By all accounts, Cindy Smith’s 92-year-old father was a man of humor and dignity. A World War II veteran and retired county planner, he...

In an age where compassion travels faster than ever—spread through social campaigns, shared stories, and digital communities—the power of one collective “yes” still holds transformative weight. Nowhere is this more evident than in the highlands of Guatemala, where a midwifery center born of hope and humanity continues to battle corruption, loss, and upheaval with nothing but heart, resilience, and an unwavering vision. More than 25 years ago, the ACAM Midwifery and Birth Center was founded in the Mayan village of Concepción, Guatemala. Its roots were planted in partnership between indigenous midwives and North American supporters, with a shared goal: to restore, honor, and empower traditional Mayan birthing practices. Led in recent years by executive director Asia...

As a child, my mother often painted my fingernails and sent me to school with glossy lips and delicately perfumed hands. This early experience set me on a complex and sometimes confusing path to understanding my gender identity—a journey through the often jagged terrain of sexual nonconformity. Sociologists differentiate between sex and gender: sex is biological, while gender refers to the social expectations assigned to individuals based on their sex. Yet today, conversations around sexual and gender identity often become battlegrounds filled with rigid labels—gay, straight, queer, transgender, tough guy, snowflake—that outsiders use to categorize and, sometimes, to judge. Society tends to reduce masculinity and femininity to neat binaries: a man labeled gay is presumed feminine;...

For years, energy psychology — and especially its signature technique known as tapping — has lived on the fringes of mainstream psychotherapy. Often dismissed as pseudoscientific, tapping has nonetheless garnered a loyal following among holistic practitioners and individuals seeking alternative methods for healing trauma, stress, and anxiety. But now, science is finally catching up. In a pivotal moment for the field, Dr. David Feinstein, a leading authority in energy psychology, has published a landmark paper that seeks to bridge the gap between ancient healing methods and modern neuroscience. His work, “Physiological Mechanisms of Energy Psychology Treatments: An Updated Synthesis,” offers compelling scientific insights into why and how tapping works — and why it deserves a place...