Kindness In An Age of Connected Disconnection
Years ago, we didn't have to try so hard to stay connected. People lived in neighborhoods, and there weren't many strangers that didn't ultimately become friends. We watched over one another with relationships built upon a foundation of shared interdependence, ensuring plenty of kindness to go around. Sadly though, through our own scientific progress, we now live in an age of 'connected disconnect... posted on Aug 27 2014, 30,166 reads

Because I Said I Would
Alex Sheen keeps his promises. One year after his friend Charlie Cordell killed Vincent Canzani while drinking and driving, Alex stood outside of a busy bar with a sign telling those leaving that he was ready to drive them home that night and even take them back to their cars in the morning. And he did it for free, because he had a promise to keep. When someone snuck him a tip, he donated it to "M... posted on Aug 26 2014, 7,905 reads

What 'Home' Means To The Homeless
Willie Baronet took a 30-day cross-country road trip from Seattle to New York, buying homeless signs and exploring the meaning of "home." What began as a way to deal with the discomfort he felt when seeing the homeless has now morphed into an art campaign called "We Are All Homeless" which seeks to create a more conscious and compassionate society. Willie shares: "These signs -- and this practice ... posted on Aug 25 2014, 31,870 reads

Balancing The Brain And The Power of Choice
Where do the left brain and right brain meet, and what purposes do they each have to serve? Tami Simon of Insights at the Edge interviews Harvard-trained neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, who in 1996 experienced a severe brain hemorrhage that shut down her left brain and its constituent centers of language, movement and memory. Dr. Jill shares her reflections on this experience and its implica... posted on Aug 24 2014, 35,917 reads

Casa De Paz: Oakland's House of Peace
36th Avenue in the Fruitvale district of East Oakland, California, is the turf of three major gangs. Yet the residents of Casa de Paz never lock their doors. Anchored by Pancho Ramos Stierle and Adelaja Simon, Casa de Paz is part of a group of several homes that form an intentional community of peace and nonviolence in an area rife with structural and physical violence. In order to serve their com... posted on Aug 23 2014, 4,085 reads

James Doty's Helper's High
Happiness comes from a having a purpose, or at least, that is what James Doty's life exemplifies. Founder of a compassion research center at Stanford University, or CCARE, Doty gave up a billion dollar company and has dedicated his life to not only serving others, but creating the high-level research that suggests that happiness is found in what we give, not in what we get. An atheist, his finding... posted on Aug 22 2014, 24,251 reads

This Is Your Brain On Food
Should the Hippocratic maxim "Let food be thy medicine" apply to mental health care? According to recent research on the effect of diet and nutrition on the health of the brain, the answer may be, "Absolutely!" After more than half a century of depending primarily on prescription drugs for relief, the medical and psychiatric community is rediscovering the numerous connections between food and ment... posted on Aug 21 2014, 52,709 reads

Songwriting With Soldiers
A chance meeting with a soldier after performing in a hospital in Germany inspired songwriter Darden Smith to work with members of the military to turn their stories into music. Smith now runs Songwriting With:Soldiers, a non-profit organization which pairs veterans and troops with professional songwriters in a peaceful environment. The service members share their stories and the songwriters mold ... posted on Aug 20 2014, 14,912 reads

The Power of Hobbies
When thinking of ways to create a better and healthier lifestyle, oftentimes people tend to think in terms of cutting back on certain choices, be it eating desserts, drinking alcohol, or perhaps just sitting on the couch watching TV. But one area in life that has been almost cut out entirely is something that actually should have never been cast aside --having a hobby. Not only is it a fulfilling,... posted on Aug 19 2014, 28,211 reads

How We Grieve: Learning To Live With Loss
John Updike wrote in his memoir, "Each day, we wake slightly altered, and the person we were yesterday is dead. So why, one could say, be afraid of death, when death comes all the time?" And yet even if we were to somehow make peace with our own mortality, a primal fear rips through whenever we think about losing those we love most dearly -- a fear that metastasizes into all-consuming grief when l... posted on Aug 18 2014, 47,439 reads