Going To School With Her Great-Great-Granchildren
Ninety-year-old Priscilla Sitienei is believed to be the oldest primary school student in the world. As an active midwife in Kenya, Priscilla helped deliver many of her primary-school classmates, including six of her great-grand children who are in her class. Community members and students affectionately call Priscilla "Gogo," which means grandmother in the local Kalenjin language. To them, Gogo i... posted on Mar 07 2015, 5,216 reads

Why We Love Music
What is our fascination with music? And, why is it that it sometimes invokes such a deeply emotional response? Scientists have been pondering this question for years, and now -- with fMRI technology they are able to visualize the brain's musical connection. "Music affects deep emotional centers in the brain," shares neuroscientist, Valorie Salimpoor. "It's very powerful." How powerful? In one stu... posted on Mar 06 2015, 30,754 reads

Creating Welcoming Space
Marilyn Lacey, founder and executive director of Mercy Beyond Borders, invites us to consider the power of creating welcoming space for others, even those we consider strangers or enemies. Marilyn explains that hospitality "entails creating not just physical room but emotional spaciousness where the stranger can enter and be himself or herself, where the stranger can become ally instead of threat,... posted on Mar 05 2015, 16,287 reads

No Regrets: Living With Dying
Patti Pansa knew the common regrets of the dying, and with stage-four metastasized breast cancer, she wanted to live her last days without them. "Between radiation treatments, spinal surgery, and a bucket list trip to Alaska, Patti wrote essays, talked with anyone who would listen, dreamed and created...Patti spent the last five months of her life celebrating, sharing, creating, loving, and living... posted on Mar 04 2015, 49,555 reads

Touch as a Form of Nutrition
Is it any coincidence that when a friend or loved one does something nice for us, we feel "touched"? As John Tuite, founder of The Centre for Embodied Wisdom, tells us, "We mistakenly think that touch occurs on the periphery of our self, a skin thing." But as he shares, touch is a crucial piece of our health and development, and one we all too often go without as we get older.... posted on Mar 03 2015, 0 reads

Empathy With The Enemy
"If empathy is truly to take its place as a central value in contemporary culture," says author Roman Krznaric, "we need to put it to the test in the most difficult situations...We must extend our empathetic imaginations not just to the dispossesed or disadvantaged, but also to those whose views and actions we might oppose or disdain...That is how empathy can become both a moral guide and a basis ... posted on Mar 02 2015, 24,641 reads

Bhutan's Living Laboratory For Education
"Camp Rural-Urban Friendship is really a living laboratory for trying something different in education, just as Bhutan, with its philosophy of Gross National Happiness, is a living laboratory for trying something different with development." When youth from urban and rural areas of Bhutan united with visionary volunteers at Camp RUF this past summer, co-created sparks began fly. Volunteer Tim Huan... posted on Mar 01 2015, 3,673 reads

Feeding Thousands In Singapore
In this corner of South East Asia, a diverse group of people from different backgrounds in nationalities and professions work together to put food on the table for those who are in need. This 100% volunteer-run organization not only cooks up 3000 appetizing meals daily but also arranges tuition payments for school children and bereavement services regardless of race or creed. ... posted on Feb 28 2015, 3,035 reads

A Classroom With Love At The Center
Peggy Sia has some remarkable fifth grade moments. "One morning, as we were discussing the meaning of resilience, a student recalled something his coach said to the team during a practice. The things one chooses to do that others will not do today, will enable one to do the things that others cannot do tomorrow. Such powerful words coming from that of a 10-year-old." Every day, they move her to ri... posted on Feb 27 2015, 19,641 reads

Ecosophy: Nature's Guide to a Better World
The perfect storm of crises we now face may well prove to be the challenge that drives us into our greatest evolutionary leap. Ecology cannot be made subservient to economy if we want to continue our life on Earth as a healthy, embedded global human society. In this thought-provoking article, evolution biologist Elisabet Sahtouris explores the way of Ecosophy - "the human household in which econom... posted on Feb 26 2015, 22,691 reads