The Beautiful Fragility of Language
"I remember my first day of school with such clarity that it might as well have happened last week. I was five, and I was starting in the local kindergarten, along with all the other kids my age. Except for one difference: I didn't speak a word of English. Not a one. The only thing I knew how to do was write my own name-- M-A-R-I-A -- so that I could recognize it if the need arose. I practiced it ... posted on Feb 17 2013, 24,623 reads

Music As A Three-Dimensional Experience
The music program at St. Paul's Episcopal School in Oakland, California opened my eyes. It happened at a student concert and was a subtle thing, hard to put in words. It all comes to light in our interview with Melanie DeMore who was a key part of their program for 21 years. "I think that whenever you go to a concert, whatever it is, the people should leave feeling way bigger than when they came i... posted on Feb 16 2013, 3,850 reads

Rebranding Valentine's Day
"I never thought I would create a day. And yet, two years ago, with a few friends, I did. It all started back in 2008 on a cold December evening like any other. I was in the New York City subway rushing home. A man I'd seen many times on the train was asking for money to help the homeless. He had a warm smile and an open demeanor, and was wearing a hat that said he was a Vietnam vet. Like everyone... posted on Feb 14 2013, 19,540 reads

There's More to Life Than Being Happy
"In 1991, the Library of Congress and Book-of-the-Month Club listed Man's Search for Meaning as one of the 10 most influential books in the United States. It has sold millions of copies worldwide. Now, over twenty years later, the book's ethos -- its emphasis on meaning, the value of suffering, and responsibility to something greater than the self -- seems to be at odds with our culture, which is ... posted on Feb 12 2013, 34,931 reads

The Gift That Matters
"From a very young age, my oldest daughter has been a gift giver. Like most children, her offerings consisted of items that adults wouldn't ordinarily classify as gifts. Broken seashells, traumatized frogs, dying weeds, and misshapen rocks were often presented in small, dirt-laden hands beneath a wide smile. In the past two years my child's gift giving practices have moved up a notch. Gifts are no... posted on Feb 09 2013, 26,245 reads

The Gift That Matters
"From a very young age, my oldest daughter has been a gift giver. Like most children, her offerings consisted of items that adults wouldn't ordinarily classify as gifts. Broken seashells, traumatized frogs, dying weeds, and misshapen rocks were often presented in small, dirt-laden hands beneath a wide smile. In the past two years my child's gift giving practices have moved up a notch. Gifts are no... posted on Feb 08 2013, 0 reads

A Taste For Life: Adam Campbell
Every now and then, if you're lucky, you run across someone like Adam Campbell. In this interview he shares one key insight after another. "If you think about a city, almost every single thing that you see is artificial. It's created in the minds of men and women and is a projection of our own ideas. And there is a great paucity of imagination there. Everything is in straight lines. Everything has... posted on Feb 02 2013, 5,164 reads

The Legacy of Baghcheban
"One day three deaf boys were brought to the school. No one in all of Iran in all of its history had ever thought of educating a deaf person. Everyone believed the deaf to be uneducable; they were treated as imbeciles. But Baghcheban could not ignore these three children. He tried to make them laugh, to reach them, to connect. He went to sleep that night haunted by the confusion and loneliness he ... posted on Feb 01 2013, 13,266 reads

The Wisdom Of Forgetting What You Know
We are so afraid to let go, to just be, to allow the unfolding of this marvelous life without getting in the way. This fear keeps us paralyzed and stuck. And longing for the peace that is possible -- if only we would put down all the efforts we make to know. There is no greater gift you can give yourself than the invitation to enter the world of not knowing. Why? If you are always going to know wh... posted on Jan 29 2013, 31,195 reads

The Wisdom of Babies
"For years I worked with families who were very abusive to their children. Over time, I came to realize that all of the suffering that the children collected -- whether it was domestic violence or child abuse or neglect -- was a result of the absence of empathy in the parent. I saw that if you haven't experienced love, it's very difficult to know how to love. So what can we do to break this cycle ... posted on Jan 26 2013, 40,044 reads