Sage-ing Times Welcome

Anne Boynton, CSL

Marketing and Communications Team

SI Emeritus Executive Circle

The Editorial Team of Sage-ing Times began preparing Volume 6 knowing that the outcome of the US Election would be foremost in our minds. We thought about authors who could write about ways to “talk to each other” and to communicate with others respectfully and non-violently.

For each of our issues, we have focused on one of the Qualities of Sages in Service. Although this is not a peaceful time in our lives, our country or the world, we chose Peacefulness as the theme for this issue.

Peacefulness - Practicing inner calm that can come from a sense of gratitude, we speak and act in non-violent ways. Pursuing peaceful solutions to conflict, we respect and promote justice in relationships.

Our intention with this issue is to share the words of our authors, books, and other resources that will be supportive and useful as we face the future. We include articles on peace, gratitude, resilience, and perseverance. We have included resources with constructive examples of practices that have worked in the world over time, and in the present. There are many who are bringing light, awareness and inspiration during these stressful times, and we share some of that work in this November issue.

Despite the challenges and all that may be yet to come, we are reminded of the healing power of nature. As we approach the seasons of winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere, we can take comfort in the words of Rachel Carson, “There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

Kamala reminds us in the words she spoke on November 6, “we will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square. And we will also wage it in quieter ways: in how we live our lives by treating one another with kindness and respect, by looking in the face of a stranger and seeing a neighbor, by always using our strength to lift people up, to fight for the dignity that all people deserve.”

Being in community with others is where we will find our strength. It may not always be easy, but learning to engage in conversation by really listening, and responding with intention is a start. Next week in the United States, many of us will join with our families and friends to give thanks and experience gratitude for the blessings we have. As this year comes to a close, we can focus on what we can do to bring as much Peace into our lives as possible. It is a choice we can make, and hopefully the resources

in this issue of Sage-ing Times will shine some light on how you can make peacefullness possible in your life.

With gratitude,

Anne Boynton

Sage-ing® International Emeritus Circle

Making Empathy a Way of Life

Mary McKenzie, M.A.,

CEO and Founder, NVC Academy

We’re in the throes of dealing with such differing views of where we are as a country and where we are going. We have just witnessed our Presidential election and are in the aftermath of that election now. Combined with world affairs, war and global warming of our earth, we are seeing a level of despair higher than I ever remember experiencing.

As a result, the level of blaming others, judgments, dis-ease, and lack of trust that I experience or hear about every day is at an all-time high. I think there’s so much fear that we’ve begun lashing out at others, and rage is either visible or ever lurking.

What My Damaged Eye Teaches Me About Practicing Peacefulness

Heather Plett

Founder of Centre for Holding Space

Practicing peacefulness is the theme I’ve been invited to write about. Ironically, at this moment, when I sit down to write about peacefulness, I am feeling the opposite of peaceful.

My mind has already visited a hundred places this morning, and none of those places feel like the kind of metaphorical peaceful garden I would like to have permanent residence in. I’ve been cycling through anxiety, frustration, discouragement, and self-doubt – almost everything other than peace.

Story...Our Aging Superpower

Christina Baldwin

SI Council of Honored Sages

Human beings are the only species that loves or hates, welcomes or rejects, determines good or evil, even goes to war or makes peace based on the power of story alone. When story comes into the room, an alchemical reaction occurs that is unique to our kind. We are swayed by the word, especially swayed by story.



From the first guttural utterances of early Homo Sapiens, we are a species that specializes in language. Humanity is currently speaking in 7400 tongues, and the core of every one of these languages is narrative. Words are how we think; stories are how we link. Story is both enemy and ally, a power, once unleashed, that takes on a life of its own. 

The misuse of story has ruptured the social fabric of our country, dividing families and communities. But story is a power that resides in every one of us. This is a time when sages who want to contribute to the betterment of life around us, must grab hold of story like a lightning bolt and use it as our aging superpower.

Book Reviews

The Beekeeper's Question

by Christina Baldwin

Reviewed by Anne Boynton, CSL

Marketing and Communications Team,

SI Emeritus Executive Circle

I just finished reading Christina Baldwin’s new book, The Beekeeper’s Question, and share Carol Scott-Kassner’s reflections after reading this capitvating story. We both had tears in our eyes as we finished the story, and Carol’s words capture beautifully the essence of this exceptional book. 

“The Beekeeper's Question is a book for our times. Although set in rural Montana during WWII, themes we still struggle with today reveal themselves throughout the book. Baldwin infuses her compelling story with deep love, healing, and community that ring true in current times. Threads of spiritual truths from the Blackfeet tribe of Montana, the Christian tradition, and the Gaelic tradition weave the story together, calling us to where we need to go as a human race.”  

Prepare to be enchanted by Christina’s beautiful telling of the story of three elders, Leo, Doc, and Josie, who find ways to protect, guide and learn from the younger generations whom they love. There is comfort in how Christina sheds light and hope on the challenges that have been and continue to be part of our human condition. 

Check out these books for further reading on finding inner peace:

The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

Non-Violent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenburg, PhD

Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery

by Mark Coleman

Creating True Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh

We Would Love to

Hear From You!

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Email your photos, poetry, and article responses to sage-ingtimes@sage-ing.org

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