How One Artist Is Transforming Fear
"Julie Elman, like many artists, struggles with fear of the blank page. The creative process demands risk-taking, resilience, and messiness. An associate professor of visual communication at Ohio University, Elman understood the expectation to practice what she preached. To move beyond her fear and to explore what she was teaching her students, she conceived the Fear Project. People submit their f... posted on Sep 17, 9891 reads

Wendell Berry on How to Be a Poet
"Although poetry itself exerts a singular power over the human spirit... it is hardly a power that comes easily to the poet." In his poem, titled "How to Be a Poet (to remind myself)," the wise and wonderful poet Wendell Berry reminds us of the "vitalizing power of silence and stillness and self-refinement" which are so essential to being a poet, an artist of any kind, and really, a complete human... posted on Oct 17, 14972 reads

Understanding The People We Serve
While there is a huge appetite in development agencies for quantitative data on objective things like health, wealth and education, data on what people actually think lags far behind. And when the United Nations and the Overseas Development Institute finally asked 7.5 million people around the world about their priorities for themselves and their families., more than 80 per cent felt that what hap... posted on Sep 27, 5577 reads

Children Who Shine From Within
In this moving tribute to her daughter, Rachel Macy Stafford reminds us to look for the light within all children. "And it's that time -- time for back-to-school outfits, team tryouts, classroom assessments, and after school clubs. The Butterflies will be noticed. So brilliant. So colorful. Their talents so obvious. But let us not forget the Fireflies. Their triumphs are quiet and unsuspecting. Th... posted on Oct 4, 32825 reads

Walking the World at Three Miles an Hour
Polly Letofsky is the only woman to have walked across the world. She started in 1999 and took over five years. She tells, in an amazing interview, how you need to walk across at least four continents, cover at least 14,000 miles, and get signatures along the way of people who see you walk every day. She got into the Guinness Book of World Records but her own personal motivation was "to discover t... posted on Oct 1, 10234 reads

Leave No Child Inside
In the face-off between children's need for nature and the planet's growing need for more housing, one child, Richard Louv, fought urbanization of his cherished woods, then grew up to write a book about it -- "Last Child in the Woods." A developer who read it was "profoundly disturbed," joined a children-and-nature movement that grows in every arena, from conservation and health to urban design an... posted on Sep 22, 6861 reads

Leadership Lessons From Specially Abled Children
"I was of course at that time focusing on autism specifically. I kind of had a personal understanding of the situation. That led to a very interesting conversation with a very dear friend from Denmark, Thorkil Sonne, who also had a son with autism and who started a software company where all his employees were people on the spectrum. I met him, I tried to understand the model that he is working on... posted on Oct 10, 9040 reads

7200 Kites Flying for Peace and Dignity
This short excerpt from the feature documentary film, Flying Paper, is an uplifting story of Palestinian children in Gaza engaged in the age-old tradition of kite making and flying. The driving narrative of the film centers on a remarkable quest, but showcases the determination and artistic expression of the youth that come together to achieve a shared goal. This quest is a beautiful form of creat... posted on Sep 30, 2696 reads

Goethe's Poems for the Skies
"Since the dawn of our species, the water cycle's most visible expression in the skies --[clouds]-- has bewitched artists, poets, and scientists [...] as a beautiful natural metaphor for the philosophy that there in an inherent balance to life, that what we give will soon be replenished." Here, we read about the "singular quality of prayerfulness to clouds -- a certain secular reverence undergird... posted on Nov 5, 16467 reads

The Little Gardener: A Parable On The Power of Working with Love
"The Little Gardener" is a picture book by Emily Hughes, which is "at heart a parable of purpose -- tender assurance for anyone who has ever undertaken a labor of love against seemingly insurmountable odds and persevered through hardship, continuing to nourishing that labor until the love emanates out, becomes contagious, and draws in kindred spirits as a centripetal force of shared purpose and en... posted on Nov 19, 7412 reads

4 Ways to Build a Positive School
"Schools are a slice of humanity: Everyone brings both their wonderful innate goodness and their challenging globby muck to the classroom. Creating a safe and supportive school culture is one of the most difficult tasks principals face as fearless school leaders. When they succeed, it helps everyone -- students, teachers, and themselves -- bring out the goodness and reduce the muck."... posted on Nov 11, 13949 reads

A Small Town's Beautiful Gift to a Child
At two, Evan Leversage was diagnosed with brain cancer. In the five years since then he has been through extensive chemo and radiation treatments. When the family recently learned that his tumor had grown, and that there were no guarantees on how much time he had left, they had Evan make a bucket list. On it was a trip to Niagara Falls, a movie and his favorite restaurant. Also: Christmas. When ... posted on Nov 7, 11192 reads

Mandela: An Exemplar of Lifelong Learning
Nelson Mandela's remarkable spirit and life story are celebrated the world over. Author Karen MacGregor takes a deeper look into how Mandela used his time on earth as a lifelong learning experience. From formal higher education, to tribal and political education, and then of course, to prison education, the breadth and depth of Mandela's learning is truly remarkable. ... posted on Dec 30, 6087 reads

Three Ways To Bring More Kindness To Your Life
"One of the best ways to increase our own happiness is to do things that make other people happy. In countless studies, kindness and generosity have been linked to greater life satisfaction, stronger relationships, and better mental and physical health-- generous people even live longer." Researchers have argued that kindness is like a muscle that needs to be strengthened through repeated use. H... posted on Dec 12, 21561 reads

The Joys of Giving Large
Jeff Kaufman and Julia Wise are a young couple living in Boston. Jeff is a software engineer at Google and Julia is a social worker. For the past few years they've been giving away nearly 60 percent of their after-tax income to charities working to reduce poverty and save lives in developing countries. ...That's a lot of money, and it sounds like a big sacrifice. But they insist that it isn't...... posted on Dec 5, 11165 reads

Have Wheels Will Shower: Bathroom Buses for the Homeless
If you woke up this morning and showered in the privacy of your own bathroom, consider yourself lucky: America's nearly 600,000 homeless people often don't have a clean place to clean up. But in San Francisco, where the number of homeless has risen seven percent in the last decade, a non-profit organization is putting bathrooms on wheels and driving them to those in need. The group Lava Mae, whose... posted on Jan 6, 11661 reads

A Love Letter to the Wilderness
This love letter to wilderness celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Wilderness Act with stunning images and excerpts of poetry and words on wilderness from Edward Abbey, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Muir and Wallace Stegner. In 50 years, the designated wilderness areas in the United States has grown from nine to 109 million acres, including national forests, national parks, national wildlife r... posted on Jan 3, 5350 reads

Love Life: An Inspiring Journey Spurred by Tragedy
It's impossible to miss Steve Fugate's message when you catch sight of him, an older man pulling a cart of water and supplies. The message emblazoned in big red letters on the sign he carries is simple: "LOVE LIFE." For the last decade and a half 67-year-old Fugate has been walking across America spreading that message town-by-town in every state on the mainland. His mission? "To mend the broken h... posted on Jan 28, 0 reads

95-Year-Old Musician Gets Band Back Together
"Edward Hardy had played with a jazz quartet for nearly 40 years when dementia took hold. Then he moved into a care facility and lost touch with his ensemble. But now the 95-year-old jazz pianist is reliving his musical heyday in his retirement community. With the help of workers at the UK facility where he lives, Hardy was able to post an online ad looking for volunteers to visit him and jam. The... posted on Feb 14, 6126 reads

The Anatomy of Gratitude
Brother David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine monk, teacher and author, speaks with Krista Tippett about gratitude -- a practice increasingly recognized as a key to human well-being. An early pioneer, along with Thomas Merton, of dialogue between Christian and Buddhist monastics, he sees mysticism as the birthright of every human being. And his anatomy of gratitude is full-blooded, reality-based, and re... posted on Feb 9, 20983 reads

Today We're His Family: Teen Volunteers Mourn Stranger's Death
"On the drive to Fairview Cemetery in the Boston neighborhood of Hyde Park, six seniors from Roxbury Latin boys' school sit in silent reflection. Mike Pojman, the school's assistant headmaster and senior adviser, says the trip is a massive contrast to the rest of their school day, and to their lives as a whole right now. Today the teens have volunteered to be pallbearers for a man who died alone i... posted on Feb 5, 6099 reads

The World's Happiest Man on Altruism
""Matthieu Ricard, also known as 'the world's happiest man', spent the best part of 25 years in the Himalayas with barely any contact with the Western world he was born into. At 26-years-old he left behind his molecular biology studies and settled into a life of serenity and spiritual training. However, he is now very much back on the Western scene. When I ask Ricard why he returned, he sighs and ... posted on Feb 20, 26947 reads

What Makes A Person?: Identity's 7 Layers
A persons identity, Amin Maalouf wrote as he contemplated what he so poetically called the genes of the soul, is like a pattern drawn on a tightly stretched parchment. Touch just one part of it, just one allegiance, and the whole person will react, the whole drum will sound. And yet we are increasingly pressured to parcel ourselves out in various social contexts, lacerating the parchment of our id... posted on Mar 7, 17305 reads

The Magic Shop of the Brain
James Doty is a Stanford brain surgeon and a leading convener of research on compassion. In 1968, he wandered into a magic shop and met a woman who taught him what she called "another kind of magic" that freed him from being a victim of life circumstances. Now, James is on the cutting edge of knowledge of how the brain and the heart talk to each other -- both metaphorically and physically. This fa... posted on Apr 17, 32104 reads

Growing Up the Internet
Internet pioneer and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain thinks of the internet as our global brain. Founder of the Webby Awards and a co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, she has directed and co-written 28 films, such as "Brain Power: From Neurons to Networks." She is committed to reframing technology as an expression of the best of what humanity is capable, with all the com... posted on Apr 11, 10401 reads

10 Ways to Have A Better Conversation
"When your job hinges on how well you talk to people, you learn a lot about how to have conversations -- and that most of us don't converse very well. Celeste Headlee has worked as a radio host for decades, and she knows the ingredients of a great conversation: Honesty, brevity, clarity and a healthy amount of listening. In this insightful talk, she shares 10 useful rules for having better convers... posted on Apr 18, 105753 reads

Prison Gardens: Food for Body and Soul
"Prison vegetable gardens, where inmates plant and harvest fresh produce to feed the larger prison population, are on the rise in correctional facilities from New York to Oregon. In addition to being a cost-effective food source, the gardens are seen as a way to save money on healthcare for prisoners struggling with diabetes, hypertension, and other ailments. But the gardening itself provides oppo... posted on Apr 20, 11638 reads

Planting Seeds:
This latest music video by the singer/songwriter team of Nimo Patel and Daniel Nahmod and filmmaker Ellie Walton captures the joy, introspection and inspiration in the song, "Planting Seeds." The song was inspired by Daniel Nahmod's original 2006 Water album, which captures the spirit of doing our part (planting the seeds), but then letting go and not holding on to what may come.... posted on Apr 5, 4392 reads

8 Great Writers On Why Reverence Matters
Reverence. It's a word that has tumbled out of use and favor in today's world. And humanity has paid a high price for that loss. Here, eight writers, including Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver, speak up in voices that are lyrical, incisive, and urgent, drawing us back to the luminous heart of what it means to live reverently.... posted on Apr 14, 38244 reads

How One Woman's App is Feeding Thousands
Komal Ahmad was a student at UC Berkeley when she experienced a life-changing moment. She had just returned from summer training for the U.S. Navy when she met a homeless veteran on the sidewalk. He hadn't eaten in three days. Yet, across the street, thousands of pounds of uneaten food was being thrown away by her school. This was unacceptable to Ahmad, so she did something about it. "Those who ha... posted on May 22, 20501 reads

Peace Pilgrim: The Four Relinquishments
On New Year's Day a woman named Mildred Norman Ryder left behind her home, her family and her name, to begin what would turn into a 28-year walk for 'a meaningful way of life'. Peace Pilgrim's fearlessness, love and simplicity have inspired generations of people worldwide. Here she shares the four relinquishments that powered her way of life. "Once you've made the first relinquishment, you have fo... posted on May 4, 20392 reads

Moina Shaiq's Meet A Muslim Initiative
Moina Shaiq has lived in the United States for close on four decades. This mother and grandmother is also a tireless community activist. The tragic shootings in Paris and San Bernadino brought home to her the widespread misunderstandings that surrounded the Islamic faith. So she decided to do something about it. She placed a "Meet a Muslim" ad in a local paper, inviting people to come spend an hou... posted on May 10, 16126 reads

Learning Generosity from a Homeless Child
On her annual trip home to visit her parents, author Homaira Kabir decided to invest some of her time and finances into a worthwhile cause. And despite finding many situations in which to share her generosity, it was paradoxically -- the generosity of a homeless child that made her pause and ponder the meaning of life and what makes it truly worth living.... posted on Jun 5, 14153 reads

What Matters Most?
Most of us make our way through life bogged down by our day-to-day rituals, and the demands of jobs, families and friends. But as author Patty de Llosa points out, it is imperative to stop and ask ourselves a very important question, "What do I really want?" It is a question that de Llosa believes ignites and brings to the forefront what we truly feel passionate about. In this blog post, de Llosa ... posted on Sep 16, 12485 reads

Outsmart Your Next Angry Outburst
"Robert and Howard had always gotten along well. They'd worked on several projects together and considered each other friends. So when Robert discovered that Howard held a strategy meeting and hadn't included him, he felt betrayed. He immediately shot off a text to Howard: I can't believe you didn't include me in that meeting!" Howard, who has his own narrative around Robert's previous actions res... posted on May 26, 28085 reads

The Brightness of a Greyhound Journey
"Our new driver was a brisk lady, vigilant but amiable. As we hit the road again, she introduced herself over the speakers and set the rules for the journey. She spoke clearly from experience and I wondered what kinds of situations she'd had to handle in the past. 'If you smoke on my bus, I will let you go immediately. If you do alcohol or drugs on rest stops, that is where you'll stay. It will be... posted on May 27, 14346 reads

The Great Unknown Is Me, Myself
"Jacob Needleman's voice has been prominent in the conversation about man's inner possibilities for some forty years. Turning away from a career in medicine toward philosophy while at Harvard, he went on to Yale, and then moved west when a position opened up at San Francisco State University. While teaching there, he found himself more and more drawn toward man's perennial questions. Making a deci... posted on Jun 11, 17710 reads

Rebecca Solnit: Falling Together
Rebecca Solnit, author and contributing editor of Harper's, seeks "to describe nuances and shades of meaning, to celebrate public life and solitary life...to find another way of telling." Her profound books defy category as she chronicles untold histories of redemptive change in places like post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans because, "when all the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, peopl... posted on Jun 25, 11048 reads

A World of Solutions
Directed by Louie Schwartzberg and narrated by Morgan Freeman, this video shows the beauty and natural violence of millions of years of evolution and the impact of humans on this complex system in less than 200 years. However, while we are still in peril, we have the means to solve our problems in the present. Just as mycelium root systems feed all plant life, humans can use modern technology, suc... posted on Jun 28, 3842 reads

The Body's Grace: Insights from a Paralyzed Yoga Teacher
"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, incl... posted on Jun 29, 30241 reads

A Eulogy for My Mother
"For the first 58 years of my life, I would have to say that my relationship to my mother was a complex and difficult one. She was a huge personality, full of great passions, creativity, rages, and generosity. I remember saying to friends that I loved my mother in small doses, but that she didn't come in small doses. She was a force of nature." Celebrated filmmaker Mickey Lemle has shared the sto... posted on Jul 1, 47016 reads

When Resting is Resistance
Activists are impatient for the world we want to see. But though we seek to build a world beyond capitalism, we still fall into its traps, like the need for ceaseless productivity. We transpose capitalist definitions of 'success' onto social movements. We're either winning or losing. Within capitalism, if you're not growing and improving, you're failing. Some of us fight because our lives depend o... posted on Jul 27, 14683 reads

Why We Should Teach Empathy to Preschoolers
"Various studies show that the more empathy a child displays, the less likely they are to engage in bullying, online and in real life. Empathic children and adolescents are more likely to engage in positive social behaviors, like sharing or helping others. They're also less likely to be antisocial and exhibit uncontrolled aggressive behaviors. That's a big reason why educators have been devoting m... posted on Jul 8, 33511 reads

Former Dress Shop Owner Feeds Thousands Through Gardening
What started out as a simple gardening project for a grad student has now grown into a multitude of flourishing gardens, and a community coming together. This is the story of how the Randolph Street Community Garden came to give nearly 2,000 people access to fresh fruits, and vegetables and become a place where food, fun, and friendships grow.... posted on Jul 21, 7262 reads

The Beauty of Human Skin in Every Color
It has been 128 years since the last country abolished slavery, and 53 years since Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, yet we still live in a world where the color of our skin gives a first and leaves a lasting impression. Angelica Dass's portrait project, Humanae, challenges how we think about skin color and ethnicity. What does it mean for us to be "black, white, yellow, red." Is ... posted on Jul 9, 3971 reads

The Benefits of Learning to Be Kind to Yourself
"Human beings are the only creatures who can make themselves miserable. Other animals certainly suffer when they experience negative events, but only humans can induce negative emotions through self-views, judgments, expectations, regrets and comparisons with others. Because self-thought plays such a central role in human happiness and wellbeing, psychologists have devoted a good deal of attention... posted on Aug 3, 30658 reads

How One Man Brought Back A Rare Butterfly Species
Bursting with hues of the ocean and the midnight sky, the wings of the Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly are considered some of the most beautiful in North America. The species has thrived in the San Francisco area for centuries, but recent development has caused the butterfly species to slowly begin to disappear. Enter 28-year-old Tim Wong who raises butterflies in his backyard as a hobby and who is... posted on Aug 14, 6075 reads

A Tribute to Mr. Happy Man
For over thirty years, Bermuda's Johnny Barnes stationed himself every morning for six hours at a busy traffic intersection. He made sure to tell all who passed by that he loved them. His delight and sincerity were infectious, and the people of the island loved him back. His service was a simple reminder of the power of happiness and loving-kindness to change any day for the better. Though Barnes ... posted on Jul 13, 5924 reads

Three Steps to Living a Life of Gratefulness
"In any process, we can distinguish a beginning, a middle, and an end. We may use this basic three-step grid for the practice of gratitude: What happens at the start, in the middle, and at the end, when we experience gratitude? What fails to happen when we are not grateful?...To be awake, aware, and alert are the beginning, middle, and end of gratitude. This gives us the clue to what the three bas... posted on Jul 19, 25494 reads

Letting Love Come In: Lessons from a Nursing Home
"Two and a half years ago my grandmother was placed in a nursing home where she will live out the rest of her life. She has dementia and so her memory capacity has been marred. Somehow though she remembers kindness. She is my constant teacher. One of things we like to do is walk down the halls in the nursing facility saying hello to the other residents...When I go to the nursing facility, it i... posted on Jul 22, 15934 reads