Hello, hivers! Javier here from Venezuela, with a new Mindful Life editorial. The cutie you see above is His Barkness Max the Great, Prince of Persia and the Levant! (Max for short,) my sister's dog. He's brought great joy to the house and has been an amazing support through these trying times. But he sheds a LOT of fur, his constantly littering everything. There's hair on the floor, the chairs, the couches, the beds and even appliances. It's the only almost un-nice aspect about having him around... that and his sudden, compulsory bursts of barking when anything untoward takes place at the other side of the door.

His hair-shedding skills have made me think a lot about what it means to be in transformation, in constant Presence. He also has a unique, talkative and in hilariously dignified personality that has also given me increasing insights about health and beauty. Animals don't have the narratives that we invest so much effort on, so they're always Here and Now, always being. Our bodies and our emotions also speak to us about this state of awareness, we shed our skins daily and the feelings we experience are instantly compelling, but we often get bogged down by those narratives, worrying over hypothetical futures or being nostalgic about the past. Fortunately, narratives are tools and they can be used to boost our process of self-discovery, for instance, through Koans, a form of Zen parable containing a relevant question about the nature of Universe, such as the one shared here by @senseiphil, which refers to the act of meditation and the concept of attainment of a different form. He asks for some personal feedback on this story, leave him a comment if you can!

These have been a continue to be difficult times for all of us. Turmoil both outside and inside, intense self-questioning, doubt, fear. But it's also been a magnificent opportunity to strengthen key qualities that are already serving our entire species, leading us to a cleaner, healthier, more accepting and interconnected world. Crises and collapses always open possibilities and I think it's essential that we focus on that part of the ride. Despite sorrows, losses, stress and feelings of separation, of longing, don't you see also a flourishing of empathy? Of fellowship among different cultures? I think there are no better public examples of this right now that the amazingly moving Olympic Games in Tokyo and the powerful broadening of both space and scientific exploration, all of which require large-scale, fluid cooperation among many individuals, most of whom can't meet in person at the moment, thus demonstrating a level of profound healing and mutual acknowledgment that @clareartista describes beautifully in this post, talking about the toxic habits, collective wounds and emotional poisons that we've clearing from our systems during this great process.

We still have a lot of work to do to even the scales of the unbalances that have brought us to this point, but it does appear that we're learning to do walk together more easily and effectively. It took being locked in to realize how much we require movement and camaraderie. Yesterday I went out with a girl again after almost two years and although it wasn't actually a date, it felt so good to just be able to embrace someone different, to hear another voice, after so much isolation. It's a profound contrast to how I felt a week ago, not to mention this time last year, when I wasn't truly aware of the toll this global situation would take on my mental health and willpower. Hive has been an amazing channel for keeping myself together by expressing my thoughts openly, vulnerably, and I think a lot of readers can identify with this. Take a look at this powerful, intimate piece by @shawnamawna where she celebrates her recent achievements while also sharing some of the challenges she's had to face regarding trust and pain, which makes her an excellent candidate for the Mental Health Awareness Badge. As I've said before, this is what I think is the greatest value that Hive is offering us and can offer others, a genuine platform for expression of our deepest selves.

Another aspect of this value is the possibility to encounter varied perspectives from many people across the world about all sorts of topics. We may not like or agree with some of them, but the fact that we can share our own and see what others think, in a mostly respectful and censorship-free environment, is magnificent to me. So much of our conflicts arise from not being attentive to our own prejudices and therefore being unwilling to see the views of others. The concepts we use, the ideas that we choose to support with our belief and conviction can imprison us all too easily if we're not vigilant. Hive and other similar projects can offset that, help us connect better with one another and learn together, as @selfhelp4trolls discusses in his latest contribution. He's been developing @crossculture as a means to reach diverse groups of people and his efforts are proof that the social and networking potential of these tools exceeds even its financial significance.

We're going through times that have pushed all of us to the edge. We've had to test the limits of our beliefs, relationships, associations and energies; we've had to question whether what we're doing, studying or building is actually worth so much time and sacrifice. But we've also had time to appreciate what we have, to truly take a look around and find pockets of wonder and insights where we saw nothing before. Reviewing my memories, I've found deep sorrows and insecurities of late, but I've also enabled myself to reach farther, to be more thankful, to function more efficiently. These reflections have made me stronger and have simplified my life, and in that spirit, I share with you the last post for the today, one of @denmarkguy's introspections where he asks a few important questions that I think we all should make ourselves, about where we've come from and what we're looking for.