Rebecca Solnit: Falling Together
Rebecca Solnit, author and contributing editor of Harper's, seeks "to describe nuances and shades of meaning, to celebrate public life and solitary life...to find another way of telling." Her profound books defy category as she chronicles untold histories of redemptive change in places like post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans because, "when all the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, peopl... posted on Jun 25 2016, 11,047 reads

The Chicken Lady
An article in a local newspaper spurred Amy Murphy to ask a local fried chicken restaurant if she could have their leftovers at the end of the night. With the help of friends, the Chicken Lady sets up the equivalent of a pop-up restaurant every Monday to serve her homeless friends. Murphy does not consider what she does "feeding the homeless," rather, it is serving friends. They are part of the sa... posted on Jun 24 2016, 4,796 reads

50 Years Ago She Did Something No Woman Ever Had
Fifty years ago, Bobbi Gibb applied to run the Boston Marathon and was informed that, "Women are not physiologically able to run a marathon." So she decided to enter anonymously and ended up being the first woman to finish it. "In those days, if you were a woman and you were lucky enough to go to college [Gibb attended Tufts University School of Special Studies], you were expected to get engaged y... posted on Jun 23 2016, 25,474 reads

On Art & Mindfulness
"The qualities that distinguish great art from the rest are, directly or indirectly, related to ethics. At the heart of great art you will find love and compassion. A great work of art cannot come from hatred or cynicism." What is it that makes some works of art stay alive long past the time in which they were made? Artist Enrique Martinez Celaya shares some powerful reflections.... posted on Jun 22 2016, 4,372 reads

Your Brain is Not a Computer
"The validity of the metaphor that our brain is like a computer is generally assumed without question. But it is, after all, just another story we tell to make sense of something we don't actually understand. And like all the metaphors that preceded it, it will certainly be cast aside at some point -- either replaced by another metaphor or, in the end, replaced by actual knowledge." Read on to see... posted on Jun 21 2016, 10,186 reads

How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers . He shares more here, in one of the most popular TED talks of all time.... posted on Jun 20 2016, 23,585 reads

Does Forgiveness Make Kids Happier?
Parents of young children may find themselves constantly trying to teach their kids to apologize for their mistakes. In the process a key area of development that tends to get overlooked is the art of forgiveness. In this helpful article from the Greater Good Science Center, author Sarah Wheeler offers up tips that can assist in teaching children how to forgive, and be the happier for it.... posted on Jun 19 2016, 17,671 reads

Housecalls for the Homebound
When Dr. Samuel Lupin's critically-ill daughter passed away he was understandably devastated. Then he channeled his grief into serving other patients who, like his late daughter, were fragile and housebound. ""Because of her, I got involved in this," he says. "You sort of feel like, these are my patients, this is my extended family, and they need me much more than patients in an office." Little di... posted on Jun 18 2016, 36,185 reads

The Hour of Land
Effigy Mounds National Monument is a quiet space of contemplation in the northeast corner of Iowa, containing 207 mounds, 56 of them effigies in the shape of animals. They are among the tens of thousands of earth mounds that once dotted the Midwest, made by the people who lived here in the Upper Mississippi Valley, ancestors to today's Ho-Chunk people, also known as the Winnebago. To visit any gr... posted on Jun 17 2016, 8,645 reads

The Lady in Number Six
Alice Herz-Sommer was known for her grace and wisdom. The 109-year-old, [who passed away in 2014] was the oldest living pianist and Holocaust survivor, and undoubtedly one of the most inspirational people in the world. "Despite everything she's been through, Herz-Sommer insists that she's never hated the Nazis and never will. "I have lived through many wars and have lost everything many times -- i... posted on Jun 16 2016, 20,582 reads