and the environment, so I absorbed a lot of her consciousness and care for the world. When I was 14, we joined an organization called The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace that had been working in the disarmament movement since the 1960s. We participated in a delegation to a United Nations conference on gender equality called The Commission on the Status of Women. That was my first trip outside Canada, my first time meeting people from all around the world, and my first time hearing stories from people at the grassroots level about their own communities.Growing up, I had heard about other countries through a lens of sensationalism and stereotypes. I had seen the poverty, the war, the things that are highly polarized, but I hadn’t seen or heard the stories of triumph over adversity, of people doing great things despite the little resources they had. So, when I heard those stories for the first time, I was inspired to do something, to make a difference.I thought about what I had to offer as a 14-year-old. I didn’t really know who I was, but I knew I wanted to inspire other people to make a difference in their communities. I decided to use my passion for visual storytelling. I was a hobby photographer at the time, with no professional experience, but I wanted to travel and share stories, so that other people could feel empowered to take action in their communities.That’s how The Sunrise Storyteller came to be. I was going to travel, take photos, and write a blog, but it soon developed into a film project, even though I had no prior experience of film-making. I thought, “I need to help these stories come to life, give people a platform to share their stories.” I took a year out of school to pursue this.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/1_5_degrees_peace2_700x466_bce6ab127d.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:37:23.995Z" alt="1-5-degrees-peace2"><hr><h4>Art as an enabler</h4>Q: Kasha, tell us how art can be an enabler for social change and social impact.KS: Art is a very special tool. People become statistics when we talk about them only from a fact-based perspective. Connecting with people’s experiences, and how they are impacted by issues, is a really profound way to move them into action and connect them with our shared humanity.For example, climate change is a highly emotional issue. It impacts us at the level of survival. You can show those feelings. You can empower people with knowledge but also move them with stories. Whichever artform you use, whether it is music, visual art, mixed media, photography, or anything else, it has a power to really impact people.It also helps us reframe our narratives. What narratives do you want to tell about the world? What narratives do you want to create going forward? What vision do you have? Art can show the reality of the world, and it can also help you dream up a new world.<h4>Intergenerational partnerships</h4>Q: You use the phrase, “intergenerational partnerships.” There are GEN Zs, Millennials, and GEN Ys. There is wisdom to be harnessed from the older generations, and dynamism to be harnessed from the younger generations. How can we harness the power of the intergenerational connect?KS: Intergenerational partnerships are very special for me because I grew up as an only child in the company of my mom and her circles of social justice advocates. I was always listening to the conversations of my elders. Intergenerational partnerships are key to creating effective social justice movements, because we have shared responsibility to be caretakers of the Earth, its people, and all living beings.In the past couple of years, youth activists have really taken to the forefront, so we hear others saying, “Okay, we are leaving it to you, we trust you with this.” While it’s a nice sentiment, it’s almost disempowering because it feels like, “This is the world we have inherited, and we are responsible for it.” Young people are not in positions of power in corporations or governments. We have taken on the responsibility of starting our own organizations, but we do need the privilege that elders have to uplift our messages, to hear our voices, and to train us to come to decision-making tables informed and ready to advocate for our needs.Many times, you’ll see that we are invited for the purpose of advocacy and we are given a youth voice, but we are not allowed to say what we really feel, or we are not prepared to negotiate, or we don’t have the knowledge to write policies, so we are brought in, then excluded.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/1_5_degrees_peace3_700x466_40f49db405.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:38:20.289Z" alt="1-5-degrees-peace3"><hr><hr><h4>Intergenerational partnerships are key to creating effective social justice movements,&nbsp; because we have shared responsibility&nbsp; to be caretakers of the Earth,&nbsp; its people, and all living beings.</h4><hr><hr>Tokenism happens. Youth are brought to the table so that everyone has a clear conscience, they have done a good thing, but it is unconscionable that it stops there. We have to turn the inspiration and resilience we see from youth activism and bring about concrete action. That requires the help of intergenerational partnerships. We have a limited time for action, we need effective action, and we don’t have time to be spinning our wheels.<h4>Intersectionality</h4>Q: What do you think about the intersectionality between climate, peace, and the other SDGs? How do you see them all working together?KS: No issue is separate from the others. Everything is interconnected. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It’s clear to me that climate justice affects peace. When people don’t have their basic needs met, there are violent reactions, there is hoarding, there is competition for resources, and interpersonal conflict. There is also the issue of nuclear disarmament. The whole process of creating and storing nuclear weapons destroys environments, often where indigenous communities live, where the mining happens. We are also seeing more refugees due to climate change, so again interpersonal conflicts. These are really critical intersection points that affect women and girls disproportionately.When you start looking at the intersectionality of two issues, you see how they link to all the others – those listed as SDGs and those not listed as SDGs.<h4>Activism</h4>Q: I can feel the passion and activism in your voice. What does the word “activism” mean to you? Activism has an element of dynamism – I don’t want to use the word violence. How can you be proactive and dynamic, and see the fruition of your aspirations, without using violence?&nbsp;KS: The way we use language is indicative of our culture and a reflection of society. Sometimes we use violent language to describe everyday things, but activism is not one of those things. To me, activism is caring in action. It has “act” in it, and that means standing up for justice, standing up for the liberation of all people. If we don’t, we perpetuate violence against others.To me, activism is proactive. It’s not always campaigning and lobbying, it’s not always taking a leadership role. Sometimes it’s participating in a movement. Sometimes it’s expressing care for the world through art, through workshops, or working with youth directly. It’s so clear in my heart that it is caring for other people, and taking on our collective responsibility to care for the planet.<hr><hr><h4>Activism is proactive. It’s not&nbsp; always campaigning and lobbying,&nbsp; it’s not always taking&nbsp; a leadership role. Sometimes it’s participating in a movement.</h4><hr><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/1_5_degrees_peace4_77e19ff03d.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:39:04.015Z" alt="1.5-degrees-peace4"><hr><h4>1.5 Degrees of Peace</h4>Q: Kasha, tell us about of your latest movie, 1.5 Degrees of Peace.KS: Through 1.5 Degrees of Peace, I hope to make the connection between peace and climate justice very clear, highlighting those on the ground in the forefront of both movements.&nbsp;We need to bring those two movements together to bring effective action. Both issues are staring us down from the future, but they are also happening now. Sometimes, we may not see the effects, but people in other places see the effects. We need to confront the challenges and find creative solutions for action, for positive change. I hope to do justice to the scale of the issues and also show opportunities for action. That is my goal for 1.5 Degrees of Peace.Q: What do you think of the role of heart-based meditation in fulfilling the SDGs, predominantly peace? And can peaceful individuals help to achieve the SDGs?KS: It’s very important to cultivate a peaceful harmonious humanity. To cultivate peace, we need an element of peace within. We need harmony within ourselves. I meditate and do physical practices that help me to be more mindful. I try my best, I am not perfect, but I continue to work at it. I think it’s critical for a peaceful world.<hr><hr><h4>We have a shared responsibility&nbsp; to care for the planet,&nbsp; and also to care for ourselves&nbsp; in the process.</h4><hr><hr>Q: Kasha, are there any closing thoughts you would like to share with us?KS: Please remember that you have the potential to make a positive impact in the world. Also, reflect on what issues you care about most. Your contribution is necessary. We have a shared responsibility to care for the planet, and also to care for ourselves in the process. I invite you to reflect on that.PR: Thank you so much, Kasha.<hr>To watch the full interview, go to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQGIwhl4PwY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQGIwhl4PwY</a>.

1.5 degrees of peace

Kashish is currently a full-time graduate student pursuing a Master's in Development Practice from Emory University, Atlanta, USA. Born in India, she spent her childhood in the UAE, Russia, Denmark, and India. She has a B.A. from the University of Delhi, a diploma in Bharatanatyam dance, and has volunteered with GRAVIS, Robinhood Army, Sarvahitey, and Girlz, FTW. Kashish is also a certified Heartfulness instructor. She volunteers as an editor for the Heartfulness Magazine and manages her own personal blog. In her free time, Kashish enjoys reading, journaling, watching Korean dramas, and tackling her never ending To-Do List!

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Kashish Kalwani

<h4>KASHISH KALWANI breaks her goals into smaller chunks and finds more in doing less. She suggests how this can help us all accomplish goals without pushing ourselves to the point of burn out.</h4><hr>As common thinking-problem types go, I’m type 1,“all-or-nothing” thinking. Everyday I juggle many roles. I am a wife, a full-time graduate student, I work a part-time job, and am a meditation instructor, a volunteer for a non-profit organization, as well as adjusting to a new continent and culture! And I love to talk about this. I feel productive. I feel I have the hang of life. At 23, I also feel pretty burnt out and overwhelmed.Despite having so much on my plate, and recently winning a super-cool college competition, I felt bummed after a conversation with my classmate. My friend had figured out her summer internships for the semester. She had three interviews lined up and was applying for more. And here I was, struggling to complete my assignment, which was due yesterday. Imposter syndrome is real. I want it all: perfect grades, lots of courses, internships, a thriving social life, a good sleep schedule, home-cooked meals, spending time with my husband, and self-care!The more I do, the less satisfied I feel.Is there is a point of saturation for satisfaction? After winning a competition and relishing the win for two days, I am now constantly worried about the internationals next month. I’m not kind enough to myself because nothing I do makes me satisfied. And this feeling only increases. With so much to learn in this world, so much art and media, skills, and knowledge, I WANT IT ALL.I am blessed to have a wonderful support system of family and friends. One of my friends compared me to an elastic band: “It’s okay to stretch yourself outside your comfort zone [which clearly, I am good at]; but be careful not to stretch yourself to the point of snapping or you will never come back to your original shape.”I then spent moments ruminating over this lovely visual example. “What is my original state? What is the bigger picture?” I found my answer in The Lord of the Rings.For years I have wanted to read the formidable series by J.R.R. Tolkien. As a full-time graduate student, it is hard to find time to read for pleasure,however, not this year! I did not want to give up, so I chose a different strategy. Instead of pushing myself through another intimidating goal, I went for a bite-sized goal. As a Gen-Z, we love bite-sized content. We push out creativity in smaller and tinier time frames. And it’s enough for our brain to take in.It was set. 5 pages a day. No more, no less.There are some 1300 pages in The Lord of the Rings series, including The Hobbit. If I read 5 pages a day, I should complete the series in 260 days. That’s this year!And wow, did I feel more relaxed. I might just be able to finish the series this year!It was a eureka moment for me – as a person with an“all or nothing” approach, I am either too scared to begin a project because I want it to be perfect, or I don’t do it at all.And that’s not cool either way. I end up losing so much by not beginning and being burnt out in striving for perfection.I end up not giving space and grace to myself to keep doing better each day, and I miss out on the joy of being a beginner in something where every mistake is a learning point.<img alt="">With these small goals, I am actively taking steps to incorporate “less” and get “more.” Here are a few more ways.<ol><li>One internship application a day. I break it down to even smaller tasks everyday like:<ul><li>Work on the resume</li><li>Reach out to a professor for a recommendation</li><li>Write a general statement of purpose essay</li><li>Apply to one internship</li><li>Apply to another …</li><li>Take a break</li></ul></li><li>Five-minutes of movement is better than no movement at all. Even better, 1 Surya Namaskar a day.</li><li>Five minutes of meditation a day. I’m showing up!</li><li>One line a day in my journal. Forget the morning pages! Begin slow. Want to make it even smaller?One word a day. How do you feel? Write it in one word.</li><li>One meal with my husband. Let it be a space for love. A ritual.</li><li>Huge paperwork to file? File 2 papers a day. (Unless it’s tax – sadly, those things can’t wait.)</li><li>Read 5 pages a day. One chapter a week. I’m finally carving time for the books I enjoy. It’s my most cherished evening ritual.</li></ol>One day at a time? How about one hour at a time? This moment in time.I haven’t reached the page yet where Gandalf shares his wisdom, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”I am getting there, 5 pages a day. More and more of less and less.<hr>

Are you satisfied with your goals and dreams?

Eco-anxiety

<h4>The last year has seen many of us grieving the loss of loved ones and looking for
 strength amidst tragedy. Here are a few stories from readers of Heartfulness Magazine about their
 experiences.</h4>



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<h2 class="has-text-align-center" style="color:#b8942f">Resilience in the Time of Covid
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<h4 class="has-text-align-center has-black-color">FIONA NEARY</h4>



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This past year has been riddled with new and difficult experiences for everyone on the planet. Some days have seemed
 very dark, and it can be hard to find the strength to push through. I have been fortunate to live with my parents
 while safely continuing my education online. I believe resilience lies in hope for the brighter days ahead. I have
 found a few things that have helped me to feel grounded and sanguine amidst this global pandemic.



My mom and I often walk our dog together and we love to talk about possibilities for the future, no matter how
 unlikely they may seem. I think dreaming and imagining the best-case-scenario for our lives is very important, because
 it is easy to get caught up in current circumstances or relive past failures. These conversations helped me to stay in
 a growth mindset, along with my meditation practice. During these walks, we notice the mosses, the strange mushrooms
 on logs, trillium flowers in the spring … all these reminders that life has a way of moving forward despite a long
 winter. Last month, the new growth in our flowerbeds froze completely, and I worried that the bleeding hearts would
 not blossom. But the next day, they thawed! Now we have beautiful pink heart-shaped flowers.



By observing nature, whether hiking or painting a landscape, I have always felt more at ease and resilient, with
 infinite wonders to contemplate.



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<hr>


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<h2 class="has-text-align-center" style="color:#f26529">What Is in the Air?</h2>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center">KASHISH KALWANI</h4>



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 <figure><img decoding="async" width="600" height="445" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/stories_loss_resilience3_3dc916dbde.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-18T10:24:42.284Z">
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I keep hearing it everywhere. The virus is in the air now. The sickness is in the air.



It’s a risky affair. The air is limitless. It cannot be contained. What do I do then?



I lost a friend, then my grandmother, and then a teacher. How do you speak to someone who has lost a loved one? How
 do I allow myself to feel grief ? How do I feel comfortable with the idea that my biggest contribution is to get
 vaccinated and stay at home?



What is my intention of being resilient and staying grateful in a time like this? Does intention precede action?
 Should I plunge into the action of being resilient and practice gratitude, and let the intention speak for itself ?




I acted.



<ol>
 <li>I picked up paintbrushes again. They had gathered a fine layer of dust by years of lying around packed in a
 cupboard. I am no artist, but I painted 25 postcards. I rearranged sensational words of newspaper articles to form
 meaningful phrases.</li>
 <li>My family and I have an unspoken agreement to watch a movie together. It’s quality time where we’re all in it
 together.</li>
 <li>I’m capturing everything in short videos. Life has slowed down, yet the days seem to blur into the same routine
 and uncertainty. I capture the mother bird feeding her chicks, the drops of rain falling from the roof, my father
 brewing masala chai for my mother – the casual magic of the day. Suddenly, every moment seems magical and filled
 with stories, if you allow your imagination to go wild.</li>
 <li>Meditation has become an anchor, which seems the only non-negotiable thing from my earlier routine. It existed
 before, exists now, and will exist in the future. I am grateful for this anchor in a rough ocean filled with waves
 of emotions.</li>
 <li>Finally, I write love letters to myself. I wish to give myself the same empathy, time, space, and love as I give
 to others.</li>
</ol>



From sickness in the air, I wish to anchor the idea of “love is in the air.” Resilience and gratitude follow.


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 <figure><img decoding="async" width="600" height="445" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
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 </figure>
</div>



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<h2 class="has-text-align-center" style="color:#323a97">People You Take for Granted</h2>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center">SHANTHI VENKAT</h4>



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 <figure><img decoding="async" width="600" height="445" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
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 </figure>
</div>


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Like many South Asian immigrants living in the United States, my parents lived in India with my brother. I visited
 them in January 2020, right before the pandemic hit. In January 2021, both my parents got Covid. My mom passed away
 within a couple of days. My dad suffered with Covid complications and passed away in April.



Parents are the reason for our existence in this world. Almost all of us feel that our parents will live forever
 until the day comes when they are no longer with us. I don’t think I will ever have closure, as I did not see them
 physically when they passed on.



There will always be a void when I think of my parents’ home, which is now empty.



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<hr>


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<h2 class="has-text-align-center" style="color:#88b45f">The Pure Joy of Existence</h2>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center">SIMMI VALECHA</h4>



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 <figure><img decoding="async" width="415" height="580" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/stories_loss_resilience6_0689d6114e.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T11:49:21.823Z">
 </figure>
</div>


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Life is beautiful. Its beauty is coded in the ancient wisdom of Sat-Chit-Ananda. The shift from misery to
 happiness is not about achieving or gaining something. It’s simply about being awakened to our own truth. All our
 lives we identify with our titles and our bodies – big and small, beautiful and ugly, old and young – and we feel a
 distinction in ourselves from others. We feel either superior or inferior to others, we categorize ourselves into
 different classes, colors, nations, belief systems, ideologies … the list is endless. It’s only when the ego dissolves
 that we experience unity with our higher Self and bliss prevails. Once we’re awakened to our own light the shift
 happens. We realize that we are pure consciousness experiencing only a part of our eternal existence in this physical
 dimension.



Today’s pandemic has delivered this message to us too profoundly. The need of the hour is to rebuild the connection
 with our own Self and our environment, too. Do you remember the last time the full moon in the sky amazed you, or a
 beautiful wildflower caught your attention? It’s not only an invisible virus that is powerful; the tiny joys of our
 lives conceal within them an unfathomable potential to awaken our healing.



We receive what we seek authentically and radiate vibrantly. Let’s seek and receive blessings today. And that will
 happen once we cherish what we already have. Our surroundings, the house we live in, the work we do, our own healthy
 physical bodies, and our relationships. Let’s appreciate these and count our blessings today. When we listen to our
 inner whispers we discover that so much within is healed.



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<hr>


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<h2 class="has-text-align-center" style="color:#f26529">The Beauty of Impermanence</h2>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center">SARALA UPADHYA</h4>



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 <figure><img decoding="async" width="600" height="445" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/stories_loss_resilience7_014e1d648f.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T11:51:07.110Z">
 </figure>
</div>


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See how the last yellow leaf fell and was swirled away? And the tiny root that
 peeped out of the hard nut!



See the white expanse of freshly fallen snow? And the hope of spring just a little
 below the slush!



See that tiny little movement even in a mountain? And a tiny little stillness in the
 flowing river!



That is the real beauty. That is the beauty of Nature.



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<hr>




<h4 class="has-text-align-center">Illustrations by KASHISH KALWANI</h4>




<hr>



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Stories of loss and resilience

Katara is an entrepreneur, a leader in both non- and for-profit organizations, a sought-after coach, author, and podcast host dedicated to cultivating spaces where Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWOC) belong. She is committed to amplifying the richness of BIWOC and their stories, while also providing emotional well-being resources for them through her App, Exhale.

Katara-mccarty-150x150-1.jpg

Katara McCarty

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<h4 style="text-align: justify">
 KATARA MCCARTY&nbsp;is the source and inspiration for EXHALE, a well-being App for Black,
 Indigenous, and Women of Color. In December 2020, she was interviewed by
 MAMATA VENKAT about her life long journey
 creating resources for some of the most marginalized people in society, and
 her approach to spirituality.
</h4>

<hr class="vertical-space1" />


 Q: I want to make sure I’m pronouncing your name correctly. It’s
 [kuh-TAH-ruh]?
 


 KM: Yes! How do I pronounce your name?


 Q: [MUH-muh-thuh]


 KM:&nbsp;I remember the first days of
 school, when they would come across my name. I would know that I was next
 because the teachers would pause, look at the list, and dodge it. You can
 probably totally relate. I remember being little and having to teach my
 teachers how to say my name. My whole life.


 Q: That has been me my whole life. Inevitably someone follows up with, “Can
 I give you a nickname?” And I always say, “No! Learn how to say my name.
 It’s not that difficult.”


 This has been a very interesting year, a very difficult year for the Black
 community. How are you doing?


 KM:&nbsp;With the pandemic, there was so
 much uncertainty in the beginning, and being quarantined I lost over half my
 clientele. I’m a public speaker and all events were halted. I also coach
 companies and organizations. In a couple of the companies, I was the first
 thing to be cut, because they were trying to stop the internal bleeding. I
 felt a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, and then what was happening with COVID
 in the Black community was really, really stressful.


 Q: I know a lot about the last eight or nine months, but over the last few
 years what has really influenced you now in your career? I would love to
 hear about the origins.


 KM:&nbsp;I spent a lot of my adult life
 partnering with my husband. We launched a non-profit organization in our small
 town here in Indiana – after-school programs for some of the most marginalized
 under-represented, under-served kids in our community. We also built a school
 in Zambia, Africa. That work, which I did for eighteen years, was about
 showing up for those who were on the margins of society. Then, I became a
 certified coach and started my coaching practice and public speaking. While I
 was getting certified, I was the Director of Culture for one of the largest
 Verizon Wireless retailers in the nation. After being there for a few years, I
 then started my own practice. So first it was nonprofit, then the corporate
 world, and then I started my own practice coaching individuals.


 In 2019, people started approaching me to speak on diversity and inclusion,
 and my message was, “We can’t have true diversity and equity unless we really
 focus on inclusion.” What does that look like? I have challenged folks not to
 only check a box with the number of Black and Brown people of color working
 for them, not to only invite them to the table, but to give them a seat and
 give them an opportunity to speak and listen to them.


 When I looked at my roster, I remember sharing with my husband and my girls,
 “I feel like I’ve drifted away from my core values.” While I was still
 delivering a message for people on the margins, I was no longer working with
 them. I wasn’t in the neighborhood anymore. I wasn’t with the families
 anymore. And while I was building my practice, it wasn’t really aligning with
 my values.


 So I began sitting with myself and asking: “Wait! How did you get here? This
 is not where you want to be. You need to pivot some things.” I started
 thinking of ways to offer my services and my coaching to Black people, Brown
 people, and then COVID hit and we were quarantined, so I lost all my previous
 clients anyway. I thought, “Okay. I think the universe has done it in a funky
 way, not that it was ordained. All my clients are pretty much gone. So what
 now?” This was an opportunity for me to truly pivot.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <img
 
 alt="exhale2"
 class="has-img-center lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/exhale2_1_a2e3bc8744.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T07:31:44.472Z"
 />

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<hr />

<h5 style="text-align: center">
 When we learn to be centered, 
 it removes stress from the body, 
 so we won’t get as sick physically. 
 There’s a whole science to it.
</h5>

<hr />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 To manage my stress, I was reaching for Apps, but it felt like a disconnect. I
 asked myself, “How can I show up in my community? I have time now. My
 clientele has been washed away and I have a clean slate. I’m available! I have
 resources that can help. What can I do?”


 I remember being invited to a Zoom call with a lot of community leaders –
 political leaders, civic leaders, social justice leaders, and artists from the
 rap community. I asked myself, “Katara, what can you do?” over the next few
 days. Then one day I went to meditate without an App in my basement, focusing
 on my breath, and the idea came, “Katara, what if you use the tools and
 resources that you give your clients – advocating for them to prioritize
 emotional well-being – and put them in an App that is easily accessible and
 specific to Women of Color, some of these most marginalized folks in our
 community?” And that includes folks who are gender nonconforming, non-binary,
 LGBTQIA+. What if you create something that will help them manage their
 stress, their anxiety, their trauma, from regular life, and also those
 stresses compounded by systemic racism? So the idea for the App came. I knew
 immediately that I wanted to name it “EXHALE,” because I feel like that’s been
 our cry for 400 years. Because of racism, we can’t breathe.


 My experience is that when we learn to connect back to our breath, we can
 remove stress from our bodies, we can remove anxiety from our bodies. We can’t
 control out there, what’s going to happen when we walk out the front door, but
 we can control our breath. When we learn to be centered, it removes stress
 from the body, so we won’t get as sick physically. There’s a whole science to
 it. I wanted to give my community a resource to exhale and breathe, to find
 our breath, because there’s power in our breath.


 Q: Obviously, wellness is important to you, and that’s what you want to
 give back to your community. It makes me curious to know: What was your
 first experience with meditation? How has it helped you in everyday life,
 and also in dealing with the immensity of everything that’s going on right
 now? What has driven you to help people understand how beneficial meditation
 is in bringing a sense of solace and inner peace?


 KM:&nbsp;It really started in my early
 twenties. I’m 48 now. I was pregnant when I was 19 and had my daughter when I
 was 20. When they put her in my arms, everything, everybody disappeared in
 that moment except for her and me. I was so young, and I remember really
 having a spiritual moment. It was an awakening for me. In that moment I knew I
 had to shift my life. It was a moment where I thought, “Oh man, I’ve got this
 baby. I mean, she’s a newborn, I’m holding her.” You know when they open their
 eyes and they’re cute and you’re just like, “Oh my God, this is a real being!”
 And I remember stroking her nose and her forehead and her little fingers, and
 thinking, “Oh, wow. Somebody is depending on me,” not just for food and
 shelter, but depending on me to be a solid individual, having a sense of who I
 am, being grounded and centered. I didn’t have the language then. I have it
 now. I just remember thinking, “It’s time to make some shifts.”


 My path was the Church. I didn’t grow up in the Church. We went at Christmas
 and Easter, but we weren’t consistent churchgoers. I would say my first real
 encounter with meditation came in the form of what Christians called prayer. I
 remember taking it home with me and sitting in solitude and silence. While the
 Church teaches you to talk a lot, make requests and pray for people, my prayer
 life didn’t always look like that. I made it my own. It was an internal
 journey: Why am I doing the things I do? Why do I think that way? Why am I
 having those thoughts about myself? It was really about being with myself from
 a place of curiosity, a place of wonder, and a place of shifting, adjusting
 and guiding my life in the direction I wanted, and that was empowering for me.
 I would say that’s how it started, and I was very consistent throughout my 20s
 and 30s.


 Since then, in my 40s, I’ve had a deconstruction of faith and it’s morphed and
 evolved and changed into what it is now, although it’s really not that
 different from what I was doing in my early 20s when I started. It’s a way to
 ground and center myself. It’s always been a way for me to journey back home
 to the truest most authentic me. Back then, it was about connecting myself
 with the higher being. Now it’s about, “I am one with all that is.” It helps
 to center and guide and ground me in every present moment, whatever that looks
 like.


 I make a point to meditate every morning. Then, throughout the day if
 something crazy happens, or something unexpected, and I feel anxious, I have a
 resource: I can pause and do breath work, or I can close my eyes and focus on
 my breath. It’s not about focusing on other things, other people, or a higher
 being. It’s about focusing on my breath, and how that centers me. It has
 become a daily practice for me.

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<hr />

<h5 style="text-align: center">
 Now it’s about, “I am one with all that is.” 
 
 It helps to center and guide and ground me 
 in every present moment, 
 whatever that looks like.
</h5>

<hr />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 Q: I love that you’ve put it all into an App. There are a dozen and one
 resources that already exist, but I love the focus of EXHALE. Would you
 share some responses you’ve received from the people using it, and the
 direction you’d like to see it go?


 KM:&nbsp;One lady said, “This App has
 changed my life.” She was sexually assaulted earlier this year and was really
 traumatized, and with the pandemic as well she was super anxious. She said, “I
 cannot tell you how much I needed this, but I didn’t know I needed it.” I’ve
 heard that more than anything else. She said, “I look forward to the
 notifications. I feel like you made it just for me!” I am so glad she feels
 that way, because that was my intent. She passed it along to her therapist who
 loves it and has now shared it with a hundred of her clients.


 We keep getting messages like, “I had all of this stuff going on, and I didn’t
 know that I could manage it through breath work and meditation.” With the
 meditation, I talk about the parasympathetic nervous system, so one response
 is, “I really love the science behind this. I love knowing that something is
 actually impacting my body in a positive way.”


 Every time I hear something like that it’s a breath of fresh air, because my
 intent was to truly help people. We want to do Version 2, where we build a
 community for Women of Color to engage with each other, not just with the
 resources in the App. There’s so much value in community.


 I started my own tech company called Katecha, which I’m really excited about.
 I’d love to launch an App for Black and Brown children and students. To build
 community for them is also important. I’m really excited to see what 2021 has
 to offer.


 Q: The practices that you’ve been implementing, for yourself and for
 others, are a great way to remember that life is always going to throw us
 challenges, so we can’t expect, no matter how much we plan. If we’re
 grounded in ourselves and in our breath, if we’re grounded in the energy
 that is our birthright – our mind, body, and soul – then we have everything
 we need within us. Amidst all the chaos in the world, the simplicity that
 you just described is a beautiful concept – to know that we are truly given
 everything that we need in order to feel safe within ourselves.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />

<h5 style="text-align: center">
 Now it’s about, “I am one with all that is.” 
 
 It helps to center and guide and ground me 
 in every present moment, 
 whatever that looks like.
</h5>

<hr />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 KM:&nbsp;Absolutely. It’s a journey home
 to ourselves. Because the world and the way we’re conditioned pulls us out of
 our bodies, so we become disembodied, disconnecting from our soul,
 disconnecting from our emotions, disconnecting from our physical bodies. Black
 women, in particular, have been conditioned to pull away from ourselves, and
 these resources are our journey back home – being in our bodies, being with
 our emotions, being with ourselves, trusting ourselves. I’ve been on this
 journey for many, many years, and I feel more at home than I’ve ever felt in
 my life. It’s my hope that EXHALE is a resource for that journey. As long as
 we are centered here, we’re good. It’s about journeying back home, for sure.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <img
 decoding="async"
 alt="exhale2"
 class="lazyload w-100"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/exhale3_e36a747600.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T07:30:29.370Z"
 />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 Q: That is the fundamental concept of the Heartfulness practices – finding
 our way back to the naturalness that is us. That is one of the goals of
 meditating on the heart. It’s always so beautiful to connect with other
 people who have the same ideals. It’s a lovely reminder that we think we are
 so different and yet we are so similar.


 KM:&nbsp;That is absolutely true.


 Q: Katara, I’m so glad you could speak freely about everything you’ve been
 going through, and the ways you want to keep going. Thank you for educating
 me today and helping me see how much we have in common. I want to use that
 commonality to keep going forward. Thank you.


 KM:&nbsp;Thank you. That is great.


<hr class="vertical-space1" />


<hr />

<h4 style="text-align: center">Interviewed by MAMATA VENKAT</h4>

<hr />

Exhale

Kate is a British model, actress, and musician, who has been Miss Great Britain Photogenic, Miss England Intercontinental, and the Face of Aintree 2004. Kate is also a humanitarian and works for various charity projects. Her TEDx talk about her life journey has turned into a viral Internet sensation.

Kate.jpg

Kate Elizabeth Hallam

<h4>KATE ELIZABETH HALLAM is a British model, actress, and musician, who has been Miss Great Britain Photogenic, Miss England Intercontinental, and the Face of Aintree 2004. Kate is also a humanitarian and works for various charity projects. Her TEDx talk about her life journey has turned into a viral Internet sensation. HereKate shares with us what inspires her passion to help people.</h4><hr>I was born and raised in a beautiful town called Buxton, Derbyshire, with farmland and beautiful green fields. My brothers and I had a very humble upbringing, and our childhood was fun. We would create our own magic, make tree dens, and run through the fields. When I was 14, my brother Chris was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia. He needed a bone marrow transplant, and I was a match for him. So we underwent the transplant, and Professor Huen helped us through the process. He is an amazing man who helped cure Chris of cancer.It was a crazy time, because I was only 14 and scared for my brother, who was 27. But with things like that, especially with your loved ones, you just get on with it and do what you can. Luckily, he was cured. Since then, he’s gone on to have a happy family life and a beautiful daughter.My brother’s recovery inspired me to raise money for cancer charities, and I became an ambassador for the <a href="https://www.anthonynolan.org/">Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust</a>. We raise awareness for Leukemia sufferers who needed donors. At the time when I donated, a bone marrow transplant was a complicated operation. They had to drill into the sternum and hips to take the bone marrow. Nowadays, donating good bone marrow is just a blood test away. I get people to join the bone marrow donor registries to give Leukemia sufferers a better chance of survival. That work gives me a lot of joy because it is a personal subject.<h4>Travel to India</h4>I have always been a traveler and love exploring new places. I was in Dubai when I was asked to shoot a Kannada movie in Bangalore, and jumped at the chance because I had never been to India, and I had heard beautiful things. I instantly fell in love with India and it carries a very big space in my heart to this day. I met my husband there – a lot of you will know him, Lucky Ali. I had the most wonderful experiences traveling in India and I can’t wait to go back.<h4>Dealing with Stress</h4>While pursuing our dreams, we all have days where we feel too stressed or overstimulated by external things and situations. Eventually, we realize we’re wanting to rush to get to that point of happiness and success, so we try to do everything. By the end of the day, we’re puzzled and tired. The key is to learn to slow down, and that comes with age.We can still achieve while going at a slower pace, realizing the blessings of each day: taking moments to breathe; remembering to be present in each moment. I have been focusing on that for the last five to six years and it works wonderfully. There are still stressful days, we all have them, but we learn to manage those days and not be reactive. If something’s meant for you, you are going to get there anyway.<h4>Success and Joy</h4>Success is an interesting journey. A lot of things in life can make us feel less, e.g. getting turned down for a job, and we take them to heart, but the key to success is to keep going. There’s a famous saying that “Sometimes you give up when you are just about to break through,” throwing away whatever you have been working on, however long it’s taken you. It’s good to keep going, to keep positive, to be joyful, to breathe, and not always be stressed by getting overstimulated.People tend to look at other people’s lives and think, “Oh my God! It’s not fair. Why isn’t my life like that?” Instead, just enjoy your life. It is magnificent, and it’s you who is going to make it better.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/in_pursuit_of_happiness2_700x466_2298065b03.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T10:02:38.878Z" alt=""><hr>It’s important for me to know that I am giving back to people. It could be raising awareness for Leukemia sufferers, or simply putting a smile on someone’s face. You never know what other people are going through, and a simple smile can give so much to somebody. I try to work everyday in a state of giving rather than taking. It’s much better to give, and to give joy and happiness to other people.I think fitness is the key to joy. Your body is your temple. Take a little time out each day for your body – whether you are meditating or going to the gym. It’s that workout that brings you joy and good vibes. My three boys keep me very busy, but I still go to the gym.<hr><hr><h4>Your body is your temple. Take a little time out&nbsp; each day for your body – whether you are meditating&nbsp; or going to the gym. It’s that workout that brings you&nbsp; joy and good vibes.</h4><hr><hr>I take time out and there is no excuse for not doing that. Everybody’s got time to do something for themselves: whether it’s mental meditation or physical exercise. Exercising can help release endorphins, which keep us positive and lets us strive for success.Managing RelationshipsI have been married twice and my second marriage is to David. He is a well-known music producer, we have 2 boys together, and I have Dani from my ex-husband Lucky Ali. Life is good. Everybody is happy. Everybody is peaceful and we all get on well.I think that is the key – when you have children, it’s important to make relationships work. After what I went through with my brother, when you overcome adversity at a young age, you realize that life is short and transient. It puts things into perspective. I realized that you have to treasure everything.Not everything is going to work out for you in life, but it doesn’t mean you have to destroy it, or argue about it. You can walk away from things that are not meant for you, or that may have run their course. You can end a relationship and continue with a friendship. That’s what I have with Lucky, and it’s been especially important for Dani, our 10-year-oldson. If you work on the relationship, in the long run it works better for everybody.Just keep things positive and breathe. Take a breath before you react to things. I hope everybody out there manages that.Managing Kids, Hobbies, and Personal CareI get up early – that is the key. It is challenging with three boys. I love getting into nature and I take time to go into the woods. Trees calm me down from the energy of the day. Taking little hikes helps me survive the day, and the busy-ness with the boys, as I don’t have any help. We make it work as a family, we are a team, and it’s good to remember that. I take time out for my boys, and for my hobbies, while I nurture my career.I also take time out for myself. Meditating and going to the gym set me up for the whole day: fitness and a positive mind. When it gets tough, just remember that our parents did it for us, and we are doing it for our children; it’s the way it happens. Look at the joy we get from our children. We do a lot of running around for them, but they are going to grow up into love itself.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/in_pursuit_of_happiness3_700x466_31ee1f53dc.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T10:04:09.016Z" alt=""><hr>

In pursuit of happiness

When Kathleen received her first commission for a mural painting from The Public Art Workshop of Chicago, it was the beginning of a lifelong career in art. Her series of Reunion Island paintings were exhibited over a nine-month period in the main hall of the Museum of Mankind in Paris. In December 2023, she showcased her paintings in an exhibition entitled “Indian Women: Grace and Resilience” in the Town Hall of the 16th Arrondissement in Paris, France.&nbsp;

kathleen.jpg

Kathleen Scarboro

<h3 style="text-align:center;">An Art Essay by the Joliet Mural Artists</h3><h4>KATHLEEN SCARBORO is one of a school of artists who have developed the ‘Joliet style’ of mural painting in Joliet, Illinois, near Chicago. Here she shares their story, and the importance of public art in bringing a sense of cultural identity and community through environmental enhancement.</h4>Even a brief look at art history illustrates the vital link between artists and the societies they represent. We understand diverse civilizations by studying and enjoying the great works of art and architecture they created. It is a relatively recent phenomenon, primarily in western countries, that so many contemporary artists find themselves outside society, unable to assume their role as voices for the beliefs and aspirations of the populations to which they belong.<hr>All human beings, rich or poor, need aspirations to give meaning to their lives. The role of art is to take these aspirations from a latent impulse and translate them into physical form to be shared and used as a source of continued inspiration for all.<hr>Art has never appeared less necessary, and the artist has never been so alienated from society, but this unnatural situation is beginning to change. Starting in the 1960s, community-based public artists worked in cities to reunite artists and communities.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/joliet2_bbd27497a8.jpeg?updated_at=2023-04-06T12:15:20.966Z" alt="joliet2">For the Friends of Community Public Art (FCPA), in Joliet, Illinois, a not-for-profit association, the goal is to revive public art by renewing and revitalizing links among local artists, civic and political figures, and the people of the city. Local authorities support the association, as they see the need to invest in public art as a way to express the ideals of the community and enrich its environment.FCPA is dedicated to reflecting the entire community of Joliet, including its economic, ethnic and racial diversity. The organization’s founders and members believe art is the ideal vehicle to transform society from within. Without this projection by society into the future, humanity could remain stuck in material struggle, never going beyond the most basic physical level of existence.Martin Luther King’s simple and unforgettable statement, “I have a dream,” embodies this concept. Humanity advances by dreaming itself forward, and art is one of the most efficient vectors of this phenomenon. The existence of art and its support by the population are symbols of the vitality of the inner impetus toward fulfillment within a society. All human beings, rich or poor, need aspirations to give meaning to their lives. The role of art is to take these aspirations from a latent impulse and translate them into physical form to be shared and used as a source of continued inspiration for all.The unflagging efforts of FCPA to raise the level of cultural awareness in Joliet have been fruitful. Great progress has been made between artists and the public. This new partnership has allowed the association’s artists to learn and apply basic principles needed to promote the appreciation and material support of the <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/third-culture-kid-identity-art-therapy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">visual arts</a>. People have to identify with the artwork for a sense of belonging to develop. This sense of belonging and identification is vital. The aspirations of the public – its most productive and positive aspects – must be represented so that the desire for ownership can emerge.Another essential element in the nurturing of public art is the quality of conception and execution. Through FCPA, mural participants received a conceptual and technical education that guaranteed the quality of content and expertise of execution. What was created can be considered a school of painting, the result of constant communication among a number of artists, all striving to collaborate at the highest possible level.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/joliet3_bf0e358fba.jpeg?updated_at=2023-04-06T12:16:08.578Z" alt="joliet3">The ‘Joliet style’ is as recognizable and definable as other schools of painting in the history of art, where artists grouped by an affinity of ideas influence each other. In Joliet, the shared workspace has not only been the interior of a studio, but also the city itself. The artists have had the exciting experience of sharing their discoveries and efforts with the community in a very immediate fashion. The public has been both spectator and actor in a contemporary art movement while it was happening.Joliet was ripe for a new vision of itself. Most people thought Joliet was not a very interesting place. Because of a lack of knowledge about its history, the city’s image had suffered, so it was more a place where one ends up rather than a place one would choose to live. We as artists began researching the city’s history, and discovered an endless number of dramatic and exciting stories concerning its past. These stories served as raw material for the elaborate works of public art. The community’s cultural identity started appearing on the exterior walls of the urban environment. The stories the city had to tell were exclusively its own.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/joliet4_103f392612.jpeg?updated_at=2023-04-06T12:16:59.712Z" alt="joliet4">The development of public art in Joliet has spurred a profound transformation in the local mentality; one that is rapidly evolving. The opportunity for people to contemplate their history and heritage in a lively, colorful visual form has been educational. People are often surprised that their personal histories can serve as subject matter for a work of art and that people like themselves who are willing to get involved in the daily life of their communities can leave their mark on history. They realize they can make a difference if they see themselves as capable of making positive changes. And they start to understand that our urban environment is our collective work, reflecting what we are and how we see ourselves.<hr>Mural paintings, sculptures and mosaics have an overall effect&nbsp;that alters our existence in a positive way, just as everyone who puts a flowerpot on a windowsill makes a small, yet appreciable, gesture toward making our daily lives more poetic.<hr>Mural paintings, sculptures and mosaics have an overall effect that alters our existence in a positive way, just as everyone who puts a flowerpot on a windowsill makes a small, yet appreciable, gesture toward making our daily lives more poetic. As attention to the environment awakens, and we see not only our homes but also our neighborhoods and cities as belonging to us, then a great transformation can take place. As the city is ‘dressed up’, we start seeing ourselves differently, too. The exterior environment reveals how we feel about ourselves. If we make efforts to enhance our urban surroundings, we give form to our desire for inner refinement. As we reflect our environments back to the community, it creates and reinforces a sense of pride and dignity of belonging to a special, unique place.If FCPA has been given space and material support to create lasting works of public art in Joliet, we can assume that other cities will recognize a need for similar programs. All it takes is a few enlightened and devoted minds to put the wheels in motion. It is our hope that Joliet’s example will inspire other cities to awaken their innate need for environmental enhancement and education through the revelation of cultural identity.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/joliet5_bd06a9d12c.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T12:17:36.997Z" alt="joliet5"><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by KATHLEEN SCARBORO Art by THE JOLIET MURAL ARTISTS</h4><hr>

Cultural identity

<h4>KATHLEEN SCARBORO tells her own personal story about being the best grandma
 she can be.</h4>
Becoming a grandmother revolutionized my existence. It was a chance to be the loving
 parent I wish I had been when my son was young. When my son was little, I knew I wasn’t as mentally available
 for him as I should have been. I lacked patience and was worried about too many other things like money,
 constantly looking for work – all the pressures of daily life. I was an anxious, guilt-ridden young mother.
Coming to a spiritual path and slowly divesting myself of my mental burdens made
 life become more and more palatable. Gradually life seemed to be less of a battle. I came to realize that I had
 made things unnecessarily complicated for myself. I was on a slow but sure path towards inner balance.
It took about 20 years of spiritual practice to completely change my mental attitude
 and feel grateful for the joy each day could bring.
So when Alice came along in 2012, I was given the opportunity to be the best grandma
 I could. Even during the first week of her existence I was the one who could get her to sleep. She was one of
 those babies who would fiercely fight to stay awake, so I would empty my mind and walk and dance with her until
 she slid into sleep.
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">If we devote ourselves&nbsp;to the
 children, 
 the world will move&nbsp;in the right direction.
</h5>
<hr>
For Alice, I know my presence is totally reassuring. Even when she was only one and
 her parents left her alone with me for a couple of weeks, we had a great time. She did not cry once.
Why are meditators reassuring? I think it is because they have made peace with
 death. We can only reassure others if we are at peace with ourselves and feel safe. And we can only really feel
 safe if we are not afraid of leaving this world at any moment. We also feel safe and confident because we have
 taken responsibility for our lives and believe things happen to us for good reasons and for our benefit. So we
 don’t think that we are in danger and our children profit from our attitude. We show them that they can be bold
 because life is not threatening.
Alice will have to face many difficulties, as all of us do, but I think the
 unconditional love and solidarity of her parents and grandparents will give her the confidence to always feel
 like she can cope with whatever life brings her way. She knows we all think the world of her and feel blessed to
 be her family. All we want from her is for her to be totally herself.
Wouldn’t it be a different world if all children who came here were surrounded with
 helpful, caring, devoted, happy adults? Diogenes said, “The foundation of every state is the education of its
 youth.” If we devote ourselves to the children, the world will move in the right direction.
<h5 style="text-align: justify;"></h5>
<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Art and article by KATHLEEN SCARBORO</h4>
<hr>

A safe future for our children

<hr><h4>KATHLEEN SCARBORO has a career in public art. Here she describes the motivation behind her painting and how she has developed her themes and techniques over the years.</h4><hr>Why would an American artist from Chicago, residing in Paris, choose India as a theme for her paintings? A lifelong interest in other cultures than my own eventually led me to this choice.In the mid 1970s, many American artists were tired of being isolated in their studios. They wanted a role that would allow them to participate in the lives of their local communities. The Public Art Workshop of Chicago was a group of urban artists who painted murals in cooperation with the local inhabitants, so when I received my first commission for a mural painting I contacted them for mentoring. This was the beginning of a lifelong career in public art. With each succeeding commission, I synthesized the preoccupations of a particular group (ethnic, professional, etc.) into a work of art that was placed in a specific public site. So I spent a lot of time observing and listening to others and putting their ideas into visual form. I realized that artists can have a useful and meaningful role of sharing aspects of a designated culture with others.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/KATHLEEN_SCARBOR_2_66a3fa6288.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-03T08:20:16.665Z" alt="KATHLEEN_SCARBOR_2">Life is But a Dream<hr>In France and in Reunion Island I continued painting murals. Eventually I felt a need to paint about village life on the island back in my studio in Paris. A series of these paintings were exhibited over a nine-month period in the main hall of the Museum of Mankind in Paris at the Place Trocadero.My interest in meditation and consciousness studies, as well as art history and general culture, motivated me to go to India in the mid ’90s. For a person who loves to paint people, India offers an infinite source of inspiration. Traveling around the country, the colors, the textiles, the elegance of the women in their saris, the temples, the landscapes and citiscapes all stimulated the painter in me, proposing a multitude of exciting visual possibilities. I decided to make India the theme of my paintings and continue to paint India exclusively today.<hr>&nbsp;<hr>For a person who loves to paint people, India offers an infinite source of inspiration.&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;My composition was strongly influenced by the Mexican and American mural movement. In these schools of painting, e.g. Diego Rivera and Thomas Hart Benton, many different images are combined, creating a collage effect. By combining imagery – a landscape, a figure, a close-up of an object – all can co-exist and collectively tell a story. A narrative of this type would be closer to poetry than prose if we search for a literary analogy. In other words, the viewer has some leeway to make up his own tale from the elements presented. The difficulty with this type of composition is to create a coherent image from components that do not visually co-exist in the real world. The eye should be able to travel around the canvas smoothly, and not be shocked or halted by the transition from one segment to the next.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/KATHLEEN_SCARBOR_3_bbd6aa3013.jpg" alt="KATHLEEN_SCARBOR_3">Introspection<hr>Aesthetics really matter to me, and beauty is a goal. In each painting I am preoccupied by color harmony, fluidity of composition and execution, as well as technically good drawing. Everything and its opposite can be found in this world; I have chosen to concentrate on a positive vision.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/KATHLEEN_SCARBOR_5_7320d1bcda.jpg" alt="KATHLEEN-SCARBOR5">Blessing&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;I adopt subject matter that reminds us we are fortunate to be human. My goal is to bring people an instant of respite from our difficult world. I believe it was the American author John Barth who said that we could judge our own behavior by asking ourselves whether we were adding to or subtracting from the general misery. Every day, every moment, we are bombarded by negative and frightening information concerning our society and environment. I try to create compositions that encourage hope and reveal the innate elegance of humanity. Hopefully I am bringing some solace and joy to those who take the time to look at my paintings.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/KATHLEEN_SCARBOR_4_1_e20f82dccb.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-04T04:31:26.784Z" alt="KATHLEEN_SCARBOR_4">Learning Hearts<hr>I trained at Southern Illinois University in the US, then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. During my years in art school at Southern Illinois University, I found a teacher, Mr Patrick Betaudier, who had mastered Renaissance oil painting technique and taught me his painting methods. I didn’t realize until much later in life just how rare excellent teachers are and am very grateful to have benefited from his guidance.<hr>&nbsp;<hr>I try to create compositions that encourage hope and reveal the innate elegance of humanity. Hopefully I am bringing some solace and joy to those who take the time to look at my paintings.&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;My works are classical oil paintings; I work with oil glazes, using thin layers of color over an underpainting. The underpainting is sketched in, then the forms of the picture are enhanced with white. Between each glaze, a layer of white is brushed over a darker tone (scumbling), and when it is dry a glaze is applied to reinforce the color. For strong color, many layers of glaze and scumbled white are required. To assure longevity, I also use a glue emulsion, which I make myself. I am generous with the number of glazes, keeping in mind that oil paint becomes transparent with age. Paintings of this type take weeks and months to complete; in a normal year I can make four paintings.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/The_innate_elegance_of_humanity_768x333_3b11021e9c.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-03T08:18:57.737Z" alt="The_innate_elegance_of_humanity">A Glimmer of Hope<hr>Currently I am working on a book entitled Painting India: Women and Color with Catherine Servan-Schreiber and Deva Villeroy. We are combining reproductions of my paintings with quotes derived from the works of talented Indian writers of the past and present on the themes developed in the paintings.&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;www.kathleenscarboro.fr<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Art Essay by KATHLEEN SCARBORO</h4>&nbsp;<hr>

The innate elegance of humanity

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">KATHLEEN SCARBORO shares her journey as an artist, explaining why she has chosen the subjects that are so dear to her heart. In December 2023, she opened an exhibition entitled “Indian Women: Grace and Resilience” in the Town Hall of the 16th Arrondisement of Paris, France, to celebrate that journey, and we showcase some of those paintings here.</h4>&nbsp;When I met Chariji in 1988, I had no idea that India would be important in my life, or that for thirty years I would devote myself exclusively to painting this subject.&nbsp;For meditators, life unfolds and reveals its main themes over time. As I look back over my trajectory, it seems that there was an inner logic that had its own momentum and all I had to do was follow along and do the work. I remember my painting teacher, Patrick Betaudier, used to say that when a painting is ripe to come into existence, it paints itself. I often feel that way.Before starting meditation, I was already a professional painter. I had a good technique and I had the desire to produce art, but my true message, what exactly I wanted to paint, was not clear to me. So much art had been created, in so many directions, by so many artists, and I wasn’t sure of my place in the general scheme of things. One day, as I was working on murals on Réunion Island, it suddenly seemed obvious what I wanted to paint, why, and for whom. I am certain this realization was the result of the meditation I had begun practicing. Meditation gives us the clarity to know ourselves, which leads to an understanding of how to use our abilities to share with others.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india3_b4dfcf1fa8.webp" alt="painting-india3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_painting_india3_b4dfcf1fa8.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_painting_india3_b4dfcf1fa8.webp 1000w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india3_b4dfcf1fa8.webp 1000w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;What inspires me are the lives of people of modest condition, in tune with nature, and the beauty and harmony of the natural world. I generally paint women and children; their universe is more accessible to me, and I share the love of drapery, textiles, and vivid color with the women of India. The beauty that inspires me is not that of movie stars or the perfection of youth. I seek a quieter beauty that is unaware of itself and not dependent on passing modes.Nature is an important element in my work. I love gardening and the delicate designs and&nbsp;the fleeting&nbsp;elegance of&nbsp;flowers. I enjoy interweaving natural elements and landscapes with portraits of people in various postures and activities.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:60.29%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india4_79d1eeb8b7.webp" alt="painting-india4.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_painting_india4_79d1eeb8b7.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_painting_india4_79d1eeb8b7.webp 800w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india4_79d1eeb8b7.webp 800w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;Indian women are often mothers and combine a practical sense of daily reality, work, caring for others, and a graceful, natural elegance. They are the pillars of our world. I try to evoke this in my <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/art-is-an-honest-medium" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">paintings</a>, and this is why my latest exhibition in Paris has the title, “Indian Women: Grace and Resilience.”<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">I generally paint women and children; their universe is more accessible to me, and I share the love of drapery, textiles, and vivid color with the women of India.&nbsp;</h4><hr><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:70.08%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india5_d5d7ddf2bb.webp" alt="painting-india5.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_painting_india5_d5d7ddf2bb.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_painting_india5_d5d7ddf2bb.webp 1000w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india5_d5d7ddf2bb.webp 1000w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;My approach to painting was greatly influenced by classical art. I make my medium and emulsion myself, and my technique is a modernized version of the techniques of the Flemish and Italian Renaissance. Paintings take months to do using this method, and intense color is created by layers and layers of transparent oil glazes.I became a professional artist in 1981.&nbsp;Throughout a career in public art, I always dealt with a commission system. In other words, customers would request a work of art and I would find a way to express their ideas and ideals.&nbsp;This kept me very close to a general audience who generally knew nothing about the art found in galleries or museums.&nbsp;Thanks to this link with an&nbsp;audience, working with cities, schools, and other public entities, I came to understand that the basic role of a work of art is communication. To be successful, the work has to please the client and myself on the conceptual and aesthetic levels. This was the hardest part of public art.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:70.26%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india7_eb397d9152.webp" alt="painting-india7.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_painting_india7_eb397d9152.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_painting_india7_eb397d9152.webp 800w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india7_eb397d9152.webp 800w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;Strangely, public art prepared me as an easel painter; I sensed that my mural and sculpture experience taught me to concentrate on grand themes and pulled me to a situation where I was no longer interested in my own personal trajectory, but with our shared story. This is the opposite of what we&nbsp;learned&nbsp;to do in art school where we were encouraged to explore our own personal psyche and idiosyncrasies.&nbsp;Thanks to this public art orientation, my eyes were directed toward the outside, toward other people and their ways of life, rather than looking inside. I was first given many opportunities to explore a culture different from mine in Réunion, where I visited villages, spoke with people, photographed their animals and their environment. For ten years, I worked on this theme.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:71.51%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india6_f78b4d6dd6.webp" alt="painting-india6.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_painting_india6_f78b4d6dd6.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_painting_india6_f78b4d6dd6.webp 800w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india6_f78b4d6dd6.webp 800w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;Then I turned my eyes toward India. Going from Réunion to India, the light, the iconography, the style of dress, the architecture were all different; the range of colors too. As a result, my painting style changed completely. India has provided a marvelous opportunity to explore intense, highly saturated color as well as the power, compositional opportunities, and opulence of drapery (thanks to the women in their saris). The Indian pantheon of gods and goddesses,&nbsp;the non-temporal landscapes and temples, and the Indian people&nbsp;provide an unending inspiration for my paintings.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:70.57%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india8_c54dd887bd.webp" alt="painting-india8.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_painting_india8_c54dd887bd.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_painting_india8_c54dd887bd.webp 1000w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/painting_india8_c54dd887bd.webp 1000w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Artwork by KATHLEEN SCARBORO</h4><hr>

Thoughts about painting india

Khatija made her debut as a film composer with&nbsp;Minmini in 2024, winning the Best Debut Music Director award. Active since 2010, she’s known for blending classical, contemporary, and devotional music, and collaborating internationally, e.g., with U2. Her work reflects a deep spiritual connection, earning her widespread acclaim.

khatija-rahman.webp

Khatija Rahman

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">KHATIJA RAHMAN is interviewed by PURNIMA RAMAKRISHNAN about her musical journey, the creative process, and the power of silence in music. Drawing inspiration from diverse experiences and collaborations, Khatija shares her insights on the transformative power of music and the importance of finding stillness amidst the chaos.</h4>&nbsp;Q: Could you tell us about your journey into music? Was there a particular moment when you realized music was your calling?KR: When we were young, we were taught the classics in music classes. But it wasn’t until I took a break for seven years that I realized the true <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/the-soundscape-of-music-part-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">healing power of music</a>. Before that, I didn’t understand its importance.As I grew older, I came to understand that art is what keeps us going. Amidst all the chaos, art keeps me sane. There isn’t one particular moment I can point to when I realized my calling. People often say, “This song healed me,” or “That song made a difference,” and in those moments, you feel your purpose is fulfilled. That’s how I found my calling.Q: How do you approach the creative process when working on a song or a musical composition? Is there a particular inspiration that drives you?KR: I’m just one movie old. The director’s vision, the visuals, and sometimes just looking at a face inspires me. There are various forms of inspiration. The film’s story can drive me, if it’s done with sincerity and made with vision and purpose. The story of the film itself will push me to create a melody.Q: You’ve worked on a variety of projects. What has been your most memorable collaborative composition or song so far, and why?KR: The performance at the Dubai Expo in 2021, in honor of World Children’s Day. That was a memorable moment. The support from all the women on the team made it even more special. I had stage fear, but they were incredibly supportive and really had my back. It felt like a sisterhood, and I’ll remember that for the rest of my life. It was my first performance with a live orchestra, so it was surreal.Q: What role do you believe music plays in bringing people together, especially now when the world feels so divided and polarized?KR: When I listen to qawwalis1, there’s a deep sense of spirituality. But it’s not just qawwalis; when I listen to certain bhajans and choirs from the church—anything that’s done with a devotional intent and spiritual vibes—it has a powerful impact. It’s the energy behind it, the prayer and devotion in the music. I truly believe music connects people.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">As I grew older, I came to understand that&nbsp; art is what keeps us going.&nbsp; Amidst all the chaos, art keeps me sane.</h4><hr>Music is a universal language. We can’t differentiate based on where we come from or our nationalities. It’s all about the work and the shared experience. Suddenly, we’re all in sync. It doesn’t matter where the person is from. Yet, even in this, there are forces trying to create divisions, which is quite sad.Q: You received the best debut music director of the year 2024 for Minmini. How was that? What has been the learning from that, and what can you share for inspiration, for the success of others?KR:&nbsp;It was my first time working as a composer on a film and I had a really great team. It was overwhelming, especially since there was a certain quality that had to be delivered. It wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the team and the director. That entire journey was very spiritual for me, and it was healing. I was going through some personal challenges, and the film itself was about healing, spirituality, and similar themes. While the characters in the film were healing and going through their own spiritual journeys, I was going through the same journey in parallel. That film, which was my first as a music composer, will always be memorable for me.&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/music_spiritual_experience2_7440f91c10.webp" alt="music-spiritual-experience2.webp">&nbsp;Q: Heartfulness talks about the power of silence, and the power of meditation. How do you perceive the relationship between silence and music, and how does silence play a role in your creative process?KR:&nbsp;Silence is very important in music as well. There should be spaces, gaps; it shouldn’t always be filled with music. From a professional standpoint, that’s the advice we receive from senior musicians. In film, a lot of the music is cut, and I’m actually happy about it, because it allows for breathing space. A track can’t have a constant background score, right?Similarly, in life, silence is essential. It’s the time you take for yourself, it’s important. In a world where we’re constantly hustling, quiet time matters. It is also what Heartfulness teaches. I believe 10 to 15 minutes of <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/choosing-growth" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">meditation every day</a> is crucial. That silence gives me the space to be with myself, without distractions. It helps set the tone for the rest of the day. I’m constantly on the phone for work or with my music, so those few moments of silence and meditation are truly invigorating.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">I believe 10 to 15 minutes of meditation every day is crucial. That silence gives me the space to be with myself, without distractions. It helps set the tone for the rest of the day. I’m constantly on the phone for work or with my music, so those few moments of silence and meditation are truly invigorating.</h4><hr>

Music is a spiritual experience

Kids Section

Kiffer is Assistant Professor in Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada. He is also affiliated with The Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics, and Society; The Canadian Alliance for Social Connection and Health; and the GenWell Project.

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Kiffer George Card

<h4>Could public health guidelines help stop loneliness?&nbsp;KIFFER GEORGE CARD shares both research and his perspective on how we can address the pandemic of loneliness. He advocates coming together in a whole-of-society response, which means addressing the very problem he is seeking to solve.&nbsp;</h4>United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/loneliness-surgeon-general-epidemic-covid/">loneliness an epidemic</a>&nbsp;and issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">public health advisory</a>&nbsp;on the healing effects of social connection and community.&nbsp;The report warned of the considerable adverse effects of loneliness and social isolation – comparing it to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2013.301261">other leading risk factors</a>&nbsp;for premature death such as smoking, obesity, elevated blood pressure, and high cholesterol.<h4>Loneliness and social isolation can be harmful</h4>In my work as a social and behavioral epidemiologist, I have studied how social and community connectedness shapes health outcomes,&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1939-7">ranging from HIV</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2018.1439186">substance use</a>.&nbsp;For example, my colleagues and I have previously shown that social isolation is associated with a&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-03000-2">48 percent increase</a>&nbsp;in odds for premature death, and that lonely people have&nbsp;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2019-213566">71 percent higher odds</a>&nbsp;of reporting fair or poor health.&nbsp;Other researchers have also documented the havoc that loneliness wreaks on individuals, showing that lonely and isolated people have&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaaa029">poorer immune function</a>, experience&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.08.189">higher levels of inflammation</a>, and are at greater risk for&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2015-308790">heart disease</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncponc1134">cancer</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-017-4948-6">and diabetes</a>.&nbsp;While everybody’s vulnerability to loneliness and social isolation differs, we all need social connection. Perhaps just as importantly,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-secret-to-happiness-heres-some-advice-from-the-longest-running-study-on-happiness-2017100512543#:%7E:text=The%20Harvard%20Study%20has%20found%20a%20strong%20association,isolation%20is%20a%20mood%20buster%2C%E2%80%9D%20says%20Dr.%20Waldinger.">Harvard research</a>&nbsp;from the longest-running cohort study ever conducted suggests that warm social relationships are the most important predictor of happiness across the life course.&nbsp;In other words, people who are disconnected lead sicker, sadder, and shorter lives.&nbsp;<h4>Public health guidelines</h4>In response to this epidemic of loneliness, my team at&nbsp;<a href="https://casch.org/guidelines">the Canadian Alliance for Social Connection and Health&nbsp;</a>has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/university-researchers-are-helping-to-create-a-canadian-guide-for-social-connection/">engaged experts from across Canada</a>&nbsp;and globally to develop the world’s first public health guidelines for social connection.&nbsp;Similar to the&nbsp;<a href="https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/">nutrition</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.participaction.com/">exercise</a>,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://ccsa.ca/canadas-guidance-alcohol-and-health">alcohol use</a>&nbsp;guidelines promoted by many national governments, social connection guidelines have the potential to improve our health and happiness by helping us all prioritize social connections in our daily lives.&nbsp;They can also raise awareness among healthcare providers and policymakers to ensure these experts are taking actions consistent with the latest evidence highlighting the importance of social health.<h4>Promising guidelines for better social health</h4>Regardless of levels of introversion or extroversion, insufficient social connection is associated with poorer well-being. While everybody’s vulnerability to loneliness and social isolation differs, we all need social connection. Yet, people generally&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.02.007">underestimate the benefits of connecting</a>&nbsp;with others and overestimate the costs, which include the emotional labor and mental energy needed to manage relationships and your self-presentation.<a href="https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000048">Regardless of levels</a>&nbsp;of introversion or extroversion, insufficient social connection is associated with poorer well-being.&nbsp;This is because social connection is a biological imperative. We evolved in&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/dunbars-number-why-my-theory-that-humans-can-only-maintain-150-friendships-has-withstood-30-years-of-scrutiny-160676">close-knit communities</a>. For ancient humans, social exclusion was a death sentence. Loneliness is our body’s way of&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.837379">keeping us connected</a>, but sometimes&nbsp;<a href="https://casch.org/theory">we get trapped</a>&nbsp;by it.&nbsp;Public health guidelines can help raise awareness of the importance of social connection and provide us with a road map for better social health. But what should these guidelines look like?&nbsp;This is exactly what&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/from-social-distancing-to-social-connection-the-genwell-project-s-nationwide-survey-reinforces-the-importance-of-human-connection-as-canada-transitions-to-post-pandemic-recovery-822887144.html">my team has set out to understand</a>&nbsp;as part of a multi-phased, mixed-method study funded by and conducted in partnership with the Canadian government.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized image-style-align-center" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/7tips_social_connection2_68d5da4a3a.jpg"></figure>So far, we have identified a few promising approaches that each of us can act on right now:<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>Make sure to have&nbsp;<a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60283c2e174c122f8ebe0f39/t/645a88655583045704102e40/1683654757592/CSCG_Evidence+Brief_Number+of+Friends.pdf">three to five close friendships</a>&nbsp;to call on when you’re in need.&nbsp; Research has shown that individuals who have at least three to five close friends experience the lowest levels of loneliness, anxiety, depression, and a range of other adverse health outcomes. Having too many friends can sacrifice quality for quantity. Having too few can leave you alone in a time of need.</li><li>Get&nbsp;<a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60283c2e174c122f8ebe0f39/t/640e0384b9ce9e602bf93c77/1678640005938/CSCG_Evidence+Brief_Social+Time.pdf">one to three hours of social interaction per day</a>.&nbsp; That’s between 7 and 21 hours of social time per week – far more than the average of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm">34 minutes of socializing most of us get each day</a>. This value aligns with the approximate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robin-Dunbar/publication/235356868_Theory_of_mind_and_the_evolution_of_language/links/53dfc58b0cf2a768e49bddbd/Theory-of-mind-and-the-evolution-of-language.pdf">24 hours per week</a>&nbsp;that tribal and pastoral societies have historically enjoyed. While this may seem like a daunting jump in social hours for some, social interactions can include a wide variety of activities: chit chat with your barista, a phone call to a friend, conversation over dinner.</li><li><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60283c2e174c122f8ebe0f39/t/640e03a10c9c9c5dbec35801/1678640034544/CSCG_Evidence+Brief_Network+Composition.pdf">Prioritize spending time with those closest to you</a>.&nbsp; We’ve found that individuals need to socialize with both “strong” and “weak” ties, but that the balance of your social energy should be spent on close friends and family with whom you have warm relationships. This is because close relationships fulfil our most important&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00901">relational needs</a>: to feel loved, acknowledged and validated. Building these&nbsp;<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0265407518761225">strong ties takes time</a>.</li><li>Diversity in your social network is important too.&nbsp; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214529799">So-called “weak ties” – those you don’t have a close relationship with – also matter</a>. In fact, studies have shown that&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa009">talking to neighbors</a>&nbsp;can build a sense of community;&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15555240.2018.1436444">making friends at work</a>&nbsp;can reduce job stress; and even&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104356">talking to strangers</a> can create a sense of safety and provide a meaningful source of connection. Different relationships provide different types of support.&nbsp;</li><li>Recognize the risks of&nbsp;<a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60283c2e174c122f8ebe0f39/t/63e67385a6ab9322c8125ea6/1676047237951/CSCG_Evidence+Brief_Living+alone.pdf">living alone</a>.&nbsp; People who live alone are at increased risk of loneliness and&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101677">studies have shown</a>&nbsp;that living alone,&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuv024">particularly for men</a>, is hazardous to your health. That means that if you live alone, prioritizing social relationships may be especially important to you.&nbsp;</li><li><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60283c2e174c122f8ebe0f39/t/6410a513a2173037c04a2141/1678812436160/CSCG_Evidence+Brief_Old+Friends.pdf">Reach out to old friends</a>&nbsp;and don’t be afraid to&nbsp;<a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60283c2e174c122f8ebe0f39/t/640e03cb6924ff0526a018e9/1678640075343/CSCG_Evidence+Brief_New+Connections.pdf">make new ones</a>.&nbsp; Keeping and maintaining relationships can be hard – especially in today’s fast-paced world. Renewing old friendships can be an easy way to keep your social calendar full, but keeping a healthy level of engagement with new people will make sure your friendship well doesn’t run dry.</li><li>Don’t forget the importance of solitude.&nbsp; Just as time with others is important, it’s also important to have time alone. It is perfectly good, and even healthy, to spend time alone. We call this “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118427378">solitude</a>.” In fact, for some, time with others may even&nbsp;<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00661-3">exacerbate feelings of loneliness</a>. Time alone provides an opportunity to restore your social reserves and meet your own personal needs.</li></ol>Following these and other strategies can improve your health and well-being. However, addressing loneliness, like many of the big problems we face today, will require a whole-of-society response. Public health guidelines for social connection can provide the foundation for such an approach.<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/7tips_social_connection3_6c8c0ad1cd.jpg"></figure>This article is reprinted with permission from the author and The Conversation under Creative Commons license from&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-public-health-guidelines-help-stop-loneliness-7-tips-that-show-how-crucial-social-connection-is-to-well-being-205358">https://theconversation.com/could-public-health-guidelines-help-stop-loneliness-7-tips-that-show-how-crucial-social-connection-is-to-well-being-205358</a>.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by ARATI SHEDDE</h4><hr>&nbsp;

7 tips that show how crucial social connection is to well-being

Kiran is an Indian designer, educationist, education reformer, and social entrepreneur. She founded the award-winning Riverside School in Ahmedabad, along with aProCh to make our cities more child friendly, and Design for Change which is in more than 60 countries. Her most recent venture is the Riverside Learning Center which offers training program to empower schools worldwide using the codified processes from Riverside. Kiran, Riverside and Design for Change have won accolades and awards, including The Earth Prize, the Rockefeller Innovation Award, The Lego Remagine Award, The Lexus Prize, and the Light of Freedom Award.

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Kiran Bir Sethi

<h4>KIRAN BIR SETHI is changing the experience of childhood in Indian cities through her education curriculum and initiatives to build healthy relationships between students and their communities. Here she is interviewed by KASHISH KALWANI.</h4><hr>Q: I’d like to begin by asking, “What book are you currently reading?” and “What book would you recommend children read?”KBS: Well, the book I have at my bedside is The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living by Eknath Easwaran. It’s something I keep dipping into. Just open any page and you’ll find some wisdom for that day.What would I recommend to children? Again, it depends on which age group. Forget what I recommend – I definitely recommend that they read! I think the worlds that open, the way they can visualize and imagine, and the way they will develop empathy are outstanding.I was always with books. My sister was also an avid reader and we had a fantastic library at home. The worlds that opened up sitting at home in a little corner were literally astounding. I could travel the world! And the way I was able to develop the ability to visualize is unparalleled. Of course, now we have cinema and videos, and while it is great, it is a very passive way to look at the world. With a book, we put the effort into imagining; it’s not just handed to us. It’s not like a pretty picture, or an art gallery. While reading, we put in the paints, the colors, and the spaces. It really activates our neurons. That’s the science behind it.It’s wonderful if children read, or are read to, when they are very young, as part of a family’s traditions.Q: Piggybacking off your mention of the Bhagavad Gita, who has been your biggest teacher and how did they impact your life?KBS: When we are ready to learn, we learn from anybody. We learn from a butterfly, from Gandhiji, from a child, and from Nature. Everything can influence us. When we open up every morning and say, “I’m ready to learn,” we never know where those lessons will come from.Having said that, there are certain places we keep going back to in order to get a dose of inspiration. For me, it started with my own family, who introduced me to the world, and how to engage with the world with empathy, kindness, integrity, and excellence.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/building_community_education2_86a585ad0b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T03:43:39.971Z" alt=""><hr>Then, my biggest personal learning happened at the National Institute of Design (NID) as a designer. I would attribute my alma mater with figuring out, “Okay, so this is what learning really feels like.”My husband, Geet Sethi, who is a nine-times World Billiards Champion, has taught me a lot about obsession and excellence, and how to stay grounded and understand failure and victory in such a deeply personal way.Then, my children. My son introduced me to what it is to be a mother and what my purpose was. He made my passion find a purpose. My daughter is an incredible source of insight for me because she is a type 1 diabetic, and the way she lives her life is a constant source of learning for me. No matter what you are given, you can make it a gift and then anything is possible.In terms of outer inspiration, Gandhi has been a massive influence in terms of stamina. Through it all he still had a sense of humor and compassion, and there was absolutely no animosity toward anyone. That’s a fabulous lesson to learn.And then there is Nature. Whenever I have a bit of downtime, I sit outside. I am very lucky to have birds, trees and butterflies around in my ecosystem. It’s a beautiful source of renewal to see how the Earth always gives back, no matter what.Q: That’s so true! We are in very uncertain times with Covid, and education spaces have shut down completely. Children are feeling uncertain without the safe space of school and friendships – the experience of a school life. What do you believe are the next steps for education? Is there some learning to be had from all of this?KBS: Absolutely! I think Covid has unmasked the entire dysfunctional system of the world. We were always struggling. I don’t think anybody felt the education system was fantastic. There was always the sense that something was off. We kept delaying the urgency to look at it because, “Oh, maybe it happened in Africa, then in Asia, then in India.” We justified it by saying, “That’s your problem, not my problem.”Suddenly it became everyone’s problem at the same time, with the same urgency, with the same inequity! Nobody could shy away from the fact that we were all in it together. Suddenly, everybody started waking up, as if this was a surprise. But it wasn’t. It was always dysfunctional.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/building_community_education3_4cd5d58ac7.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T03:44:59.263Z" alt=""><hr><hr>Understanding ourselves and each other&nbsp; takes time, space, dedication and intentionality.&nbsp; If we have learnt anything from this,&nbsp; it’s that the heart, ethics, elevation, reflection, kindness&nbsp; and compassion will become the core curriculum.&nbsp; Everything else will flow from that.<hr><hr>Therefore, there were those people who said, “Boss, this isn’t working,” who showed other possibilities. There were pockets, which I won’t call “alternative,” but the other options. There were other ways to look at education. They had been seen as, “That’s a good experiment, but you know we can’t do it at scale.”Covid has shown us that if we don’t start with the heart, we’re not going anywhere. We have to move forward with heart. It’s the only place that is universal, perpetual, and will stand the test of time. If we don’t, and we only study the heart as co-curriculum, just for fun, we will lose the plot again. I think that’s why everybody has got worked up.Understanding ourselves and each other takes time, space, dedication and intentionality. If we have learnt anything from this, it’s that the heart, ethics, elevation, reflection, kindness and compassion will become the core curriculum. Everything else will flow from that.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/building_community_education4_7e80502c82.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T03:46:25.163Z" alt=""><hr>Q: I really love the fact that you use the heart as the guiding factor in going forward.KBS: To fuel us!Q: Yes. Even when we look at the World Health Organization’s reports about suicide and mental health issues, we see an increase for students below the age of fifteen. Girls as young as thirteen are dying by suicide. How do we address the root cause of this?KBS: Well, there are no simple answers. There is a spiderweb of issues. Equity is not just about access, it’s also about intention.For example, when Covid hit, there were a lot of calls for vaccines and everybody kept saying, “No, no, it’ll take at least three years for a vaccine to come up,” because that is what we were used to. Look what happened! In less than eight months, when we got our acts together and worked together, what happened? The point is, when economics was factored in, suddenly the world decided, “We have to do something!”The pandemic of education has been there forever. Nobody has ever thought that collectively we have to work, because it was always somebody else’s problem. When we do come together, we will do dramatic, exceptional, outstanding things. We have never thought that education requires it. There has never been a collective will – for girls, for unreserved communities, for access, for training, for leadership – it’s all of that. A systemic change is needed, but if governments keep cutting education budgets, it gives an understanding of their priorities.Education is by far the greatest national emergency and the greatest national opportunity. If we tackle it, then a nation’s entire citizenship goes up. You suddenly have informed, educated people giving back to the nation. Right now we don’t. So, there is no easy answer to, “Why are they dying by suicide? What can we do?” This is a much bigger spiderweb of issues.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/building_community_education5_e13c0f5185.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T03:50:01.641Z"><hr>Q: Let’s go back to the very beginning, your childhood. Tell us about your personal journey.KBS: My journey is quite a collection of happenstances along the way. There was no real plan. I think that’s been my general flow. I don’t have five-year plans. I was very lucky to have an incredible upbringing. I didn’t know that gender mattered. I think that’s the greatest thing my parents gave me. I’m the youngest of three. I have a brother and an older sister, both exceptionally talented people, and none of us were brought up to think that we were a girl or a boy, and any of us needed something more. It was important not to have those rules in my head. If you’re not brought up to believe the rules, anything is possible. That’s the beauty.When I went to NID, my view opened up so much more. My passion was ignited about the user-centered idea, with the user in mind. I had no plans to start a school. When I was in school, I thought I’d become a doctor.When I became a mum, my passion found its purpose in figuring out, “This can’t be true! Children can’t be so incidental to the whole program!” There is a system that rewards them for being quiet and compliant. That offered me the opportunity to say, “There must be a better way.”When I took my son out of school, it was not like, “I’m changing the education system.” It was just my child, my son’s life. I think that finally resulted in the Riverside School being what it is.Q: Could you share with us your initiatives, “Design for Change” and “aProCh”?KBS: aProCh started when a couple of my students from Grade 7 visited me and asked about my childhood. I told them about playing Gilli Danda and Dabba Ice-spice on the streets where I grew up, and they said, “We cannot go out in the streets, it’s too unsafe.” That prompted us to go to the city and say, “How can a city become friendly for children?” and aProCh started.Design for Change happened in 2009 when we asked, “At Riverside, how do we take it further?” My friend was planning a really interesting idea called “Joy of Giving.” We were talking about a festival of giving in India, so I said, “What about children?” It was a series of opportunities and I was able to respond with design. I thought it would happen only in India, and then TED happened and it went global. A series of pathways opened up: “Okay, what is required? Let me see if I can respond.”<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/building_community_education6_9ff7e04274.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T03:51:11.273Z" alt=""><hr>Q: I love the enthusiasm you are sharing with this. You’ve mentioned your parents and children. I have read about your children and the fantastic work they’re doing. Taking inspiration from both, what do you feel is important for nurturing and raising children?KBS: Well, it’s not rocket science. I think it is to be a mother and not a smotherer. We don’t smother children, we mother them, and our role is very clear. Our role is to be on that journey with them as an ally, not as somebody who is forcing them to walk on a particular path.I love what Kahlil Gibran says in his poem ‘On Children’ in The Prophet: They really aren’t ours. They are here to go to the world, and I have learned that it’s an interesting, passionate detachment. We can be passionate about the journey with our children, but can we still stay detached? It is a tough task for a parent, but that’s what I have learned.<hr><hr>I love what Kahlil Gibran says in his poem&nbsp; ‘On Children’ in The Prophet:&nbsp; They really aren’t ours.&nbsp; They are here to go to the world,&nbsp; and I have learned that&nbsp; it’s an interesting, passionate detachment.<hr><hr>My son and my daughter have taught me these lessons. While they’re there and we can reach out, we will find those directions ourselves. And we would love if they come with us on that. I’d rather be that parent who goes on those journeys than one who says, “No. Don’t do that.”It’s really about learning who we are, not about who they are. I think parenting gave me the understanding that, “I thought I was this kind of person, but I’m so neurotic and sometimes I’m so painful!” It awakens stuff in us that we didn’t know existed and that awakening is why they’re children. It is not that we can teach them anything. I think we learn a lot.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/building_community_education7_3a4943b366.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T03:52:45.721Z" alt=""><hr>Q: When you talked about attachment, it reminds me of the example of a flower blooming. If you truly love the flower, you’ll let it be rather than getting attached and needing to pluck it.KBS: Again, none of it is rocket science. You can read a lot about it, but while you might intellectually know it all, putting it into practice is the hard part. I had to grow into becoming detached. It’s easier said than done. One thing I have definitely learned, which has served me well, is to listen and tell stories. Also, always have joy in the house. I think these are far greater ingredients to serve the heart than anything else.Joyfully greet your children. Let their faces light up when they see you, because they’re picking up cues even unbeknownst to you.What you teach is less important than what they’re observing. They’re learning what you’re not teaching them. They’re learning from your body language. They’re learning from the way you interact with each other. They’re learning from the way you talk to your friends. What you say is less important than what you do.Children might not always listen to us, but they will always mimic us. Are we worth mimicking? What do we want them to mimic? They pick up ideas of ethics very early. They pick up all of it. They will pick up the way we talk to a waiter in a restaurant, or the way we talk about saving the Earth. So, all the messages we convey through our actions, our behavior, will determine what we stand for.I tell parents, “The way you greet each other and give each other respect will determine the way your children will respect their own partners when they grow up. Take that very seriously.” I remember so many stories my father used to tell us at the dinner table. Nowadays there are no dinner table conversations. Everybody is on their phone, or an iPad is front of a child.Q: That is unfortunate. I wonder how we can channel technology to help bring us closer, which it indeed has in these times. Even so, I personally have very mixed opinions of social media.KBS: I am of the generation that didn’t grow up with all of this. I am a reluctant convert!<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/building_community_education8_68354ad72f.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T03:54:38.124Z"><hr><hr>I have learned that we don’t have tomorrow,&nbsp; we only have today.&nbsp; Find a moment to be kind, to reach out,&nbsp; to love a little bit more and more shamelessly.&nbsp; Be abundant to Nature today, not tomorrow.<hr><hr>Q: The answer might be obvious, but I would still love to know what you feel is better, a degree or experience?KBS: I don’t think it’s either/or. I think if you really make the most of your education, then get a degree and supplement it with experience, as that is a great marriage of the two. Had I not gone to NID and pursued the rigor of the program, I would have been a lesser-skilled practitioner. Of course, the degree alone doesn’t make it work. I had to then go into the world and build a portfolio of work, and that experience was also invaluable. Wherever both are possible, that’s the best.Currently, there is a disregard for degrees. Degrees matter when they are quality education. But if we understand the rigor and value of disciplinary thinking, and supplement it with experience, it’s a great marriage.There is value in putting your head down and writing pieces and getting feedback, even if you’re prodigiously talented. I would not discount the rigor of a disciplinary mind.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/building_community_education9_78bdf42501.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T03:55:47.688Z" alt=""><hr>Q: Finally, is there any last message that you’d like to share with us?KBS: I have learned that we don’t have tomorrow, we only have today. Find a moment to be kind, to reach out, to love a little bit more and more shamelessly. Be abundant to Nature today, not tomorrow.<hr><hr><h4>Interviewed by KASHISH KALWANI.</h4><hr>

Building community through education

Kishore Debnath

<h4>KISHORE DEBNATH explores how science, art, and spirituality all take us beyond the physical world into subtler realms where we must understand and describe phenomena through abstraction.</h4>&nbsp;In a world that often demands clear-cut answers and tangible results, the concepts of spirituality and abstraction may seem elusive and intangible. Yet, these ideas offer a profound understanding of the true nature of reality.As we delve deeper into the subtleties of life, we begin to perceive reality more accurately, even if expressing these insights proves challenging. Abstraction, while seemingly vague, provides a more accurate representation of physical phenomena than concrete objects alone.<h4>Spirituality: The Subtle Path to Perceiving Reality</h4>Spirituality is a journey towards the subtle aspects of existence, transcending the physical, and delving into the essence of life. As we progress on the spiritual journey, we develop a heightened awareness of the interconnectedness of all things, often leading to experiences that defy conventional explanations.Discussing spiritual experiences can be challenging because they often extend beyond the limits of language. Words cannot adequately capture the essence of these profound experiences, as they are deeply personal and unique to each individual. To overcome this limitation, spiritual practitioners may rely on metaphor, allegory, and symbolism to convey their insights. In doing so, they embrace abstraction as a means to communicate the ineffable nature of reality.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Spirituality is a journey towards the subtle aspects of existence,&nbsp; transcending the physical, and delving into the essence of life.</h4><hr><h4><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/spirituality_abstraction2_bbed90288a.jpg" alt="" sizes="(max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px">Abstraction: A Path to Greater Accuracy</h4>The purpose of abstraction is not to be vague, but to create a new semantic level in which one can be absolutely precise.—Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch Computer Scientist, Turing Award WinnerAt first glance, abstraction may appear vague or ambiguous. However, it is an essential tool for accurately representing complex and multifaceted phenomena. Through abstraction, we can generalize and simplify concepts, enabling us to grasp the underlying patterns and structures that govern the physical world.In both science and art, abstraction allows us to understand phenomena that may be too intricate or vast for direct observation. For example, theoretical physicists use abstract mathematical models to describe the behavior of subatomic particles, while artists employ abstraction to evoke emotions or convey ideas that transcend the literal representation of objects.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">By transcending the limits of the physical world,&nbsp; we can develop&nbsp;a greater sense of&nbsp; interconnectedness, compassion, and empathy –&nbsp; qualities&nbsp;that are essential for spiritual growth.</h4><hr><h4>The Interplay of Spirituality and Abstraction</h4>The relationship between spirituality and abstraction is one of mutual reinforcement. As we delve deeper into spirituality, we develop a greater appreciation for the abstract nature of reality. This understanding, in turn, enables us to perceive the world more accurately and holistically.Similarly, abstraction fosters spiritual growth by challenging our reliance on concrete objects, and encouraging us to explore the more subtle aspects of existence. By transcending the limits of the physical world, we can develop a greater sense of interconnectedness, compassion, and empathy – qualities that are essential for spiritual growth.While spirituality and abstraction may seem elusive, they offer a profound understanding of the true nature of reality. By embracing the subtle aspects of existence, we perceive the world more accurately and develop a deeper connection with ourselves and others. The interplay between spirituality and abstraction challenges our reliance on concrete objects, encouraging us to explore the intangible and ineffable aspects of life. As we continue to develop our spiritual and abstract understanding, we can foster a more compassionate and interconnected world.The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.—Helen Keller.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL</h4><hr><hr>

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