What kind of parent raises humans who treat food as though it is a form of entertainment—and no, not in...
JoinedNovember 7, 2011
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Jane writes for and edits The Mindful Word. She spent 20 years travelling and volunteering across the globe, attempting to make sense of it through words. An endless and endlessly rewarding, sometimes frustrating journey.
The minute humans and sailboats are launched into their respective worlds, the clocks start ticking. Deterioration begins its relentless march...
Since time immemorial, humans have shown the unique and innate ability to create gods—omnipotent, supernatural beings to worship, fear and...
“Are you scared?” “Sometimes.” “What are you scared of?” “Dying.” “Why?” “I don’t want to die.” “We’re all going to...
Why do we do it—this fight to stay alive, regardless? What’s the purpose? At our ‘advanced’ age, especially, and with...
I’m in Bangkok, Thailand—during the time of so much human turmoil around the world. Natural disasters and man-made disasters and...
Volunteers and donors are the support and lifeblood of organizations that rescue, rehabilitate and repatriate trafficked women, children and men...
After many years of working in what I’ve come to call ‘the orphan industry’, one gets a gut feeling about...
How often do we see things without actually taking in what is occurring in front of our eyes. Or, on...
DREAMFULLY AWAKE: The gift of lessons through dreaming
Two nights ago, the night of 29/30 December 2015, I had an astoundingly clear dream. I woke up remembering each detail with absolute clarity.
PICKY PEDANT: “I could care less” and other speech absurdities
My Kindle almost flew at the mirror, but reason prevailed. A broken mirror is interesting … a broken Kindle useless. What provoked this? A mutilated phrase in an otherwise well-written book. I was reading Do Travel Writers Go to Hell by Thomas Kohnstamm and there on page 25 it appeared, one of my pet peeves:
SELFISHLY SELFLESS: Enlightened self-interest and the myth of pure altruism
Is it possible to do things with absolutely no expectation of a return? Is there such a thing as a completely selfless act?
SAUDADE: Existential sadness
A pastime that gives me great pleasure, and whiles away many hours, is researching and learning foreign words and phrases for which there is no direct English translation.
BODY TALK: Your food is killing you
I am not a foodie—not by a long shot. I eat to live, only that, which means I can—and often do—eat the same thing morning, noon and night, for days, sometimes years. I do not travel to other countries to taste their food.
RELIGIOUS ATHEIST: An imaginary number
I belong to a number of meetups. In an attempt to find ‘my tribe’ I go to these gathering-togethers of like-minded people to discuss subjects of interest on an equal unbiased intellectual platform.
LOVE IS AN ISLAND: 'Entire of itself', open to all
It is a human condition to feel we have to do something in order to deserve good things. That is what inhabiting the apex of the current evolutionary totem pole does for us,
“Once upon a time, in a land far far away from here… in a place full of strange people and...
There were days while volunteering for an orphanage in Cambodia that I wanted to run and hide. I’d arrive at...
It’s early morning in Robinsons department store in Bangkok. Ten o’clock, early? Well, yes, in a country where shops are...
“As we are… as we are… as we are” I muttered non-stop as I travelled back to Bangkok. I’m a...
My personal, simple world I carry with me wherever I go. My home is a suitcase and a backpack. I...
After a long day of writing, researching and corresponding, there are often times I simply cannot turn off my mind...
She has another baby, the thought rolled through my head. I commented to a friend walking with me who hadn’t...
“I can’t get your fax through to Zambia,” Jenny wailed. Jenny was the “fax and post lady” in the busy...
