Trevor's Law: The Boy Who Did Not Give Up
At 13 Trevor Schaefer was diagnosed with brain cancer and the world as he knew it changed overnight. Not only did Trevor end up beating the cancer -- he found a calling. Now 22, Schaefer is an inspiring advocate for children with cancer, and the driving force behind "Trevor's Law." This bill now pending in Congress would increase government authority to determine if environmental toxins are respon... posted on Dec 11, 13296 reads

Happiness the Hard Way
People prior to the late 17th century thought happiness was a matter of luck or virtue or divine favor. Today we think of happiness as a right and a skill that can be developed. This has been liberating, in some respects, because it asks us to strive to improve our lots in life, individually and collectively. But there have been downsides as well. It seems that when we want to be happy all of the ... posted on Mar 7, 13585 reads

Grandmother Power: A Global Phenomenon
"All over the world grandmothers are forming activist groups to tackle intractable issues: poverty, illiteracy, environmental degradation, disease, injustice and violence. Never before have grandmothers campaigned so vigorously or universally to make the world a better place." Paola Gianturco spent three years interviewing and photographing 120 activist grandmothers across 15 countries on 5 contin... posted on Dec 13, 0 reads

Grandmother Power: A Global Phenomenon
"All over the world grandmothers are forming activist groups to tackle intractable issues: poverty, illiteracy, environmental degradation, disease, injustice and violence. Never before have grandmothers campaigned so vigorously or universally to make the world a better place." Paola Gianturco spent three years interviewing and photographing 120 activist grandmothers across 15 countries on 5 contin... posted on Dec 15, 17045 reads

In response to Newtown, A Call for Spiritual Activism
Rev. Charles Howard, chaplain at the University of Pennsylvania, offers a reflection on the recent tragedy in Connecticut. In his own search for how to respond, he comes to the intersection of inner transformation and social activism: "I am fasting for the next 27 days. One day for each life lost in Newtown -- including the gunman's. Fasting has been a part of my spiritual life for some time, bu... posted on Dec 17, 13660 reads

The Empathy Machine
When you think about Sherlock Holmes, chances are it's not his big, warm heart and his generous nature that come to mind. In fact, you might think of him as a cold fish. Yet in 'Silver Blaze', Arthur Conan Doyle's story of the gallant racehorse who disappeared, Holmes takes an imaginative leap, not only into another human mind, but into the mind of an animal. This perspective-taking, being able to... posted on Mar 15, 7614 reads

What Grown Ups Can Learn From Kids' Books
"My copy of Le Petit Prince looks like it has been through a natural disaster. Or two. The dust jacket is torn at every edge. What's not torn is frayed. A piece of scotch tape holds together the e and r of Exupery. The white background can't really be called white anymore. And inside, little pencil markings lurk throughout the text ...The book, in other words, has been well loved. That's not surpr... posted on Feb 25, 6315 reads

The Beautiful Fragility of Language
"I remember my first day of school with such clarity that it might as well have happened last week. I was five, and I was starting in the local kindergarten, along with all the other kids my age. Except for one difference: I didn't speak a word of English. Not a one. The only thing I knew how to do was write my own name-- M-A-R-I-A -- so that I could recognize it if the need arose. I practiced it ... posted on Feb 17, 24645 reads

The Little Girl Who Stood Up for a Mountain
"Faith, they say, can move mountains, but sometimes it takes hard work and dedication to help ensure that they don't go anywhere. In 1915, the town of Orogrande, New Mexico, was once a thriving gold rush community, home to several mining operations -- though the hum of heavy machinery in the nearby mines have since been silenced, replaced by the chatter of wildlife. Recently, however, ten-year-old... posted on Mar 2, 8216 reads

7 Ways to Make Happiness Last
When neurosurgeon Allan Hamilton was diagnosed with cancer, the "c-word" that he had used so often in his practice suddenly became personal and life-changing. Like many other cancer patients, his treatment journey was a mix of emotions. "Each time, the battery of tests would roll around again, I would find myself transported. I would want to hold on to the magic of that moment but, hard as I might... posted on Jan 22, 51760 reads

Rocky Anna: Love Is The Only Currency
Rocky Braat is no one special. He'd tell you that himself his friends say. His emails are full of misspellings and typos. But he has given his life to the love of others. This is a guy who didn't even particularly like kids to begin with. But then he had his heart broken -- open. Today the 30-something-year-old graphic designer from Pittsburgh lives in a cement hut and has dedicated the rest of hi... posted on Dec 27, 4639 reads

A Neighborhood's Christmas Kindness
On Dec. 1, a neighbor of Melissa Bemis and her family stopped in to tell her a gaily-wrapped package sat on her doorstep. Her two sons, Max, 7 and Mace, 2, were eager to find out what was inside, as was she. The attached card read, "On the first day of Christmas, Secret Santa left for me, games to play instead of watching TV." The anonymous gifting continued through Dec. 12 as "neighborhood elves"... posted on Dec 25, 7103 reads

Self-Taught Teen Wows MIT
In Sierra Leone, West Africa, the lights may come on once in a week, with the rest of the month, dark. So, Kelvin Doe made his own battery to power lights in people's houses from recycled parts he found in the trash. He also made his own FM radio transmitter and a generator to power it so that he can give voice to the youth in his country. David Sengeh discovered Kelvin at an innovation camp he ru... posted on Jan 5, 5460 reads

A Man Who Gave Away His Home To a Family in Need
A 51-year-old man is moving back in with his parents so a homeless family can live in his house instead. Tony Tolbert's offer is good for one full year. According to CBS, the spare bedroom in his childhood home in Los Angeles frequently went to people in need, which inspired his own version of the act. "You don't have to be Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or Oprah," Tolbert, a Harvard-educated attorne... posted on Jan 6, 48123 reads

14 Year-Old Gets Photos of Space
A Lego man encased in a homemade weather balloon ended his journey to the edge of space on a New Hampshire driveway, bringing with him a trove of atmospheric data as well as stunning images of the curvature of the Earth. The balloon, which landed on August 25, is the brainchild of a 14-year-old student named Jack Miron from Bedford, New Hampshire. He didn't know that NASA is using this technology ... posted on Jan 8, 10984 reads

Far From The Tree
How do you find meaning in difficulty? This video trailer for the book, "Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity," by Andrew Solomon, shows some poignant vignettes of interviews with parents and children who were born "different." Solomon learns that although individual differences can be isolating, the fact of difference is universal. His other great discovery is joy - m... posted on Jan 21, 4658 reads

The Gift That Matters
"From a very young age, my oldest daughter has been a gift giver. Like most children, her offerings consisted of items that adults wouldn't ordinarily classify as gifts. Broken seashells, traumatized frogs, dying weeds, and misshapen rocks were often presented in small, dirt-laden hands beneath a wide smile. In the past two years my child's gift giving practices have moved up a notch. Gifts are no... posted on Feb 8, 0 reads

The Gift That Matters
"From a very young age, my oldest daughter has been a gift giver. Like most children, her offerings consisted of items that adults wouldn't ordinarily classify as gifts. Broken seashells, traumatized frogs, dying weeds, and misshapen rocks were often presented in small, dirt-laden hands beneath a wide smile. In the past two years my child's gift giving practices have moved up a notch. Gifts are no... posted on Feb 9, 26327 reads

Gratitude, Gifting and Grandpa
A picture of John Styn's grandfather, Rev. Caleb Elroy Shikles, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had a huge impact on John Styn's life growing up. It made him realize that great people are not "them" - they are "us." In this funny, emotional TEDx talk, Styn shares his grandpa's lessons of living life in intense gratitude and the joy that comes from gifting. He reminds us of the choice we all have... posted on Feb 20, 4367 reads

The Science of Storytelling
"For over 27,000 years, since the first cave paintings were discovered, telling stories has been one of our most fundamental communication methods. Recently a good friend of mine gave me an introduction to the power of storytelling, and I wanted to learn more. Here is the science around storytelling and how we can use it to make better decisions every day." This intriguing article shares more.... posted on Feb 21, 54311 reads

A Pep Talk From Kid President To You
The effervescent "Kid President" (AKA Robbie Novak) serves-up a half-time pep talk guaranteed to light your fire. He chides us for being boring and encourages us to "take the path that leads to awesome." We have work to do, he says, "and we can cry about it or we can dance about it... It is everybody's duty to give the world a reason to dance."... posted on Feb 26, 4558 reads

Feynman On The Beauty Of Not Knowing
The simple beauty of a flower captivates artist and scientist alike. Where our world exists without answers, without definitions, we seek answers and definitions. Sometimes we find them but when we don't, what does that mean? What does it say about us? What does it say about our existence? This short video explores the world through the eyes of Richard Feynman: emotional, visually beautiful, intel... posted on Mar 4, 5606 reads

Letters From Strangers Save Teen's Life
"Words have power. They can tear a person down, or build someone back up -- as we found on the road in Columbia, Maryland "There are a lot of kids out there that suffer depression and anxiety," said seventh-grader Noah Brocklebank. And not many are willing to talk about it on national television. "Not many are willing to talk about it, period," said Noah." When Noah posted a note on Facebook about... posted on Mar 14, 7408 reads

Our Planet Through the Eyes of Children
"A competition launched by a National Geographic photographer titled Children's Eyes On Earth has drawn an astonishing number of striking images from children in 90 countries around the world. Over 4,000 photographs, on the themes I Love Nature and I Fear Pollution, were submitted by young people under the age of 17, from regions as diverse as the USA, Romania, Australia and Iran. The winning entr... posted on Mar 21, 12123 reads

My Manifesto For A Happier World
Today is the first ever United Nations International Day of Happiness. All across the planet people are taking steps towards our greater collective well-being, and are celebrating their "Happy Heroes"! In honor of this special day, the head of UK-based initiative Action for Happiness has created a 12-step Manifesto For A Happier World -- and it calls for change not just from world leaders but from... posted on Mar 20, 24227 reads

A Writer, a Plumber and a Plan to Save the Planet
"Aabid Surti is an odd character. A few years ago, the angular, bearded author was invited to meet the President of India to receive a national award for literature at a ceremony in the capital, New Delhi. He politely declined. Absorbed in writing the first draft of his new novel, he cited the reason that he did not have time. But what he has made time for every Sunday for seven years now, is goin... posted on Mar 25, 14408 reads

Why Sleeping May Be More Important Than Studying
"Getting enough sleep is an under-valued but crucial part of learning. Contrary to students' belief that staying up all night to cram for an exam will lead to higher scores, truth is, the need for a good night's rest is even more important than finishing homework or studying for a test. A recent study in the journal Child Development showed that sacrificing sleep in order to study will actually ba... posted on Apr 3, 10319 reads

Rumi, Grace & Human Friendship
"Tami Simon speaks with Coleman Barks, a leading scholar and translator of the 13th century Persian mystic, Jelaluddin Rumi. Coleman's work was the subject of an hour-long segment in Bill Moyers' Language of Life series with PBS. In this episode, Simon speaks with Coleman about the extraordinary friendship between Rumi and his teacher Shams Tabriz. ... posted on Dec 29, 36215 reads

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Love
"The vision of love that emerges from the latest science requires a radical shift. I learned that I need to ask people to step back from their current views of love long enough to consider it from a different perspective: their body's perspective. Love is not romance. It's not desire. It's not even that special bond you feel with family or significant others. And perhaps most challenging of all, l... posted on Apr 19, 44203 reads

Happiness & the Pursuit of Difficult Problems
Lurking behind the question of jobs -- whether there are enough of them, how hard we should work at them, and what kind the future will bring -- is a major problem of job engagement. Too many people are tuned out, turned off, or ready to leave. But there's one striking exception. The happiest people I know are dedicated to dealing with the most difficult problems. Turning around inner city schools... posted on Apr 21, 9501 reads

Gretchen Rubin's Search for Happiness
"Are you happy? Could you be happier? Gretchen Rubin was already "pretty happy" when she asked herself these very questions. In search of the answers, she started her own pursuit of happiness, which eventually became a New York Times bestseller titled, The Happiness Project. She has now written a second book, Happier at Home, based on the idea that the home is the foundation of happiness. Knowledg... posted on Aug 13, 24326 reads

Why Compassion in Business Makes Sense
Managers often think that putting pressure on employees will increase performance. However, recent research shows that when organizations promote an ethic of compassion rather than a culture of stress, they may not only see a happier workplace but also an improved bottom line. Dr. Emma Seppala, the associate director of Stanford's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research, explores how managers ... posted on Nov 25, 29842 reads

The Gangster Gardener of LA
South Central Los Angeles is a food desert - an area filled with liquor stores, fast food chains and vacant lots. Tired of driving 45 minutes to buy food that is not chemically treated, Ron Finley decided to turn some of those unused plots, starting with the patch in front of his house, into a food forest. With obesity rates 5X higher in South Central than in Beverly Hills, a neighborhood only 8 t... posted on May 2, 6014 reads

A Poem of Kindness That Traveled The World
Some years ago Arab-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye wrapped a poem around an unexpected experience of both distress and kindness that she encountered at an airport in Albuquerque. She sent it off to exactly two friends, who passed it on to friends, who passed it on to friends. And in this way it circled the globe. Nye later remarked that this spontaneous series of people passing the poem on had res... posted on May 3, 106896 reads

Caught on Russian Dashboard Cameras!
In Russia, many motorists have dashboard cameras to record their driving and ensure justice in accident claims. Every so often though, they capture something unexpectedly beautiful -- like people helping others to cross the street, or get up from a fall or out of a jam -- despite rain, snow, and traffic. Some even put their own lives at risk. Check out this video of Russian drivers expressing the... posted on May 4, 8128 reads

What My Mother Gave Me
"Mother's Day is this Sunday. While some people are racking their brains to think of the perfect way to show their love and appreciation for Mom, a group of distinguished women recently flipped that script and wrote about the most profound gift their own moms gave to them. Their essays are collected in the new book What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-One Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most." This art... posted on May 11, 10238 reads

Love Books? 4 Ways to Share Them
Love books? Learn how you can share this love with others with these simple and fun ideas. From sending your books on a journey to creating a tiny library in unexpected places, these ideas offer a way to promote literacy and build community.... posted on Jul 6, 27244 reads

What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work
What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn't just money. But it's not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress, meeting challenges, and feeling a sense of purpose. In this TED talk, behavioral economist Dan Ariely presents several eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and nuanced attitudes toward meaning in our work.... posted on Nov 22, 7113 reads

What Is It To Be Intellectually Humble?
According to Aristotle, "All people by nature desire to know." The wish to know and understand things can foster great ambition. But this article is about intellectual humility, when we care so much about knowing, understanding, and getting to the truth that we become oblivious of what we are "worth." The apostle Paul says, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Can love of knowledge bring us h... posted on Jul 10, 35007 reads

8 Ways To Overcome Your Leadership Blind Spots
"To be a successful leader or entrepreneur, we need to become intimate not only with our strengths but also with our blind spots, those aspects of our personality that can derail us." We all carry with us personal blindspots and biases that can hinder our effectiveness in a position of leadership. In this article, Bruna Martinuzzi helps us rub the proverbial fog from our eyes, bringing to light co... posted on Sep 18, 38389 reads

5 Tips for Integrating Mindfulness In Daily Life
Research shows that most people spend up to 50 percent of their time in their heads - a tendency that does nothing to increase our happiness and in fact has been proved to be detrimental to it. Instead of being habitually consumed by thoughts of the past or of trying to control the future, mindfulness is a way of engaging with the present moment. It's a mode of being that helps increase clarity a... posted on Aug 2, 228052 reads

Stephen Jenkinson on The Meaning of Death
At the Orphan Wisdom School, the cold northern winds gently blow through towering pine trees and the trickle of icy water can be heard streaming through the hinterland. It is in this peaceful, wintery space that Stephen Jenkinson helps others learn the skills of deep living and making human culture. What is the meaning of death? What is depression? How can repay the debt of being human? These are ... posted on Aug 7, 34631 reads

Not Your Ordinary First Grade Ocean Project
Every year, Joan Wright-Albertini leads her first-grade students in transforming their classroom into a virtual rainforest, a desert, or an ocean -- whatever ecosystem interests her students the most. In recent years, she has also added to the months-long study of habitats an unusual, daring twist. Students come to class one day to find their ecosystem covered in a messy "oil spill." Deciding they... posted on Aug 14, 47137 reads

A Lesson In Empathy
Our lives intersect with others all day, everyday. Sometimes we know these other lives well; frequently, though, the points of connection are brief and transient. Who are these people? How might they tell their own stories? What thoughts preoccupy their minds? What joys and troubles are coursing through their feelings? This short film, produced by the Cleveland Clinic, reminds us that empathy is o... posted on Jun 27, 6975 reads

Miserable & Magical: A Graduation Speech for Paradoxical Times
When the student body of an elite private school in Silicon Valley was given the chance to vote on who would give their graduation address, their first pick was Nipun Mehta. An unexpected choice for these teenagers, who belong to what Time magazine called the "Me Me Me Generation". Nipun's journey is the antithesis of self-serving. More than a decade ago, he walked away from a lucrative career in ... posted on May 27, 550779 reads

35 Scientific Concepts That Will Help You Understand Life
"In order to sharpen our reasoning skills, we must have a good grasp of our own cognitive biases, as well as the basic laws of the universe. But in a dynamic world, new laws are constantly emerging." How do we keep pace with humanity's changing understanding of ourselves and the universe? Thankfully, Edge.org has interviewed hundreds of the world's most influential thinkers, including neuroscienti... posted on Aug 5, 596344 reads

A 15-Year-Old Homeless Artist Rocks the World
Inocente is a talented, spirited, ambitious teenage artist. She is also homeless, living with her mother and younger brothers on the streets of San Diego. She knows that her life depends on her art -- in more ways than we can imagine. This trailer for an award-winning documentary captures the dreams, fears, and inspiring resiliency of this remarkable young woman. ... posted on Nov 29, 13244 reads

Tapped on the Shoulder...By A Whale
Bryant Austin is one of the few people on earth who can say their life was transformed by a literal tap on the shoulder from a whale. Austin is an experimental multimedia artist whose lifelong passion has been exploring the possibility of connecting humanity with the greatest minds in the water. His drive comes from a deep desire to understand over five million years of evolving culture and commun... posted on Feb 16, 22537 reads

Gandhi's Ten Rules for Changing the World
Change the world; we hear those words thrown around quite frequently, and to some, the notion seems incredulous. However, if we take an inner approach, rather than an outer one, and transform our individual selves into adopting the qualities we wish to see in the world, then the task at hand won't seem as daunting. In the wise words of Mahatma Gandhi, "As human beings, our greatness lies not so... posted on Jun 28, 1397923 reads

Rise up. Be your own guru.
Too often, we live our lives in a sort of buffered silence, fearful of venturing out into this, the most beautiful part of our being. This is your life, and it is a life that is as of yet, undiscovered. You decide your destiny. And, you choose who you will be in each day. Lean into the bliss of your own discovery. In this piece, "Good Life Project" founder, Jonathan Fields, provides his insight on... posted on Jul 31, 42266 reads