Krista Tippett on Sounds True
In this interview with award-winning journalist and author Krista Tippet, she shares insights on journalism as a force for progress, beginning, first, with a good question and active listening: "Good listening starts even before words begin to be spoken, even before we speak the question. It starts with the invitation we create, the way we create the invitation, the space we create. If it's not tr... posted on Dec 31, 13548 reads

Maya Angelou: The Day I Learned the Value of a Smile
"My paternal grandmother who raised me had a remarkable influence on how I saw the world and how I reckoned my place in it. She was the picture of dignity. She spoke softly and walked slowly, with her hands behind her back, fingers laced together. I imitated her so successfully that neighbors called me her shadow. "Sister Henderson, I see you got your shadow with you again." Grandmother would look... posted on Dec 16, 24929 reads

Giving the Homeless a Hand Up with Technology
At HandUp.org, before you help someone in need, you can see their face, look into their eyes, see their children, their smile, read about their challenges, and even send them a message. In a meaningful way, HandUp.org connects donors with those in need. The brainchild of Rose Broome, HandUp.org fulfills a need she realized existed when saw a homeless woman sleeping on the street. Here she was in S... posted on Jan 2, 15291 reads

Kids in Hospital Receive Magical Christmas Surprise
This holiday season, kids in a hospital in Australia were able to see Santa and hang out in a winter wonderland without having to leave the building.In one day, photographer Karen Alsop took photos of 30 kids with Santa and a green screen at Monash Childrens Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. During their photo shoots, the patients expected a typical Santa photo. They had no idea Alsop had plans to... posted on Dec 25, 10564 reads

Barbara Crooker: Poetry as a Form of Love
"I believe the way we most fully integrate ourselves with the world, is through our senses. When I teach creative writing classes, I love it when I get a five-day class, so that each day I give them an exercise based on one of the senses. I think the electronic world makes us out of touch with our embodied selves. For me, nature is a huge source. I want to be outside. I want to turn to it. I want ... posted on Feb 3, 11899 reads

Welcome to Terra Sapiens
In this article, planetary astrobiogist David Grinspoon, senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and adjunct professor of astrophysical and planetary science at University of Colorado, focuses on our growing knowledge of what we are doing to this world. He says “we have entered a new epoch of Earth history, one in which the net activity of humans has become an agent of global cha... posted on Jan 24, 5460 reads

Generation Waking Up
Kosmos: "You have been working with young people for a number of years now, Joshua. How is this generation different?" Josh Gorman: "There's a new generation of young people waking up and coming of age all across the planet, a generation rising between an old world dying and a new world being born. We are the make-it-or-break-it generation. The all-or-nothing generation." Gorman is the founder of ... posted on Jan 18, 12443 reads

How Behavioral Science Helps Tackle Big Issues
Over the past several decades, behavioral science researchers have uncovered a wealth of fascinating insights into the human mind. But much of this study has been confined to laboratories and academia. Alissa Fishbane is bucking that trend by applying the lessons from behavioral science to the social sector. As managing director of ideas24, her team advises governments and nonprofits about how to ... posted on Mar 15, 11928 reads

Say Your Truths & Seek Them In Others
In a lyrical, unexpectedly funny talk about heavy topics such as frayed relationships and the death of a loved one, Elizabeth Lesser describes the healing process of putting aside pride and defensiveness to make way for soul-baring and truth-telling. "You don't have to wait for a life-or-death situation to clean up the relationships that matter to you," she says. "Be like a new kind of first respo... posted on Feb 25, 24806 reads

This Woman's Novel Approach to Poverty Is A Game Changer
"Compass Working Capital's mission is to help struggling families build the savings and the skills they need to climb out of poverty. Compasss programs combine financial education and coaching, with incentives for saving. The asset-based approach works: 60 percent of families in the flagship program have increased their incomes by an average of $11,000 a year, and 81 percent have seen their saving... posted on Mar 2, 13208 reads

Living Needs Aging: A Conversation with Ashton Applewhite
In this interview ageism expert Ashton Applewhite discusses what she has learned over the course of her work. "People literally don't realize that it is no more acceptable to criticize someone on the basis of age than on the basis of anything else about themselves, I think the most important thing to think about is language-- because we live in a youth-oriented society, we tend to use young to equ... posted on Feb 22, 13899 reads

How Do We Wake Up?: A Conversation with Mark Dubois
"Nature's subtleness changed me even when I wasn't aware of it. In retrospect, I feel sort of like an insensitive oaf who got to play in the fields of the Lord and had no idea where I was, except it made all of us smile. So even if we don't have language or recognition of it, my experience is that nature works through us." Today, few people know better, or feel more deeply, our essential connectio... posted on Feb 13, 11017 reads

Removing Weeds, Tending Flowers: Reflections from a Changemaker
Last month, a remarkable gathering took place in Ahmedabad, India. Dubbed, "Gandhi 3.0" it was a retreat that brought together change-makers from around the world who aspire to drive that change from the inside out, through the power of inner transformation. One of the first speakers at the retreat was Sachi Maniar, a dynamic young filmmaker-turned-social-entrepreneur who devotes a significant par... posted on Feb 10, 13260 reads

Getting Unstuck: The Art of Possibility
We begin with grand plans for accomplishing a task, and too often end in frustration with having nothing done. What if we changed our view and looked at a rut as an opportunity instead of a problem? Rosamund Stone Zander, the author of "Getting Unstuck," helps us see the inner wisdom we all have. On her journey as a writer, slowing down is the key that opened a surge in creativity. She suggest... posted on Feb 27, 14502 reads

Gardens & the Art of Delayed Gratification
Alanda Greene grew up having spent time nurturing a deep connection with nature through gardening -- planting seeds and watching them grow. She remarks that even now, "no matter how many times I plant seeds, these small, hard beads of potential, I am thrilled when the signs of growth emerge. It is as if I never really believed it would happen this time. Seems just too improbable that those tiny ... posted on Jul 22, 10563 reads

Against the Clock: How Tech Has Changed Our Perception of Time
Alan Burdick's most recent book, "Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation," chronicles his quest to understand the nature of lived time. He recently joined Douglas Rushkoff, media theorist and author of "Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now," for a conversation on what we miss about the nature of time when we only think about it as a number. The conversation touches on the tension ... posted on May 23, 18423 reads

Esther the Wonder Pig
"She has a popularity rating most teenagers can only dream of. Her main Facebook page has more than 160,000 likes. Her musings about life with her two dads in Ontario, Canada, draw thousands of comments. And while she can't take selfies, her photos get forwarded around the world. Meet Esther the Wonder Pig who does more than make people laugh: evidence of what her human guardians call the "Esther ... posted on Mar 3, 22444 reads

Spotlight on Women Who Are Changing the World
While a woman's work is never done, just what that work is has changed dramatically in recent years. From financiers to social activists, inventors to world leaders, women are shaping the present and helping to build a stronger future. Together they are easing the burdens of poverty and fighting for social justice. Today marks International Women's Day. In celebration, this Daily Good Spotlight on... posted on Mar 8, 14880 reads

Greeting the Light: A Conversation with James Turrell
"I was a Quaker and then, for a while, I wasn't. And now I am again," Thus begins a deep conversation with one of the worlds most important artists. Learning to fly when he was sixteen, later he flew monks out of Tibet. "I feel like I've had several lifetimes in this life," he says. But light is this artist's subject."My grandmother told me that as you sat in Quaker silence you were to go inside t... posted on Mar 26, 15782 reads

The Newscaster Who Wouldn't Give Up On A Foster Child
For 25 years, retiring newscaster Gloria Campos has profiled foster children who were waiting to be adopted in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on the "Wednesday's Child" television segment at WFAA-TV. Campos estimates that, over the years, she has featured more than 350 children, 75 percent of whom were adopted thanks to her reporting. But of all those children, there was one young boy whose story she ... posted on Apr 19, 17794 reads

How Nature Makes Us Healthier and Happier
Studies show that communing with nature is beneficial for your health and your life socially, psychologically, and emotionally. The article in Yes Magazine discusses what these research studies have found regarding the benefits nature provides.... posted on Dec 7, 16527 reads

Billy Barr: The Snow Guardian
Who is Billy Barr and how has he single-handedly produced remarkable evidence of climate change? For the past four decades, Barr has lived alone in a cabin in the remote, ghost town of Gothic, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains, one of the United State's coldest locations. With no external incentives, or formal training in the field, he began keeping meticulous snowfall records to escape boredom duri... posted on Apr 15, 4217 reads

A Nobel Laureate on the Power of Not Knowing
"Surrender to not-knowing" was the catchphrase of poet Wislawa Szymborska who offered this as a guide to participate in the wonder of creation as an artist. Whether a scientist, poet, or everyday worker we are all artists as we become co-creators in life. As we step into each moment with the willingness to allow for the unexpected to unfold, we make art with the stuff of our lives. The alternative... posted on Apr 28, 12708 reads

This Is A Poem That Heals Fish
What is a poem? The beautiful children's book, 'This Is a Poem That Heals Fish', follows the journey of a young boy seeking to answer just that. Written by French poet Jean-Pierre Simen and brilliantly translated into English by Claudia Zoe Bedrick, the story is as moving as it is profound. Poetry, by its very nature, is often elusive, and this is reflected in the responses of the characters who a... posted on Apr 12, 18295 reads

Ask Him Anything
Mansoor Shams is a 34 year old U.S. Marine. He's also a Muslim whose family immigrated to America when he was just 6-years-old. In "Ask Him Anything: This Muslim Marine Wants to Bust Myths About His Faith" from PBS News Hour, Shams travels to 4 western U.S. cities to combat prejudice and open up a dialogue about the fears and prejudices people may have about Muslims and immigrants, often finding c... posted on May 7, 3228 reads

Brother David Steindl-Rast on Matters of Heart
When Brother David reached out to his readers of Integral Yoga Magazine in the 1970s to write him on any matter on life and the spirit, one reader responded with an inspired request on matters of the heart. What do we mean when we talk of the heart space? Is it courage? Faithfulness? In his response, Brother David illuminates his view on what it truly means to life from love - in a heart-centred e... posted on Jul 17, 11210 reads

Viktor Frankl & the Search for Meaning
Few books of the last century have had a greater impact on our quest for meaning than Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. This all-time bestseller was written by a Jewish man who had just lost everything in the Holocaust. When Frankl, emaciated from concentration camps, returned to his beloved Vienna, no one was there to meet him. His mother had been gassed at Auschwitz. His brother had been... posted on Apr 14, 58756 reads

Re-Imagining the World: An Artist's Remarkable Life Journey
They say that a creative adult is the child who survived. From an early age, Slobodan Dan Paich had a powerful awareness of his inner compass. In the decades since, it has led him across the globe and against many odds, to build community through art and to leverage the creative force for re-imagining the world. Slobodan reminds us how staying true to ourselves, and working with our fears, we can ... posted on May 11, 3259 reads

The Freedom of Real Apologies
In 2009, the U.S government quietly released the congressional resolution of "Apology to Native Peoples," hidden inside the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Act. In response, Layli Long Soldier authored WHEREAS, a book of pioneering poetry, which went on to receive the 2016 Whiting Award. Soldier, a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, grew up in Arizona where she now teaches English at Di... posted on May 12, 6466 reads

Jeannie Kahwajy: Catching Everything As Help
"I want to catch what people are offering, catch everything as help; like Aikido. Aikido is a martial art where it doesn't matter what intention somebody is moving towards you with. I can always catch it as helpful energy -- I get to develop this redirecting skill." Jeannie Kahwajy is an executive coach and the CEO of Effective Interactions. She believes an attitude of love is the most effective w... posted on Apr 11, 15793 reads

The True Birthright of the Storyteller
As a newspaper reporter, Rajni Bakshi initially enjoyed the thrill of getting out there to write about any interesting story she could find. But that thrill faded as she began to feel that although it's important to record what is, it is also important to illuminate what can be. To Rajni, that means "making visible those people, ideas and actions that seem at first extraordinary but which actually... posted on May 10, 7326 reads

In Praise of Melancholia
The science of behavioral epigenetic explores how melancholy can be passed down through the generations at the level of our DNA. Long seen as a key element in artistic inspiration, melancholia often helps turn pain and sorrow into healing, ultimately leading to an acceptance of life's inescapable emotional sufferings and wounds. Indigenous and shamanic cultures such as that of Aboriginal Australia... posted on Jun 26, 12734 reads

Seeds of Change: Meet A Hero of the Urban Farm Movement
It began with a single tomato. Watching her own home-grown plant take form before her eyes, and tasting for herself the deliciousness, Karen Washington dove into gardening as more than just a hobby -- it became her calling. Deemed as 'the queen of urban farming', Washington is a change maker and urban revolutionist ---greening the streets of New York City's poorest areas one abandoned lot at a tim... posted on May 13, 8480 reads

How Do You Build a Sacred Space?
Can architecture actually become a prayer answered? Can a building capture and transmit a sacred response through the play of light and materials? Architect Siamak Hariri describes the transformative potential of architecture in this TED talk. Listen to his creative journey and watch the sacred geometry unfold as the first international Baha'i' temple in South America comes alive.... posted on Jul 8, 9780 reads

The Sacred Art of Pausing
When in the middle of things we can't control, our first impulse is often frantic activity; anxiously cluttering our days, our minds and our bodies. "We fill our days with continual movement: mental planning and worrying, habitual talking, fixing, scratching, adjusting, phoning, snacking, discarding, buying, looking in the mirror." In this passage, Tara Brach asks us to consider what might happen ... posted on Jul 16, 26211 reads

How Do I Love Trees? Let Me Count the Ways...
Trees are interwoven into our existence in so many ways. They give us air to breathe, shade from sun, beautiful colors in the autumn, timber to build our homes, food to eat, paper to write on, and so much more. In this ode to our wooded friends,the team at Gratefulness.org have compiled a series of quotes, stories, poems, and photographs that delve deeper into our connection to trees. Going beyond... posted on Aug 23, 28559 reads

Defining Hope: A Tribute to Nurses
In 2012, photographer Carolyn Jones was commissioned to create The American Nurse Project, interviewing, filming, and photographing over 100 nurses across the U.S., after her own fight with breast cancer. She was inspired by her chemo nurse, Joanne Staha, who not only made her feel more normal during treatment, but reminded her that eventually she would heal and her life would go back to normal. O... posted on Aug 28, 3000 reads

Want to Innovate? Become a Now-ist
In 2011, Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab, had a need to understand what was happening with an earthquake in Japan, so he created a way to find that information. He lived and acted in the present. With the world moving so rapidly, a new approach to innovation was needed. Joi calls the people changing the method now-ists for living and working from the ground up. His TED Talk features his jou... posted on Aug 31, 6256 reads

Elie Wiesel on How Our Questions Unite Us
What do leadership and loneliness have in common? What is the difference between solitude and isolation? How might we live through to the other side the intense feelings of being alone that can come upon us? Maria Popova explores these rich and subtle questions in this Brain Pickings article. She delves into a rare essay, "The Loneliness of Leadership" written by holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.... posted on Aug 21, 7211 reads

The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters
"Something interesting has been happening in recent years. Meaning has regained a foothold in our universities, and especially in an unexpected place the sciences. Many of the "meaning" researchers are working in a field called positive psychology -- a discipline that grounds its findings in empirical studies, but also draws on the rich tradition of the humanities. Positive psychology was founded ... posted on Jan 25, 36528 reads

Day Jobs for Panhandlers
With just under 400,000 residents, Tulsa, Oklahoma, has a significant homeless population. In 2016, between 6,000 and 7,000 residents lived on the streets. That number, while small in comparison to homeless populations in cities such as New York and Los Angeles, is noticeable in medium-sized Tulsa. So what did Tulsa decide to do to address this problem? Do what Albuquerque, New Mexico did -- move... posted on Jun 10, 8752 reads

Finding Joy: The Science of Happiness
We long to find more joy in our daily pursuits even though life has taught us it's not so easy. New discoveries in neuroscience offer insight into how we can develop a brighter state of heart and mind. Our choices are more than a temporary glitch in the brain, it turns out. Learn why it's better to sometimes allow love for the fractured and suffering humanity around and inside us to enter our busy... posted on Aug 29, 20394 reads

Sharing Stories in a Broken Culture
In this deeply divided culture, how can we honor people in such as way as to weave with them our common narrative and show each other respect? How do we find common ground? Simon Hodges believes that respectful relationships are a prior condition for persuasion and argues that we have the power to shape a narrative, giving voice to the voiceless and respect to all, that can bring about positive s... posted on Sep 1, 8891 reads

Confronting Death with Pets, Music and Good Hair
What can you do for someone who has less than three months to live? Those who volunteer with Dover Park Hospice (DPH) come face to face with this question on a regular basis. Sounds grim, but it's not. The volunteers provide music, massage services, food and playdates with pets for the patients to enjoy, spreading happiness with a smile, a song, a touch. It doesn't take much, and yet it means a lo... posted on Dec 31, 2859 reads

Finding Right Livelihood
In this thoughtful piece, author E.F. Schumacher argues for a set of economic principles that aligns economic progress and growth with the Buddhist ideals of nonviolence and peace. He proposes intriguing perspectives on labor, leisure, consumption, and the use of natural resources that flips modern economics on its head. Read on for fascinating food for thought.... posted on Mar 3, 18010 reads

Ready to Start Living? First Consider Death
What would you do if today was your last day alive? There's nothing more compelling than the thought of living, breathing and experiencing the playground of life when we consider that all of what we know and are may one day come to an end. Connecting with this powerful reminder will connect you to life in a way where you move from auto-pilot living to a curious, excited energy for what life can br... posted on Sep 9, 15925 reads

The Montana Moms Who Welcomed Refugees Into Their City
"Our goal is not to convince people what we're doing is right and what they're doing is wrong," she says. "Our goal is just to create a more welcoming environment for refugees to call home." This is the goal of Soft landing, a non-profit organization in Missoula Montana. When seeing the now famous photo of Aylan Kurdi, the three year old boy who drowned during his family's attempt to flee Syria, r... posted on Dec 30, 8375 reads

The Whisper of the Order of Things
A philosopher's questioning and a scientist's eye shape Enrique Martnez Celaya's original approach to art and to life. A world-renowned painter who trained as a physicist, he's fascinated by the deeper order that "whispers" beneath the surface of things. Works of art that endure, he says, possess their own form of consciousness. And a quiet life of purpose is a particular form of prophecy. Learn m... posted on Nov 12, 9507 reads

Medicine Baba: When a Man Becomes a Movement
In the aftermath of a building collapse in East Delhi, India, that left some dead and more suffering, Omkar Nath Sharma felt helpless. Before his very eyes, people in pain, some dying, needed medicine but had no money. And the local hospital could not help. Then it struck him: maybe people had medicine in their homes that they no longer needed. Though he was 80 years old, he could walk, he could t... posted on Aug 26, 2341 reads

The Remarkable Story of An Artist Who Never Spoke a Word
Judith Scott was born deaf and with Down Syndrome. She never spoke a word. Beginning at 7 years old, she spent much of her life in state institutions, up until 1986 when her sister Joyce was awarded legal guardianship. While living with Joyce, Judith discovered Creative Growth, and her love of creating art. She spent the rest of her life, up until her death in 2005, creating remarkable art that of... posted on Sep 21, 12117 reads