How do you describe your life? Lifeless, lifelike, real life? I hear people describe themselves as lifers, imprisoned for life, and that they wish they had a lifeline, or are living the life of Riley--carefree and comfortable.

Would people close to you describe you as vital, vivacious, alive, or barely living? Is your life the way you want it to be? Do you believe it is possible to enliven your life and your livelihood? If your life is not playing out the way you would like it to be, consider exploring how you can begin to create the life you truly want.

Growing up I vividly remember being told that not only was communism bad, but that people who were communists were also bad. My heart told me there was a conflict in that belief. It was not until I met my first Russian person face-to-face that I realized I had been brain-washed in school. Not only did I feel betrayed by the education system, I felt ashamed that I had discounted communities of people I knew nothing about. It was in asking questions of meaning and value that led me into direct experiences that were in totally "unknown territory."

The vision of this project is: cooperative inquiry through face-to-face interactions between cultures.

We use action research as a basis of learning and co-creating peace. As humans we participate in and articulate our perceptions through experiental knowing (face-to-face/direct encounters with people, places and things); presentational knowing which grows out of our experiences and provides the form of expression through story, drawing, sculpture, movement and dance; and knowledge about ideas and concepts; and practical knowing which is a combination of our other forms of knowing in action. The process of cooperative inquiry cycles through phases of reflection and action or being and doing.

This project is about meeting other cultures face-to-face---going into their world to explore from their perspective how it is to be a human. We take pilgrimages to honor cultures different from our own. We inquire, experience and create meaningful dialogue just for the sake of "be"-ing with them.

The result of our inquiry is that we develop a deeper understanding of what it means to peacefully co-exist on the planet together where we can share our resources without exploiting one another.

If you are interested in this kind of exploring, contact us for details about our next journey. Become a co-researcher with us and with our global village. You may be surprised to discover the earth is a "more than human" world.

I truly believe there is a reason for everything. When a young college-aged girl called and asked to see me as soon as possible, I had no idea that her first words would be, "I am 5 weeks pregnant, and I don't want to keep the baby."

Surprised, I immediately asked, "Are you okay? One thing at a time." I reached out and she came willingly into my arms-two women who understood the gravity of her life decision.

In the short time of knowing she was with child, Hope began to explain all the steps she had already taken. She and the father of the baby discussed that neither of them was ready to accept responsibility of parenting. And since Hope was a senior in college, one major concern was how to finish her last year and graduate.

The tentative young couple searched for agencies that could help them find adoptive parents. And they were very particular about who they wanted to bring up the child that would be leaving their lives.

Slowly and carefully, they made their choices. Eight months later I was traveling when I received a call that Hope was in labor and gave birth to a baby girl. Two days later, Hope phoned to ask when I would be home. She had decided to keep the baby until I was there to see and offer a blessing with the couple and their child. I caught the next plane wondering how in the world I could be brave and courageous enough to meet the request.

My mind raced to other couples I knew who were adoptive parents. I saw how happy they were to receive a child often after a tedious and long process of trying to have their own children. My heart thought about those children I knew who were the "adopted" ones, and how some were thriving and some not. I thought about the woman I had met in Hawaii who had given her child away at birth-later to be contacted by the adult child who was feeling abandoned and betrayed. And then my heart almost stopped when I thought of the natural grandparents of this little girl, knowing how blessed I am to have six grandchildren, and wondering how I would bear not having any of them.

"There is a way to gracefully celebrate the coming of this little one who will only be with us a short time," I told myself. My heart was wide open at this point, and I began to write the blessing. When I got to the hospital, the child's maternal grandfather greeted me in the corridor. He walked me into the room where the child and its birth parents were oo-ing and ah-ing. There we were, in a room filled with love and fear.

It was a miracle for me to look into the child's transparent eyes into her Soul. Instantly I knew that this child was already blessed. What I realized was that my words were meant to soothe the Souls of Hope and James who had made the tough decision that so many adults are incapable of making. Calling on Spirit from my higher Self and other Spirits, I could see in the room, I explained that this couple had been the willing vessels of love, and that they were the conduit for sharing that love beyond anything they had yet experienced. They were the ones letting the butterfly expand from its cocoon to become the beautiful being it was meant to be.

For me, when I left the hospital, I knew I had been in a place called, "in the middle of paradox." Yes, it is possible to move from the world of duality to a place centered in peace and harmony, I discovered. How grateful I felt to have been invited to this very intimate place.