The Fearless Heart

July 15 / 2017

by Miki Kashtan

When I first heard Marshall Rosenberg, back in 1994, say that the actions of another person are a stimulus, and never a cause, for my feelings, I was shocked. Little did I know that this statement would become the nucleus of my growing understanding about what has …

May 10 / 2017

By Miki Kashtan

When I sat down to count the number of times that I lost a friendship by actions of another, I didn’t imagine I would reach the number 29 in the last 27 years, almost all of them close friends, or other people with an ongoing connection, who …

April 7 / 2017

“When a behavior becomes the norm, we lose our ability to view it as dysfunctional.” Jeff Garson, Reflection #42, Radical Decency (URL temporarily inactive).

“To reinforce the majoritarian dream, the nightmare endured by the minority is erased.” Ta Nehisi Coates, My President Was Black.

What is it that makes the …

March 7 / 2017

In last week’s piece, I wrote about what I might do in the world if I had a lot of access to resources while having the same values, sensibilities, and beliefs that I have now.

In answering that question, I skipped over the major issue that values, sensibilities, and beliefs …

February 28 / 2017

The question is simple: what would I do now, in this period of human history, and especially as we are all adapting to this new presidency, if I had a lot of access to resources while having the same values, sensibilities, and beliefs that I have?

There is, of …

February 15 / 2017

The global web magazine based in London, UK, openDemocracy has a section called “Transformation – Where love meets social justice.” Miki was recently invited to contribute there and her first piece went up today:

How we talk about race and safety can really make a difference.

Check it out! It’s …

January 15 / 2017 We can always hear and understand each other’s deeper purpose. Once we know this and integrate it fully, I trust that we will approach confrontation differently, and I then have more hope that miracles of transformation can happen.

December 23 / 2016

“All through history, and for many of us in our own experience, there are deeds done, causes furthered, and values proclaimed, that must be regarded as destructive, motivated by hate or greed, harmful to humanity on whatever scale, local or world-wide. These things may all be ‘good’ in the eyes …

November 26 / 2016

“Having wealth is unjustified, but the Rockefellers justify it by doing good. I had to cut through all this and understand that there is no rational justification for my family having the amount of money that it has, and that the only honest thing to say in defense of it …

November 18 / 2016 It’s clear to me that without seeing everyone’s humanity, we will not find a way of moving forward that will actually create change. I have a complete conviction that making individual voters the problem and attacking them is a continuation of the very mindset that’s implicated in getting us here.