The Gifts of Hibernation
"So hibernation is a threefold time. It is a time for retreat and replenishment... a time for our wordless philosophy to finally be born...a time for our hidden destiny to whisper in our heart, You're not forgotten. I'm still here. We're in this together." For all of us who feel swept up in the buzz of achieving rather than being, Andreana A. Lefton's sincere reflection on rest and integration is ... posted on Feb 6, 26679 reads

Walking Our Way To Health & Happiness
"Walking is going places. Over recent decades, walking has come to be widely viewed as a slow, tiresome, old-fashioned way to get around. But that's changing now as Americans recognize that traveling by foot can be a health breakthrough, an economic catalyst, and the route to happiness...The evidence that millions of people are finally walking again is as solid as the ground beneath our feet." Rea... posted on Feb 10, 26187 reads

SpiritHorse: Helping Children With Disabilities Soar
Ex-telecom executive Charles Fletcher created a global network of therapeutic riding centers serving children with disabilities--free of charge. Noting that the special connection between children and horses was restorative, he wanted do more than offer feel-good pony rides. So he studied up on how to help heal and plowed his Social Security checks into launching SpiritHorse, an organization whi... posted on Feb 19, 25422 reads

Ecosophy: Nature's Guide to a Better World
The perfect storm of crises we now face may well prove to be the challenge that drives us into our greatest evolutionary leap. Ecology cannot be made subservient to economy if we want to continue our life on Earth as a healthy, embedded global human society. In this thought-provoking article, evolution biologist Elisabet Sahtouris explores the way of Ecosophy - "the human household in which econom... posted on Feb 26, 22800 reads

Teaching Our Children To Love Their Enemies
"Forgiveness can lead to understanding. Understanding plants the seeds for love." Loving our enemies may be one of the most difficult pearls of wisdom to live out in our day to day lives. It requires overcoming our fears, our egos, and our need to be right. This piece, that tells the story of one woman's compassionate response to a band of young neighborhood pranksters, reminds us of how powerful ... posted on Mar 14, 19071 reads

Steve Karlin: When Animals Are Our Teachers
"...to have a relationship with a wild creature, first you have to have a relationship with yourself." For thousands of years, human beings have lived side by side with animals. We share a common heritage here on earth, and, when we open our minds, we find there is much to learn from wild perspectives around us. Steve Karlin shares the insights he has gained after years spent caring for and connec... posted on Mar 15, 30108 reads

Why We Love Music
What is our fascination with music? And, why is it that it sometimes invokes such a deeply emotional response? Scientists have been pondering this question for years, and now -- with fMRI technology they are able to visualize the brain's musical connection. "Music affects deep emotional centers in the brain," shares neuroscientist, Valorie Salimpoor. "It's very powerful." How powerful? In one stu... posted on Mar 6, 30971 reads

Touch as a Form of Nutrition
Is it any coincidence that when a friend or loved one does something nice for us, we feel "touched"? As John Tuite, founder of The Centre for Embodied Wisdom, tells us, "We mistakenly think that touch occurs on the periphery of our self, a skin thing." But as he shares, touch is a crucial piece of our health and development, and one we all too often go without as we get older.... posted on Mar 3, 0 reads

Bhutan's Living Laboratory For Education
"Camp Rural-Urban Friendship is really a living laboratory for trying something different in education, just as Bhutan, with its philosophy of Gross National Happiness, is a living laboratory for trying something different with development." When youth from urban and rural areas of Bhutan united with visionary volunteers at Camp RUF this past summer, co-created sparks began fly. Volunteer Tim Huan... posted on Mar 1, 3685 reads

The Power of Story
For thousands of years stories we've heard have altered our thinking and how we engage with the world. Recently research has shed light on how this transformation takes place from inside. Using modern technology like functional MRI (fMRI) scanning, scientists are examining what effect powerful narratives have on our brains and how a story-inspired perspective might result in behavioural change...<... posted on Feb 21, 23058 reads

The Opposite Of Spoiled & How To Get There
Many parents walk a fine line when trying to teach children about the importance of money: on one hand, they want to make sure not to spoil their children or raise them with a sense of entitlement; and on the other hand they also want to ensure that their kids don't grow up too naive or unaware of the role that money plays. In an effort to address this challenge, Ron Lieber, a columnist for The Ne... posted on Mar 19, 22364 reads

Thoughts On Hope, Cynicism & Stories We Tell Ourselves
"Critical thinking without hope is cynicism. Hope without critical thinking is naivete." What is the capital "T" truth when it comes to the state of affairs in our world today? Are we better off than we were before? Are we coming apart at the seams? Can we even know? Maria Popova of Brain Pickings offers her thoughts on how news and the media shape our perceptions of the now, and the crucial impor... posted on Apr 1, 15227 reads

A Classroom With Love At The Center
Peggy Sia has some remarkable fifth grade moments. "One morning, as we were discussing the meaning of resilience, a student recalled something his coach said to the team during a practice. The things one chooses to do that others will not do today, will enable one to do the things that others cannot do tomorrow. Such powerful words coming from that of a 10-year-old." Every day, they move her to ri... posted on Feb 27, 19694 reads

Goals & Happiness: A Virtuous Cycle Infographic
The trick to being a happier person? Turns out it may lie in setting small, simple goals that can help you to focus on the important things in your life. This engaging infographic shares some startling data on the truth about happiness, it illustrates how setting goals and being happy are part of a virtuous cycle, and also reveals what kind of goals lead to the greatest joy.... posted on Mar 20, 35649 reads

Couple Renounce Wedding To Do Acts of Kindness In 50 States
Can you imagine forgoing the wedding of your dreams for the purpose of performing 50 completely selfless acts? For New York couple, Mark and Ismini Svensson, the decision was an easy one. Though the couple had ample funds for a wedding reception and honeymoon, they opted instead to use their savings to finance their journey. "We both realized that what makes us happiest is helping people in need,"... posted on Apr 10, 9945 reads

Replace The Gospel of Money
Change or die. That's the provocative belief of former Harvard Business School professor David Korten as he seeks to radically change the way the world thinks, especially when it comes to the subject of money. Wanting to steer away from the old paradigm that holds money and markets sacred, he believes the world needs to quickly shift into the emerging "Sacred Life and Living Earth" story. This art... posted on Mar 31, 18375 reads

The Girl Who Gets Gifts From Birds
"Lots of people love the birds in their garden, but it's rare for that affection to be reciprocated. One young girl in Seattle is luckier than most. She feeds the crows in her garden - and they bring her gifts in return." Read on for more about 8-year old Gabi, her generosity toward her winged friends, and their sweet relationship!... posted on Mar 22, 26621 reads

7 Ways To Help Kids Unplug From Technology
Parents and teachers alike worry about the impact that constant multitasking is having on children's developing brains. While kids swim comfortably in the floods of information, the problem, according to neuroscientists, is that multitasking is changing our human brains as we prioritize juggling over digging deeply into thinking, relationships, and planning.... posted on Apr 14, 30704 reads

What Are Your Non-Negotiables?
"Many of us were not taught self-determination. We were not taught to trust our intrinsic natures, our own personal sense of knowing, our internally directed discrimination. Instead, life presents itself externally as a banquet, from which we choose.If the item is not in the banquet, then we go without, or bend ourselves to choose something 'sort of like' the thing we really want." In this article... posted on May 14, 27061 reads

How I Work To Protect Women From Honor Killings
Up until she was 16, Khalida Brohi attempted to heal the sadness she felt when she witnessed atrocities committed on women in her community by crying into her pillow, silently at night, not knowing how else to help. However, a personal tragedy in her life -- the honor killing murder of her close friend -- moved Brohi into fierce action. A teenager herself, Brohi became a champion of women's righ... posted on Apr 19, 11178 reads

The Lifecycle of Emergence & Scaling Social Innovation
The importance of networking is often strongly emphasized in today's society. But rarely do we think about networks as being something more than the simple connection between individuals. According to Meg Wheatley and Deborah Frieze, there is a transformation that occurs when networks of individuals come together as active communities of practice -- a new system of influence emerges, one through w... posted on Apr 22, 13851 reads

How to Run a Company with (Almost) No Rules
What would "work" look like if we threw out all the rules: the hours, the offices, the fixed salaries? Just ask Ricardo Semler, CEO of the radical Brazilian company Semco, and you'll get an answer that stretches far beyond the workplace. Read on for his thought-provoking TED talk on re-engineering business, education, and life as we know it.... posted on Apr 15, 31470 reads

What Can Save The Rain Forest? Your Used Cell Phone
The chirping of birds, the buzz of cicadas, the banter of gibbons--these sounds of the rainforest envelope us, and provide us refuge. And yet, just beyond there is an imminent threat--the ever-present sound of the chainsaw. Every year, our rainforests face a brutal deforestation -- it seems a losing battle. But, what if I told you there might be a rather simple solution to prevent future loss? A s... posted on Jun 19, 11573 reads

What Makes A Teacher Great?
What makes a teacher great? Many of us don't appreciate our mentors and guides as they stand before us. Though, in time, we come to realize the depth and fullness of their lessons. In this loving tribute, the NPR team shares heartwarming stories in tribute to their all time 'greatest' teachers. ... posted on Apr 28, 9116 reads

The Inner Life of Rebellion
The history of rebellion is rife with burnout, which Parker Palmer has defined as "violating my own nature in the name of nobility." The irony of this moment, where we are freer, psychologically and practically, to be rebels is that most of the forms and institutions we are dealing with don't need smashing -- they are imploding on their own. Many of our acts of rebellion are acts of creation. Read... posted on May 8, 16983 reads

Why Finding Your Purpose Is Good For Your Brain
"Your purpose in life, your north star, your passion, your bliss, your inner voice, your wisdom, your calling. What do you call it?" asks Dr. Sarah McKay, a neuroscientist, writer and speaker, who has found one of her life's greatest passions in writing an informative brain health blog. In this article, Dr. McKay highlights some of the positive health and wellness benefits of living a purposeful ... posted on Apr 26, 28051 reads

What Fosters True Freedom?
What is it that fosters true freedom? Is it the education of our youth, or the breaking through of social barriers? In this lovely article, Ashoka Fellow Kim Feinberg presents what she believes to be the answer--a holistic education which garners respect, and builds upon the energy of toleration and compassion. It is from this premise that The Tomorrow Trust was born -- a non-profit organization h... posted on May 21, 8911 reads

RLabs: From Dropouts to Innovators
As a young boy in South Africa, Marlon Parker struggled for survival in a community with very little hope. But through a fortuitous conversation with a coworker while still a teenager, Parker became inspired to begin studying information technology. Fast forward 15 years, and now Parker finds himself as the proud founder of RLabs, a foundation designed to help inspire young people find ways to cha... posted on Apr 20, 173459 reads

The Netherlands' Record-Breaking Library
With the constant and rapid changes in technology, and the decline in government funding, public libraries around the world have found themselves at a crossroads. But a small town in the Netherlands has taken a radical approach to creating a library that better fits the realities of the 21st century. Relying heavily on what the community was looking for, they changed the traditional run-of-the-mil... posted on Apr 24, 34960 reads

Stitches of Hope
"Kay Eva was travelling through rural Cambodia on the day she realized her life calling. She was with a group handing out supplies to those in need when they approached a devastatingly poor family living under sheets of tin." What she learned that day changed her life and the lives of several Cambodians whom Eva's non-profit Stitches Of Hope serves. In this article, the author describes Eva's fe... posted on May 17, 16261 reads

The Magic of Spinning
When we turn to screens for connection, it's easy to lose touch with reality. Mimi Luebbermann is convinced that, the same way we need healthy organic food, we also crave the touch of real natural fiber and wool -- a sensation that is as old as we are. Hear more of her story and of the magic she is spinning at Windrush Farm in California.... posted on May 15, 11022 reads

Design For Amplifying Human Potential
As the proliferation of computers, websites and apps continue to explode at a seemingly never-ending pace, a serious question is starting to be asked: Is all this technological innovation helping -- or hindering -- the human experience? Tristan Harris believes we must figure out ways to ensure that these advancements are indeed helping amplify human potential, and not just simply being a massive ... posted on Jun 17, 15117 reads

How Science Helps Us Find the Good
How do we find the good in this world when troubles seem so near? Is it by way of gratitude and kindness, and turning away from all thought that impedes? This lovely article explores the many ways in which we can begin to cultivate our longer-term inner evolution by way of our awareness of good.... posted on May 24, 15386 reads

Nature Needs A New Pronoun
Singing whales, talking trees, dancing bees, birds who make art, fish who navigate, plants who learn and remember. We are surrounded by intelligences other than our own, by feathered people and people with leaves. But we've forgotten. There are many forces arrayed to help us forget -- even the language we speak.... posted on Jun 6, 18135 reads

Joseph Campbell on How To Find Your Bliss
Joseph Campbell's dictum, "Follow your bliss," has come to encapsulate his philosophy of life. Decades before the screaming tyranny of work/life balance reached its modern crescendo, Campbell heard the soul's cry and identified with enormous elegance and precision the root of our existential dissatisfaction.... posted on Jun 5, 19469 reads

5 Ways To Kill Your Dreams
For all the big dreamers out there: beware! Don't let your dreams fall prey to the myths of easy success, or stumble and fall in the face of overwhelming input. Bel Pesce delivers a TED talk for all those who wish to avoid the pitfalls that come between our dreams and their fulfillment.... posted on May 13, 36189 reads

It's About Your Stance Not Circumstance
"Jacques Verduin can speak with deep understanding about being worthy of our suffering. In 1997, he founded the Insight Prison Project, an innovative in-prison rehabilitative program in the notorious San Quentin prison, and later in 2011 the Insight-Out Program. There he works with violent offenders, listening to their stories, hearing what lies beneath their crimes. Through mindfulness training a... posted on May 29, 15230 reads

David Whyte on the True Meaning of Friendship, Love & Heartbreak
After a certain age, words flow from us, often without a second thought. So how can we come back into a conscious relationship with some of the most common words in our language? How can we return with fresh eyes to words like love and friendship? Poet David Whyte dives deeply into these terms, and encourages us to return to their visceral truths.... posted on May 12, 31103 reads

Dare to Disagree
"Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but as Margaret Heffernan shows us, good disagreement is central to progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how the best partners aren't echo chambers -- and how great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to deeply disagree."... posted on Jun 10, 28545 reads

Emerson on the True Measure of Wisdom
"We live amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them...To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom." In this article, Maria Popova shares quotes on how to live a rounded and rewarding life, from Emerson's beautiful essay titled "Experience". ... posted on Aug 3, 1613 reads

Cartographer of Meaning in a Digital Age
"The only way to glean knowledge is contemplation. And the road to that is time. There's nothing else. It's just time." Maria Popova's Brain Pickings started as a weekly email to seven friends in 2006. Now, it's a website read by hundreds of thousands across the globe. In this conversation with Krista Tippett, Maria shares a bit of her history, and the philosophical underpinnings of her "human-pow... posted on Jul 15, 12063 reads

Eulogy Vs Resume Virtues
Do you want to be remembered for the bullet points on your resume, or for the way you interacted with others on a daily basis? In a culture that often greatly favors the former, how do we cultivate the intangible values that form the cornerstones of a higher self? New York Times columnist David Brooks wrestles with these complex questions, and poses further inquiries to help guide our thinking and... posted on Jul 22, 33540 reads

Nancy Mellon: Storytelling as a Healing Art
I opened the classroom door to hear a robust Irish voice shouting to the children: What are you doing in here? I never heard such a hullabaloo in me life! The children all sat down immediately and put their toes together under their desks. I heard the voice continuing, "I come from the country called Ireland, and I am visiting your country to find out whether American children learn anything at al... posted on Jun 27, 17913 reads

The Heartwarming Sidewalk Project
Once a month for the past several years, with the help of a makeshift ice cream cart and an old-fashioned sewing machine, Michael Swaine has taken up a spot on the sidewalk in one of San Francisco's neediest neighborhoods. His mission? Mending clothes, people ... and a community, one stitch at a time. "Meeting these strangers is really an interesting part of what I find special about being alive."... posted on Jun 9, 28683 reads

The Life You Could Save
Armed with degrees from both Harvard and Yale, Kentaro Toyama has spent the better part of his adult life trying to come up with technological solutions to help quell social problems that continue to befall some of the world's poorest societies. But in his quest, Toyama ultimately discovered that it's people and not technology, that is the real driver of social change.... posted on Jul 28, 11846 reads

I Teach to Learn: Compassion in Education
"Learning, today, is heavily rooted in the material realm. It's almost an assembly line to get a job, to get money, to survive, and for the few who get past that -- to conquer. Materialistic endeavors are, of course, very useful to operate in the world, but it requires a very different skill-set to engage with our inner values." In this essay, Nipun Mehta explores what it takes to grow our "Compas... posted on Aug 14, 20597 reads

Do We See Reality As It Is?
Thomas Huxley once proclaimed that the fact that human consciousness results from something as mundane as irritating nervous tissue is as mysterious as the fact that a genie appears after Aladdin rubs his lamp. Professor of Cognitive Science, Donald Hoffman, believes that we have been unable to understand the mystery of consciousness not because we are incapable of comprehending it, but because we... posted on Jul 11, 30850 reads

Can You Teach People to Have Empathy?
"According to the latest neuroscience research, 98% of people (the exceptions include those with psychopathic tendencies) have the ability to empathise wired into their brains -- an in-built capacity for stepping into the shoes of others and understanding their feelings and perspectives.The problem is that most don't tap into their full empathic potential in everyday life."... posted on Aug 8, 23829 reads

4 Practices For Deepening Gratefulness
"Over the past two decades, much of the research on happiness can be boiled down to one main prescription: give thanks. Across hundreds of studies, practicing gratitude has been found to increase positive emotions, reduce the risk of depression, heighten relationship satisfaction, and increase resilience in the face of stressful life events, among other benefits. The problem is, gratitude doesn't... posted on Jul 27, 49936 reads

Grace Paley: On the Value of Not Understanding Everything
Like any artist, a writer is often a channel for expressing the ineffable. Thus how, in the midst of searching, can a writer consciously reach forth and grasp a wisp of truth? Grace Paley, poet, author, and activist, argues that it is in the counterintuitive embrace of "ununderstanding" that realness in writing reveals itself.... posted on Jul 31, 12846 reads