An Interview with George Merrill

An Interview with John Vechey

Cofounder of PopCap video games and Pluto virtual reality, John Vechey now works daily to redefine the constructs of daily life. He and his wife Maia are constantly doing good for our community here on Orcas Island, from the Peach Pit and the Funhouse to the Fall Festival at Family Tides Farm. And there’s so much more. John and Maia have various passions and projects ranging from social justice and affordable housing to ecological restoration and indigenous culture. I asked John to begin the interview by repeating the honest, vulnerable speech he gave at Orcas Island High School senior graduation last month. May you resonate with what he communicates, and may his messages in this interview spread far beyond our community…

An Interview with Joel & Michelle Levey

The Dalai Lama has advised and supported a number of the Leveys’ projects, encouraging them in their work by saying: "You are presently engaged in work that has great prospects for bringing the inner sciences and technologies of human development and transformation to a very wide section of people who may not under ordinary circumstances come into contact with these teachings." Teaching Mindful Leadership, Collective Wisdom, Deep Resilience, Mind Fitness, and Compassion Science programs within mainstream medical, higher educational, organizational, and government/military arenas since the late 70’s, the Leveys have an extensive, jaw-dropping list of clients including MIT, NASA, JPL, Boeing, Special Forces, The Pentagon, NOAA, The World Bank, United Arab Emirates, British Parliament, Google, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Stanford, and even the public school I attended in Richardson, Texas!

An Interview with Sally Mathis O'Brien

Medium Sally Mathis O’Brien's life path has been guided by her communications with “ascended masters” like Jesus, Gandhi, King Midas, and others. "Sally is a rare combination of religious docent and spiritual navigator. She received her master’s degree in Pastoral Studies from Seattle University in preparation for a second career in hospital chaplaincy, when a multiple sclerosis diagnosis took her in an uncharted direction as an advocate and teacher. As a natural meditator, she communes in the world of the ascended masters including Mary Magdalene, Gandhi, Leonardo DaVinci and the Dalai Lama. As a toolmaker, she takes the lessons from her conversations and experiments in mediumship and applies her talent to different forms of healing, including body-speak, self-compassion exercises, and ancestral work. Her personal experience from family trauma of alcoholism, codependency, and incest lend authenticity to the depths of her empathy. Her travels alone from the “sticky” labels of bipolar illness and MS – from disease to dis-ease to health to wellness – are worth the read." (From Sally’s website, https://www.myinnerlighthouse.com [https://www.myinnerlighthouse.com/])

An Interview with Paramita

An octogenarian preparing to visit Bhutan, known for Gross National Happiness, Paramita gifted herself with a new name for her 80th birthday and is following her heart in visiting this Himalayan country with a development philosophy that aims to measure the well-being and happiness of the population rather than focusing only on economic growth. She plans to travel with a group of people connected with Joel and Michelle Levey, who "are respected for being among the very first professionals to introduce the principles and practices of mindfulness and mind-fitness training, interpersonal neurobiology, collective wisdom, deep systems thinking, inner-development-goals, and contemplative science into mainstream business, medicine, higher-education, sports, and government arenas – having begun this work in the 70s." Youthful, lighthearted, gentle, unjudgmental Paramita enjoys learning the faith traditions of other cultures and incorporating the love and wisdom into her daily life. Don’t miss the beginning, as she starts the interview with a Hawaiian prayer…

An Interview with Marcia Spees

A classical watercolorist who didn’t begin painting until the age of 44, Marcia later turned to working with acrylics, oils, and abstracts. Marcia is also a birder who has traveled all over the country to observe avian life, and a gardener whose property has been part of the Orcas Island Garden Tour. Marcia came to Orcas in the early ’70s as a back-to-the-lander, was one of the first women using the Lamaze method in natural childbirth, became a childbirth instructor and an organic gardener, helped start Children’s House, the recycling center, the food co-op, Orcas Center, the library, and has called the island home for over 50 years. “What I realized after I had been here a couple years is you choose a community, not a job. You choose a lifestyle, not a career.”