WholeHeart Inc.
Bringing tenderness to light

On the eve of a full moon, WholeHeart launched its newest program series, Poetry As Portal, featuring Julie Cadwallader Staub, a poet from South Burlington, Vt. More than 40 participants gathered on Zoom, March 25th, to participate in the event, part-poetry reading, part-conversation with the poet, and part-listening exercise for attendees to reflect upon their own lives.

Bringing tenderness to light
WholeHeart Inc.
Living our life like a prayer

What does it mean to live one’s life like a prayer? Heather Omand, of Huntington, Vt., is pioneering a different human way of being in the world as a Queer person, mother, partner, and caretaker of agricultural lands. Read about their insightful journey. Listen to their prose, “What Queerness Means to Me.”

Living our life like a prayer
WholeHeart Inc.
Listening to land whispers

What does it mean to be in deeper relationship with the land where one lives? Three friends spent last summer wandering in the mountains of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, coming to know the plants/medicines growing on the land, preparing meals with the foods harvested, and learning to navigate the wind and waves off the coast of Maine. This story encapsulates some of their heartfelt insights gained.

Listening to land whispers
WholeHeart Inc.
Following the wisdom inside

Marianne Mullen, of Middlesex, is a Vermont artist who draws inspiration from the complexities of being human. One of her paintings is the featured artwork for this year’s Valentines of Gratitude, WholeHeart’s January-February scholarship fundraiser. Learn more about how this WholeHeart community member uses her art creation as a spiritual practice.

Following the wisdom inside
WholeHeart Inc.
Celebrating a decade with poet James Crews

We were warmed by the community of 50 friends who gathered online, December 11th, to celebrate WholeHeart's actual 10th birthday! Like radiant candlelights each of us, we relaxed into the gorgeous poetry of Vermont poet James Crews for just over an hour. We’ve included a brief recap here, as well as sharing some of the poetry that James featured during the celebration.

Celebrating a decade with poet James Crews

Love

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A Conversation with WholeHeart's Executive Director: Holly Wilkinson

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A Conversation with WholeHeart's Executive Director: Holly Wilkinson

Q. What do you mean by your organization’s vision statement, “we envision a world with a global operating system based on love?"
A. At this time in our world, so much is driven by fear.  We envision love as an essential element needed for us all to survive and thrive on the individual, community and global levels. We are not talking easy, shiny love, but the real, raw and tenaciousness love it takes to care in the face of disagreement and disappointment.  Love requires discipline, practice and commitment to weave us together rather than apart.

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Holding our Wholehearts

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Holding our Wholehearts

On the eve of the day to give thanks, I am imagining all the people across the country turning their attention to coming together for this holiday, with love and gratitude as well as wounds and divides. Part of me wants to bundle up my heart in protection, part of me wants to find sanctuary with others who are like minded.  WholeHeart has been teaching me that love is not easy. Opening one’s heart lets in the joys and the sorrows, the connections and the longings.  The wounds and the worries can be loud, but I do believe that love is louder and softer, gentle and fierce.

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Embracing the Light & the Dark

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Embracing the Light & the Dark

So many great thinkers and spiritual teachers have spoken and written about the light and the darkness, the mud and lotus, joy and sorrow. Knowing that both can be held and that perhaps, more to the point, one can’t be known or felt in the absence of the other, allows us to embrace two seemingly conflicting experiences at once. This is my experience with this concept: 

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Layers of Love

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Layers of Love

WholeHeart makes a bold claim in “envisioning a world with a global operating system based on love.”  Love you say?  What do you mean by that?  What can one organization do?  What can one individual do, to stand in what Parker J. Palmer refers to as “The Tragic Gap”-- that divide between reality and a life that we know to be possible? The answer is that we have to be willing to make our hearts more supple so that when they do break, they break open and not into shards.