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, 74797 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, 5684 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, 22631 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, 34942 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

What If Money Were 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, stri... posted on Feb 19, 42988 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 Mar 1, 9641 reads

An Astounding Act of High School Sportsmanship
A special needs student from a Texas high school, Mitchell Marcus, scored a basket in the final game of the season after a player from the opposing team gave up the ball. Mitchell is the team manager for the Coronado Thunderbirds and an avid basketball fan. So with 90 seconds left in the last game of the season, Coach Peter Morales put Marcus into the game. "Mitchell's a great shot," his mother A... posted on Mar 3, 20821 reads

What Signs Are You Not Seeing?
"I want you to think about some of the big signs with big messages that I bet you wish you could wear around your neck sometimes so that people would be more gentle ... or even that you could put around the neck of someone you love ... my husband had an accident in 2004 that injured the frontal lobe of his brain. It has taken 6 years to get him back but in the middle there, between 2004 and now lo... posted on Mar 19, 75034 reads

The One Thing They Carried With Them
"If you had to quickly flee both your home and country, what one possession would you make sure you take with you? It's a question that reveals a lot about your life and values, and, unfortunately, is one that many people around the world actually have to answer. NYC-based photographer Brian Sokol has been working on a project supported by the UN Refugee Agency titled "The Most Important Thing." I... posted on Mar 26, 33504 reads

Aikido: The Art of Turning Conflict on its Head
"Growing up in a tough neighborhood of Kansas City, Andrew LeBar learned from an early age to hold his own. When someone pushed him, he pushed back."I had hard eyes," recalls LeBar, who still carries the stance of a bulldog and has the square jaw to match...Heading back to school at the University of Kansas in his 30s, LeBar decided to try aikido, a Japanese martial art, thinking he might pick up ... posted on Apr 1, 16560 reads

The Beauty of Wabi Sabi
In The Beauty of Wabi Sabi, Author Leonard Koren writes about the history of wabi-sabi, a Japanese aesthetic of anything that is imperfect, impermanent, or incomplete, which is, of course, the antithesis of the Classical Western idea of beauty as something perfect, enduring, and/or monumental. Rather, its attraction resides in the inconspicuous and overlooked details, in what is hidden, and tentat... posted on Apr 23, 31118 reads

Roger Ebert Goes Gently Into That Good Night
Celebrated film critic Roger Ebert passed away yesterday from cancer. In 2009, he'd shared a beautiful reflection on his own mortality, called 'Go Gently Into That Good Night:' "I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear. I hope to be spared as much pain as possible on the approach path. I was perfectly content before I was born... posted on Apr 5, 40336 reads

25 Choices that Lead to Happiness
Nancy Rothstein lost her son in a car accident when he was just 15 years old. Seeking to pay tribute to his life and spirit she created a beautiful list titled “Ways to Celebrate Life” to share with friends and family. Each year on what would have been Josh’s next birthday, she adds another item to the list. Josh would have turned 25 this year, a quarter-century marker that insp... posted on Apr 22, 9599 reads

A 3-Step Guide to Practical Contentment
"We start out in life thinking that we're awesome. We can dance in public as 5-year-olds and not care what others think of us. By the time we're adults, that's driven out of us." We doubt, judge, and criticize ourselves as we strive for happiness. In this article, Leo Babauta discusses how to reclaim contentment and why it can be a better thing to strive for than happiness. In this piece the autho... posted on Jun 22, 37129 reads

An Interview with the World's Happiest Man
Matthieu Ricard, an author with a PhD in cell genetics, is also a Buddhist monk who serves as the Dalai Lama's French interpreter. In this interview, Matthieu speaks to us about his book, "Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill." He explores how individuals tend to spend considerable time and energy pursuing external circumstances in the hopes of attaining happiness, but expl... posted on May 14, 56118 reads

10 Ways to Get Ahead Through Giving
Why do some people become successful while others do not? Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at The Wharton School, has studied this question and what he found is surprising: "The people most likely to rise to the top are often those who give the most to others -- people Grant calls 'givers,' as opposed to the 'takers' who try to get as much as possible from others and the 'matchers' who t... posted on May 29, 33130 reads

5 Ways to Develop Ecoliteracy
A growing number of educators emphasize the need to foster learning that prepares youth for the ecological challenges facing our planet. While social and emotional intelligence extend students' abilities to see from another's perspective, empathize, and show concern, "ecoliteracy" applies these abilities to an understanding of natural systems and an empathy for all of life. This thoughtful article... posted on Sep 26, 31450 reads

Why Do We Not Ask For Help?
"My husband and I have just spent two weeks on a skiing vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with our three adult kids. We were greeted by other family members and their adult kids, so to say the least, there were Feltons everywhere. Unfortunately, one of the family members ("Nan") was out skiing on the first day and broke her shoulder in four places. She had never had a traumatic injury before. For... posted on Jul 18, 9414 reads

11 Places So Beautiful It's Hard to Believe They Exist!
"Our world is so full of wonders that new and amazing places are discovered every day, be that by professional photographers or amateurs. Different geographical locations, climatic conditions and even seasons offer the widest variety of natural wonders: pink lakes, stunning lavender or tulip fields, breath-taking canyons and mountains, and other places you can hardly believe actually exist! Some o... posted on May 15, 274930 reads

How Imagination Shapes Reality
Have you ever imagined something so vivid, so profoundly tangible and seemingly a part of you, that you weren't sure if it was a dream or reality? Well, it may just be both! Novelist and writing teacher, Gabriel Cohen, unites science and spirituality, and provides insight on how "a growing body of research supports what spiritual contemplatives have known for millennia -- that the human capacity... posted on May 6, 105955 reads

Ladder to the Pleiades
"My daughter, Hannah Virginia, who recently turned three years old, is teaching me about the stars. Far from being a liability to her, my own profound astronomical ignorance has turned out to be her boon and, through her, a boon to me as well. The most important thing the kid has taught me is the brilliant, open secret that if you don't go outside and look up, you won't see anything. Every night b... posted on May 26, 56804 reads

Are You In Control of Your Decisions?
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely doesn't buy into the notion of immutable human rationality, upon which economic study is traditionally based. In fact, he says, we are often predictably irrational. We understand our preferences less well than we imagine; and all-too-frequently our decision-making is manipulated by the way in which alternatives are presented. We know our physical limitations, and we... posted on Jun 9, 5123 reads

A Moving Letter from Fiona Apple
Opening up her heart to her fans or "a few thousand friends I have not met yet" in her own words, Fiona Apple lays her vulnerabilities bare in this touching and most-humane note to cancel an upcoming concert tour so she can be with her dying dog. Her words share the deep joy and dedication she feels for her most cherished companion of 14 years, Janet - a rescued pitbull who seems the embodiment o... posted on Jun 16, 22149 reads

5 Life Lessons From 56 Up
Have you ever stopped to look back and reflect on the journey of your life thus far? Do you wonder what it would be like if at different phases in the past, you had the wisdom you have now from lessons learned through the years? "The "Up" documentaries have followed 14 people from ages seven to 56 -- and in the process illustrated recent discoveries about the science of a meaningful life." Their... posted on Nov 4, 36434 reads

12 Productivity Tips From Incredible Busy People
"'Personal productivity is a key differentiator between those who succeed in their chosen field and those who do not,' says bestselling author Brian Tracy. Leaders and entrepreneurs who are at the top of their game know how to achieve what they want in less time than others. We can learn a lot from the tactics of these successful, and incredibly busy, individuals on how to better organize our own ... posted on Aug 12, 154412 reads

The Man with 10,000 Tales
"Harold Scheub first went to South Africa on a safari of sorts. In 1967, at the height of apartheid, Scheub--an earnest Midwestern twenty-something with a stint in the Air Force under his belt and a freshly awarded Master's degree in English -- packed a rucksack and hopped a bus for the backcountry. But instead of guns and ammo, he was armed with a bulky tape recorder and D batteries. Scheub wasn'... posted on Jun 25, 13729 reads

Wavy Gravy: Saint Misbehavin
"I was asked, in the mid-seventies, to go the Children's Hospital in Oakland and cheer up kids. On the way out the door of my house, someone handed me a red, rubber nose. I discovered it enabled me to get out of myself and be entertaining to the kids. After awhile, I began to paint my face up as a clown. I worked with kids almost every day for about seven years. I had to go to a political rally at... posted on May 18, 4250 reads

We Are Gardeners of the Wilderness
"We've entered what some scientists are calling the Anthropocene -- a new geologic epoch in which human activity, more than any other force, steers change on the planet. Just as we're now causing the vast majority of extinctions, the vast majority of endangered species will only survive if we keep actively rigging the world around them in their favor ... We are gardening the wilderness. The line b... posted on Sep 5, 14566 reads

The Power of Creative Constraints
What if a hospital decided to serve anyone who came to its doors, regardless of whether they could pay, and still committed to providing world-class quality care? Can such a self-imposed constraint actually help drive innovation? And what if that constraint is geared toward solving a problem of global proportions, without any outside funding? An almost incomprehensibly ambitious vision to rid the ... posted on Jun 10, 48681 reads

The Gift Hidden in the Heart of Disaster
"Disaster reveals what else the world could be like - reveals the strength of that hope, that generosity and that solidarity. It reveals mutual aid as a default operating principle and civil society as something waiting in the wings when it's absent from the stage." In this interview with Rebecca Solnit, she explores the reasons behind the paradoxical truth that when disaster strikes, the better p... posted on Jun 24, 15110 reads

Uncovering the Blind Spot of Leadership
Why do many of our attempts to address the challenges of our times fail? This article presents the view that two leaders in the same environment acting in the same way can bring about completely different outcomes depending on the inner place from which each operates. We know very little about this inner dimension and this lack of knowledge constitutes a blind spot in our approach to leadership an... posted on Jul 9, 95404 reads

Manic Nation: Why We're Addicted to Stress
How many of us have gotten that excited sensation when our smartphones beep with a text or notification of an email? And perhaps like an involuntary reaction we sometimes reach for our phone to check the new message, even if in the middle of a conversation with a friend. In this informative and thought-provoking account of Dr. Peter Whybrow's work, we learn about the fascinating findings of neur... posted on Aug 11, 24937 reads

The Power of Enough
A beautiful reflection unfolds when this writer explores a simple Balinese tradition that points to the power of enough. With wisdom and eloquence she invites us to "to keep our desires and aspirations in proper proportion with our gratitude and good intentions" so that you "can experience a sense of ease between your wishes for what might be and your gratitude for the beauty of what is."... posted on Aug 19, 34743 reads

Living in the Age of Distraction
"The evidence is plentiful these days that distracted people cause harm to themselves and to others. We read reports of fatal train accidents caused by the engineer texting and of commercial flights crashing because pilots were chatting. Pedestrians and drivers are killed because they're on the phone. We need look no further than ourselves to observe distraction. How long can you focus on any acti... posted on Jun 7, 68763 reads

Lessons from Messes
"While making tacos one evening several years ago, I heard the pitter-patter of my son's toddler toes scampering toward me, paired with a hearty, mischievous giggle. I remember thinking, "I wonder what's so funny...He's been so quiet, playing all by himself." A quiet toddler? Playing by himself? For 30 minutes? I should have known better: rookie mistake. I turned to greet my then 16-month-old and ... posted on Jun 29, 17680 reads

7 Paths to a Meaningful Life
Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo, a giant in the field of social psychology, delivered a commencement address at the University of Puget Sound in May. He is now a professor at Palo Alto University, a professor emeritus at Stanford University, and the president of the Heroic Imagination Project. In the speech Dr. Zimbardo lays out seven paths to personal happiness and collective well-being based on insight... posted on Jul 25, 120697 reads

Tiny Superheroes: Acknowledging The Heroism of Children
How many of us have seen children tie towels around their shoulders and race around as superheroes? In just four months, Robyn Rosenberger has given 500 children battling difficult medical conditions that feeling of invincibility by making custom capes for each one. She posts stories of these Tiny Superheroes to give each child a voice and a face for their condition. These capes are more than just... posted on Jun 18, 6074 reads

Solving the World's Biggest Problems
Echoing Green invests in individuals with the creativity and passion to "solve the world's biggest problems." Its fellowship recipients are young, bold, and talented. Get to know this innovative funding organization by meeting some of its social entrepreneurs and previewing a few of their projects: emergency medical response for urban India, micro-capital investment programs for rural West Africa,... posted on Apr 19, 2617 reads

Elizabeth Gilbert: Beyond Eat, Pray, Love
"I think I have more compassion than if I had led a life where everything worked out exactly as I had planned or if I had never been wounded or if I had never been betrayed or I had never been harmed. I don't think I would be as good a person. I'm still aspiring to be a better and better person, but I think those disappointments have made me gentler with other people and their disappointments, the... posted on Sep 30, 23690 reads

Gaze Even Here
How do we look upon the brokenness of ourselves and the world, and in fixing our gaze, relinquish our desire to fix or change? Is it possible to just be with what is broken, to look, and in looking, come to love? Click here to walk with Trebbe Johnson through the clearcut forests of Vancouver, and journeys towards an acceptance of the world as it is.... posted on Jan 10, 8468 reads

How Doctors Die
What does it mean to provide true healthcare? Do we look to doctors to cure and save us, or to help improve our quality of life? Already under immense pressure, today's doctors face a stark paradox: providing more care often means a larger paycheck and less risk of litigation, but doesn't always correspond with a patient's wishes or a doctor's better judgment. Speaking from his own experience, Ken... posted on Jan 25, 114968 reads

Malala's Birthday Wish
It is customary to make a wish on one's birthday. On her sixteenth birthday, nine months after being shot in the head in an assassination attempt by a Taliban gunman in northwest Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai addressed the United Nations Youth Assembly in New York with a wish for universal equality, universal opportunity, and universal education. Once targeted for death because of her outspoken advoc... posted on Jul 13, 6280 reads

Steve McCurry: Family Matters
Steve McCurry has been a one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than 30 years, with scores of magazine and book covers, over a dozen books, and countless exhibitions around the world to his name. He brought the world the first visuals of the conflict in Afghanistan, putting a human face to the issue with the celebrated image of the Afghan Girl and many other such powerf... posted on Sep 9, 8333 reads

Soul Surfer: Braving Life's Sharks
Kara Holden, screenwriter of the film "Soul Surfer" offers an eloquent reflection inspired by a conversation with Bethany Hamilton on whose life the film is based. Bethany is a surfer who lost her arm in a horrific shark attack. She valiantly returned to surfing less than a month after the incident and would go on to win numerous championships. In this piece the author probes into the reasoning be... posted on Jul 20, 42796 reads