A Cookie Giving Experiment in New York City
"At around 12:30 AM Thursday morning, I began my expedition to give out cookies to strangers in NYC. I first offered a cookie to the front desk security guard; he looked in the bag and took the biggest cookie he could find and said thank you. I thought, "Well that's the biggest cookie in the bag, that's a bit selfish." Nonetheless, I smiled and was happy to give him a cookie. Lesson 1: I noticed m... posted on Jan 20, 5241 reads

Portrait of a Healer
"Some of his patients are sent to him by local hospitals, especially in hopeless cases; when, for example, amputation seems to be the only option. Sergio Castro is seen by many as the last hope. People come to him with gangrene, hoping that they will be able to keep their limbs, for he has achieved what some perceive as "miracles". Sergio is not a doctor; Sergio's somebody who really cares about p... posted on Jan 22, 19309 reads

5 Books on the Psychology of Love
"It's often said that every song, every poem, every novel, every painting ever created is in some way 'about' love. What this really means is that love is a central theme, an underlying preoccupation, in humanity's greatest works. But what exactly is love? How does its mechanism spur such poeticism, and how does it lodge itself in our minds, hearts and souls so completely, so stubbornly, as to per... posted on Jan 24, 14731 reads

The Visionary Architecture of Paolo Soleri
Architect Paolo Soleri is regarded as a visionary, much to his dismay. His thought and vision combines the ethical and the metaphysical in terms of how to structure and build our cities. He says, for example, "We have reached the point where we understand the appearance of self-awareness is one of the most incredible things that's happened in the universe. So, slowly we are developing some kind of... posted on Jan 30, 5211 reads

The Green School in Bali
With natural light and a breeze that passes through, John Hardy's dream of building a green school comes alive in Bali. Created with bamboo architecture, no walls and a diverse range of teachers, this school not only teaches reading, writing, and arithmetic but also teaches how to reconnect to nature, endeavoring to develop future green leaders from 25 different countries. This 14 minute TED talk ... posted on Feb 4, 4215 reads

The Joy of Quiet
The future of travel, I'm reliably told, lies in "black-hole resorts", which charge high prices precisely because you can't get online in their rooms. Has it really come to this? We have more and more ways to communicate, as Thoreau noted, but less and less to say. Partly because we're so busy communicating. And -- as he might also have said -- we're rushing to meet so many deadlines that we hardl... posted on Feb 9, 15791 reads

From Me to We: Everyday Generosity
Talented filmmakers David and Hi-Jin Hodge wanted to inspire generosity on Valentine's Day. So they asked a diverse group of 25 friends, young and old: what does generosity mean to you? And what lessons have you learned from practicing acts of everyday kindness? In this powerful 5-minute video, these everyday heroes share beautiful responses that inspire all of us to go out and be generous, not ju... posted on Feb 15, 4082 reads

11 Amazing Thank You Notes
What do Elizabeth Taylor, Roald Dahl, Marilyn Monroe, Neil Armstrong and Barack Obama have in common, besides being famous? Each of them wrote touching letters of gratitude, printed here in their original writing. For example, once upon a time (1989), a little girl named Amy sent a bottle of colored water, oil and glitter to Roald Dahl, who knew right away that this was a dream in a bottle inspire... posted on Feb 16, 90887 reads

Social Media for Social Transformation
"Any social-change hero succeeds in doing three fundamental things -- raising awareness, creating impact, and transforming the heart. Today's technologies, particular social media, can be significant tools. For awareness, the Internet has been an absolute amplifier. For impact, the Internet has been a mixed bag: remarkable potential in democracy movements, but significant problems ranging from cyb... posted on Feb 21, 55483 reads

Profit vs. Principle: The Neurobiology of Integrity
Let your better self rest assured: Dearly held values truly are sacred, and not merely cost-benefit analyses masquerading as nobel intent. Neuroscientist Greg Berns of Emory University and colleagues posed a series of value-based statements to 27 women and 16 men while using an fMRI machine to map their mental activity. Test participants were asked if they'd sign a document stating the opposite of... posted on Feb 29, 19157 reads

"Steal" Like an Artist
"Austin Kleon is positively one of the most interesting people on the Internet. His Newspaper Blackout project is essentially a postmodern florilegium, using a black Sharpie to make art and poetry by redacting newspaper articles. In this excellent talk from The Economist's Human Potential Summit, titled 'Steal Like an Artist,' Kleon makes an articulate and compelling case for combinatorial creativ... posted on Mar 1, 9092 reads

The Power of Metaphors
"When Pablo Picasso, the Spanish artist, was a schoolboy, he was terrible at math because whenever the teacher had him write a number on the chalkboard, he saw something different. The number four looked like a nose to him and he kept doodling until he filled in the rest of the face. The number 1 looked like a tree, 9 looked like a person walking against the wind, and 8 resembled an angel. Everyon... posted on Mar 4, 49420 reads

How Language Enabled Innovation and Evolution
"How did 'culture' develop, exactly? Language, says evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel, was instrumental in enabling social learning -- our ability to acquire evolutionarily beneficial new behaviors by watching and imitating others, which in turn accelerated our species on a trajectory of what anthropologists call 'cumulative cultural evolution,' a bustling of ideas successively building and improv... posted on Mar 11, 34697 reads

Broken Bodies, Broken Minds, Amazing Spirits
"Yesterday I went to the nursing home to visit my step mom's grandma. She just got out of the hospital recently where she underwent some serious operations. I wanted to surprise her after work so I stopped by for a quick visit. When I got there she was happy to see me. We hugged, kissed and exchanged greetings. Then I heard a woman crying. It was my great grandma's roommate. The curtain was drawn ... posted on Mar 18, 5812 reads

Five Poverty-fighting Women to Watch
Across the globe, women are taking on the challenge of poverty in creative, smart and sustainable ways. This article highlights five dynamic women whose work collectively spans Haiti, India, Afghanistan, Kenya and beyond. Their uplifting and diverse contributions seem poised to reach new heights in the coming year. Learn more about them and how to keep up with their journeys here.... posted on Mar 28, 17176 reads

Advice as an Art Form
Advice is subjective. But, by passing on advice in a creative way, it is possible to create something that lasts, that people will want to live with and which can let the advice sink in slowly and help out later on. That's precisely the premise of "Advice to Sink in Slowly," a wonderful project enlisting design graduates in passing on advice and inspiration to first-year students through an ongoin... posted on Apr 4, 7868 reads

The Practice of Gratitude
"There are really three medicines that you should put in your medicine bundle every day, which are the power of genuine acknowledgment and gratitude, genuine apology, and the spirit of laughter and joy." So begins a heartwarming interview with Angeles Arrien, a teacher, author, and cultural anthropologist, who is affectionately called the "Gratitude Lady". Here, Arrien speaks to Sounds True about ... posted on Sep 17, 30467 reads

Staying Sober Through Service
What does making coffee at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings have to do with staying sober? A whole lot, according to recent studies that show that the physical and psychological benefits of service also benefit those with addictions. Addicts who help others, even in small ways - such as calling other Alcoholics Anonymous members to remind them about meetings or making coffee - can significantly impro... posted on May 16, 11617 reads

The Power of Self-Compassion
Are you your own worst critic? It's common to beat ourselves up for faults big and small. But according to psychologist and author Kristin Neff, that self-criticism comes at a price. For the last decade, Neff has been a pioneer in the study of "self-compassion," the revolutionary idea that you can actually be kind to yourself, accept your own faults-- and enjoy deep emotional benefits as a result.... posted on Apr 7, 75424 reads

How to Attend A Conference As Yourself
"I often feel awkward when I go to a conference. Reluctant to sidle up to a stranger and introduce myself, I roam, like I did at college parties, self-conscious, seltzer water in hand, not fitting in. In the midst of a sea of people chatting away enthusiastically, I am uncomfortable and alone. But when my plane from New York landed in Austin, Texas for South By Southwest, the music, film, and inte... posted on Apr 9, 0 reads

Caine's Cardboard Arcade
Caine Monroy spent his summer vacation building an elaborate cardboard arcade in his dad's used auto parts store. The adorable 9-year old worked for months to perfect the game designs, making displays for the prizes, and creating elaborate security systems. Unfortunately, his dad's store is in an industrial part of East L.A. that gets almost no foot traffic. So Caine had exactly zero customers ..... posted on Apr 13, 5142 reads

Happiness: Getting Our Priorities Straight
There is a vitally important shift underway in how we think about progress. Growing numbers of economists, political leaders and expert commentators are calling for better measures of how well society is doing; measures that track not just our economic standard of living, but our overall quality of life. We too can benefit from a shift in priorities and a recognition that real happiness is less ab... posted on Jul 25, 16230 reads

Can Death Become Your Ally?
"Death is an important ally for appreciating life. I am not referring to a morbid preoccupation with death. Rather, I mean the felt awareness of our finitude as physical beings -- an honest recognition of the short time we have to love and to learn on this earth. The knowledge that our bodies will inevitably die burns through our attachments to the dignified madness of our socially constructed exi... posted on Jun 7, 37696 reads

Neuroplasticity: Changing our Belief about Change
"A dangerous belief in our culture is that we can't change. We've all heard the disempowered statements: 'He's just grumpy. He can't change that.' or 'I will always be anxious. It's the way I was born.' While we most certainly have genetic predispositions, the brains of individuals' young and old can change in amazing ways. Neuroplasticity is a fancy way of saying that our brains can change. We ar... posted on Apr 23, 149471 reads

177 Messages of Kindness
"Out of all the afterschool programs offered in their school, three energetic 11-13 year old girls chose to join this one. The 'Random Acts of Kindness Class,' the first of its kind, was an innovative experiment, offering children the opportunity to use their creativity and artwork to inspire their school and community by doing random acts of kindness. A few weeks ago, I spent an unforgettable aft... posted on May 3, 5456 reads

Can Better Data End Global Poverty?
"Do free bed nets in some countries lead to more cases of malaria? Could anti-parasite pills raise school attendance in one country and have no effect in another? How cheap does preventative care have to be for low-income families to see the doctor? There might not be a perfect way to answer these thorny questions on a country-by-country basis. But some leading scientists think the most rigorous a... posted on May 19, 9290 reads

Can Positive Thoughts Help Heal Another?
For decades, scientists have tried to test the power of prayer and positive thinking, with mixed results. Now some scientists are fording new -- and controversial -- territory. Gail Ironson an AIDS researcher from the University of Miami noticed that a number of patients with HIV inexplicably never got sick. In trying to understand why, she discovered something surprising. "If you ask people what'... posted on May 18, 26197 reads

The Body's Grace: A Paralyzed Yoga Teacher's Insights
"Matthew Sanford says he's never seen anyone live more deeply in their body -- in all its grace and all its flaws -- without becoming more compassionate toward all of life. He's a renowned teacher of yoga. And he's been paralyzed from the chest down since a car accident in 1978, when he was 13. He teaches yoga to the able-bodied. He also adapts yoga for people with ailments and disabilities, inclu... posted on May 29, 0 reads

Is Our Hunger For Scale Starving Real Growth?
"For years, I've wrestled with living the 'less-is-more' life in a world that seems to be busting at its seams -- in every way -- financially, physically, psychologically. There's a need, it seems, to acquire and expand. And it's not just in our personal and material lives. Startups want to scale -- that's the most critical stage for them. Nonprofits need to collect data for 'impact' reports, illu... posted on May 22, 15698 reads

How I Changed My Life, In Four Lines
"Changing your life can seem an incredibly tough and complicated thing, especially if you've failed a great number of times (like I did), found it too hard, and resigned yourself to not changing. But I found a way to change. And I'm not any better than anyone else, not more disciplined, not more motivated. I just learned a few simple principles that changed my life. So what are the principles that... posted on May 21, 46459 reads

The Boy Who Fell Into The Water & Lived
"The only way to get to this island village is by boat. The current in these parts is treacherously strong and the sun beats down in sheets of heat. About 2000 people live in this village. 125 died in the tsunami. Twenty-six of them were children. There is no bridge connecting the village to the mainland, only a jetty that wanders partway into the water and stops. When some of the children saw the... posted on Jun 6, 12800 reads

On Missions and Metrics
"There is an old Zen story about a man riding a horse, galloping frantically down a path. His friend, who is sitting by the side of the road, calls out 'Where are you going?' The man replies: 'I don't know. Ask the horse!' When we build our tools, we often depend on metrics to guide our development. We keep graphs of unique visitors and pageviews and watch them closely. This keeps us honest. It's ... posted on Jun 12, 13859 reads

How Gift-Giving Creates Community
"Wherever I go and ask people what is missing from their lives, the most common answer (if they are not impoverished or seriously ill) is "community." What happened to community, and why don't we have it any more? There are many reasons -- the layout of suburbia, the disappearance of public space, the automobile and the television -- and, if you trace the "why's" a few levels down, they all implic... posted on Jun 13, 27515 reads

10 Ways to Love Where You Live
Community is not just for extroverts. For thousands of years, our ancestors lived in barrios, hamlets, neighborhoods, and villages. Yet in the time since our parents and grandparents were young, privacy has become so valued that many neighborhoods are not much more than houses in proximity...And when the links among neighbors are weak, security relies on locks, gates, and guns, rather than a close... posted on Jun 21, 35132 reads

Are You Training Yourself To Fail?
"'Did you get done what you wanted to get done today?' Eleanor, my wife, asked me. 'Not really,' I said. She laughed. 'Didn't you write the book on getting done what you want to get done?' Some people are naturally pre-disposed to being highly productive. They start their days with a clear and reasonable intention of what they plan to do, and then they work diligently throughout the day, sticking ... posted on Jul 4, 25390 reads

A Bicycle Nomad Prepares for Re-entry
In 2010, Manjula Martin and her partner set out to see the world the old-fashioned way: by bicycle. With little money, no itinerary, gadgets or training, they traversed five countries and 3,500 miles and discovered a world filled with generosity. In this article, Manjula Martin describes the transition from bike to home with four rules for re-entry that are strikingly authentic, grounded, and univ... posted on Jul 26, 13246 reads

The Story of Change
"I've come to see that we have two parts to ourselves; it's almost like two muscles -- a consumer muscle and a citizen muscle. Our consumer muscle, which is fed and exercised constantly, has grown strong: So strong that "consumer" has become our primary identity, our reason for being. We're told so often that we're a nation of consumers that we don't blink when the media use "consumer" and "perso... posted on Aug 2, 14919 reads

Better Eating through Mindfulness
More than a billion people around the world are overweight, leading to all kinds of health challenges. "Obesity increases health risks like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, to name a few, and the health care costs to treat obesity-related illness are skyrocketing, with Center for Disease Control estimates in 2008 reaching $147 billion dollars (just in the US). But now there is a new prescripti... posted on Jul 28, 19743 reads

The 'Greener Grass on This Side' Farm
"Both were high-flying professionals in Silicon Valley (Ragu a marketing whiz, Nisha a hardcore software engineer). They had their son Aum and promptly sold everything off and moved to rural Tamil Nadu. They wanted to farm, but had no experience in it. They jumped in with the intention of living and being in a way better aligned with their inner voices, and learning what they needed along the way.... posted on Aug 23, 26071 reads

From 'Dummy' to Celebrated Brain Surgeon
Interviewer: "At the age of ten you were seen as a dummy. By the age of 12, you were seen as one of the brightest kids in the class. What happened in those two years?" Dr. Ben Carson: "The key thing in those two years is my mother prayed to God and asked for wisdom and came up with the idea of turning off the TV. Should I say this on a TV show? (Laughter) we were allowed to watch only two or three... posted on Sep 3, 11664 reads

Wings of Love: Nancy Rivard's Story
On Christmas Eve of 1983, a personal loss changed the course of Nancy Rivard's life. In its wake she purposely got herself demoted from the management track at American Airlines and began traveling the world as a flight attendant. While her travels took her to many interesting places and brought her into contact with inspiring individuals, she was continually looking for a way to use her job to se... posted on Oct 9, 18993 reads

How To Respond to Failure
"Typically, when people fail, we blame them. Or teach them. Or try to make them feel better. But the learning -- the avoidance of future failures -- only comes once they feel okay about themselves after failing. And that feeling comes from empathy." In this article, a business advisor describes an interaction between a nine-year-old and her grandmother -- and the unexpected lesson in leadership an... posted on Sep 4, 58175 reads

This Larger Thing in the World
Mildred Howard sees things differently. Over 20 years ago, she was commissioned to create a house made out of glass bottles. That was her first of several bottle houses that have each made powerful, beautiful political and social statements. As an artist, community organizer, and leader, Mildred's colourful life embodies radical change. In this interview with works & conversations, Mildred speaks ... posted on Sep 12, 3992 reads

Man & Dog: A Picture that Moved the World
John Unger just wanted a friend to take a nice photo of him and his 19-year-old arthritic dog, Schoep, before it was too late. He got that photo -- and world validation, too. When Unger's friend, professional photographer Hannah Stonehouse Hudson, posted the unusual photo -- of Unger holding his sleeping dog in the waters of Lake Superior -- on her Facebook page it went viral. A week later, the ph... posted on Sep 22, 82727 reads

Dolphin Murals: An Artist Turns Activist
"After watching a documentary about the annual slaughter of dolphins that takes place in Taiji, Japan, Filipino artist and environmental activist AG Sano was so overcome with emotion that he quit his job and dedicated himself to giving life back to these dolphins, one painted wall at a time... Twenty months later, a spontaneous reaction fuelled by one man's anger and sadness has evolved into an aw... posted on Sep 30, 6568 reads

Your Health Is Bigger Than Your Body
"Talking with Dr. Ted Schettler is probably unlike any conversation you have had with your physician. Raise the topic of diabetes or dementia, and Schettler starts talking about income disparities, industrial farming, and campaign finance reform. The Harvard-educated physician, frustrated by the limitations of science in combating disease, believes that finding answers to the most persistent medic... posted on Nov 15, 13472 reads

The 29-Year-Old Stockbroker Who Saved 699 Lives
In 1939 Nicholas Winton and a friend, Martin Blake, were supposed to take a skiing vacation. Instead, Blake, who worked with refugees, told Winton, at the time a 29-year-old stockbroker, that he should visit him in Prague and help with the refugees fleeing Hitler's advancing armies. Nicholas Winton did go to Prague and he was deeply affected by what he saw. Fueled by compassion, the young stockbro... posted on Oct 14, 51741 reads

15 Serious Games Aiming to Change the World
Using games for purposes other than entertainment is nothing new. There are war games, educational games, throne games. But a new class of games has sprung up in recent years, designed to create awareness and raise support for a variety of global issues. Such serious games seek to harness the power of competition and/or novelty to attract players and get the word out for a good cause. Here are 15 ... posted on Jan 14, 35634 reads

Jacob Needleman: Probing Higher Intelligence
Renowned writer and philosopher, Jacob Needleman, talks about his life: "I began to feel, without knowing how to say it, that when I was looking at a grasshopper or a frog, I was looking at a great idea. The ideas were like living beings! And the living beings were ideas! And so I wanted to go into this field. I wanted to be a philosopher." Further on in this interview, he says, "No matter how man... posted on Oct 29, 3432 reads

Calf Trapped In Mud Rescued
"Recently, photographer Sam Beam and his buddy Josh Brinkin were out in a remote area outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico when they spotted some ravens and vultures near a known watering hole. They rode in for a closer look and were jolted by the sight of a bull calf, barely alive..."This little guy had his mouth, eyes and ears shut from struggling for days, but those birds never touched him," Sam ... posted on Nov 6, 17658 reads