Gandhian on Wheels
Catch a rickshaw on the streets of Ahmedabad, and you might be lucky enough to encounter the smiling face of Udaybhai. Enter his vehicle and you are invited to browse an array of books and newspapers. An mp3 player offers a selection of songs, and if you're hungry, you can help yourself to some tasty snacks. On top of all this, your trip has already been paid for by grateful travelers who came bef... posted on Dec 22, 2599 reads

His Life's Calling is To Die Well
Jim Stanicki is at a party, where he's having a great time with his family and friends. But when it's time to go, he says he has to go, and his intention is to go well. Stanicki says it is his life that is the party. After being diagnosed with bronchoalveolar cancer almost four years ago, he has shared the highs and lows of his journey with friends online through Inspire.com, a health and wellness... posted on Feb 2, 3606 reads

Dance Class Helps Parkinson's Patients
An unusual dance class takes place in Kirkland: one taught by professional dancers and offered free of charge for people with Parkinson's disease and their caregivers. It's one of a small but growing number of such classes worldwide. At this dance class, the students walk in slowly, some rigidly or with a bit of a tremor. They take their places, not at a ballet barre or on the dance floor, but sit... posted on Jan 18, 3050 reads

Squeeze Out Your Creative Juices
John Cleese, a humorous and wise personality, discusses how to unleash the creativity that every individual possesses. Among his witty and insightful points include shifting activities when we get stuck, staying clear of distractions, and carving out space and time away from the daily to-do list to just explore. Ultimately, he notes, tapping into our unconscious mind may be the key to unraveling i... posted on Mar 10, 7162 reads

8 Weeks to a Better Brain
A pause in a busy day, meditation can be like the eye of a storm. For centuries, there's been no logic to it. Yet more and more, researchers are beginning to map its effects on the brain. In a recent study, a team led by Harvard-affiliated researchers become the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's gray matter. Their conclusion? Participating in an eight-week mind... posted on Mar 7, 13039 reads

Solar Power Keeps Animals Comfy
The streetlights blink on. A warm glow wafts through the kitchen windows, infusing the friendly night air. It's evening at the Prince of Wales Zoological Garden, the first solar-powered zoo in India. Inspired by the 'sky's the limit' philosophy of Zoo Director Renu Singh, the entire zoo infrastructure--from electricity to water systems to even zoo vehicles and wheelchairs--is run completely on eco... posted on Apr 2, 3301 reads

Go Easy on Yourself, New Research Says
Do you treat yourself as well as you treat your friends and family? That simple question is the basis for a burgeoning new area of psychological research that looks at how kindly people view themselves. New research suggests that giving ourselves a break and accepting our imperfections may be the first step towards better health. Those who score high on tests of self-compassion have less depressio... posted on Mar 26, 6299 reads

Football and Meditation with Running Back, Ricky Williams
Picture one of the NFL's most spellbinding figures sitting serenely in a room, meditating. Every Wednesday, Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams leads an open meditation session in a quiet college classroom where he's working on his degree. Williams meditates every morning, before practices, and before he heads into the stadium on game day. "For me, [meditation] is like food. It's spiritual ... posted on Mar 18, 2913 reads

Thank You for Doing the Most Important Job
While sitting on the bus one day, I took a book out and was about to read. But I was distracted by a young woman behind me who was speaking on her cell phone. She was talking to her brother. She wanted to know where he was, why he wasn't where he was supposed to be, why he had lied to their mother again and did he know that their mum had broken down in tears that morning because of him. I never lo... posted on Mar 28, 4426 reads

Our Mentors Are Where We Are
Have you ever heard the phrase, "Wherever you go, there you are"? The same could be said for our mentors. Shannon Cutts spoke to a crowd of several hundred students at Truman State University about body image and eating disorders. The truth she shared with students is that most of us simply don't have time to stop and analyze all of the messages that come at us each day. Most of us don't even have... posted on Apr 16, 4625 reads

I Wish This Was ...
At first glance, it looks like someone plastered "Hello, My Name is" name tags all over the city. Take a step closer, and the tag reads, "I Wish This Was..." A public installation artist, designer, and urban planner, Candy Chang likes to make cities more comfortable for people. She came up with the project, ideal for its super low barrier of entry, to allow her fellow citizens to express their ide... posted on Apr 25, 3781 reads

Sidewalks: The Way They See It
Every Tuesday volunteers serve more than 100 Chicago homeless people with food from fine dining restuarants -- all with dignity and grace. Here they are not faceless and referred to as "Guests," and sometimes even as "Artists:" for the last eight years, some of them have received inexpensive disposable cameras and have gone about the adventure of capturing their lives. This work culminates with a ... posted on Jul 31, 3577 reads

5 Powerful Tools for Reflection
"Reflection is actually one of the secrets to my success. At least once a day, and more often several times a day, I reflect on my day, on my life, on what I've been doing right, and what isn't working. I reflect on every aspect of my life, and from this habit of reflection, I am able to continuously improve. Reflection is what gave me the topic of this post, and the tips that are to follow. Refle... posted on May 8, 21990 reads

How Aging is Changing
"The job of any doctor, Bludau later told me, is to support quality of life, by which he meant two things: as much freedom from the ravages of disease as possible, and the retention of enough function for active engagement in the world. Most doctors treat disease, and figure that the rest will take care of itself." In this in-depth New Yorker article, celebrated author Dr. Atul Gawande reflects on... posted on May 11, 4522 reads

Genius of the Fold
People who think of origami as simple paper playthings may be surprised to know of a professional origami artist, much less one who's a Caltech physicist. Robert Lang walked away from a successful career in lasers and opto-electronics to fold paper full time. Now widely regarded as a legend in the field, Lang has published more than 500 original origami designs, with some of his work exhibited at ... posted on May 16, 5097 reads

Retirees Volunteer to Tackle Japan's Nuclear Crisis
The radiation leak from the Fukushima power station has been off the front page news for a while now but the problem persists nevertheless. Post tsunami, there were countless stories of bravery and selfless acts and here is one more that is downright inspiring. A group of more than 200 older Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the crisis. Yamada-san, a 72-year old retired engineer is wr... posted on Jun 1, 3356 reads

A School for the Homeless In Las Vegas
Principal Sherrie Gahn knew she had a problem that a traditional public school could not fix. Inside Whitney Elementary School in East Las Vegas, nearly 85 percent of the children are homeless. That's 518 kids out of 610. "When I saw the children eating ketchup for lunch, and wanting to take it home," she says, "it just crushed me," says Gahn. So she came up with a plan involving the kids, their p... posted on Jun 18, 6304 reads

From Vacant Lots to Urban Gardens
A berry garden now sits at the center of Richmond, CA, an area known for its high crime rate. Once a month, Latino and African American families -- often people who live just a few blocks from each other but rarely had a chance to meet in the past -- gather at the garden and have a barbecue. The garden is the work of Urban Tilth, one of the dozen or so groups at the center of Richmond's urban gard... posted on Jul 20, 9142 reads

7 Must-Read Books on Education
Education is something we're deeply passionate about, but much of today's dominant formal education model is in need of a paradigm shift. While lots has been said and written about education reform over the past couple of years, the issue and the public discourse around it have been going on for decades. So how does the free speech movement of the 1960s relate to digital learning and The Beatles? ... posted on Jul 6, 41734 reads

Food Abundance from Food Waste
Every week they provide food for as many as 1,500 households in Marin County (CA). They don't charge for the food. Nor do they get paid themselves. Who are these people and why do they do this? They are two community elders, Ruth Schwartz and her husband Curt Kinkead, supported by a team of about 100 volunteers. They do it because Curt "gets fed by the joy he sees in the people who come to collect... posted on Sep 21, 10140 reads

The Beauty in Each Grain of Sand
When you take a moonlit stroll on the beach, how often do you think about the tiny grains of sand creeping in between your toes? From above, sand seems like a bunch of tiny brown rocks, perhaps peppered with occasional shells or beach miscellany. But sand has a far more fascinating story to tell. Composed of the remnants of volcanic explosions, eroded mountains, dead organisms, and even degraded m... posted on Jul 16, 9141 reads

29 Lessons From Travelling the World
"Eight years. That's 416 weeks, or almost 3,000 days. This is the amount of time that I have not had a fixed home; moving to a new country, culture and language every few months and taking absolutely everything I own with me. In 2003, on the week of my 21st birthday, I left Ireland for good. I had graduated university a few days before, and knew that I'd only be coming back "home" for visits. But ... posted on Jul 17, 62751 reads

Lighting the Way in Slums
Plastic bottles jut from the roofs in a Manila slum neighborhood. But these bottles have an important purpose: they contain bleach and water and are placed snugly into a purpose-built hole in the roof. Designed by students at MIT, they reflect sunlight, spreading 360 degrees of 55-watt-light through the room beneath. Using the simplest of technologies, these bottles brighten dim and dreary shantie... posted on Jul 30, 4744 reads

The Inner Landscape of Beauty
For the late Celtic mystic John O'Donohue, the visible world isn't all there is -- it's "the first shoreline of the invisible world." The question of what should I do, is secondary to the question of "how should I be?" In short, spirituality isn't an esoteric notion, but an accessible, natural response to the landscapes of beauty around us, and within us. His unique perspective, captured in this r... posted on Aug 25, 6580 reads

The Pay-It-Forward Little Libraries
Bigger than a breadbox, homier than a newspaper box and more surprising than a bookmobile, the Little Library is popping up all over town. On bike paths. Outside coffee shops. In the front yards of private homes. Stocked with books ranging from academic texts to children's classics, music instruction and gardening magazines, each two-by-two-foot Little Library bears the same simple message: "Take ... posted on Aug 12, 18186 reads

Study, Practice and Serve: Peter Senge
Peter Senge is a senior lecturer at MIT, and the author of The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. The Journal of Business Strategy named Senge one of the greatest influences on business strategy over the last 100 years. In this dialogue with Dr. Prasad Kaipa, Senge talks about how his own internal development helped him develop a perspective on systems theory: "I ... posted on Aug 28, 11812 reads

How To Build A Beautiful Company
In the early 1970s, Bill Witherspoon lived for months in a school bus parked in the Oregon desert. A hundred miles from the nearest town, he spent day after day painting the sky and the clouds. He later sold his work for tidy sums. Witherspoon would spend the rest of his life alternating between painting and launching companies. When Witherspoon, then 60, launched The Sky Factory in 2002, he wonde... posted on Sep 14, 11439 reads

Time is Precious: Dr. BJ Miller's Journey
Dr. BJ Miller is only 40 but he thinks about death a lot. He is the new executive director of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco and a palliative care specialist at UCSF Medical Center. He is also a triple amputee, co-founder of a tea company, owner of a farm in Utah and a newlywed who still looks like the Ivy Leaguer he once was. "I have no fear of death," Miller said. "I have a fear of not... posted on Oct 17, 44611 reads

The World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion
It's called one of the greatest stories in medicine, but it's more than that. Its approach has impressed the world's top design-thinkers, and yet, it's more than a paragon of innovation. For the last 17 years every MBA student at Harvard has studied a business case on it, but it's more, even, than a model social enterprise. This is the story of Dr. V -- a retired surgeon with crippled fingers who ... posted on Dec 7, 6171 reads

The Free Farm
The Free Farm in San Francisco, run fully by volunteers, is dedicated to bringing fresh, local, organic produce for free to under-served communities in the San Francisco area. In 2009 alone, they gifted over 20,000 lbs of produce. A remarkable activist describes his experience in serving at the Free Farm. "We are not growing fruits and veggies. We are facilitating the growth of soil and community.... posted on Dec 5, 9140 reads

Kindness Remembered 41 Years Later
Sometimes acts of kindness seem to conspire at times when they are most needed. Here's one such story of a kindness received 41 years ago, when ... "I was twenty-four years old and three months pregnant when my husband died. I was a widow and an expectant mother in the same day. We had bought a new home and I had filled our two bedroom apartment with nursery items in anticipation of moving in. ... posted on Nov 23, 5317 reads

Learning Tranquility at Stanford
Sixty-four Stanford students escape from the campus hustle and find tranquility for two hours a week in the lower level of a campus library. There, they might start class by telling the person next to them about a positive experience from the day, or by updating their gratitude journals. Or, they might simply close their eyes and sit silently, concentrating on relaxing tense muscles and breathing ... posted on Nov 30, 7911 reads

Assuming Value Everywhere
"I noticed that there was one kid who no one was really talking to. He had a serious kind of disability, and some of the kids were kinda scared to approach him. So I went up and introduced myself. And you know what? He taught me some amazing dance moves!" Sharing his presence was a wonderful thing to do, in and of itself, but my 14-yr-old cousin's perspective was even more remarkable. We asked him... posted on Dec 3, 25343 reads

7 Spiritual Perspectives on Personal Leadership
"How do you deal with change? How comfortable are you with what is on your plate? Are you creating or are you resisting? The quality of your leadership depends on how you deal with the cards that you draw and how you succeed using what you got." This article presents an approach for increasing personal mastery and leadership effectiveness, based on ancient spiritual wisdom from around the world. ... posted on Dec 15, 65245 reads

Illiterate Fisherman at 90, Literary Star at 98!
He may not have learned to read and write until he was 91, but Jim Henry is becoming a literary star. The retired lobsterman now 98-years-old released his book, "In a Fisherman's Language" last month. And ever since he and his family have found themselves immersed in a world of book printings, agents, publicity and film rights. People from not just around the country but the world are clamoring f... posted on Dec 28, 7642 reads

The Leadership Genius of Bob the Builder
Most of us believe in positive self-talk. "I can achieve anything," we mouth to the mirror in the morning. We believe we'll do better if we banish doubts about our ability or our strategy and instead muster an inner voice that affirms our awesomeness. But not Bob the Builder. You might not realise it, but the overall-clad, stop-motion animated construction executive -- who debuted on CBBC in 1999 ... posted on Jan 7, 7237 reads

10 Keys for Achieving Group Flow
Recent scientific research reveals that great creativity almost always springs from collaboration, conversation, and social networks -- challenging our mythical image of the isolated genius. Keith Sawyer has been studying the phenomenon known as "flow," where we get so absorbed in a task that we lose track of time; it's what some people refer to as being "in the zone." Research shows that when a g... posted on Feb 1, 41814 reads

A Love Warrior's Incredible Generosity
Raghu Makwana lost his legs to polio as a child. But his heart was intact and growing bigger by the day. When a few students found him arranging people's footwear outside a local temple, they were struck by his sparkling intelligence and genuine warmth. They arranged to have him join a non-profit at the Gandhi Ashram in India. The move would bring Raghu's latent capacity for servant-leadership to ... posted on Feb 13, 5815 reads

Going into Debt to Rescue Abandoned Dogs
"On any given Saturday, you'll find volunteer rescuer Tracie Mitchum sitting outside in front of the Whole Foods Market with an array of cats and dogs she's rescued. She brings the pets to the parking lot hoping to find applicants to adopt them and to raise funds to provide veterinary care. "I feel welcome at Whole Foods and it's refreshing," Tracie says during our recent chat on the campus of the... posted on Feb 19, 13437 reads

How to Support Teens in Listening
"Teens are quick to connect with each other by telling stories and passing along gossip via texting and social media. But students have lost the art of listening face to face by hiding behind the veil of anonymity. They often talk at each other. So on the first day of class, even before I outline the expectations of the class, students fill out a survey about how they recognize their own listening... posted on Feb 25, 19113 reads

9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn
"Unfortunately, I was educated in a school system that believed the world in which it existed would remain essentially the same, with minor changes in fashion. We had no idea what the world had in store for us. And here's the thing: we still don't. We never do. We have never been good at predicting the future, and so raising and educating our kids as if we have any idea what the future will hold i... posted on Mar 10, 188495 reads

Seeing in the Dark
A visually stunning ode to time, music, and the stars, Timothy Ferris' film "Seeing in the Dark" celebrates the wonders of stargazing -- from kids learning the constellations to amateur astronomers doing professional-grade research in discovering planets and exploding stars. Here, Ferris reflects on the PBS film, which features never-before seen astronomical photography and special effects. "Our a... posted on Apr 2, 7454 reads

A Nobel Prize View: Thinking, Fast & Slow
In 2002, Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel Prize in economics -- but he isn't an economist. Kahneman's field is the psychology of decision-making, and that's the topic of his new book, "Thinking, Fast and Slow." Kahneman tells NPR's Robert Siegel about the two systems that make up what he calls "the machinery of the mind:" System 1 -- or fast -- and System 2 -- or slow -- thinking. "We have a very narro... posted on Apr 1, 6778 reads

13-Year Old Gymnast: Fearless ...& Legally Blind
Most athletes have the benefit of seeing what's ahead of them -- an opponent, the bars, a vault. But for 13-year-old Lola Walters, she usually has no idea what's coming until she's literally five feet away from it. Walters, a Washington resident, is legally blind, and suffers from a disease called nystagmus which causes her eyes to shift constantly, leaving her with double vision and no depth perc... posted on Mar 30, 19833 reads

The Gift of the Swamp Shake Spill
"The lid came off, and the rotary movement of my body as I was rising from the bent over position created a mini-tsunami of green-brown liquid from the tops of my shoes, on to my papers -- covered desk, across the room to the credenza, the plants on top of it, the books in its lower shelves, up the wall and onto the ceiling -- where the fluid finally dissipated before completing the full circle an... posted on May 6, 9454 reads

9 Steps to Achieving Flow (and Happiness) at Work
Have you ever lost yourself in your work, so much so that you lost track of time? Being consumed by a task like that, while it can be rare for most people, is a state of being called Flow. In my experience, it's one of the keys to happiness at work, and a nice side benefit is that it not only reduces stress but increases your productivity. So how do you achieve this mystical state of being? Do you... posted on Apr 30, 34760 reads

On Seeking Stillness in Business
Pico Iyer -- essayist, author, travel writer and thinker -- has a unique perspective on many things. His physical domain ranges from California (where he lived as a child) and England (where he studied) to Cuba, North Korea and Ethiopia (which he visited) and Japan (where he resides). His mental domain knows no limiting boundaries. In this interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Iyer spoke on an unusual... posted on Jun 19, 20335 reads

An Indomitable Healing Spirit
For the past two years, James O'Dea has synthesized his remarkable life experience into what he calls "social healing". A former Director of Amnesty International's Washington, DC office and President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, O'Dea's journey has taken him through both the depths of human suffering -- and it's transcendence. Along the way he has been wrestling with profound questions: W... posted on Mar 27, 24513 reads

How Music Can Help The Terminally Ill
"Alternative medicine is increasingly accepted as part of palliative care and some studies show music is one method to ease pain and stress at the end of life. One of these methods includes live harp music, played at the bedside by a certified music practitioner. Carol Joy Loeb, a former opera singer, is a certified music practitioner and registered nurse. When she arrives at a patient's bedside, ... posted on Jun 3, 4440 reads

Six Ways To Empower Others
What makes a good leader? According to this article from YES! Magazine it's the gift of strengthening others. Also, "an empowering leader makes mistakes. If she doesn't, she's probably not experimenting enough. An empowering leader is also a good learner, an experienced and willing apologizer, someone who can make amends and move on." Starhawk, the author of "The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Co... posted on Apr 18, 56506 reads