Is Artistic Inspiration Contagious?
When you hear the word contagious, most people assume it applies to catching the flu or a cold from someone. But researchers are now finally testing to see if there is some contagious inspiration between reading and writing that would ultimately show "the power of the written word as a vehicle for sharing the peaks of human experience." ... posted on Aug 24 2016, 8,098 reads

Living Gandhi's Message In Inner City Oakland
Francisco ("Pancho") Ramos-Stierle's life changed abruptly when he learned that the university where he was pursuing his PhD was working with an outside laboratory to develop next generation nuclear weapons. At that time, he refocused his life on service and activism. He explains, "I began to evolve my definition of success. It wasn't just about me getting to do what I wanted to do; it was finding... posted on Aug 23 2016, 17,303 reads

How Do You Heal From Sorrow Beyond Compare?
In the beautiful woods of Newtown, Connecticut, a new elementary school is about to open. Pleasing to the eye and soul, this new school replaces the Sandy Hook Elementary School in which, on December 14, 2012, twenty young children and six adults were shot and killed by a lone gunman. Not long after the shootings, the town decided to raze the old school and to build a new one on its site. In this ... posted on Aug 22 2016, 17,189 reads

How a Yellow Car Saved Me
When a little yellow car drove into Toni Powells life, she had no idea how much it would alter her ability to handle stress and worry. This funny true story tells of a moment of epiphany in a suburban street and offers a memorable tool that anyone can use to help make their life calmer.... posted on Aug 21 2016, 6,317 reads

10 Tips for Effective Communication
In this article, Liz Kingsnorth explores the ways we can improve our relationships with others at home, at work and with friends, by improving the way we communicate. Kingsnorth offers ten tips to keep in mind to communicate non-violently when engaging with the world, which include simple actionable steps like listening more than speaking, to more complex ideas exploring empathy and non-verbal co... posted on Aug 20 2016, 177,711 reads

When the Boss Flunked
"Bob stood up and read his evaluation out loud. It was not pretty. There were lots of problems and weaknesses that his team had identified. He had basically flunked. As the 100 top leaders sat there, listening to Bob read his report, the place was absolutely quiet." This article shares the riveting story of what happened when the leader of a successful company failed his 360 degree evaluation. It ... posted on Aug 19 2016, 15,076 reads

The Art of Making the Mundane Magical
"In 5th grade I had a very difficult year. Many things happened, and they kind of happened all at once. My mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. And my beloved 5th grade teacher had passed away unexpectedly I felt like I had lost a group of friends I was with. All these different events happened and it was the first time I felt really alone in the world. It was a really difficult time but I r... posted on Aug 18 2016, 14,293 reads

Robin Wall Kimmerer: The Grammar of Animacy
"Puhpowee...translates as 'the force which causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight.' As a biologist, [Robin Kimmerer] was stunned that such a word existed. In all its technical vocabulary, Western science has no such term, no words to hold this mystery. You'd think that biologists, of all people, would have words for life. But in scientific language our terminology is used to define t... posted on Aug 17 2016, 11,216 reads

All Life is Sacred: A Conversation with John Malloy
"By the time John Malloy was seventeen, he had moved forty-four times. In his young life as a rolling stone, Malloy learned to rely on himself. Whatever allies and friends he might have begun to cultivate in one place were always torn away by his constant displacement. In schools in New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Oakland, as the new kid, he learned to fight. Every day was a trial. W... posted on Aug 16 2016, 16,232 reads

Can Science Help You Become Wise?
As science continues to make amazing inroads into just about everything, like the Hubble telescope and the Human Genome Project, there is one thing that science is just starting to scratch the surface of: wisdom. Enjoy this fascinating interview with Krista Tippett, author of the book, "Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living," on the developing evolution of wisdom.... posted on Aug 15 2016, 12,185 reads