Contributor, Author at The Mindful Word

FOUR POEMS BY SUMMER FANOUS: Minus Negative, Pow-Pow, Evolve, and His Story

Contributor·September 30, 2012

I have been hurt by those who are closest to me blood, family I have tried to identify what I did for them to hate me sleepless nights lost thinking about those who couldn't care less about me dreams interrupted by visions of my family the same people who were supposed to protect me, respect me all they did was...

PIONEER OF THE POSSIBLE: Wangari Maathai Inducted as UN Messenger of Peace

PIONEER OF THE POSSIBLE: The story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai

Contributor·August 17, 2012

I visited Kenya for the first time in the summer of 2007. And what I encountered there—the culture, its breathtaking landscapes, its wondrous wildlife—forever altered the way...

HOPE FOR SARAH: Standard medical protocol limits parents’ rights to make decisions

Contributor·August 15, 2012

Sarah Parisian, a little 8-year-old girl, finished her last radiation session in a Chicago hospital and she and her mother travelled home to Minnesota, USA...

Buddhist monks procession - Crowdfunding creativity

CROWDFUNDING CREATIVITY: From consumer to creator

Contributor·August 5, 2012

It’s hard to know when it began. Perhaps it started with my first web page. That moment I typed out my first cautious lines of HTML, and uploaded the document to the mysterious...

FOR THE LOVE OF SUGAR: Natural is sweet when sweet is natural

Contributor·July 30, 2012

A solid premise for deciding the healthiness of a food item is seeing how recognizable it is as a product of nature. We’re repeatedly shown that Mother Nature really...

POEMS BY AMANDA LEIGH ROGERS: This Just In, The Forest’s Ear

Contributor·July 25, 2012

This Just In Right now in my city the sky is pink and gold. Right now, clouds polish their wide sides on the late sun and blush...

VISUAL POEMS BY LEILA FORTIER: Synchro-Destiny, This Moment, Universal

Contributor·July 18, 2012

~Gloveless Venture~ You Say I must Go out into the world~

POEMS BY DUANE LOCKE: Terrestrial Illumination, NO.43-46

Contributor·July 15, 2012

Where sun once bleached the pale orange surface sand to whiteness, Snow now falls on that same space to whiten. Snow falls, each shape A different elaboration, all identity is false, falls in slanting patterns, Each slant a different angle. There is no whiteness, only millions Of different whitenesses. Snow also falls on the dark shiny oval of a pond, A spider web of a...

TAKING OFF THE MASK: Making peace with the self on a day-to-day basis

Contributor·July 13, 2012

While studying my mind through mindfulness practice, I've noticed skeletons and old demons are hidden within the depths of my consciousness waiting to be seen and...

CHARON’S CROSS: A story by Robert Goodman

Contributor·July 11, 2012

The ferryman stepped off the dock and looked upwards over the low-rising hills. The flow of passengers had abruptly stopped in the mid-afternoon. When he’d returned from his last journey to the distant shore, it was unearthly quiet as he docked his boat back at the point of embarkment. He’d seen moments like this before...when the platform was devoid of souls and he'd have a...

SURRENDER TO THE SHADOW: Let go of old beliefs to truly live

Contributor·July 11, 2012

To know our deeper Self means to be in touch with our inner realms, to be able to reach down, take root and remain calm and clear under any circumstance that...

CONVERSATIONS WITH WILL: Fiction by Ronald C. Paxton

Contributor·July 9, 2012

Will Tucker glanced at the exam booklet that the teacher placed on his desk. The room was thick with tension as the 20 students in Garrett Faulkner's American history class waited to begin their final exam for the fall semester. Shenandoah County Preparatory Academy was a charter school and most of the students...

REAL MEANING: A personal essay on questioning the fabricated reality of one’s life

Contributor·July 8, 2012

Growing up in a well-to-do American family is materially comfortable. Family troubles aside—and they can be considerable—life is full of pleasure: desires are...

laughter yoga benefits - three women laughing

LAUGHTER YOGA: Enjoy the benefits of laughter and have fun

Contributor·July 7, 2012

Laughter is the best medicine. How true indeed! Have you noticed how freely children laugh? Statistically, children laugh between 300 and 400 times a day, compared...

POEMS BY DANIEL WILCOX: Way Light, Present Moment, Discarding

Contributor·July 5, 2012

Dropping doctrinal delusions, Secular political ire, Finite angled loss And way too much historical Backpack weighted- Warring, dropped tonnage Of endless weigh-lied ‘syn’onymed...

THE HERMIT OF BREAKHEART WOODS: A story by Tom Sheehan

Contributor·June 30, 2012

Millions of years ago Breakheart Woods, between Saugus and Wakefield in Massachusetts, had been bookmarked by boulders and earthly cataclysm, and to this day, somewhere in its innards from those first struggles of granite and earth fire, from violent fractures and upheavals to be known again only at the end of it all, was a cave, a cave as dark as a...

A POEM BY APRIL SALZANO: Flight

Contributor·June 24, 2012

Flight for Jackie It is before dawn that we tell each other our stories. In this way we relive our atrocities, mine...

TIP OF THE ICEBERG: Hypnosis reaches deeper levels of consciousness

Contributor·June 23, 2012

Human experience occurs on many levels—physical, emotional, mental and spiritual—with or without our being consciously aware of it. In fact, we're normally...

HOPSCOTCH: A story by Chris Castle

Contributor·June 20, 2012

They climbed on top of the hill and laid out the blanket. Annie put down her bag then pulled out the glasses and bottles. Sarah looked down and saw the school, the bulldozers at the gates. Everything was still now and they couldn’t see any of the people moving yet. “They don’t start until 6 p.m. I think the headmaster’s making a speech for the...

UNSOCIAL MEDIA: A story by Carl Scharwath

Contributor·June 17, 2012

The rear-view mirror held a nighttime fireworks display. A blast of red followed by two white-hot flashes ensured a traffic ticket and photo in six weeks. William, in haste and late to his first date with Cindy, was sending a text and rushed through a red light. Time wouldn’t be kind tonight; however, the evening had embraced a kismet, and still afforded new opportunities.

ROOM FOR TWO: A story by Ronald C. Paxton

Contributor·June 15, 2012

John Howard spotted the boy as soon as he and Emma came out of the movie theatre. The child was wearing a filthy, ragged tee-shirt that was several sizes too big, khaki shorts with enough holes for John to glimpse the boy's underwear, and tennis shoes. He was slightly built and appeared to be covered in several layers of grime. "Do you know that boy, sweetie?" John Howard asked his 5-year-old daughter....

THE ENDS NEVER JUSTIFY THE MEANS: Gandhi’s radical lesson for today

“MY RELIGION IS KINDNESS”: 10 mindful living tips inspired by the Dalai Lama

BEWARE OF BAD ACTORS: 3 steps to take if you suspect someone’s “gaslighting” you

ALASKA WINGS: Soaring across the mountains while releasing fear and doubt

INEFFABLE: A visitation from a beautiful soul I’d never forget

POEMS BY CAROLYN CHILTON CASAS: Essential Language, Metaphorically Speaking and more

MINDFUL LEADERSHIP IN STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS: Empowering leaders to create positive change

HANAMI DREAMING: The start of spring in Japan

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY’S POLITICAL REALITIES: We can prevail over ignorance, lies and Trump

IMPEDIMENTS FACED: A safe return home from La Paz, Mexico

TYING UP LOOSE ENDS: One last—and glorious—day in La Paz, Mexico [Part 7]

NIGHT SEA JOURNEY: Buying back sanity in La Paz, Mexico [Part 6]