Reading Archives (Author)

Two Types Of Heartbreaks

Parker Palmer

A disciple asks the rebbe: “Why does Torah tell us to ‘place these words upon your hearts’? Why does it not tell us to place these holy words in our hearts?” The rebbe answer...

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19K reads, 27 comments

A Life On The Ground

Parker Palmer

Question: ... the idea of having “a life on the ground”. Can you expand on what that means to you? That brings back a really important moment in my journey with depression, and in ...

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17K reads, 16 comments

The Practice Of Soft Eyes

Parker Palmer

In a sacred landscape, with its complexities and convolutions, surprise is a constant companion: it lies just around the bend or hidden in the next valley, and though it sometimes startles us, it ofte...

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29K reads, 19 comments

Habits Of The Heart

Parker Palmer

“Habits of the heart” (a phrase coined by Alexis de Tocqueville) are deeply ingrained ways of seeing, being, and responding to life that involve our minds, our emotions, our self-images, o...

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40K reads, 3 comments

My Misgivings About Advice

Parker Palmer

My misgivings about advice began with my first experience of clinical depression thirty-five years ago. The people who tried to support me had good intentions. But, for the most part, what they d...

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54K reads, 36 comments

That Friend Walking Behind Me

Parker Palmer

Imagine that for many years a friend had been walking a block behind me, calling my name, trying to get my attention because he wanted to tell me some hard but healing truths about myself. But I -- af...

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19K reads, 11 comments

Organic Gift

Parker Palmer

Years ago, I heard Dorothy Day speak. Founder of the Catholic Worker movement, her long-term commitment to living among the poor on New York's Lower East Side - had made her one of my heroes. So i...

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24K reads, 24 comments

A Circle of Trust

Parker Palmer

Like a wild animal, the soul is tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, and self-sufficient: it knows how to survive in hard places. I learned about these qualities during my bouts with depression. In t...

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38K reads, 11 comments

Stand In the Tragic Gap

Parker Palmer

The bad news is that violence is found at every level of our lives. The good news is that we can choose nonviolence at every level as well. But what does it mean, in specifics, to act nonviolently? Th...

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32K reads, 15 comments