As our world becomes smaller because of technology, travel, development, and population increase, there are fewer areas that are free from the impact of the modern world. In the field of anthropology, or the study of people in the context of culture, anthropologists have often explored indigenous cultures that may have little exposure to outside influences. This is particularly helpful in order to decrease the amount of confounding variables, or outside influences that would complicate drawing a direct relationship between things, (Read on …)

I feel a lot of gratitude for being a part of this community. There is something special about a community surrounded by water, a sense of comfort and containment or safety that comes with having such well defined boundaries. The commonality that the shared experience of living on an island offers can help us feel more connected to one another.

Because we are a small community there are many opportunities for contact with each other and chances for us to get to know and be known by our neighbors. There is meaning even in the small connections with others through daily contact with each other at the market, post office, church, hardware store, salon, pharmacy, restaurants, library, schools, ball fields, golf course, beaches, etc. There are many occasions in which we may reach out and touch one another everyday.

To touch others and to be touched is a gift; a physical, emotional and spiritual, life affirming gift. (Read on …)

Love is potentially limitless. Anyone who has more than one child can relate to the overwhelming feelings of love for one’s first child and wonder at the possibility of loving another soul that much. Then when you have another child, of course you find out that it is not only a possibility but a reality.

Love is a basic human need that comes from an inexhaustible source. Most spiritual disciplines associate the Divine with love. Love is not merely an existential need. There is a growing body of scientific research that shows a causal relationship between love and health, happiness, and peace of mind. (Read on …)

I have some ambivalence towards winter and the way that much of nature’s energy gets directed underground or inside. I often find that winter has this effect on me as well and I recognize its importance, though I do not always welcome it. I love the fresh hopefulness of spring, the rich languor and enjoyment of summer, the crisp brilliance of autumn, but it is the winter that decelerates my “doing” and reconnects me with “being” (Read on …)