which is fight or flight, and the impulse towards tribalism. We see those dynamics at work in our workplaces, and geopolitically. This is this human struggle. DR. DOTY: And we’re seeing it playing out right now in the political arena. We’re seeing it playing out in different parts of the world. And this is — my own belief is that it is an understanding of this reality that is ultimately going to define whether our species survives or not. The problem is that, by the nature of the baggage that we were just talking about, we are oftentimes easily put into a position of being fearful, because when we’re fearful, what happens? We have a tendency to shut down, w... posted on Apr 17 2016 (31,507 reads)

engineering won't get us there. It will have to be inner transformation. Sure, innovations like AI may augment our labor, and even our creative activity, but no robot will ever be responsible for the resurgence of virtue. Making virtue go viral is an unassailable human responsibility. It will always be an inside job. By taking on these challenges, make no mistake, you will be swimming against society’s current. But you’ll also be in flow with the deepest laws of nature. Now I know commencement speakers are typically supposed to inspire you to make a splash in the world, be somebody, do something big and important. But this isn't a typical university, a... posted on May 31 2016 (49,358 reads)

hand of a rock star like Iggy Pop, or experiencing the sacred during meditation or prayer. More frequently, though, people report feeling awe in response to more mundane things: when seeing the leaves of a Gingko tree change from green to yellow, in beholding the night sky when camping near a river, in seeing a stranger give their food to a homeless person, in seeing their child laugh just like their brother. My colleague Jonathan Haidt and I have arguedthat awe is elicited especially by nature, art, and impressive individuals or feats, including acts of great skill or virtue. A new science is now asking “Why awe?” This is a question we can approach in two ways. First w... posted on Jun 2 2016 (16,984 reads)

human tendency to focus on the bad, threatening, dangerous things in life. It specifically activates the fear and despair we’d feel if our child died, even if we don’t yet have one of our own. We’re really good at focusing the spotlight of our attention on what might hurt us—or hurt those close to us, especially our children. What happens in our bodies when we throw the spotlight on a threat? We get stressed out. And what’s stress? That’s a tool nature gave us to survive lion attacks—in other words, stress mobilizes our body’s resources to survive an immediate physical threat. Adrenaline pumps and our bodies release the hormone co... posted on Jun 9 2016 (19,552 reads)

story is about the creation of a song.  Its title is Earth on Fire, Hearts on Ice.  The song was born out of anguish and anger about our despoiling of the natural world. In the end it had become a prayer. I am hopeful by nature.  But I needed to get some things off my chest, things weighing heavy on my heart.    And it has been a healing balm to make this song.  I imagine it must have felt this way to black slaves releasing their sorry in their soulful gospel. In the process of writing this song I was made to look deeply into the nature of optimism in the face of dire facts.   Is optimism naïve, simplistic? &nb... posted on Jun 12 2016 (14,270 reads)

to awe-cultivation. It may have worked in an era when workers clocked in the necessary hours in order to live life after work. But in an age of evolving consciousness and where change, uncertainty and competition are the norm, we’re overworked, unhappy, and disengaged. Somewhere on the journey to progress, we seem to have lost our soul. Why Awe May Be the Answer Awe jars us out of our usual way of seeing things. But instead of making us resist change, it opens us up to the passing nature of life and to our integral, albeit tiny place in a much larger whole. We see our fragility and vulnerability, which gives us a profound sense of humility. But we also appreciate the vastness o... posted on Jul 23 2016 (13,568 reads)

to the famous assertion that “fiction is the lie that tells the truth,” the novel [Virginia Woolfe's Orlando: A Biography ] has stood the test of time not only as an immensely pleasurable work of art, which Vita’s son aptly described as “the longest and most charming love letter in literature,” but as a ceaseless wellspring of truth and wisdom on such elemental existential concerns as the elasticity of time, the nature of memory, the fluidity of gender, the enlivening power of illusion, and our propensity for self-doubt in creative work. It is the rare kind of book which, once read, accompanies... posted on Oct 30 2016 (7,772 reads)

India. Dayamani believes that displacement of indigenous communities in Jharkhand is akin to cultural annihilation and has advocated for sustainable development models that integrate indigenous worldviews and knowledge systems. “Our perspective is to make livelihoods as the basis of indigenous people’s culture. This is to sculpt a new model of development, which has a scientific thinking like the indigenous lifestyle and the technology should work in harmony and cooperation with nature. The thinking should not be just to take away from nature,” she notes. Women and girls are much more vulnerable to disasters than men are.  The aftermath of Nepal’s ... posted on Nov 15 2016 (17,215 reads)

where we’re wrong. Drive is something that can be encouraged by a wonderful teacher, by a terrific classroom environment, by an awesome soccer team that you are on, and it can be squashed as well. Knowledge@Wharton: Several people talk about grit being something that you have. You may even be born with it. But you say in your book that this is something that also can be learned. Duckworth: The “also” is crucial. People have always been asking, “Is it nature or nurture?” Are you born with it or do you develop it? The answer is, “Absolutely both.” It would be naive to discount the role of genes. But there’s also an enormous r... posted on Nov 26 2016 (15,178 reads)

and all you did was hug him and kiss him, and you had an half hour conversation about what it was all about?”   She said, “You know there are so many guests at our house right now, and my son has this habit of spending some time with me, but because of the guests, I am not able to give him so much time. So he is just angry, and he is using his anger to grab my attention. So I can choose to respond him with a slap, or I can choose to understand what is at the core of his nature— what is it that is at the core of his problem— and how can I handle that?” That was a huge learning. Not only that child but from then onwards, whenever I would see anothe... posted on Jan 6 2017 (18,706 reads)

senior citizens needing assistance could reduce signs of ageing, maybe we all would develop patience and kindness. Looking good has become so important to us that it could inspire us to take steps that we usually would not consider. Maybe if we lived our lives the way Dahl suggests we would be very different people. I wonder how radically different our priorities, decisions and personalities would be in a world where doing good is rewarded so visibly and tangibly that it becomes second nature. Often I look in the mirror and wonder if I can confidently say my inner self is better than my reflection. Am I almost at a point where I do not have to look at it to check myself for an... posted on Jan 28 2017 (24,522 reads)

I immediately got angry and upset. I wasn't using the pause to my best benefit. I was angry, holding a grudge, not practicing forgiveness. When you sit with that all the time, there's not one iota for that other person. You are not getting back at them, you are not doing anything. All you are doing it hurting yourself. When you can practice forgiveness, when you can have gratitude for your circumstance, you no longer cling or have attachment. All these things allow you to see the true nature of reality. When you have the true nature of reality, one, you are present and two, you cannot do anything but love. At at the end, it is our capacity to love that is most important. ... posted on Feb 1 2017 (12,056 reads)

principle? JT:  Yes. Very much so. Which brings things around to an epistemological, scientific area where we want to disbelieve something unless it's proven. It almost gets to the point where it has a lot to do with what we want to prove. I mean, we're a part of this experiment. We enter into it in ways that can't be denied. This can be troubling and it troubles a lot of scientists, but I think it also is affirming of the fact that we're not apart from nature. In fact, that's one of our greatest conceits, to even think that we're somehow apart from nature. RW:  Yes. And I think this speaks to something you've spent maybe 30 years... posted on Mar 26 2017 (15,045 reads)

you are in Los Angeles, join Interconnected Strategy Meetup group to exchange marketing ideas with other entrepreneurs and community-building visionaries, especially if you are interested in social enterprise. Our first meeting is on February 28 in Culver City. Pranidhi Varshney founded Yoga Shala West to move away from the transactional and image-driven nature of contemporary yoga, opting instead for an alternative fee structure and community-based social enterprise model. We talked about her journey, and what it takes to build a social enterprise based on inclusiveness rather than just profit. Pranidhi writes regularly, has released an album of Sans... posted on Apr 21 2017 (9,971 reads)

like every chakra was opened. From that moment on, the fear and anxiety was replaced with peace and I felt great love towards everyone involved in this frightening situation. So I know it was happening at the universal life force energy. Is there any other explanation that you might have for what happened? Phil: It sounds wonderful. I think you've explained it very well. A couple things come to mind -- you surrendered, you didn't try to fight the symptoms. You connected yourself to nature in a very spiritual way in the backyard, looking up at the sky and you had faith that you could be answered. I think that probably helped a lot, don't you? Mish: Yeah, I just felt we can... posted on Apr 25 2017 (16,935 reads)

can also be deceiving So I encourage you all to practice just being Be still, be happy, be loving, be kind Be humble, be magical, be aware, but be blind Don’t judge, see the good in each and every soul Use your mind when needed, but follow your heart even more Also, don’t forget to thank God, every time you fail, Cuz your journey from failure, will be your legacy and tale Remember to feed birds, hug trees and bow to the sun Until you and mother nature are one The last thing, is to be grateful for all your gifts For gratitude and suffering cannot  co-exist When you reach this space, every moment will be bliss And this gra... posted on May 4 2017 (27,224 reads)

three decades of being engrossed in the craft details of storytelling there is a substantial array of discoveries, dilemmas and unsolved questions clamouring for attention. At the centre of this apparent jumble is a core question: What is the swadharma [a Sanskrit word that loosely translates to duty or unique role accorded to one by nature] of a storyteller in the larger quest for change today? An assortment of dilemmas and sub-questions spin off from this central point. How to be a storyteller without getting embroiled in argumentation? How important is it to sift insight from ideology? What is the most empathic way to link seemingly disparate realities? An inv... posted on May 10 2017 (7,224 reads)

Burdick is a staff writer and former senior editor at The New Yorker whose first book, Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion, was a National Book Award finalist and won the Overseas Press Club award for environmental reporting. His most recent book, Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation, chronicles his quest to understand the nature of lived time. He recently joined Douglas Rushkoff, media theorist and author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, for a conversation on what we miss about the nature of time when we only think about it as a number. This conversation has been edited and condensed. To view the full... posted on May 23 2017 (18,007 reads)

evidence is overwhelming, it is irrefutable.  Sleep is the single most effective thing you can do to reset your brain and body health each and every day,” -- Matt Walker, Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory. Calling the global sleep-loss epidemic “the greatest public health challenge we now face in the 21st century,” Walker examines the impact of sleep on human brain function in healthy and clinical populations.  Through his work at UC Berkeley, he has been at the forefront of sleep research. He has linked sleep deprivation to psychiatric ... posted on May 31 2017 (58,890 reads)

wisdom. Charlie: That's an important matter. On the surface I was being groomed in a very, how shall I say, rationalistic, and intellectual environment. And I distinguished between the cultivation of wisdom, and the cultivation of analytic skill and cognitive intelligence. My early years were definitely on the analytic, cognitive side. When I look back and think, well what was planting the seeds of an impulse to do inner work? a couple of things come to mind. One was my experience in nature. I went to a summer camp in northern Ontario for a number of my formative teenage years, and it was there that I got into the practice of taking fairly extensive canoe trips. And what I found w... posted on Jul 13 2017 (6,630 reads)