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How To Eliminate Junk Stimulus![](images/quickread.gif) Does your life feel busy or cluttered? Clearing out our mental and emotional closets starts with an honest appraisal of where and how we live, and letting go of what is simply taking up space. In an era when filling our homes and our calendars has become a cultural fixation, this can mean breaking old habits and the severing of ties with our beloved "stuff." While it may not be easy, the Greater G... posted on Jan 12, 64473 reads
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The Neuroscience Of Why Gratitude Makes Us Healthier![](images/quickread.gif) "Consider this: Negative attitudes are bad for you. And gratitude, it turns out, makes you happier and healthier. If you invest in a way of seeing the world that is mean and frustrated, you're going to get a world that is, well, more mean and frustrating. But if you can find any authentic reason to give thanks, anything that is going right with the world or your life, and put your attention there,... posted on Oct 30, 353696 reads
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Six Life Lessons from Leo Tolstoy![](images/quickread.gif) Leo Tolstoy, the author of literary epics such as 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina', is most often thought of as one of the 19th century's greatest novelists. However, "few are aware that he was also one of its most radical social and political thinkers. During a long life from 1828 to 1910, Tolstoy gradually rejected the received beliefs of his aristocratic background and embraced a startlingly... posted on Dec 23, 180292 reads
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The Marriage of Love & Power![](images/quickread.gif) Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit that raises charitable donations to invest in companies, leaders, and ideas that are changing the way the world tackles poverty. In this interview, she talks about her revolutionary approach to philanthropy that has impacted the lives of over 100 million people, what moved her to leave her safe world of banking to work with t... posted on Feb 6, 22747 reads
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She Lost Her Legs But Not Her Dream![](images/quickread.gif) Sri Lestari is a paraplegic who lives in Jakarta, Indonesia. She lost the use of her legs while riding as a passenger on a motorcylce and, for ten years, never left her home. Indoensia, like many places in the developing world is a hostile environment of people with disabilities. Not only are the streets, footpaths, and buildings inaccessible, but their physical limitations carry broad stygmas. Bu... posted on May 2, 2743 reads
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A Story of Grace & Grit![](images/quickread.gif) "I don't look at myself as a healer, but I do know healing when I'm in the presence of it. And it's mysterious, magical ... It's not dependent upon the action of any one person, but it arises from the conglomerative energies. It's a team effort, always. It comes about with great love, and it gives great love." Dr. Grace Dammann was a frontline AIDS physician who survived a devastating accident fi... posted on Dec 31, 27063 reads
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How Fruit Auctions Are Helping Farmers Thrive![](images/quickread.gif) One in six Ohio residents works in the agriculture industry, and the food and agriculture industries contribute an estimated $79 billion to the state's economy each year. Yet nearly 90 percent of the food Ohioans buy comes from outside the state. What would happen if Ohioans began eating more food grown right in their towns and counties? Read on to learn more about the growing success of "fruit au... posted on Apr 26, 8606 reads
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John Upton: A Life in Photography![](images/quickread.gif) As a student, he rubbed elbows with Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Minor White, Imogene Cunningham and Dorothea Lange, and photography became a search, a way of life. "I'm out there looking for photographs and sometimes I reach a point where what's out there is looking for me. Minor used to talk about how that would happen. One thing Minor did, and I catch myself doing, is that when you've photograph... posted on May 12, 22771 reads
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Pop-Up Clothing Swap For the Homeless![](images/quickread.gif) When Kayli Levitan and Max Pazak found themselves confronted with the growing homeless population in their native Cape Town, South Africa -- they immediately set out to develop a solution. The challenge? Connecting the haves with the have-nots in a manner unlike any before. "We wanted to bridge the gap...making it easy and safe to donate and more dignified to receive. The middle ground we needed w... posted on Apr 1, 20691 reads
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The Nature of the Self: How We Know Who We Are![](images/quickread.gif) Our emotions, beliefs, and ideals are constantly changing, and most cells in our bodies are completely renewed every seven years. How, then, do we know who "we" are? Over the past ten years, the emerging field of experimental philosophy has examined this paradox, along with its many related questions about morality, happiness, love, and how to live. In this fascinating video, Yale University profe... posted on Mar 13, 28896 reads
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A Radical Homemaker Celebrates 40![](images/quickread.gif) Shannon Hayes, mother and homemaker on a family farm, used to spend birthdays mourning the passing of another year. But on her 40th she decides instead to spend the day in celebration and joy by giving herself an important gift. In this touching piece, Shannon shares how she learned that turning 40 meant being "grown-up enough, confident enough, fearless enough to face my deepest, most secret drea... posted on Mar 30, 18097 reads
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Wonder: When & Why The World Appears Radiant![](images/quickread.gif) In his breathtaking new book author Paul R. Fleischman carries out an in-depth and masterful exploration of a unique and timeless human quality: Wonder. Remarkably researched and elegantly articulated the book is an invitation to come newly alive to the mystery and magnificence of being on this earth. This short excerpt takes an ordinary moment on a winter's morning and deftly opens our eyes to th... posted on Mar 5, 0 reads
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Talking Trash With Jeff Kirschner![](images/quickread.gif) Jeff Kirschner believes litter should be approachable, noticeable, and a spark for thinking about how we look at packaging and trash. He is an evangelist for the power of consumer engagement and education. He is also a believer in our shared impact using social media - including its built-in metrics -- to change public perception and stir public action. That's where Litterati comes in. Jeff is b... posted on Apr 27, 9277 reads
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10 Things Highly Intuitive People Do Differently![](images/quickread.gif) "Even when we're not at a fork in the road, wondering what to do and trying to hear that inner voice, our intuition is always there, always reading the situation, always trying to steer us the right way. But can we hear it? Are we paying attention? Are we living a life that keeps the pathway to our intuition unblocked? Feeding and nurturing our intuition, and living a life in which we can make use... posted on Apr 30, 137246 reads
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Empathy With The Enemy![](images/quickread.gif) "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 2, 24634 reads
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Vancouver's Duck Lady![](images/quickread.gif) Take a walk in downtown Vancouver on a sunny day and you might just run into Laura-Kay Prophet and Bobbi the Duck. Or, more precisely, Bobbi V. Laura-Kay got her first duck, Harvey, in 1980, but it was the first Bobbi, that spurred her to start Duck $oup, a private charity that Laura-Kay funds from her pension and occasional part-time work. Bobbi I started laying one or two eggs a day, so Laura-Ka... posted on Apr 2, 4083 reads
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Sophisticated Simplicity![](images/quickread.gif) "When we consider the powerful forces transforming our world -- climate change, peak oil, water and food shortages, species extinction, and more -- we require far more than either crude or cosmetic changes in our manner of living. If we are to maintain the integrity of the Earth as a living system, we require deep and creative changes in our overall levels and patterns of living and consuming. If ... posted on Apr 29, 19743 reads
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Lessons From My 93-Year-Old Kindergarten Teacher![](images/quickread.gif) Mary Beth Washington is the stuff that kindergarten dreams are made of. "She did almost everything contrary to the rules: she took the kids out walking in the rain, she napped with them during naptime, she came to school dressed like a circus performer. She was in love with birds, dancing, poetry and people." Now in her 93rd year, she is as spirited as ever and still going strong with her walking ... posted on May 5, 25974 reads
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6 Things Shyness Can Teach Us![](images/quickread.gif) Most people have experienced episodes of shyness in their lives, and some may even be naturally inclined towards having a shy personality. Shy people are often deep thinkers, observant, and good listeners who like to be aware of themselves and others. In a world where gregariousness and rapid action has taken centre stage, this article points out a handful of things that shyness can teach us about... posted on May 22, 24328 reads
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10 Projects To Help Save The Earth![](images/quickread.gif) Due to the rise of intellectual property and economic monopolies, the Open Source movement is fast becoming a thriving and expanding effort to give everyone public access to knowledge, culture and tools. From building your own electric car or building your own home, to even using the sun generate a solar energy supply system, the information flooding the world had never been so readily available. ... posted on Jun 10, 18032 reads
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Mark Nepo On Being The Poem![](images/quickread.gif) "Every person has some gift and some trouble, and some mature deep awakened part of soul, and some other part that is blind. This is how we kind of pollinate each other in the human spring. We all need each other." Here, Tami Simon speaks with poet and philosopher Mark Nepo about relating to pain, sincerity as intelligence, the role of pilgrimage in our lives, and the spiritual path of the artist.... posted on Jul 12, 23524 reads
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The Laundromat with a Big Heart![](images/quickread.gif) The Indian Express laundry shop resembles an average laundromat in the bustling metropolis of Mumbai, India. The piles of neatly folded clothes and smiling faces of the shop's workers reflect their expert and efficient service in cleaning people's garments since 1940. A closer look, though, reveals a softer, warmer side to the shop: cats. Big and small, these furry creatures are often rescued from... posted on Jun 9, 15648 reads
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4 Ways To Be More Present In Travel![](images/quickread.gif) "Being present is about slowing things down enough to truly feel, experience, and sense them -- to grasp them in full." During moments of movement it is all too easy for our attention to shift from the past to the future. But in the present moment, we can foster meaningful connections to people and places. How, then, can we be more present in our travel and share our travel stories with greater r... posted on May 7, 16395 reads
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Trying Not To Try: Cultivating the Art of Spontaneity![](images/quickread.gif) "The best way to get approval is not to need it" Hugh MacLeod memorably counseled. We now know that perfectionism kills creativity and excessive goal-setting limits our success rather than begetting it -- all different manifestations of the same deeper paradox of the human condition, at once disconcerting and comforting, which Edward Slingerland, professor of Asian Studies and Embodied Cognition a... posted on Jun 3, 14100 reads
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The Age of Outrospection![](images/quickread.gif) In the age of outrospection, the journey lies in taking a whole-hearted leap into the shoes of another. Outrospection, defined by Maptia as understanding "life through the eyes of others, fostering an adventurous curiosity for other lives and places beyond our own experience." Widening our circle of compassion from loved ones to embrace all beings with care and goodwill not only has intrinsic valu... posted on Jul 21, 22908 reads
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Cartographies of Time![](images/quickread.gif) Industrialization, and now globalisation, continues to promote the importance of strict clock-based routines. Think about it, how would we be able to interact on an international basis without a shared understanding and agreement on how we measure time? And yet all over the world there are fascinating, often enchanting stories from cultures that still measure time in more traditional ways, and in ... posted on Jun 23, 14552 reads
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Joyce Carol Oates On the Art of Beholding Beauty![](images/quickread.gif) Perhaps counterintuitively, the diaries of celebrated artists, writers, and scientists, private as they are, are often reminders not only of their humanity but of our own, brimming with deeply and widely resonant insights on our shared struggles and yearnings. Such is the case of The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates -- a chronicle of Oates's characteristically self-reflexive, sometimes self-conscious,... posted on Jun 19, 9962 reads
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Slomo: The Neurologist Turned Slow Motion Skater![](images/quickread.gif) Dr. John Kitchin was a successful neurologist who, on the surface seemed to have it all. But underneath the trappings of his material success he was ill-at-ease and unhappy. There was a haunting emptiness inside. After a serendipitous interaction with an elderly man in a cafeteria line, Kitchin decided to trade in his career and luxurious lifestyle (that included a Ferrari, an exotic animal farm a... posted on Jul 14, 6182 reads
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Jim Hunter on Servant Leadership![](images/quickread.gif) Jim Hunter has been training servant leaders for over 30 years and is the author of two internationally best-selling books on the topic. Servant leadership brings love to leadership, and Hunter defines it as "the business of identifying and meeting people's legitimate needs, seeking their greatest good so they can grow." In this interview, Hunter discusses how to create real change through servant... posted on Aug 7, 30424 reads
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Empty Hands, Full Heart: Music for the Soul![](images/quickread.gif) At the pinnacle of a dizzying career, young Indian-American rapper Nimesh "Nimo" Patel was haunted by an unshakeable sense of emptiness. In his mid-twenties, he abandoned the limelight. An inner voice nudged him to radically simplify his life and find his purpose in service to others. Moving to the Gandhi Ashram in India, he dedicated himself to the children in surrounding slums. After a 7-year mu... posted on Jun 16, 48788 reads
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6 Principles For Changing The World -- Seriously.![](images/quickread.gif) "The solution revolution -- the convergence of money and meaning, problem solvers and 'patient' capital, governments and citizen (and commercial) changemakers -- is underway. But while it flourishes in some parts of the world, other regions are still sitting on the sidelines." Want to know what you can do to accelerate the solution economy? Read on for six world changing strategies from William D.... posted on Oct 16, 18731 reads
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What 'Home' Means To The Homeless![](images/quickread.gif) 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, 31868 reads
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The Amazing Story of Lilica: A Dog Who Lets No Animal Go Hungry![](images/quickread.gif) Imagine that you are feeding a hungry dog and instead of eating all of the food you brought for her at once, she picks up the bag and brings it home. Every night, she eats only part and take the rest with her. One day, you follow her home--four miles away-- and discover that she is bringing the bag of food you prepare her to share with the other hungry animals in her extended hungry family, inclu... posted on Sep 22, 63300 reads
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Creative Compulsive Disorder: Remembering Zina Nicole Lahr![](images/quickread.gif) With goggles resting on her head and peacock feathers folded into hair, Zina Lahr viewed herself as a canvas. Self-diagnosed with "creative compulsive disorder", Zina filmed a video to share her passion for mechanics and animatronics. She reveals some of her jaw-dropping artwork: a giant puppet spider she helped create for a movie, and a wired paper crane for stop-motion animation. Zina's artwork ... posted on Sep 12, 4965 reads
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7 Ways To Exercise Your Brain & Why You Should![](images/quickread.gif) Researchers believe that your brain performance peaks in your 50's and then begins decreasing. The good news is that the brain is highly adaptable. Repetitive brain exercises practiced both early and later in life keeps the brain strong and helps it combat the reduced memory, thinking speed, problem solving, and reasoning that can set in later in life. Read on to learn about seven easy, scientific... posted on Oct 20, 165846 reads
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Eight Keys To End Bullying![](images/quickread.gif) "I am hopeful. I believe we have an opportunity to change the culture of bullying among young people and I think the answer begins with those who live and work with young people every day. It is not complicated policies or grandiose programs that make the most difference, but rather consistent, daily, nurturing acts of reaching out to both children who bully and those who are are the receiving end... posted on Oct 25, 22182 reads
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From Silos To Solution EcoSystem![](images/quickread.gif) Through the ongoing progression of the internet and social media, the conventional and long-established way of doing business is starting to see a huge shift in how things are getting done. In William Eggers and Paul Macmillan's book, 'The Solution Revolution,' they describe a new dynamic in which various groups can move toward their goal much more productively than if each group pursued it separa... posted on Oct 27, 11714 reads
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New Guinea's Birds of Paradise![](images/quickread.gif) Deep in the isolated wilderness of New Guinea lives extraordinary beauty as you have never seen it before. It pours from within the existence of 39 species of birds found nowhere else on earth. For over a decade, Ed Scholes, a Cornell Lab scientist, and Tim Laman, a National Geographic photojournalist, took on the Birds-of-Paradise project -- an incredible journey to capture the majestic splendor ... posted on Sep 30, 4067 reads
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The Giving Keys![](images/quickread.gif) When singer-songwriter and actress Caitlin Crosby got on stage with her hotel key conveniently draped on a makeshift chain around her neck, she had no idea that this would eventually open a door and lead to "The Giving Keys". This organization unlocks human potential through a circle of passed-on keys inscribed with inspiring words like "courage", "trust", and "love". Both givers and recipients o... posted on Nov 30, 19521 reads
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Why a Culture of Compassion Matters![](images/quickread.gif) "What is companionate love?" To Sigal Barsade, a Wharton School management professor, it is when workers "who are together day in and day out, ask and care about each other's work and even non-work issues...They are careful of each other's feelings. They show compassion when things don't go well." Not surprisingly, Barsade and a colleague found that this important aspect of one's workplace ultimat... posted on Dec 2, 22433 reads
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The Splendid Practice of Silence![](images/quickread.gif) In this beautifully grounding piece, a former monk shares insights from a year of silence and contemplation. "Deep within each of us is a great well of health, abundance, knowledge, guidance. When we enter the silence and stay in the silence, we come into direct contact with that sacred well. In that place dwells our True and Higher Self: It is that part of us that exists and operates in a place w... posted on Nov 18, 38184 reads
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An Incredible Story of a Young Woman's Courage![](images/quickread.gif) Malvika Iyer is the essence of courage and optimism. At 13, a freak accident caused her to lose both her hands and severely damaged her legs, raising serious doubts about whether she would ever walk again. But young Malvika braved the odds and emerged victorious. Today she is a dedicated social worker, a motivational speaker, a model for accessible clothing in India, and part of the "Global Shaker... posted on Dec 18, 26379 reads
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Finding Those Three Magical Words![](images/quickread.gif) How easy is it to "love your neighbor" when your intoxicated neighbor wakes you up in the middle of the night and insults you? For people dedicated to the path of nonviolence, like Arun Dada and his wife Mira Ba, it's not only the right thing to do, it's the only thing you can do. Instead of getting angry, they chose to try and transform the relationship through compassion. And in doing so they i... posted on Nov 27, 36650 reads
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Pilot Inspires Compton Kids To Fly![](images/quickread.gif) Robyn Petgrave is teaching kids to reach for the sky -- literally. Troubled by the large percentage of Compton children falling victim to gang violence and drugs, Robyn created Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum. The aeronautical program, designed for youth to learn flying, inspires its participants, and teaches responsibility. To participate, kids must maintain a good grade point average, stay out of... posted on May 31, 1732 reads
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Riders For Health: Motorcycles That Save Lives![](images/quickread.gif) Solving community problems requires more than newer and better technology for the poor. It requires something more radical than that--that we rehumanize the poor. People require not only new technologies to solve some of the biggest challenges in rural health and development, they require basic technologies--like transportation for the cadres of health care workers and others. Riders for Health re... posted on Nov 19, 10673 reads
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Firsts Are The Antidote To Stuck![](images/quickread.gif) Sometimes in life we find ourselves stuck. We live our lives by to-do lists or get caught up in making the 'right' decision and neglect our other interests and passions that help to define who we are. To rediscover happiness and our sense of self, we must be open and willing to change and to take the first step towards getting 'unstuck.' Read further for an inspirational story of one woman's journ... posted on Jan 20, 26869 reads
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Poems To Color In: Beloved Poems Turned Interactive Art![](images/quickread.gif) Gifted artist and filmmaker Ellie Cross shares her story of an unusual "Stone Soup" gathering in Mumbai that she attended, and of the inspiration that led her to create charming, illustrated versions of poems by Rilke, Rumi, Mary Oliver and others. Titled "Poems To Color In", Ellie's series invites readers to print out and shade in the depicted verses. Her work gives people an opportunity to add ... posted on Dec 16, 104046 reads
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The Beauty Of Craft![](images/quickread.gif) The world is filled with a vast array of wonderful art forms - from basket weaving, pottery and dance, to calligraphy, decorative ironwork and artisan bread-making, there are innumerable ways in which people across the ages have brought head, heart and hands together in service of creativity. Enjoy this glimpse into the studios of artists and craftspeople in and around the San Francisco Bay area i... posted on Feb 20, 15704 reads
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The Art of Noticing ... and Creating![](images/quickread.gif) In this interview author, entrepreneur and internet thought leader Seth Godin discusses what he believes has become the "Connection Economy". Godin's belief is that there is a way to go about getting good at noticing things, and then being able to turn around and help others make that connection. And no matter on how small a scale, it is then that he thinks 'art' happens.... posted on Jan 26, 8352 reads
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The Endangered Sounds of Silence![](images/quickread.gif) "Silence is a sound, many, many sounds. I've heard more than I can count. Silence is the moonlit song of the coyote signing the air, and the answer of its mate. It is the falling whisper of snow that will later melt with an astonishing reggae rhythm so crisp that you will want to dance to it. It is the sound of pollinating winged insects vibrating soft tunes as they defensively dart in and out of ... posted on Feb 16, 21992 reads
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