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Meet The New Boss: You![](images/quickread.gif) "What do coffee growers in Ethiopia, hardware store owners in America, and Basque entrepreneurs have in common? For one thing, many of them belong to cooperatives. By pooling their money and resources, and voting democratically on how those resources will be used, they can compete in business and reinvest the benefits in their communities. The United Nations has named 2012 as the International Yea... posted on May 30, 9657 reads
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America's First Public Food Forest![](images/quickread.gif) Imagine a 7 acre plot of land in a large American city, with hundreds of different kinds of edibles: walnut and chestnut trees; blueberry and raspberry bushes; fruit trees, including apples and pears; exotics like pineapple, yuzu citrus, guava, persimmons, honeyberries, and lingonberries; herbs; and more. The best part? All will be available for public plucking to anyone who wanders into Seattle's... posted on Jun 8, 35360 reads
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5 Principles for Inner Transformation at Work![](images/quickread.gif) "People go to work to sustain themselves and produce value in the world. Yet work environments can also be stressful, filled with challenging responsibilities and personalities, and feel misaligned with our most deeply cherished values. Instead of sustaining us, the workplace can sometimes feel simply draining, and at worst, unwholesome for both ourselves and the world...is there a path for heart ... posted on Jul 5, 13681 reads
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Barbara Kingsolver On How to Be Hopeful![](images/quickread.gif) "The arc of history is longer than human vision. It bends. We abolished slavery, we granted universal suffrage. We have done hard things before. And every time it took a terrible fight between people who could not imagine changing the rules, and those who said, "We already did. We have made the world new." The hardest part will be to convince yourself of the possibilities, and hang on. If you run ... posted on Oct 24, 31573 reads
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Business Lessons from a Quiet Gardener![](images/quickread.gif) William Rosenzweig is a strong voice in the field of ethical business. Much of his inspiration in the corporate world comes from a seemingly unlikely place -- the garden. "A gardener sees the world as a system of interdependent parts - where healthy, sustaining relationships are essential to the vitality of the whole. In business this has translated for me into the importance of developing agreeme... posted on Sep 7, 4172 reads
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Somebody Tagged Me!![](images/quickread.gif) "'What is it?' Sabrina asked. One glance inside and my suspicion was confirmed. Lying inside were 2 tupperware containers. I could not see their contents from my bird's eye view but I could see a fresh mango and a bag of chocolates peeking from the corner of the bag. And the incredible aroma had already permeated the front office area. 'Someone has tagged me with an anonymous act of kindness!' I r... posted on Sep 26, 8279 reads
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The Science of Compassion![](images/quickread.gif) "As human beings, we will inevitably encounter suffering at some point in our lives. However, we also have evolved very specific social mechanisms to relieve that pain: altruism and compassion. It is not just receiving compassion that relieves our pain...The act of experiencing compassion and helping others actually leads to tremendous mental and physical well-being for us as well. It is our abili... posted on Oct 23, 35528 reads
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9 Simple Steps to Improve Your Health![](images/quickread.gif) "Ask a centenarian the secret ingredients to a long and healthy life and you aren't likely to hear "doctors, drugs, and fad diets." We all know that there's more to our overall well-being than treating symptoms or the occasional replacement of a part. The good news is that scientists in various fields are discovering ever more ways we can keep ourselves healthy without expensive medication and com... posted on Oct 5, 71135 reads
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What The Fire Could Not Destory![](images/quickread.gif) "Ben and Norma Shapiro spent Thanksgiving week in New York City. They went to two jazz clubs, one comedy club, two movies, six plays and five museums. They had packed clothes to take them to those events, plus casual walking. And those are all the clothes they have left. On their last night in NYC, Nov. 30, they went to a jazz club and returned to their hotel. The manager met them as they entered ... posted on Nov 19, 6493 reads
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Peace Artist: 6000 Miles of Art & Humanity![](images/quickread.gif) It all began with gratitude...And maybe some sneakers and paint. He goes by the name Peace Artist, and he spent the past year running 6,000 miles from Seattle, Washington to Savannah, Georgia. He ran until given shelter and fasted until given food. He carried no money with him, only art supplies, with which to create original works of art that he gifted along the way. He never asked for anything o... posted on Oct 12, 38427 reads
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When I Walk: A Filmmaker's Journey with MS![](images/quickread.gif) 30-year-old Jason DaSilva has worked as a filmmaker for ten years. His work has been screened at Sundance, on PBS, HBO, and came close to receiving an Academy Award nomination. Currently Jason is the director and star of an unusual documentary titled, "When I Walk". The film documents his journey with Multiple Sclerosis. In Jason's own words it,"provides information and inspiration to those affec... posted on Oct 30, 15640 reads
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Untrack: Letting Go of the Stress of Measuring![](images/quickread.gif) "There are a few old management adages that seem to run like a current through our society, powering our work and personal lives: "You can't manage what you don't measure" and "You are what you measure" and "You get what you measure". And I've fallen for it myself. At various times, I've tracked workouts, miles run, everything I've eaten, every single work task I complete, progress towards goals, ... posted on Nov 20, 17371 reads
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What The Outside Can Do For The Inside![](images/quickread.gif) "The balancing, breathing, and centering of yoga bring immediate results to prisoners, according to Natalie Smith, executive director of Yoga Behind Bars, a nonprofit that promotes yoga to help soothe the rage, anxiety, and hopelessness of life in prison. " Incarceration is an ineffective band-aid for many other problems -- homelessness, mental health issues, drug addictions. Antisocial behaviors ... posted on Jul 19, 12086 reads
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Creativity Blossoms in Beijing![](images/quickread.gif) "Dandelion, what an appropriate word to name a school that serves the children of migrant workers! The dandelion's seeds, feathery and light, drift with the wind to wherever they land. The tenacity of the plant helps it endure, put down roots, and live on. It is a perfect symbol of the situation tolerated by many migrant families, driven to wherever they can find jobs. Unassuming but tenacious, th... posted on Jan 20, 8854 reads
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Curry Without Worry: Food from the Heart ![](images/quickread.gif) "The founder of Curry Without Worry, Shrawan Nepali, has shoulder length salt and pepper hair, brown eyes that sparkle like he's about to break into a smile, and a lightness to him, as if he seems to defy gravity...They feed approximately 250 people in San Francisco, and 300 in Katmandu, Nepal every Tuesday night. Kerry Adams, a man waiting in line, told me, "Not only is the food here healthy and ... posted on Jan 12, 13995 reads
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Are You Building Your Legacy?![](images/quickread.gif) "What are you going to be remembered for? Will people talk about the relationships you had with friends and family? The once-a-year dish everyone looked forward to? The impact you made on a company and its employees? How is a legacy created and cultivated, and what can you do to build your own legacy? These are all huge questions with small and critical answers. Here's the story of my legacy, and ... posted on Jan 16, 37350 reads
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Stop Focusing On Your Performance![](images/quickread.gif) "The night before our wedding, Eleanor and I stood awkwardly in the center of a large room, surrounded by our family and our closest friends. There was no particular reason to be uncomfortable; this was just a rehearsal. Still, we were in the spotlight and things weren't going smoothly... It had taken us 11 years -- and a lot of work -- to get to this point. Eleanor is Episcopalian, the daughter o... posted on Feb 10, 29299 reads
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Rebranding Valentine's Day![](images/quickread.gif) "I never thought I would create a day. And yet, two years ago, with a few friends, I did. It all started back in 2008 on a cold December evening like any other. I was in the New York City subway rushing home. A man I'd seen many times on the train was asking for money to help the homeless. He had a warm smile and an open demeanor, and was wearing a hat that said he was a Vietnam vet. Like everyone... posted on Feb 14, 19533 reads
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The Library Cat Who Touched The World![](images/quickread.gif) "Vicki Myron, the former director of the Spencer, Iowa, public library, tells the true story of the tiny, frozen kitten she found pushed through the book-return slot one bitter-cold January morning in 1988. She and her staff revived him -- and decided to keep him. They named him Dewey (naturally) and he lived the rest of his 19-plus years in Spencer's library. Dewey greeted patrons when they arriv... posted on Mar 11, 7811 reads
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Life On A Farm![](images/quickread.gif) "Yes, we are part of the world, and the world is within us as we are within an alive and enormous network of being that looks back at us. To perceive this is at once so profound and also simple. It begins with the most obvious everyday things around you." Luanne Armstrong has been living on the same farm for sixty years. Wandering this land each day, she has come to realize that the more she knows... posted on May 9, 17247 reads
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Six Ways to Become A Wise Leader![](images/quickread.gif) There are two kinds of leaders, according to Prasad Kaipa and Navi Radjou, the authors of a new book called "From Smart to Wise." Smart leaders "tend to look at the world through colored lenses that skew or limit their perspective, which affects their decisions and actions, while wise leaders "are able to continually reframe and reinterpret events through integration and find new meanings within a... posted on Apr 2, 40520 reads
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Snail Mail My Email![](images/quickread.gif) "Snail mail fascinates me," says Ivan Cash. "There's something warm and fuzzy about coming home and checking the mail and getting a letter from a friend. It's such an intimate for of communication, especially in today's world." But when he noticed his letter correspondence was dwindling as text and Facebook messages were growing, he decided something needed to change. The 25 year old, quit his ... posted on Apr 13, 5837 reads
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Owner of the World's Friendliest Restaurant![](images/quickread.gif) "As anyone who's ever made a habit of eating out can tell you, restaurant service can be unpredictable, unnerving and off-putting. The food can be late. Servers can be rude and management can sometimes seem indifferent to your complaints and needs. This isn't the case at Tim's Place in Albuquerque, N.M., where every meal is accompanied by a hug from owner Tim Harris, who has Down syndrome.At Tim's... posted on Apr 27, 6028 reads
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A Poet's Take on The Mystery of Existence![](images/quickread.gif) "When I start to write, I'm not a guide or teacher; I'm not even a poet. I'm a person far out at sea, and the poem is a raft made of whatever floats past in the water. Those almost accidental rescuing pieces are words, rhythms, musics, ideas, the memory that is mine and the memory that is all of ours and the memory that is held in language itself. The experience of writing, for me at least, isn't ... posted on May 23, 17180 reads
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The Unexpected Antidote to Procrastination![](images/quickread.gif) "A recent early morning hike in Malibu, California, led me to a beach, where I sat on a rock and watched surfers. I marveled at these courageous men and women who woke before dawn, endured freezing water, paddled through barreling waves, and even risked shark attacks, all for the sake of, maybe, catching an epic ride. After about 15 minutes, it was easy to tell the surfers apart by their style o... posted on Jun 13, 37077 reads
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Recipes for Recovery![](images/quickread.gif) With a tagline that reads, "Where hitting the bottom, begins the climb to new heights," the Delancey Street Foundation is a residential education center for drug addicts and ex-convicts. It currently operates a few facilities across the US, bringing hope and empowerment in communities where people are breaking out of cycles of incarceration and drug abuse . Their mission is rooted in showing resi... posted on May 24, 11542 reads
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A Midwife to the Dying![](images/quickread.gif) "In having been in the field of dying for many years, I have frequently encountered the tragic limitations of dying in America. Our lives are an ongoing opportunity for us to realize compassion in the world and to really be a benefit to others. How extraordinary at the moment of death we have this opportunity to unify with our basic nature." Joan Halifax, a "midwife to the dying", has spent over 3... posted on Jun 5, 25707 reads
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What To Do When You've Angered Someone![](images/quickread.gif) "I was running late. My wife Eleanor and I had agreed to meet at the restaurant at seven o'clock and it was already half past. I had a good excuse in the form of a client meeting that ran over and I wasted no time getting to the dinner as fast as possible. When I arrived at the restaurant, I apologized and told her I didn't mean to be late. She answered: "You never mean to be late." Uh oh, she wa... posted on May 22, 341306 reads
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A Delicious Revolution![](images/quickread.gif) "Until we see how we feed ourselves as just as important--and maybe more important than--all the other activities of mankind, there is going to be a huge hole in our consciousness. If we don't care about food, then the environment will always be something outside of ourselves. And yet the environment can be something that actually affects you in the most intimate -- and literally visceral -- way. ... posted on Sep 23, 25970 reads
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Turning the Tables on Success![](images/quickread.gif) "Two of the defining qualities of great leaders are the ability to make others better and the willingness to put the group's interests first. The employees with the greatest potential to excel and rise will be those whose success reverberates to benefit those around them." So, what does it take to be a great leader? In this piece, Wharton Business School professor Adam Grant describes givers, matc... posted on Oct 14, 8621 reads
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Food for Your Soul: An Interview with Satish Kumar![](images/quickread.gif) "Food brings people together and nourishes not just their body but their soul, their mind and their spirit... That is why it is so important what kind of food you are eating. If you eat food that is tasteless, sprayed with chemicals and wrapped in plastic then your soul and spirit will not be nourished. We should eat wholesome food for a wholesome life." These are the words of Satish Kumar, founde... posted on Nov 30, 13754 reads
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Teens Deliver 33,000 Burritos to the Homeless![](images/quickread.gif) In a world where the younger generation is pulled toward the newest gadgets and accumulating more of them, a father responded to his son's ambitious Christmas wish list with a simple act of service. In an attempt to have his son realize how much they already have and to feel gratitude for it, they made breakfast burritos and drove out to share them with the local homeless people on the street. T... posted on Aug 22, 40068 reads
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How the Mind Can Heal the Heart![](images/quickread.gif) Daniel Goleman, author of "Emotional Intelligence" and "Social Intelligence", and Tara Bennett-Goleman, psychotherapist and author of "Emotional Alchemy," explain the science behind "mind whispering" - a technique for overcoming self-defeating habits of mind. Mind whispering is an integration of Eastern and Western psychologies and draws on mindfulness, cognitive therapy, and Buddhist psychology t... posted on Oct 6, 31143 reads
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A Tea Shop Making A Difference![](images/quickread.gif) Sometimes the issues ailing our world seem so huge, and our ability to resolve them so small. The story of Katrell Christie, however, and her ability to react with a sincere generosity in the face of a seemingly challenging social issue, gives hope and inspiration. After listening to the story of three orphaned girls on a trip to India, she promised to return and help -- and though she did not k... posted on Nov 24, 8953 reads
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The Morality of Meditation![](images/quickread.gif) Meditation is a hot trend in the arena of mind-improvement. Mounting evidence that the practice can boost memory, creativity and IQ has attracted mainstream attention. "But gaining competitive advantage on exams and increasing creativity in business weren't of the utmost concern to Buddha and other early meditation teachers. As Buddha himself said, "I teach one thing and one only: that is, sufferi... posted on Jul 7, 39692 reads
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Balancing the Brain Toward Joy![](images/quickread.gif) You might call her an "evangelist for a balanced brain": Twelve years ago, at the age of 37, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist and spokeswoman for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, had a stroke that traumatized her left hemisphere. After eight years of recovery, she recounts her experience of losing a former life and opening up to another of deep presence and laughter... posted on Aug 21, 44500 reads
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Death Cafe: Talking Tea and Mortality![](images/quickread.gif) "'Do you have a death wish?" is not a question normally bandied about in seriousness. But have you ever actually asked whether a parent, partner or friend has a wish, or wishes, concerning their death? Burial or cremation? Where would they like to die? It's not easy to do." For the past few years, "death cafes" have cropped up organically in Great Britain, providing a safe and open space for peopl... posted on Oct 5, 4671 reads
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How To Focus A Wandering Mind![](images/quickread.gif) "A recent study by Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert sampled over 2,000 adults during their day-to-day activities, and found that 47 percent of the time, their minds were not focused on what they were currently doing. Even more striking, when people's minds were wandering, they reported being less happy. This suggests it might be good to find ways to reduce these mental distractions and im... posted on Sep 16, 0 reads
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The Poetry of Childhood![](images/quickread.gif) Richard Lewis shares the poetry of children to illustrate how their imagination creates an incandescent moment. Children are at ease with both the visible and invisible, what we know and don't know -- the pure sense of expectation and delight in the mystery of what is happening and about to happen, and they sometimes express it in poetry. Read some of their poems and join in their delight.... posted on Aug 20, 12476 reads
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21 Blessings in Disguise![](images/quickread.gif) "It's easy to give thanks for the blessings that we do have. Love, family, friends, bounty. These are the hugs and warmth and praises analogous to a soothing back rub or an aromatic cup of tea. For these, we are thankful daily. They make us feel good and we expect and receive them with little to no toll." But then there are the things that do take a toll -- like our insecurities, flaws, sadness, a... posted on Nov 18, 62291 reads
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The Man in the Red Bandana: A 9/11 Hero![](images/quickread.gif) Welles Crowther began carrying a red bandana when he was 6 years old. It soon became his signature, and a link between father (his dad carried a blue one) and son. When Welles turned 16, he signed up as a junior firefighter at the local fire station -- Empire Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1. On September 11, 2001, Welles was working as an equities trader on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the Worl... posted on Sep 11, 5835 reads
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An Awesome Way To Help Kids Be Less Self-Absorbed![](images/quickread.gif) Malala Yousufzai, Craig Kielburger, and Ryan Hreljac are some of the many young people in the world who are trying to transform the world in positive ways. However, research suggests that a large percentage of youth are becoming less empathic and more disconnected from others. Getting children and young adults to be less self-absorbed has also been a subject of research, and as Dacher Keltner expl... posted on Dec 19, 109058 reads
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7 Lessons For Leaders In Systems Change![](images/quickread.gif) Creating systemic change is increasingly imperative in our times as we seek ways to improve the way that we live and relate to each other and to the earth. This large-scale thinking recognizes that, "Individual things - like plants, people, schools, communities, and watersheds - are all systems of interrelated elements. At the same time, they can't be fully understood apart from the larger systems... posted on Dec 12, 33191 reads
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Kitchen of Cheer![](images/quickread.gif) "Food is just a means of getting closer to people." Watching a child rummage in the garbage to drink melted ice from a discarded plastic sack spurred Mavis Ching to do something. Touch A Life prepares lunches for local kids and Saturday deliveries to their families in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Mother Teresa said: "The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved." Touch A Life a... posted on Oct 21, 4849 reads
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How Sleep Makes You Smart![](images/quickread.gif) About one-third of our lives are spent in reverie, and yet little is known about how sleep is linked to intellectual and emotional intelligence. Researchers are unravelling this mystery and are finding that sleep - especially deep sleep - confers emotional balance, opens us to learning, cements memory, and strengthens our ability to make meaning of facts and experiences. Sleep, as it turns out, is... posted on Dec 24, 70869 reads
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Beauty Feeds A Different Kind of Hunger![](images/quickread.gif) A fifth-generation Mormon and author of numerous books whose subjects span activism, family, and meditations on place, Terry Williams writes of women, relationships, faith, and environment, and how they are inextricably linked. In her own words, "I believe the first time I found my voice was when I crossed the line at the Nevada Test Site in 1988. It was one year after my mother died. It was one ... posted on Mar 22, 6210 reads
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The Million Dollar Scholar From Southside Chicago![](images/quickread.gif) When Derrius Quarles was four years old, his father was murdered. The following year, he was taken away from his mother's custody. Growing up in the Illinois foster care system for nine years and in the south side of Chicago, higher education seemed far out of reach for Derrius, and the challenges of inner-city life almost led him down a path of crime and fast money. Everything changed one morning... posted on Dec 28, 27326 reads
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How Emotionally Intelligent Are You?![](images/quickread.gif) "What makes some people more successful in work and life than others? IQ and work ethic are important, but they don't tell the whole story. Our emotional intelligence -- the way we manage emotions, both our own and those of others -- can play a critical role in determining our happiness and success...The five components of emotional intelligence, as defined by Daniel Goleman, are self-awareness, s... posted on May 1, 115155 reads
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10 Scientific Insights That Could Change Your Year!![](images/quickread.gif) The tide of psychology, which has traditionally probed into the dysfunctions of the human mind, has been shifting to a rigorous examination of its virtuous aspects. The "positive psychology" movement is unraveling universal human behaviours and experiences such as altruism, empathy, meaning, and happiness. For instance, in the past several years, researchers have found that a meaningful life is he... posted on Jan 23, 128906 reads
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10 Scientific Insights That Could Change Your Year!![](images/quickread.gif) The tide of psychology, which has traditionally probed into the dysfunctions of the human mind, has been shifting to a rigorous examination of its virtuous aspects. The "positive psychology" movement is unraveling universal human behaviours and experiences such as altruism, empathy, meaning, and happiness. For instance, in the past several years, researchers have found that a meaningful life is he... posted on Feb 4, 0 reads
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