Pearls of Peace: A Family Psychologist’s Circle-of-Life Blog

Peaceful Couples and Countries

There are peaceful societies in our world. How have they managed to live together in peace with their neighbors? A multidisciplinary group of scholars began gathering in 2014 to find answers. Social entrepreneurs and professors, Peter T. Coleman and Joshua D. Fisher, are part of the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity, and The Earth Institute at Columbia University. Their Sustaining Peace Project involves psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, astrophysicists, environmental scientists, political scientists, and communication researchers. Just bringing such diverse disciplines together peacefully orchestrates a model for peace systems.

America currently is tuned into war systems. Globally, military spending is speeding up as more countries encounter violent conflict than in the previous 30 years. Peace systems are “clusters of neighboring societies that do not make war with each other.” For example, none of the 5 Nordic nations have made war inside or outside their borders for over 200 years. Unfortunately, this cannot be said for the U.S.

A possibility roadmap for peace was found by the collaborative scholars. It seems intuitive, but somehow people are not aware of the simple power of peace or how to get “there.” The inclusive work of the Sustaining Peace Project suggests that “sustaining peace can be understood as a high ratio of positive intergroup reciprocity to negative intergroup reciprocity that is stable over time.”

On a micro-level, family systems co-exist peacefully with the same positivity-fueled reciprocity. Marriage researchers John and Julie Gottman study couples intensely. John Gottman began longitudinal work on couples in the 1970’s. Gottman Institute research finds that stable, happy couples have at least a 5:1 ratio of positive interactions to negative interactions, especially necessary in trauma and conflictual situations. Unhappy couples exhibit fewer positive interactions that might counterbalance negative communication. If their positive-to-negative ratio is 1:1 or less, a couple may be headed for break-up. High conflict, unhappy couples in their relationship’s end time engage in what Gottman refers to as “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse:”

Criticism – An attack on one’s partner and their character, not just a complaint comment.
Contempt – Disrespect that goes further than criticism; sarcasm or ridicule spews out, denoting a moral superiority over one’s partner.
Defensiveness – An excuse-making response to criticism that often includes reversing the blaming.
Stonewalling – A response which involves one individual withdrawing, often acting “busy” or engaging in obsessive and/or distracting behaviors.

While peaceful couples and countries have differing ways in which they cultivate peace, there are some commonalities. Peaceful groups have an overarching common identity (a shared national or regional identity that seeks commonalities between ethnic differences). There is focus on positive interconnectedness in terms of economics, ecology, and security. Peaceful societies commemorate successful peacemakers. Public spaces and institutions bring members of different groups together. The single-most critical contributor to peace is identified in non-warring norms, rituals, and values. Peace language and peace leadership call for dialogue and consensus-building.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

466. How might you incorporate more peacefulness in your relationships?

467. What consensus-building success have you ever experienced?

Mothers with Soft Power

Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) held a colloquium (October, 2025) for 120 participants, “Mothers Without Borders: The Phenomenology of Mothers’ Soft Power in Peace Building.” The event was coordinated by Senior International Scholar-in-Residence Hauwa Ibrahim, J.D., S.J.D., M.L. In a keynote address former WCW executive director Susan McGee Bailey, Ph.D., explained the importance of this initiative: “Mothers understand that shaping a better world starts with each of us…We can’t change everything quickly, but we can change everything…By believing in ourselves and our vision, we can initiate major changes, not only in our own homes, but throughout the world.”

In her keynote address, Her Royal Highness, Nahla Al-Qassimi, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of Women Empowerment Council at Ajman University, United Arab Emirates, echoed mother-power: “A mother’s love is the most borderless thing on Earth…when mothers connect, the world becomes kinder, brighter, and stronger.”

Nigerian lawyer Ibrahim outlined mothers’ soft power (using persuasion, not coercion) with a poignant story. In Nigeria 337 girls were kidnapped in 2014 by Boko Haram, an insurgency opposing Western culture influences in their country. One captured kidnapper was tortured for 3 years because he refused to speak with authorities about his actions. However, when his mother was allowed to talk with him, she needed only 3 words before her son broke his silence. Ibrahim outlined women’s quiet resistance and soft power in influencing decision-making in men in power, especially regarding governing without use of force.

Women Without Borders has big plans for the world’s big problems. Her Royal Highness Dr. Al-Qassimi introduced soft-power initiatives in Beijing at the Global Engineering Congress. Lt. Gen. Fernando Giancotti of the Italian Air Force took the concept home with him to Rome after attending the colloquium. Assistant Inspector General Aishatu Abubakar Baju, Nigeria’s senior female police officer, carried mothers’ soft-power thinking to Johannesburg where she spoke at the African Women in Law Enforcement Conference.

On a sunny afternoon at San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, I saw 2 lions communicating; the male lion roared first. The female roared back. Back and forth for a few loud moments, there were clear signs of some relationship. Then the tour guide said the lions were brother and sister. But what was the message? Here are possibilities:

Bro: “Can you believe that breakfast this morning?”
Sis: “We can’t really complain because we did not have to hunt all night for today’s food.”
Bro: “You always stick up for the Government of Zoo.
Sis: “I am living in the present moment.”

Consider some soft-power behaviors within meerkat packs. They take turns watching out for their pack while most are digging 5-8 hours above ground for food. If a predator threatens, the patrol-kat whistles a high-pitched alert. Young pups have many helpers in their pack. We will make progress on our precious planet when human mothers and fathers understand and use soft power.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

464. When have you used soft power?

465. Have you ever regretted using aggressive/coercive power?

AI Perspective at Age 105

Looking back, what truly matters is the effort you make to cultivate yourself,” says Korean centenarian philosopher, Kim hyung-seuk. “Life is about nurturing yourself, about allowing the heart to grow.”

Kim possesses long-distance viewing, having grown up in North Pyongan Province, attending the same elementary school as Kim il-sung, North Korea’s founder. He ate breakfast at the future founder’s home after liberation from Japanese colonial rule but left the North in 1947. He is emeritus professor of philosophy at Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea. He continues a writing career which includes giving lectures.

Ginness World Records deemed Kim hyung-seuk the world’s oldest male author after he published 100 Years of Wisdom at age 103. When his publisher alerted him that 30-year-old individuals found the book useful, Kim wrote his next book to “make sure there were things young people might find meaningful!” At age 105 he published Kim hyung-seuk, A Century’s Legacy. His abiding advice, good for every age, is “…[to] stay young at heart, to hold a sound faith and to live without despair.”

I find his advice on AI compelling. Kim believes that AI is helpful in natural sciences or engineering where a question has one correct answer. In social sciences he sees AI as a tool with considerations that a question can have several answers. However in arts and humanities, Kim affirms that there is never a single right answer. Furthermore, Kim advocates that humanity must preserve truth from falsehood and be capable of discerning good from evil through one’s conscience. He emphasizes that humans are the masters of AI. Kim supports ethical technology. My question is who monitors AI to ensure that such values are upheld?

As for longevity, Kim recalls his frail childhood when his mother questioned if he would even live to his 20’s. He attributes his good fortune in a long-distance life to his mindset. I view him as a noble example of someone with a growth mindset rather than possessing a fixed mindset where change is not welcomed. AI is about change. After experiencing many kinds of changed societies, Kim concludes that societies embracing freedom have longevity.

Kim offers the wisdom that reading and working help maintain youthfulness. Say yes to embracing lifelong learning! Kim’s belief is that a person “grows old” only when they start thinking that they are “old.” It reminds me of how often I hear someone say, “I’m old,” as if that statement might excuse some behavior. Kim refers to 7 people he knows who are 100+ like him. He reports that they have 2 things in common: they do not speak ill of others and they do not lose their temper. They live as peacefully as possible.

We circle back to values and ethical guideposts. If AI rolls out misinformation (deepfakes) or even half-truths, we must make the whole mountain of an issue transparent.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

462. What are your 2 ingredients for longevity?

463. How do you view using AI personally?

Ages and Stages

Austrian novelist Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach defined aging: “In youth we learn; in age we understand.” I am rethinking what age means on my birthday.

We know 4 aging stages of monarch butterflies: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult. This amazing metamorphosis includes caterpillars whizzing through 5 growth spurts, molting skin each time! This reminds me of adolescents making change after change with dizzying speed.

Research from University of Cambridge suggests that adolescence lasts longer than you ever thought. Dr Alexa Mousley and her colleagues found that the brain stays in the adolescent stage until the early 30’s. Key maturation is determined to end around age 32. Studying nearly 4000 individuals’ MRI scans (ages 0-90 years), the researchers concluded that there are 4 pivotal ages for brain turning points or major changes: 9, 32, 66, and 83.

Childhood — Birth to age 9: Brains undergo network consolidation with the most active synapses preserved from a whittling-down process. There is a major boost in cognitive capacity, but also a risk of mental health challenges.
Adolescence – Ages 9 to 32: Brains’ largest directional changes have an efficiency of connections within specific brain regions. There is rapid communication across the whole brain which relates to enhanced cognitive performance. However, this timeframe poses the greatest risk for mental health disorders. Many individuals initiate substance use in this stage. Repeated drug exposure can significantly alter brain development, especially relating to the ways reward and control circuits are wired. A drug habit may become almost automatic, leading to a reduction in prefrontal problem-solving which has many consequences.
Adulthood – Ages 32 to 66: A “plateau in intelligence and personality” (based upon other research) was sustained in this research. Brain functioning appears relatively stable.
Early aging – Ages 66 to 83: A mild and gradual reorganization of brain networks culminates in the mid-60’s, although a variety of health conditions (hypertension or diabetes, for example) may emerge; health issues can place an individual at risk for cognitive decline.
Late aging – Age 83+: Whole brain connectivity reduces and there is more reliance on specific brain regions. However, this participant group was smaller than the other stages studied and merits more study.

The researchers admit their participants were controlled for “healthy” folks. Trauma affects brain ages/stages. An estimated 6 in 10 U.S. adults have experienced trauma (with higher numbers among women than men). Rates for children and adolescents are higher: according to the National Library of Medicine, about 2 out of 3 U.S. individuals experience trauma by age 16. This rate is likely higher among youth in violent war areas around the globe. We need a planetary plan for addressing trauma.

How do butterflies deal with trauma? According to the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary, butterfly wings are larger than needed for flying. Butterflies can fly with half of their wings missing. My translation for “youth” at any age: keep flying (learning)!

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

460. What does your age mean to you?

461. What health-proofing practices do you use?

Holiday Relationships & Wellness

In a spider web, everything is connected. Everything you do is connected to others. No one can do everything alone. Celebrating holidays is best when celebrating in healthy ways with others!

Blackfoot scholar Dr. Leroy Little Bear looks at the big picture and captures everything: “Existence is a web of relationships. What you do to the land, to the animals, to the water, you do to yourself.”

Little Bear tells about dreaming that he was a bubble. His wife also was a bubble. He joined their bubbles. Half awake, he asked if his dream was real; the joined-bubble dream appeared a second time. When Little Bear shared his dream with his wife, she gave this interconnected interpretation: “I know what you are thinking…if we spread this among relatives, things will happen. Everybody is of one mind.”

As we roll through this holiday season, interconnected relationships are a key ingredient. In fact, relationships are key everywhere. According to Little Bear, the Western mind focuses on the social values of bigger and faster. To consider the social values in the Blackfoot mind, think about energy waves always in a state of flux. This is also scientific-minded territory. For an example of how this relational way of thinking might translate to the workforce, think team building, shared authority, and treating employees like a work family. As Little Bear suggests, this approach often results in team players producing better quality work.

Little Bear was instrumental in being part of creating Indigenous studies 50 years ago (in college at the University of Lethridge in Canada). Since many of us were not privy to Indigenous college courses, try on some Indigenous ways of relating:

Think holistically and relationally, rather than through the narrow lens of an individual paradigm;
Emphasize interconnectedness not just with your relatives and best friends, but also with land, spirit, and community for mental wellness and healing — understand life as energy, not just facts;
Consider how language, story, dreams, and holiday rituals may shape pathways to healing.

Considering a lifetime of teaching, advocacy, and cultural stewardship, Little Bear challenges us to understand what thinking globally means as a rhythm of relational connections. He recalls his childhood when he heard both of his parents always singing! Yes, music is one of our best connectors. I go to many choral concerts and always feel a sense of renewal in the company of singers who harmonize with each other as if they are of one mind.

What about the times when you are with relatives or friends and you do not sense any renewal of lifelong tuning in one-mind relating? There are good reasons, you say. Figure out where the disconnect story began. I have a “throw” pillow that says, “Home is where your story begins.” Start there.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

458. Do recall any dreams that hold special meaning for you?

459. How does telling your stories to a good listener bring lifelong tuning?

Solstice and Meditation Pearls

This year the winter solstice is also World Meditation Day, thanks to the United Nations. Both events hold a reverence for our place in the Universe.

The solstice honors Earth’s axis slanting away from Sun, delivering the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere (reversed in the Southern Hemisphere) on December 21^st. It is a long-celebrated event around the world. While the earliest solstice celebration is unknown, archeologists Peter Biehl and Francois Bertemes made a fascinating discovery in Germany in 2002. They excavated a 7,000-year-old enclosed circle near the Halle-Wittenberg University, finding that the Goseck Henge has two “gates.” These openings line up with the start of the summer and winter solstices. Might this be the world’s first solar observatory?

Other places are better known as solstice subscribers as they have impressive structures that frame Sun as it rises: Ireland’s Newgrange, England’s Stonehenge (on the same latitude as Goseck and nearly the same longitude), and Mexico’s Chichén Itzá. Each bears witness to how observant early people were about Earth’s rhythm of changing seasons. Celebrating winter solstice may have begun as a gratefulness for completed harvest time, making time for rest and reflection. Feasts often accompany solstice festivals.

Ancient Rome celebrated Saturnalia to honor the sun god Saturn with offerings and gift-giving. By the 1^st century BCE this celebration morphed into week-long partying. Many believe that Saturnalia festivals set the stage for modern-day Christmas traditions of feasting, candle-lighting, and exchanging gifts.

Indigenous people in the U.S. also had early celebrations on winter solstice. Hopi Native People celebrated Kachina Season with ritual ceremonies and dancing. Kachina figures have been found on rock art from 1350 CE. There is a reverence for kachinas, symbolic protective spirits. Kachina dolls, symbolizing prayer wishes, are given as gifts to young girls.

World Meditation Day links with solstice traditions in terms of reverence for and celebration of life. This United-Nations-recognized global event received unanimous adoption in the General Assembly on 12-06-24. The 2025 theme embraces all people’s traditions and faiths: “Inner Peace, Global Harmony.” There is an emphasis on an individual’s stillness and mindfulness as ingredients that lead to compassion, mental wellness, and peaceful actions. Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to what is happening in the moment rather than focusing on fixing the past or fantasizing futures.

As a star-gazing fan, I applaud those who mindfully watched seasonal changes set to solstice times. And I embrace the global emphasis of World Meditation Day. As a daily meditator, I’d like to see meditation taught in our schools. Rather than waiting for behavior problems to crop up on the playground and in school hallways, why not be proactive and teach mindfulness practices to children and adolescents? Meditation, journaling, and focused mindfulness practices can transcend many differences among individuals.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

456. What does winter solstice mean to you?

457. How might you engage in mindfulness practices and create more inner peace for yourself?

Lost and Found Pearls

Joy and grief are a whirling wheel [attributed to Hindu philosophy].

The wheels of loss keep whirling, crisscrossing the globe with trails of grief. According to the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, 110 armed conflicts are being watched; some spill blood into the evening news, yet many escape coverage despite having lasted for decades. Why are there so many unchecked human-rights violations?

The answer is not just having more laws and lawyers trained in international law. International law seemingly cannot keep up with so many atrocities, especially concerning unattended children who cannot tell someone about being abducted and/or trafficked.

The United Nations reports a 25% rise in grave violations against children in the third consecutive year with escalating reported incidents. The report of the UN Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict describes a “blatant disregard for international law and the rights and special protections of children by all parties to conflict.” Children under 18 are to be prohibited from recruitment and use as soldiers, but protection edicts are not followed.

The Convention of the Rights of the Child celebrated its 35^th anniversary in 2024, yet the crisis of human rights violations keeps whirling. We cannot be complacent and believe that other countries have more abuse of rights than the U.S. Just this past weekend another U.S. school shooting took place. This time the precious student lives lost or injured were college students at Brown University.

You might ask, when does the wheel turn to joy?

It seems that we will have to rely upon the very youth who have been victims of violations to get us out of our collective abyss. A survivor of the 2019 Margory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL, Cameron Kasky (now 25), is an ardent activist for gun control. Kasky commands attention and gives hope. He recently announced his bid to run for the Congressional seat of retiring Jerry Nadler.

After the Brown University shooting, Kasky delivered a passionate TV interview. He does not believe that the Parkland, FL perpetrator should be held solely responsible for the horror created. Systemic problems in America need to be addressed according to Kasky. It is joyful to see youthful power step forward with conviction and leadership.

I found posters inside the doors of women’s toilet stalls in the Orlando airport a few years ago: “Stop Human Trafficking – There is a Way Out.” Initially I shuddered to think that this was a necessary intervention. But acknowledging my second thought, I realized that each girl who finds this pearl of help and learns nonverbal hand signals for H (human) and T (trafficking) might save herself. Our youth will lead the way to human rights.

Poet and essayist Maya Angelou reminds us, “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

454. How might you participate in the promotion of human rights?

455. What is your first step?

Emodiversity Complexity

It turns out that negative emotions are useful. Whether you initially agree or not, stay tuned for a different slant on pesky emotions. Jordi Quoidbach has a Ph.D. in Psychology from University of Liège, Belgium, and spent several years as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard; he studies happiness and decision-making. Quoidbach’s research into emodiversity (a piggyback idea from biodiversity) suggests, “…people who experience a diverse range of emotions…tend to be healthier, mentally and physically.” With increased emodiversity, his research found decreased depression, number of doctor visits, and days hospitalized per year in participants.

Having emodiversity means acknowledging a variety of emotions in your day — allowing for frustration, disgust, jealousy, gratitude, tranquility, and elation. Quoidbach explains: “…it is not just having a diverse range of positive emotion, but we also find that having a diverse range of negative emotion is better than having a narrower range of negative emotion.”

My understanding of so-called “negative” emotions is that they are protectors, often shielding an individual from some unacknowledged small-t trauma situation (or a big-T trauma such as a natural disaster). When one can accept that there is a reason why a “negative” emotion pops into consciousness, there is a possibility of coping with one’s history. It is not useful to ban emotions when they can serve as maps that lead to problem solving. Often the mapping of a “negative” emotion takes one on a follow-the-memory consciousness back to an earlier year when some event triggered alarm. Such memories still sting from youngster years.

Quoidbach’s research relates to correlation, not causality. However, his steps to increase emodiversity might serve as stepping stones for a deeper dive down memory lane’s complexity:

Create an Emotions Matrix

Audit your emotions for a week. Jot down each emotion you recognize in quadrants: 1. Pleasant, high-energy emotions (joy or excitement are examples); 2. Pleasant, low-energy emotions (perhaps serenity or relief); 3. Unpleasant, high-energy emotions ( such as anger or disgust); 4. Unpleasant, low-energy emotions (boredom or sadness are examples).
Ask, “Why am I not more diverse? Am I afraid of experiencing specific feelings? Maybe [that’s] because I’m afraid that some stuff will come out?”

2. Put Yourself in Situations That Evoke Certain Emotions

Establish the areas in which you may want to expand your emotional life. Recognize how often you evoke those feelings.
Recognize if you never feel angry; it may suggest that some inner conversations could prove useful.
Also, if you are constantly chatty and cheerful, consider experiences that allow for you to be still and calm.

3. Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary

Make an effort to name your emotions. Then expand your emotional vocabulary. It could prove useful to use words from ancestral native languages.
Quoidbach relates, “When you learn new words for emotions, you start paying attention to situations differently… you expand the range of emotions you experience.”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

452. When are you most aware of your emotions?

453. Are there times when you feel shame for an emotion?

Swimming Times

As I watched salmon swim upstream to spawn last week, I marveled at their persistence. Salmon are genetically programmed to swim to the precise water of their birth to lay their eggs. Salmon hatch in a fresh-water birth before migrating downstream to the saltwater ocean for about 4 years. Through magnetoreception and their sense of smell, most salmon know how to swim back to their birthplace. They spawn in the stones of gravel beds of small creeks. Some eggs are not under gravel for protection; I saw sea gulls trolling a stream for a take-out order of the small-pea-sized snack.

Each female salmon can lay up to 3000 eggs. After several months the eggs hatch into larvae with attached lunch bags; each “sac” holds some remaining yolk for feeding. When they run out of yolk, they must leave their gravel nest and begin eating plankton. It takes up to 3 years to become good swimmers and gain their camouflage spots. They also grow silvery scales to visually confuse future predators. Their resilience and adaptability are impressive despite dire odds. An estimate is that out of one salmon’s 2000-3000 eggs, only 4-5 survive for an ocean adulthood.

Salmon form “schools” or community with other salmon; they swim far from spawning territory to find deep-sea feeding. In returning “home” they stop eating. Despite their great stamina, they face many trials. They experience exhaustion. Death from high temperatures, parasites, and disease are possibilities for those that escaped predators such as seals, sea lions, sharks, orca whales and human fishing. The Pacific salmon and most Atlantic salmon die within a couple of weeks post-spawning. In the circle of life, salmon decomposing bodies release inorganic nutrients to the plankton. Scavenger animals descend. Change is constant.

We can identify with salmon and their challenging upstream-swimming effort. Adaptability and resilience are requirements for human constant changes.

Weather changes deliver spontaneous opportunities for adaptability. During a 1-hour morning trip to Seattle, there were 4 periods of fog suddenly dropping a dusty curtain that felt as though dusk was fast approaching. Fog is visually confusing. Cars adjusted their speed initially. With similar weather stealth, brilliant sunshine swept the highway clean each time. Sightlines were sparkling again.

Isn’t this the way one’s consciousness drifts from cognizant present time to murky moments where timely vision seems impaired? Weather changes are as sudden as consciousness changes. When murky moments take over, there can be dire consequences.

Perhaps our most important moments occur when we catch ourselves losing track of clear-sightedness. We must choose our focus. We must find our swimming community. We must be persistent. As Bob Dylan reminded us in 1964, The Times They Are A-Changin’ — “If your time to you is worth saving / Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone.”

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

450. When you realize your murky moments settling like thick fog, how do you emerge from this state of mind?

451. How might you increase your resilience and adaptability?

Tender Gratitude

“Thankfulness finds its full measure in generosity of presence, both through participation and witness. We sit at the table as part of every other person’s world…this is the essence of gratefulness…Thanksgiving happens when our sense of presence meets all other presences. Being unappreciative might mean we are simply not paying attention” (Canadian American cultural writer David Brooks, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen).

Another writer’s definition of gratitude also aligns with the importance of attention in the present moment: “Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given; gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without and beside us. Gratitude is not necessarily something that is shown after the event, it is the deep, a-priori state of attention that shows we understand and are equal to the gifted nature of life” (Irish poet David Whyte, Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words).

Yes, “presence” is key to the experience of gratitude! As Thanksgiving emerges this week into present time, it is a reminder that we might consider being present to gratitude more of the year than on the annual Thursday holiday when many of us gather together to contemplate our blessings. I am reminded that not everyone in America celebrates this day. The distorted narrative of the Pilgrims feasting with indigenous people — who had long settled this land prior to the newcomers’ landing — is disturbing.

On our precious planet we need to be “tender narrators,” a phrase delivered by Polish psychologist-turned-novelist Olga Tokarczuk when she received the Nobel Prize in Literature for her entire writing in 2018. A tender narrator considers the big picture: “…a perspective from where everything can be seen. Seeing everything means recognizing the ultimate fact that all things that exist are mutually connected into a single whole, even if the connections between them are not yet known to us…[it] also means a completely different kind of responsibility for the world, because it becomes obvious that every gesture ‘here’ is connected to a gesture ‘there,’ that a decision taken in one part of the world will have an effect in another part of it, and that differentiating between ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ starts to be debatable.” Is American soil “mine” or “ours?”

In gratitude for her genetic roots, Tokarczuk recalls curiosity about everything. Her wide-eyed life view enables her to make connections that may not be obvious initially. While she invents stories for her novels, she sums up what I endorse as a writer of nonfiction and blogs: “…I made it into a general belief…that our task is to synthesize and consolidate the world, looking for connections, both overt and hidden, and building an image of the world as a complex whole full of mutual relations.” Let’s be grateful for mutual relations.

Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz

448. What prompts gratitude in you?

449. How often do you express gratitude out loud?