modern conception of human excellence is too often impoverished, cold, and bloodless. Success does not always come from thinking more rigorously or striving harder.” “The best way to get approval is not to need it,”Hugh MacLeod memorably counseled. We now know that perfectionism kills creativity and excessive goal-setting limits our success rather than begetting it — all different manifestations of the same deeper paradox of the human condition, at once disconcerting and comforting, which Edward Slingerland, professor of Asian Studies and Embodied Cognition at the University of British Columbia and a renowned scholar of Chinese thought, explore... posted on Jun 3 2014 (14,151 reads)

Luebbermann raises sheep at Windrush Farm in Petaluma, California, where she works to educate the public about wool and fiber arts.  Mimi Luebbermann with her sheep at Windrush Farm in Petaluma, CA. Windrush Farm is home to Corredale and Shetland sheep, who have been bred for their rich fur colors. "Anything that I make from scratch is very appealing," says Luebbermann, "I went overboard. I bought a farm so I could raise the sheep, so I could spin the wool and knit the sweaters." Windrush Farm operates on a zero waste model and Luebbermann strives to reuse everything that comes onto her land... posted on May 15 2015 (11,018 reads)

love has not wavered — for his family, for his country, for Wake Forest friends, for Blake and his family who host him during school holidays on ski trips in winter or whenever they can at their home near Los Angeles. In his home country, Wubetu is known in the highlands to leap out of a parked car and onto a rock to spread his arms wide and shout, “Welcome to Ethiopia!” He wants his friend to film him whenever he can, so he can post videos on social media or share the images with his U.S. friends. He wants them to know why he loves his country. During this week in July, he has made that leap from the car several times. At one spot, near the first school he atten... posted on Nov 13 2018 (19,904 reads)

that time of year when people make their New Year’s resolutions – indeed, 93% of people set them, according to the American Psychological Association. The most common resolutions are related to losing weight, eating healthier, exercising regularly and saving money. However, research shows that 45% of people fail to keep their resolutions by February, and only 19% keep them for two years. Lack of willpower or self-control is the top cited reason for not following through. How can you increase your willpower and fulfill your New Year’s promise to yourself? These seven strategies are based on behavioral science and my clinical work with hun... posted on Dec 31 2020 (7,465 reads)

2021 dissolves into a new year, KarunaVirus editors reflect on what the past year of witnessing everyday people choose love over fear have taught us. Unsung Heroes Are Right Under Our Noses We are taught to look at the stage to see displays of greatness, but it's resoundingly clear that heroes can often be found among the most ordinary, everyday situations. If you walk into a Walmart late at night, you may just run into a high school principal stocking shelves. In South Carolina, school principal Henry Darby works the night shift after full school days and donates his earnings to his struggling students. Go for an early morning run at the park, and you might meet a ... posted on Jan 4 2022 (15,223 reads)

student performs at the 2013 Louder Than a Bomb slam poetry competition in Boston, Massachusetts. John Tammaro / flickr, CC BY-ND The American poet William Stafford was often asked by friends, readers, students and colleagues: When did you become a poet? The response he regularly offered was: “The question isn’t when I became a poet; the question is when other people stopped.” Stafford was articulating what many poets believe: that the roots of poetry (rhythm, form, sound) go far back – both personally and culturally – “to the crib” and “to the fire in front of the cave.” No surprise, then, that children delight in the plea... posted on Jul 12 2022 (3,015 reads)

we ring in the new year, here are twelve steps that we can all take to reduce our impact on the environment Washington, D.C.—As we head into 2012, many of us will be resolving to lose those few extra pounds, save more money, or spend a few more hours with our families and friends. But there are also some resolutions we can make to make our lives a little greener. Each of us, especially in the United States, can make a commitment to reducing our environmental impacts. “The global community, and particularly people living in industrialized societies, have put unsustainable demands on our planet’s limited resources,” says Robert Engelman, President of the Worl... posted on Dec 29 2011 (14,248 reads)

G.B. Road is a place where no woman would go voluntarily. Or so you'd think. Home to 77 brothels, 4,000 women, and 1,500 children, it is the largest red light area of Delhi, India. A few years ago, Gitanjali Babbar walked right in. She quite literally knocked on the brothel doors, walked up the narrow staircases, and talked to the people there-- sipped tea with the brothel owners, listened, laughed, and came to know the women as her sisters, their children as her family. Three and half years ago, she found herself launching Kat-Katha, a nonprofit that's quietly been transforming G.B. Road brothels into classrooms, community centers, and saf... posted on Dec 12 2014 (42,785 reads)

science, nothing can be taken for granted; even the most seemingly settled notion is a candidate for further testing and exploration. That’s part of what makes our work at Greater Good so exciting: We’re constantly uncovering research that looks at humanity in new ways, helping us all learn to be happier, more compassionate, and more resilient. This year’s top insights are a tribute to that spirit. They debunk things we thought we knew, like how many human emotions there are. They inject some questions into the popular discussion of mindfulness, which can at times be overenthusiastic. And they open up new horizons for us to consider, like the possibility of ... posted on Jun 21 2018 (19,206 reads)

from DG Editors: Last week's Awakin Call featured Janessa Gans Wilder. A former CIA officer turned peace builder. If you'd like to help transcribe a few minutes of this powerful interview (which will be turned into an upcoming DailyGood feature) you can join the crowd-sourced effort here] Soldier, take me from this shelter’s cage. Give me back my life. In return, I’ll cover your back. I’ll be your canine warrior, your sixth sense. I’ll stand guard into the night and chase the demons away, the uninvited, cloaked in night sweats and darkness.  I will help you open your cage of solitude then walk tall by your side into the light of day.... posted on Nov 15 2018 (10,719 reads)

Mandela’s long walk to freedom. Kim Ludbrook/EPA As Black Lives Matter protests, triggered by the killing of George Floyd, spread across the world in response to systemic racism and police brutality, questions are being asked about how white people can lend their support. Our previous and ongoing research into the South African anti-apartheid movement provides four key lessons we can draw on today in the fight against racism. 1. Use privilege to support the oppressed The first lesson is that privilege, conferred to some by the system, can be used to support the oppressed. The African National Congress (ANC) launched its Defiance of Unjus... posted on Aug 19 2020 (7,047 reads)

left to right Anne Veh, with her Kindergarden teacher, Betty Peck, and ServiceSpace volunteer, Audrey Lin Audrey: There are so many stories of Anne. She has anchored kindness circles in different schools where a group of volunteers will go into a school and spend the day engaging on the theme of kindness and then doing acts of kindness. Last month she was at a middle school, and at the end of the day Anne gave this gift to the principal and it was a pomegranate; it was a very weathered pomegranate that she had saved. It was special because it was given to her by a dear friend, Mark DuBois, a past Awakin Call guest and quite an environmental legend. So Anne said to herself "... posted on Aug 18 2016 (14,350 reads)

time running backwards. People would grow younger instead of older and, after a long life of gradual rejuvenation – unlearning everything they know – they would end as a twinkle in their parents’ eyes. That’s time as represented in a novel by science fiction writer Philip K Dick but, surprisingly, time’s direction is also an issue that cosmologists are grappling with. While we take for granted that time has a given direction, physicists don’t: most natural laws are “time reversible” which means they would work just as well if time was defined as running backwards. So why does time always move forward? And will it always do ... posted on Apr 7 2021 (7,603 reads)

may be more beneficial than we commonly suppose. One recent study asked subjects to write a note of thanks to someone and then estimate how surprised and happy the recipient would feel – an impact that they consistently underestimated. Another study assessed the health benefits of writing thank you notes. The researchers found that writing as few as three weekly thank you notes over the course of three weeks improved life satisfaction, increased happy feelings and reduced symptoms of depression. While this research into gratitude is relatively new, the principles involved are anything but. Students of mine in a political philosophy course at Indiana University are reading ... posted on Nov 13 2022 (5,178 reads)

a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” In 1989, Stephen R. Covey penned The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (public library), a book that went on to sell millions of copies worldwide and defined a new genre bridging self-improvement, business management, and personal productivity. This week, Covey passed away at the age of 79. Here’s a look back at his legacy with some of the keenest insights from his beloved bestseller: Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).   Sow a t... posted on Jul 23 2012 (18,278 reads)

almost incomprehensively ambitious vision unsupported by any sort of business plan may sound like a vision doomed to fail. Yet more than 35 years after the first Aravind Eye Clinic was set up in South India, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy’s (Dr. V) mission to eliminate curable blindness in the country is surpassing even the most optimistic expectations. This excerpt from Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World’s Greatest Business Case for Compassion describes how a precisely defined set of creative constraints, including never refusing to provide care, never compromising on quality, and never relying on outside funding for patient services, became t... posted on Jun 10 2013 (48,829 reads)

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a lot of examples of case studies of people he worked with. I’m curious what you think about someone who says, “Is this from my own biological family line or maybe it’s from a past life?” MW: We just don’t know the answer to that until we cross over. I know Roger well. In fact, during that time when my eye couldn’t see, Roger was one of my teachers, one of my great teachers. I loved Roger. There were these events that we would land on in our inner images, which very well could be past-life images, but I’ve discovered that they could also be in the family history, and that we just don’t know the family history. So, I don’t k... posted on Dec 4 2020 (10,519 reads)

psychology of how we use frames, categories, and storytelling to make sense of the world. “It’s insulting to imply that only a system of rewards and punishments can keep you a decent human being,” Isaac Asimov told Bill Moyers in their magnificent 1988 conversation on science and religion. And yet ours is a culture that frequently turns to rigid external rules — be they of religion or of legislature or of social conduct — as a substitute for the inner moral compass that a truly “decent human being” uses to steer behavior. So what can we do, as a society and as individual humans aspiring to be good, to cultivate that deeper sense of right and w... posted on Jun 13 2014 (18,123 reads)

for art, life is difficult, hard to understand, useless, and mysterious." “As a person she is tolerant and easygoing, as a user of words, merciless,” the editors of The Paris Review wrote in the introduction to their 1992 interview with poet, short story writer, educator, and activist Grace Paley (December 11, 1922–August 22, 2007). Although Paley herself never graduated from college, she went on to become one of the most beloved and influential teachers of writing — both formally, through her professorships at Sarah Lawrence, Columbia, Syracuse University, and City College of New York, and informally, through her in... posted on Jul 31 2015 (12,842 reads)