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, 24979 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, 11123 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, 26924 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, 22171 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, 22661 reads

The Importance of Quiet Time
By not giving ourselves the minutes -- or hours -- free of devices and distractions, we risk losing our ability to know who we are and what's important to us, says physicist and writer Alan Lightman. In this piece he outlines the direness of the problem and offers ideas for how it can be addressed.... posted on May 20, 135594 reads

Circles of Time
In the Northern (and Southern) hemispheres, time is marked by seasonal changes, but in the forests of Bali the processes of growth and decay proceed at different rates all over the forest, all the time. According to Balinese theory, each living being moves on its own time scheme, and events occur when these touch, when things or creatures interact with one another. This view of time as applied to ... posted on Jul 3, 7048 reads

Where Do Camels Really Come From?
When you think of camels you probably picture sand and heat. You imagine nomadic herders and traders crossing the hot, dry desert, leading camels piled high with blankets and jugs of water. In this TED talk, Latif Nasser, the director of research at WNYCs Radiolab, gives us a different view of the camel. His story starts when paleobiologist Natalia Rybczynski discovers a 3.5 million year old bone.... posted on Jun 9, 3193 reads

Nicholas Winton: Father of 669
Greta Winton was surprised and confused when she uncovered a scrapbook containing the names of 669 children. Her husband, Nicholas Winton, had kept this book in their attic for 50 years. Nine months before the Second World War broke out, Nicholas assisted in removing Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and transporting them to Britain. Nicholas wondered what had happened to the child... posted on Jun 20, 2775 reads

A Miraculous Life of More
"What is it like to be in the midst of a miracle? The idea of a miracle sounds so warm and delicious, the kind of thing you would aspire to experience in a minute, right? Well, in fact, here on earth we are in the middle of miracle school, whether you remember enrolling or not. And, much like life itself (a miracle in its own right), it’s not all sunshine and rainbows." In this uplifting pi... posted on Jul 25, 13364 reads

Nature and the Serious Business of Joy
British naturalist and environmental writer Michael McCarthy writes in The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy -- part memoir and part manifesto --"The natural world can offer us more than the means to survive, on the one hand, or mortal risks to be avoided, on the other: it can offer us joy." ... posted on Aug 22, 9991 reads

Even the Walls
Even the Walls is a short documentary about the multi-generational residents living within Yesler Terrace, a public-housing neighborhood in downtown Seattle grappling with the forces of gentrification. For over 70 years, Yesler Terrace has been home to thousands of Asian, Asian American, African, African American, Native American, Hispanic, and Caucasian residents. The 30-acre property is being re... posted on Aug 16, 2922 reads

Live Unbound: Above All Else
In 1992 Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld woke up in a hospital bed, severely injured and unaware of what brought him there. All he knew was a message his friend James Layne gave him in his dreams. "Danny, what are you doing here? You need to get back down there." Brodsky-Chenfeld survived and, in spite of his doctors diagnosis and predictions, went on to pursue his dreams. Now a motivational speaker, Brodsky-... posted on Aug 26, 4253 reads

Embracing JOMO, The Joy of Missing Out
"Fear of missing out, or FOMO, is a common sensation in our high-pressure, social media-frenzied world, particularly in Western society. A recent study defined FOMO as, "the uneasy and sometimes all-consuming feeling that you're missing out - that your peers are doing, in the know about, or in possession of more or something better than you." Under these terms, nearly 75 percent of young adults re... posted on Aug 30, 33171 reads

Servant Leadership in Business
Jose Juan Martinez (JJ) is no stranger to success. An industrial engineer by training he built an impressive career at Bekaert, a multinational automobile company. But despite a string of professional accomplishments, when he hit 40, the predominant feeling he experienced was that of emptiness. Seeking to address this void, he began an exploration of the world's wisdom traditions that continues to... posted on Sep 2, 15434 reads

Sacred Imperfection
"It occurred to me that my whole life, particularly as a minister, there's been a lot of pressure to be a certain way my whole life. I've been trying to get it right and finally be perfect enough to be a really good minister. And what I've discovered in the last couple of years as I've grown more and meditated more deeply -- also through a lot of the values that I've practiced because of ServiceSp... posted on Sep 4, 8853 reads

The Restorative Power of Trees
More than half of the world's population lives in an urban setting. People in cities run a 20 and 40 percent higher risk of both anxiety and mood disorders than people in rural areas. And we're spending more and more time away from nature. Researchers estimate that if every city dweller spent just 30 minutes per week in nature, depression cases could be reduced by 7 percent. Globally, that's a who... posted on Oct 7, 10578 reads

As A Doctor, I Am Looking to Make Common Cause
"As residents, we worked and lived in the hospital so many nights. It felt like home. On one of my days off, in street clothes, jeans and a t shirt, I went into the hospital to finish dictating some patient notes. It was morning. There was a metal detector coming into the hospital. I collected my stale coffee from the cafeteria. Later that morning, I got stopped by a police guard coming out of the... posted on Sep 25, 10147 reads

Farewell Badger
We cross many thresholds of partings in life; sometimes as the one leaving and sometimes as the one staying behind. Often, the farewell that must be expressed is to some emotion or aspect of ourselves we need to release in order to move forward. Pause for a moment and consider a farewell you are facing. Then open your heart and experience this soulful many-layered story of how to approach partings... posted on Dec 6, 12141 reads

Letters from a Tibetan Colony
In this moving piece from over a decade ago, Dr. Sriram Shamasunder, shares updates from a month working in a refugee community comprised mostly of Buddhist monks and nuns. He writes of the contrast between the deep care and concern that this community extends to all forms of life, and the apathy with which their own medical needs are handled by the government. His poignant piece is a reminder of ... posted on Mar 14, 5655 reads

Amplifying Data Through Art
With challenges such as overfishing, ocean acidification, and sea level rise rapidly changing our marine environments, it's more important than ever to help people understand and care about what's going on. To this end, artists are working with scientific data and translating complex concepts and new findings into visually stimulating, thought-provoking works. When Philadelphia-based artist Rebecc... posted on Nov 20, 4752 reads

How Silence Leads Us To Awe
When life leaves us "dumb-struck", awed into silence, we are jolted into living and understanding with our right brains. These moments are universally understood as deep spiritual experiences. In this excerpt from the book "The Lotus and the Rose", Matthew Fox and Lama Tsomo explore this essential spiritual principle using the lenses of Christianity and Buddhism.... posted on Oct 20, 10640 reads

The Dilemmas of Being a Benefactor
Carolyn North dreamed of removing land from the speculative market economy and putting it into the public trust in order to challenge our assumptions about "private property." A few years ago she found herself with the opportunity to follow through. However, she wanted and needed time, to plan and process. She discovered that being capable is not the same thing as being in control. Then a farm ca... posted on Nov 11, 7366 reads

New Approaches to Healing Collective Conflict and Trauma
The challenge facing seven billion plus people now living on the planet is how to recreate the Third Side for today's conflicts ranging from those with our neighbors to nuclear conflicts. William Ury is one of the world's leading experts on negotiation, co-founder of Harvard's Program on Negotiation, co-author of Getting to Yes, author of multiple award-winning books, and founder of the Abraham Pa... posted on Nov 16, 9041 reads

Losing His Voice Led Him to Helping Others Strengthen Theirs
"There are lots of ways to lose your voice in this world." These words were spoken by Kevin Hancock, an award-winning author, public speaker, and CEO of Hancock Lumber, one of Americas oldest and most prestigious family businesses. In 2010, Kevin developed a voice disorder called spasmodic dysphonia. As his speaking voice became quiet, the voice of his soul became louder. This new voice urged... posted on Nov 6, 6008 reads