were treated in early stages and able to return to normal, healthy lives. So now we feel it is important to share it with you. In opening our hearts, we hope this might promote greater awareness of this condition. Perhaps it will encourage a clear understanding of the individuals and families who are affected by it. At the moment, I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done. I will continue to share life’s journey with my beloved Nancy and my family. I plan to enjoy the great outdoors and stay in touch with my friends and supporters. Unfortunately, as Alzheimer’s disease progres... posted on Feb 16 2012 (90,265 reads)

enjoyed the subject. Being naturally curious, I wanted to see how far this could go. I remember trying the “I love you” principle with other subjects that were really boring to me, like history. Suddenly, history came alive for me, and I started enjoying it very much, too. Stepping it up, I was convinced that one just could not love English grammar. But trying it there, I developed a love for writing which continues to this day. This philosophy completely transformed my life, improved my grades, and most importantly, made me simply stop caring about grades and actually enjoy learning. Talking to others, I know now that my experience is in no way unique - anyon... posted on Mar 3 2012 (19,388 reads)

Socrates, although he made the mistake of assuming that one had to accomplish this before trying to learn about the rest of the universe. (Rejecting a scientific account of the winds, Socrates said, "I can't as yet 'know myself' ... and so long as that ignorance remains it seems to me ridiculous to inquire into extraneous matters.") Actually, we humans have since learned more about ourselves by studying the wider world—by investigating the processes that created life and shaped its evolution—than we ever did through introspection, and we see those processes written large in the depths of the sky.   At the other extreme stands the wider univ... posted on Apr 2 2012 (7,356 reads)

the world was over, it became a butterfly.” “We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”   Martin Luther King “I have the view…that the human being was not made for pleasure, was not made to gratify the ego, was not made to make money, and was not made to have babies: it was made to serve something bigger than oneself. We are built to serve.” Jacob Needleman “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and found that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”   R. Tagore “The more you unfold, the less likely you are to unravel.” ... posted on May 6 2012 (9,371 reads)

do is watch TV!" The little girl began to cry. When she did, her mom's fury escalated. She hammered on, through the girl's tears, with a word problem: "If you buy candy for $1.00 and a drink for $1.25, how much do you have to pay? Well? How much do you have to pay?" Her little girl turned her head away, sobbing. At that point, I started to tear up too. Mostly, I cried for the girl, but also for her mother. I don't know what pain this woman has felt in her life or what drives her anger. But I know it's not her child's inability to solve a math problem. And I would not be at all surprised if she'd endured similar treatment when she was her da... posted on May 7 2012 (25,578 reads)

miracle.' But when it comes to a discussion of poverty, and I maintain that it is the result of wrong economics—that the industrial system under which we live is at the root of much of the physical deafness and blindness in the world—that is a different matter! It is laudable to give aid to the handicapped. Superficial charities make smooth the way of the prosperous; but to advocate that all human beings should have leisure and comfort, the decencies and refinements of life, is a Utopian dream, and one who seriously contemplates its realization indeed must be deaf, dumb, and blind.” —Helen Keller (letter to Senator Robert La Follette, 1924) The b... posted on Jul 16 2012 (34,702 reads)

person, and to even touch them. It was just amazing." He began thumbing through a series of photographs on his phone, each displaying an image of a palm tree. Some trees stood right by the beachfront, while others lined a roadside, each seeming to belong to the house just behind it. Some had multiple trunks, and others had one bending, elegant line. Several of his photos pictured the same tree, yet from different angles and perspectives. While I've seen many palm trees in my life, I've never experienced someone truly appreciating a palm tree. This is what moved me. In all of my vacations to warm, sunny places, it never occurred to me to take such notice of these trees... posted on Aug 1 2012 (13,890 reads)

and the non-meditators are the red squares, comparing people of the same age. The non-meditators experienced normal cortical thinning in those two brain regions I mentioned above, along with a third, the somatosensory cortex. However, the people who routinely meditated and “worked” their brain did not experience cortical thinning in those regions. That has a big implication for an aging population: Use it or lose it, which applies to the brain as well as to other aspects of life. That highlights an important point that I think is a major takeaway in this territory: Experience really matters. It doesn’t matter only in our moment-to-moment well-being—how it... posted on Sep 15 2012 (147,677 reads)

A broken relationship, a deadlock at work, a growing dependence on alcohol and tobacco all made for a downward spiral that I experienced every moment but couldn’t snap out of. I was almost at breaking point when my mother decided to pay me a visit, for like only mothers can sense, she figured out from a 1000 miles away that everything wasn’t as rosy as I was making it out to be over the telephone. On the first evening of her visit she tried to get me talking about where I was at in life, what was working and what wasn’t. I resisted, was evasive in my responses and tried every trick in the book to keep the façade up. I thought I had succeeded. When I got back fro... posted on Sep 23 2012 (23,392 reads)

a centenarian the secret ingredients to a long and healthy life and you aren’t likely to hear “doctors, drugs, and fad diets.” We all know that there’s more to our overall well-being than treating symptoms or the occasional replacement of a part. The good news is that scientists in various fields are discovering ever more ways we can keep ourselves healthy without expensive medication and complicated workout regimens. Here are nine simple, scientifically proven—and sometimes surprising—ways to empower yourself to make the right choices for your body and health.  1. Laugh to your heart's delight “Laughter might be one of the on... posted on Oct 5 2012 (70,643 reads)

of those we love. Sometimes, too, questions create a bridge within ourselves, allowing us to hear what's going on at a deeper level. We know when we've encountered a question that has this potential because it stays with us -- maybe for the day, maybe for our whole lives. It taps us on the shoulder to wake us up, or it wiggles its way in more deeply, opening us up to seeing things in a new way. I still recall first encountering Judith Duerk's chorus of questions about how my life might have been different if there had been a sacred circle to step into. Mary Oliver asking me about my plans for this one wild and precious life, Oriah Mountain Dreamer wanting to know what I a... posted on Oct 26 2012 (13,337 reads)

I really need to learn I can learn from children. I can learn from the wonder with which they see the world, from their ability to live completely in any given moment, from the way they can both laugh and cry freely, from their unconditional love, trust and belief. I often wonder why and how and when we lose those things that we know to be natural and right when we are children. Most of what I have learned about greed, and its opposite charity, I have learned from the children in my life. In the early days of Akanksha, I remember organizing a party for our children at a club. There was much excitement around the games, balloons, chips and ice-cream. I remember noticing that P... posted on Dec 16 2012 (21,089 reads)

work directly for shamefully overdue policy changes that might not end gun violence, but could certainly curb it.  Nor am I wealthy so I can’t help pay for the 26 funerals for those whom we lost on the cold New England morning that will forever be etched in our memories. But what I could do was pray.  And while praying I felt deep in my spirit a call to spiritual activism.  I felt a call to fast.  So, I am fasting for the next 27 days.  One day for each life lost in Newtown – including the gunman’s.   Fasting has been a part of my spiritual life for some time, but it was always impressed upon me to never tell others when I ... posted on Dec 17 2012 (13,418 reads)

with the onset of severe seizures, was diagnosed with both autism and epilepsy. I coordinate Anand’s care for my family, building relationships with his doctors and educators. I try to help increase my family’s understanding of Anand’s condition. I haven’t yet missed an appointment or teacher conference, even if I can only call in on the phone. Being Anand’s older sister has involved moments big and small and has been the most formative relationship of my life. I believe big moments in life are the ones that grab us awake, the ones that force us to stand up for what we believe in, to deliver precisely when the stakes are high and many are counting on u... posted on Jan 2 2013 (24,291 reads)

waiting for? You should be thinking about it as you're making choices for colleges or your career path. I personally didn’t realize the importance of reflecting on my legacy until I had children and realized that I needed to do something to make this world a better place for them to live. The sooner you realize your goals, the more time you have to make them happen. Find something to strive for and begin to plan ways to make it happen. Without purpose life feels meaningless and tasks feel daunting. Find the things that you are passionate about, and dive into how you can create a legacy while doing what you love. *My work is a part of... posted on Jan 16 2013 (37,120 reads)

show each other the way out at San Francisco’s Delancey Street. In early May 1995, Margie Lewis sat on a bench at the Delancey Street Foundation, a residential education center for addicts and ex-convicts in San Francisco, awaiting intake. Until that moment, her life had been defined by institutions—teenage years in the California Youth Authority and long stays in jail as an adult. Enrollment in the program was her last chance—her only alternative to the life sentence that would otherwise be mandated by the state’s new “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law. Lewis was filled with optimism. At Delancey, she saw no paid professional social wo... posted on May 24 2013 (11,401 reads)

there is a defining conceit at the heart of the way so many of us think about leadership, it is that of the no-nonsense, hard-charging, often-wrong-but-never-in-doubt boss who enjoys the glories (and bears the burdens) of success all alone. That’s what makes executive life (in theory) so glamorous: Who isn’t eager to match wits with brilliant rivals and stay one step ahead of a complex world? Of course, that’s also what makes executive life (in reality) so exhausting: What happens when rivals come at you from more directions than ever, when markets change faster than ever, when problems loom larger than ever? As a business culture, we’ve made the lure of exe... posted on Jun 17 2013 (26,085 reads)

posts): "To be hopeful means to be uncertain about the future, to be tender toward possibilities, to be dedicated to change all the way down to the bottom of your heart." Mark Karlin: What drew you to writing a book that shows how "extraordinary communities" can "arise in disaster?" Rebecca Solnit: A disaster. In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the Bay Area, and I was amazed by my own response - to never think again about the person who was making my life difficult and think instead about the people and place I loved - and everyone else's. For years after, I noticed how many people looked happy when they told their earthquake stories (and duri... posted on Jun 24 2013 (14,711 reads)

backgrounds, and that fascinated me. And then ultimately what fascinated me was the sameness of us all. You know, we would go to a bar in Amarillo, Texas and tell stories, and there was a sense of familiarity about this. And the connections, that these are, you know, my brothers and sisters, that we look at the world and we experience the world in similar ways, even though it may seem that we do not. I never knew that Africa was going to be so important in my life. And then, the big thing in my life happened, and that was that after I got my Master’s I wanted to take a break, as many people do. Eastern Africa was just receiving its independ... posted on Jun 25 2013 (13,641 reads)

for example, has been nicknamed the “love hormone” for its role in bonding people with each other.  But what’s less well known is that oxytocin plays a role in excluding others from that bond. One 2011 study found that Dutch students dosed with oxytocin were “more likely to favor Dutch people or things associated with the Dutch than when they had taken a placebo.” Furthermore, they were more likely to say “they would sacrifice the life of a non-Dutch person over a Dutch person in order to save five other people of unknown nationality.” We can just as well call oxytocin the “patriotism hormone”! This is only... posted on Jul 4 2013 (20,047 reads)