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, 37698 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, 46460 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, 58176 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

One Simple Wish
When Danielle Gletow adopted her daughter Mia, she began to learn about the American foster care system -- and the challenges faced by more than 100,000 children and young adults who are part of it. Determined to do something to help them, Ms. Gletow made it her mission not only to educate others about the challenges these children and teens face, but also to give people an easy way to lend a help... posted on Nov 3, 4668 reads

The Poorest & Most Generous President in the World
Jose Mujica, president of Uruguay, has been described as the world's poorest and most generous political leader; he donates about 90% of his salary to charities, lives in a modest house at his wife's flower farm, and drives a 1987 VW Beetle. Uruguayans know him as "Pepe" and just about everyone in the country agrees that, in everyday life, he's a citizen like any other, except he doesn't have a ba... posted on Nov 16, 20202 reads

10 Amazing Stories for World Kindness Day
November 13th is World Kindness Day! In honor of this, we've compiled 10 diverse and heart-warming pieces honoring extraordinary acts of kindness, love and compassion by ordinary people. These stories include bus-drivers, bakers, basketball players, canine heroes and much more...reminding us of just how universal and essential the spirit of kindness is in our world.... posted on Nov 13, 228287 reads

My Daughter's Noble Sacrifice
"My wife called,"How long will you be with that newspaper? Will you come here and make your darling daughter eat her food?" I tossed the paper away and rushed to the scene. My only daughter Sindu looked frightened. Tears were welling up in her eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled to its brim with curd rice. Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent for her age. She has just turned eight. She pa... posted on Jan 15, 11450 reads

Knitting Behind Bars
"The first warden Lynn Zwerling approached with her idea recoiled as if she might bite. The second wouldn't meet with her. The third claimed to love the idea, then fell out of touch. Outrageous, said the fourth. The fifth, Margaret Chippendale, at a minimum-security men's prison outside Baltimore, didn't have much hope for Ms. Zwerling's plan either. "She brought the program to me and told me: 'Yo... posted on Nov 24, 10216 reads

What Motivates Philanthropists?
"From wartime child refugee to self-made multi-millionaire and philanthropist, Dame Stephanie Shirley's life has been more eventful than most. She arrived in London at the age of five, just weeks before the outbreak of World War II -- one of thousands of Jewish children fleeing the Nazis and coming to Britain as part of the Kindertransport --and was brought up by loving foster parents."I know very... posted on Dec 5, 5162 reads

11 Must-Read Books for Young Leaders
"Recently, I wrote that leaders should be readers. Reading has a host of benefits for those who wish to occupy positions of leadership and develop into more relaxed, empathetic, and well-rounded people. One of the most common follow-up questions was, "Ok, so what should I read?" That's a tough question. There are a number of wonderful reading lists out there... But if I had to focus on a short lis... posted on Dec 19, 33280 reads

The Millionaire Janitor
Tyrone Curry won over $3.4 million dollars in the Washington State lottery 5 years ago and still spends his days sweeping the cafeteria floor at Evergreen High School. "I try to make sure it;s spotless and it's ready for the kids,' he says, with a smile on his face. After cleaning, he goes off to his second job -- coaching the track and field team. "Ten years ago, I said if I win some money, I'm g... posted on Dec 10, 6709 reads

The Repair Cafe
"In 2010 in the Netherlands, disgust with Europe's throw-away culture led former journalist and new mom Martine Postma to stage the first Repair Cafe, an event where members of the community could drop by with defunct items they would otherwise have thrown away, and have them repaired free of charge by volunteer fix-it experts. Since then, Postma's concept has thrived. Almost 40 groups across the ... posted on Mar 6, 8502 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, 31220 reads

Vulnerability: The Key to Emotional Intimacy
She may not be a household name just yet, but when you refer to "the woman who talks about vulnerability," the seven million viewers of her TEDTalks videos know you mean Brene Brown. A research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, Brown has been studying shame, fear, and vulnerability for 12 years. She has presented her findings in three books, on national televi... posted on Dec 20, 55352 reads

Help Your Kids Connect the Dots
"How can can adults nurture children's capacity to "connect the dots" through everyday conversations and activities? How can educators build an environment that leads children to see the patterns that make a difference? In this article, educator and writer Linda Booth Sweeney points out that thinking about systems means paying attention to the interrelationships, patterns, and dynamics that surrou... posted on Dec 24, 20049 reads

Dan Pink's Challenge to You
Some time ago when bad weather forced a commercial flight to divert to Hartford, Connecticut, some 106 miles north of its destination, the plane sat on the runway there for four hours -- without air-conditioning, food or water -- as babies wailed and adults anguished in the darkened cabin. The next day, the airline, which explained that the Hartford airport lacked the customs personnel to process... posted on Dec 26, 10100 reads

My Brother & The Power of Milk Moments
""I hate you, Aditi! I hate you!" my little brother screamed to me just minutes after my college graduation. As I pressed the outside corner of my eye to prevent a tear from escaping, I reminded him not to use hurtful words when he feels upset. Together we searched for the source of his frustration and then addressed it: we would get "New York" pizza once the crowds cleared. At the time, my little... posted on Jan 2, 24580 reads

Bill Gates vs. Mother Teresa
"Two days ago, I was in China, speaking to a bunch of influential business leaders. One of them posed a challenge: "You speak about Vinoba Bhave, the spiritual heir of Gandhi, and how he walked 80K kilometers across India and inspired people to donate 5 million acres to their neighbors. Yes, it might've been an unprecedented feat in the history of mankind, but really, how many people remember Vino... posted on Jan 7, 74795 reads

The Kindness of Beasts
"When I became a father for the first time, at the ripe old age of 44, various historical contingencies saw to it that my nascent son would be sharing his home with two senescent canines. There was Nina, an endearing though occasionally ferocious German shepherd/Malamute cross. And there was Tess, a wolf-dog mix who, though gentle, had some rather highly developed predatory instincts. So, I was a ... posted on Feb 28, 1386 reads

Following Taya: No Ordinary Life
"Taya Doro Mitchell is unusual. At 74, she left East Oakland and moved to a small agricultural community on the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Not knowing anyone there didn't seem to worry her. It wasn't that she was tired of decorating the fresh bullet holes in her windows from the nighttime activities in East Oakland. She had lived there a long time and wasn't afraid -- even coming home late at night... posted on Jan 27, 5683 reads

The Art of Slowing Down
"One key to taking care of ourselves lies in learning how to slow down. I have a friend who's in the middle of a well-deserved sabbatical. These months represent the first chance she's had in two decades to unwind a bit as a working, single mom. 'It's just incredible,' she remarked, 'having time to exercise and read and cook meals and walk outside -- it's really unbelievable.' 'I'm curious,' I ask... posted on Feb 11, 22629 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, 34941 reads

What If Money Was No Object
"What do you desire? What makes you itch? What sort of a situation would you like?" Alan Watts, an English philosopher and writer, routinely asked these very questions to college students in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s. Back then, as in today, many students had no idea what they wanted to do after graduation. Watts' timeless wisdom and guidance to them, as illustrated in this cartoon, str... posted on Feb 18, 0 reads