To Be Content Is to Be Grateful
Even after the most traumatic events, we can still find contentment. One way to achieve this is through gratitude. When Cynthia Mee lost everything in a house fire, instead of looking at it as something destructive, she saw it as educational -- grateful for the life lessons she never would have encountered had it not happened. She was grateful for being alive; the fire hadn't killed her. The Red C... posted on Aug 20, 12267 reads

Living In Deep Time
"To be a contemplative is to learn to trust deep time,...to learn how to rest there and not be wrapped up in chronological time." Richard Rohr discusses the contemplative life, how to transition into deep meaning as we age, the challenge of generations engaging in spiritual transformation and applying this work in his retreats for men. He likens the contemplative life to the mythic hero's journey:... posted on Sep 11, 15156 reads

Thom Bond: Changing the Conversation with NVC
In 2002 Thom Bond was a successful environmental engineer, passionate about designing smart buildings that used alternative energy. Then he chanced upon Marshall Rosenberg's landmark book on Non-Violent Communication. "By the time I read Chapter 1, it hit me that I had found what I was looking for." Thom realized instinctively that he'd come upon a new technology -- one that was human-oriented as ... posted on Jul 9, 21072 reads

Change Yourself, Change Your Story
"Storytelling, recognised in every society as a way of making sense of cultural roots or social reality, is an elaborate form of metaphor, and memoir is its masterpiece: life stories enable us to share insights and enhance mutual understanding in a social, political, psychological and spiritual sense. Memoir is revolutionary precisely because, when shared, it's a way towards the truth." In this es... posted on Jun 10, 9553 reads

The Gift of Cold
"For our ancestors, winter was a test of survival," writes Fabiana Fondevila, a journalist, children's book author and ritual maker from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She remarks that "although ... many of us ... have heated homes, transportation and warm clothing, the season of bare trees takes us back to the experience of that first vulnerability." In this poignant essay on winter, Fondevila encourag... posted on Nov 16, 14782 reads

Ani Choying: Gratitude and Service
Ani Choying Drolma never expected to be a Rockstar Nun. She only wanted to be of benefit to others in her life and has done so in many ways. She suffered abuse as a child, yet her heart is full of compassion, not resentment. She went on to adopt a child and eventually inspired a foundation to support others in helping orphans. Her gift of singing was eventually shared not out of ego, but out of a ... posted on Nov 20, 10802 reads

The Three Sacred Tasks: A Climate Scientist & Father Reflects
Disconcerted by the dramatic changes underway in Earth's climate systems, Climate scientist and father Peter Kalmus set out on a quest to change his life and the world. A quest that led him ultimately to cut his climate impact to less than a tenth of the US average, while simultaneous increasing his sense of joy and fulfillment. What follows are two excerpts from his new book "Being the Change: Li... posted on Aug 19, 9530 reads

Inside the Mind of Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin, renowned American author, animal behavior expert, and advocate for autistic people, has written many books -- including Animals in Translation, The Autistic Brain, and Thinking in Pictures -- and is currently a professor of animal science at Colorado State University. In this 60 minute interview on Insights at the Edge you'll learn the differences between verbal and visual thinkers... posted on Dec 28, 7241 reads

Fighting Bullying Through Hip-Hop
Through the power of music, New York City actor Nate Lombardo has been able to help stop bullying in elementary schools all over the US. He founded Groovy Projects, an educational initiative incorporating music, rap and performance to empower elementary school students by showing them how being positive and creative can make life better for everyone. Students say they have discovered that they h... posted on Feb 3, 1766 reads

An Unexpected Friend at Our Awakin Circle
Awakin Circles started two decades ago when a family in California decided to open their living room on a weekly basis for people to practice stillness, participate in a circle of sharing, and partake of a meal together. Today there are dozens of Awakin Circles held in homes that span the globe. In these ordinary settings, extraordinary stories unfold. Such as this one from an Awakin Circle held e... posted on Oct 13, 12129 reads

Algorithms & Love: Dancing with the Creative Tension of Our Time
"The data we can extract, the data we handily give up for the sake of short-term convenience or simply out of ignorance, is of monumental proportions. But we extract all this data to what end?" In a recent talk, ServiceSpace founder Nipun Mehta paints a vivid picture of today's world -- a world where algorithms powered by big data undergird almost every field of human endeavor, and have brought us... posted on Aug 17, 22070 reads

The Kindness Bus
Bob Votruba lives in converted bus, a response to a mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. Instead of falling into fear and hate, Bob decided to fight hate with kindness. He bought an old school bus, sold everything, and hit the road. His goal? To commit one million acts of kindness in his lifetime. Bob's particular focus is on ending bullying and associated adolescent suicides, but he encourages... posted on Sep 29, 14133 reads

7 Simple Ways to Cultivate Comfort
How can we find comfort for ourselves and bring it to others, amidst sadness, stress, or loss? We need not look beyond our capacity to lend an open ear, share a warm smile, offer a hug, or voice a simple thank you. In this insightful article, author Colette Lafia shares 7 ways we can be messengers of comfort, bringing peace and compassion to ourselves, families, friends, communities, and the world... posted on Feb 25, 33542 reads

Odes to Ordinary Things
Inspired by the gift of a book of "Odes to Common Things" by Pablo Neruda, the editors at A Network for Grateful Living, extended an invitation to submit odes to "ordinary things." The response was happy and immediate. Their inbox steadily filled with poems celebrating weeds, streetlights, shoes and crickets. There were love letters to a blender bottle, an acorn, slippers, an iPad -- even to the v... posted on Sep 24, 9893 reads

On Death Row: Creating Art from Pain
"American Buddhist artist, Moyo, studies the image of the Buddha using a multitude of mediums. Purposeful strokes of prison-issued watercolor paint, jewel-toned ink, colored pencil, and crayon all come together to manifest his unique vision of the Buddha almost always depicted with a delicate smile. He does this from his cell in solitary confinement, smaller than the average parking space, where h... posted on Sep 28, 13408 reads

Being and Doing
Sometimes life seems like a never-ending battle between doing and being. If I wish to be present, I need to turn my attention toward myself, but most of us lose our connection with ourselves as soon as we go into movement. Yet as we watch great dancers, great athletes and great actors move, we can't help but see how deeply connected they are with themselves, seemingly listening to themselves while... posted on Dec 13, 13134 reads

A Call for Another Way of Living
After he was asked to leave the order of the Christian Brothers, and with no training in filmmaking, Godfrey Reggio made the remarkable Qatsi trilogy. He had a way of following his own vision. "What I learned is that it's what I did every day that determined what I was going to think. I've never forgotten that. Every now and then, I'll give a convocation address at a university and I try to always... posted on Oct 25, 11624 reads

Five Habits of the Heart
In Habits of the Heart, Parker Palmer describes ways of seeing, being, and responding to life that involve our minds, our emotions, our self-images, our concepts of meaning and purpose that are critical to sustaining society. These five habits are: an understanding that we are all in this together; an appreciation of the value of "otherness"; an ability to hold tension in life-giving ways; a sense... posted on Jan 2, 23444 reads

How Gratitude Can Transform Your Workplace
While you may not associate gratitude or expressions of appreciation with the workplace, they're beginning to have a powerful impact on how employees relate to one another, as well as rates of satisfaction, stress, and even sick days. Many organizations have been developing ways to overcome the barriers that often inhibit expressions of thanks among employees, and finding that the effects extend f... posted on Jul 4, 10500 reads

Mind the Stream: Where Mindfulness and Technology Meet
"Look around you. How many devices are bidding for your attention? If someone came into your dwelling space, could they tell what year it was by the technology that immediately surrounded you, or would they have to dig a little deeper?" Writer Emily Barr poses these questions, and others in this reflective essay that weaves together the latest findings around how our minds and our lives are being... posted on Oct 11, 13776 reads

Stone by Stone
Facing a row of heavy sodden soil to be turned by hand, and looking up at the wider project of other rows; these moments come up in so many ways over and over in our lives. "How will this all get done?" we wonder. The choices to procrastinate, to look for a quicker or easier method, or to give up and walk away declaring "It can't be done!" are all possibilities. The approach we take in each of the... posted on Dec 2, 11255 reads

Spotlight on Peacemakers
It is so easy to stir the stew, to add your own spice and heat to it until it boils over rendering anything inside charred and devoid of nutrition. How much more difficult it is to soothe an angry temper, to see from another's point of view, to broker peace? In this Spotlight on Peacemakers, we take a look back at DailyGood features on remarkable people who have brought peace to tense situations a... posted on Oct 18, 1567 reads

How to Build Trust and Lead Effectively
Cameron Stauth believes that the world is in the worst crisis of trust that we have ever seen, and that it manifests in almost every aspect of life: business, politics, media, friendships, and families. “We all need a big dose of a healthy degree of trust, and we need to learn how.” Cameron teamed up with counterintellience expert Robin Dreeke to write a book on how to build trust that... posted on Feb 5, 12726 reads

Great Writers on the Letters of the Alphabet
Late in life the English poet, novelist, essayist, and social justice advocate Sir Stephen Spender asked artist David Hockney to draw each letter of the alphabet, then invited twenty-nine of the greatest writers in the English language to each contribute a short original text for one of the letters. Among them: Susan Sontag, Seamus Heaney, Martin Amis, John Updike, Joyce Carol Oates, Ted Hughes, I... posted on Dec 16, 7140 reads

The Intelligence of Plants
Plants are intelligent; perform complex mathematical computations; plan for the future; and even interpret meaning. Stephen Harrod Buhner came to this conclusion by opening his understanding up to the many cultures and individuals who have listened to plants in order to learn what they have to say. He learned from the direct stories of indigenous people whose first person accounts all said they le... posted on Mar 9, 24978 reads

Why Your Brain Needs to Dream
Matthew Walker, neuroscientist and author of "Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams," maintains that dreaming is like overnight therapy and that it enhances creativity and problem-solving. He shares more in this article that also includes five tips for enhancing sleep. ... posted on Apr 22, 17574 reads

Embracing Holy Envy
"In 1985, Lutheran Bishop Krister Stendahl, in defending the building of a Mormon temple by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Stockholm, enunciated "Three Rules of Religious Understanding:" "When trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies."'Don't compare your best to their worst," and:
"Leave room for holy envy."... posted on Mar 14, 3706 reads

The Empty Promise of Productivity and the Art of Slowing Down
How often do we add items to our lengthy to-do lists, squeeze an extra meeting into an already packed day, or find ourselves focused on the task before us, only to be repeatedly interrupted? In a world of constant movement, it's easy to neglect to give ourselves the care, attention, and leisure time we deserve. "What if we applied the same principles we use for mastering our workdays to become mas... posted on Dec 26, 21250 reads

Walking as Creative Fuel
Over one hundred years ago, Scottish writer Kenneth Grahame, author of The Wind in the Willows, penned an essay entitled, "The Fellow that Goes Alone" about the simplest of activities that can yield the most creative thoughts: walking. In this ode to ambulating, Maria Popova weaves together quotes and excerpts from literature's big proponents of the timeless exercise, creating a piece that celebra... posted on Jan 27, 12720 reads

The Healing Place
Jay Davidson is no stranger to the significant, often life-shattering consequences of alcoholism. That's why he founded The Healing Place, a residential facility for alcohol and substance abuse recovery in Louisville, Kentucky. Modeled after the 12-Step Program, the shelter provides peer-to-peer support to participants, who live together for 9 months, go to AA meetings together, and support one an... posted on Feb 10, 12187 reads

Bringing Life to Organizational Change
The gift of organizational change is its ability to simplify complex concepts and inspire the exercise of freedom and creativity. Its goal is to create a future worth wanting. Although now 20 years old, in this article Wheatley and Kellner-Rogers suggest four principles, three rules of engagement and four questions to ask that are more relevant than ever. ... posted on Apr 11, 14216 reads

Poets and Sages Behind Closed Doors
Not all of us will reach old age. The lucky among us who aren't lost to disease, accident, or other unforeseen circumstances will have decades of adjustments to make as we age. We slow down, lines etch our faces, grey finds its way into our hair. At a certain point, it's likely that some of us will end up in care facilities -- whether due to the lack of surviving relatives to help, or simply be... posted on Feb 20, 16633 reads

Cotton and Silk: Reflections of a Seamstress
"When someone asked me my profession, I tried to come up with an elaborate, elevated word for seamstress. And when I tried to describe what I did, people's eyes glazed over and I experienced a sad, lonely feeling. Well, you are what you are. Eventually, I discovered that the whole point of life is to know yourself. This long process has been, and is, much more interesting than trying to find mysel... posted on Feb 11, 3936 reads

The Secret to Happiness Around the World
Despite the many differences in what constitutes happiness in countries around the world, there are some common threads. The most notable has to do with material wealth: Few, if any, people around the globe find happiness through personal possessions and financial success. Rather, they tend to attain it by appreciating the little things in life and, more importantly, the people in their lives. Her... posted on Feb 21, 21340 reads

A Winter Walk: An Excerpt
Henry David Thoreau sings praises of winter, "the wonderful purity of nature ...(when) the dead leaves of autumn, are concealed by a clean napkin of snow... A cold and searching wind drives away all contagion, and nothing can withstand it but what has a virtue in it." In spite of the cold we recognize in this early springtime that "There is a slumbering subterranean fire in nature which never goes... posted on Mar 19, 11122 reads

Unknown Hero: A Conversation with Loren Cole
Loren Cole was first recommended to Richard Whittaker as someone who could help prepare tax returns for his non-profit. Driving up to his home, Whittaker had no idea what was in store. Cole is the founder of his own non-profit, Inquiring Systems Inc. "ISI worked with organizations founded on visions of contributing to the greater good. What Loren offered was 'ethical and sustainable ecosystem mana... posted on Aug 29, 2179 reads

Wild Faith
"Sometimes the nearly unbearable beauty of the world overwhelms me. I tremble with a felt-sense that the magnificence that saturates the cosmos surely reflects the possibility, even now, of human magnificence. And then, as if I've crossed an invisible bridge to a waypoint of despair, I wonder how the mysterious, self-organizing wild Earth can peacefully co-exist with the absurdities and catastroph... posted on Mar 15, 19391 reads

To Light Up the Sky Together
The Indian spiritual leader Vinoba Bhave began the Bhoodan (Land-Gift) Movement, walking for 20 years through the length and breadth of India persuading land owners and landlords to give land to their poor, totaling four million acres of land. He tells us: "Our real strength lies in the fact that we are servants. The divinity in each and every person can be witnessed and reached, only when you app... posted on May 2, 5773 reads

Etty Hillesum: A Celebrant of Life
While you may know the story of Anne Frank, you may not be aware of the life of Etty Hillesum. She lived in Amsterdam and wrote a diary in which she documented her inner shift from a bourgeois woman plagued by neuroses and self-doubt to someone who, in the midst of the filth and deprivation of a concentration camp, could gaze towards the sky crying "tears of deep emotion and gratitude". More in t... posted on May 14, 15885 reads

Joanna Macy: We Belong
Eco-philosopher, activist, and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy has been at the forefront of movements for social justice and environmentalism for more than five decades. This interview with her is about hope in times of chaos and dissolution. Is apathy a refusal to face the inevitability of suffering? Why is the state of the environment heartbreaking? Joanna also talks about our relationship with the... posted on May 30, 8746 reads

The Butterfly Child
At 14 years old, Jonathan Pitre appears to have a superhuman ability to deal with the constant pain of epidermolysis bullosa, the rare disease that has been a part of his life from infancy. In this moving and inspiring video we get a glimpse of his life and that of his devoted mother, as they face daunting challenges with love, strength, courage and the heroic ability to reach out and inspire othe... posted on Mar 17, 4940 reads

Teach Me To Be WILD
Teach Me to Be WILD is a film that explores the work of Wildlife Associates, a sanctuary in Northern California, where injured, non-releasable wild animals become Wild Teachers and are helping heal generations of hurt children. The traumatic histories of the creatures, who range from an Andean condor to a two-toed sloth, often parallel those of the at-risk youth who visit. Unexpected connections a... posted on Mar 21, 3973 reads

Waiting for the Thaw
"It's about this time in the long stretch of winter that I begin to ache for spring. By March, I tend become a bit dulled to the beauty of winter. Though my prayer and meditation keep my heart open to seeing the passage of time and seasons with appreciative eyes, mostly I just want the cold days to be over. As the earth begins to thaw, we often want the process to hurry up. I long for bright flow... posted on Mar 26, 0 reads

Paul Hawken: Solutions Man
"On May May 3, 2009, Paul Hawken stood before the graduating class of the University of Portland. He'd been asked to deliver a commencement address that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling and graceful." No pressure, he joked to his audience. Rousing the spirits of a few hundred young people embarking on a century of climate change, terrorism and extinction was... posted on Apr 13, 13816 reads

Last Lecture
Mick Cochrane was invited to give a lecture as part of a series based on Randy Pausch's book, The Last Lecture. Not someone who enjoys the act of lecturing, he chose to tell four stories from his life. From them, you are invited to come to your own conclusions and draw from them your own lessons. They are extraordinarily simple and deep with themes that resonate through time and hearts: trust in t... posted on May 3, 31945 reads

The Love You Seek
Imagine if you loved yourself fully, with the same compassion and tenderness you reserved for others. What would this look like? What would it mean? Self-love is a gift we can bestow upon ourselves each day. "As much as we say I love you to another, we can say it to ourselves. We can say these three words frequently, and we can say them with the reverence for which they are meant." In this moving ... posted on Apr 5, 39899 reads

How to Hardwire Resilience into the Brain
Mental resources like calm, grit, and courage help us cope with and push through obstacles in our own lives. But how do we cultivate them? The key is knowing how to turn passing experiences into lasting inner resources built into our brains. This skill, positive neuroplasticity, is not a quick fix, but you can change your brain for the better by working it the same way you would work a muscle. As ... posted on Apr 24, 26922 reads

Kitchen Teachings: A Conversation with Cherri Farrell
Driving home from school, I spotted this young man with a shopping cart. I stopped and asked, "How would you like a loaf of bread my kids at school just made?" He was so grateful and said, My wife and I will really appreciate that. It was heartbreaking. So I said, Why don't you take these, too? He said, Are you sure somebody else wouldn't want them? The next day I told the kids and the whole room ... posted on Apr 10, 3023 reads

Peter Levine on Freedom from Pain
In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Peter Levine and Maggie Phillips discuss the prevalence of chronic pain in modern society and how physical pain may relate to past trauma. They describe the stages that pain sufferers commonly experience and bracing patterns that progress into the pain trap. Their program provides strategies for self-regulation to deal with pain based on real-world examples... posted on May 26, 22170 reads

The Moment I Knew Gratitude is the Answer to Every Question
A month before her husband died, Kristin Meekhof drove her husband to cancer treatment as usual. It was a month after his diagnosis. While it was painful for her husband, it was also difficult for her. She tried to put on a brave face and hide her tears, but the sight of a sick child made her lose it. She ran to the bathroom to cry. The floodgates opened and she felt as if her "heart was literally... posted on Jun 7, 22660 reads