Mozambique I CAME to Africa with one purpose: I wanted to see the world outside the perspective of European egocentricity. I could have chosen Asia or South America. I ended up in Africa because the plane ticket there was cheapest. I came and I stayed. For nearly 25 years I’ve lived off and on in Mozambique. Time has passed, and I’m no longer young; in fact, I’m approaching old age. But my motive for living this straddled existence, with one foot in African sand and the other in European snow, in the melancholy region of Norrland in Sweden where I grew up, has to do with wanting to see clearly, to understand. The simplest way to explain what I&rs... posted on Jan 17 2012 (30,461 reads)

everybody acted in a simple and human way, we’d all be saints." --Don Sergio Castro, “El Andalón” Three blocks from the’ zocalo’, the main square where at nightfall people gather to watch the Marimba municipal orchestra, in the charming city of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Sergio Castro receives the meek, the worthless, the outcasts of Mexican society in his free medical clinic. Some of his patients are sent to him by local hospitals, especially in hopeless cases; when, for example, amputation seems to be the only option. Sergio is seen by many as the last hope. People come to him with gangrene, hoping that they will be able... posted on Jan 22 2012 (19,369 reads)

supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” - Arnold Toynbee   Following your passion can be a tough thing. But figuring out what that passion is can be even more elusive.   I’m lucky — I’ve found my passion, and I’m living it. I can testify that it’s the most wonderful thing, to be able to make a living doing what you love.   And so, in this little guide, I’d like to help you get started figuring out what you’d love doing. This turns out to be one of the most common problems of many Zen Habits readers — including many who recently responded to me on Twitter.... posted on Feb 5 2012 (87,116 reads)

Gandhi on the Power of One, from a January DailyGood] [A] faith in the power of the individual formed the foundation for Gandhi’s extremely compassionate view of the industrial era’s large-scale problems, as well as of the smaller but no less urgent troubles we found in our own lives. Our problems, he would say, are not inevitable; they are not, as some historians and biologists have suggested, a necessary side effect of civilization. On the contrary, war, economic injustice, and pollution arise because we have not yet learned to make use of our most civilizing capacities: the creativity and wisdom we all have as our birthright. When even one person c... posted on Feb 17 2012 (83,084 reads)

it may not have been a typical extra-curricular activity, 17-year-old Angela Zhang's after school project may change the world. Zhang has been making headlines recently after taking home a check of $100,000 from the national Siemens science contest, and now it has been suggested that her research could lead to a potential cure for cancer. "I created a nanoparticle that's kind of like the Swiss Army knife of cancer treatment in that it can detect cancer cells, eradicate the cancer cells and then monitor the treatment response. So the major aim of the project was to personalize cancer medicine," Zhang told ABC News. The teen bega... posted on Feb 18 2012 (20,081 reads)

LAUDERDALE — They may be the most amazing story at the Super Bowl, this immigrant father who sought the American dream and the son he can't see play in America's biggest game. That's a small joy most parents take for granted: seeing your child play a game. Watching him grow in sports over the years. Enjoying the best moments as much as he does. But Jean Pierre-Paul is led by the arm down a small hallway of his Fort Lauderdale home, then places his hand against the couch, to confirm he's reached it. "It's just my life, I'm blind,'' he says in Creole through a translator. "Some days are good days, some days are bad days. Sunda... posted on Feb 22 2012 (8,963 reads)

are quick to connect with each other by telling stories and passing along gossip via texting and social media.  But students have lost the art of listening face to face by hiding behind the veil of anonymity. They talk at each other (of course, we adults do this too). As a public high school teacher, I clearly see a need for teens to learn to listen intently.    In fact, few of us in modern society know how to listen.  Henning Mankell’s recent piece on DailyGood only reiterated today’s penchant for incessant white noise chatter.  In the African parable retold by Mankell, our two ears and one mouth are a reminder that we are designed to l... posted on Feb 25 2012 (19,182 reads)

many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them. When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again.... posted on Feb 23 2012 (263,035 reads)

newly-adopted cat repaid his owner's loving gesture earlier this month by saving her from a medical emergency just hours after he was brought home, the Green Bay Press Gazette reports. Amy Jung and her son Ethan stopped into The Humane Society near their home in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on Feb. 8 to play with the cats, but one feline -- a 21-pound orange-and-white cat named Pudding -- stood out to the pair. Jung learned that the laid-back cat had been in and out of the shelter since 2003, and made an impulsive decision to adopt him and his friend Wimsy. Jung said the cats wasted no time fitting into their new home when they arrived. But just hours later, the Ju... posted on Feb 27 2012 (26,126 reads)

Melville's father was skeptical when his son first said that he wanted to use the profits from his successful summer lemonade stand to start his own soda company. Aaron Melville, who teaches business classes at a local college, did not believe his 9-year-old autistic son was ready to run his own business. Kent was determined to do something to help others with autism, however, which inspired his father to reconsider. Aaron described on a Facebook page for the organization, why he decided to help his son start Kent's Soda after initially encouraging him to wait until he was older. Kent pondered that for a minute. He then looked at me and said "Dad, ... posted on Mar 15 2012 (27,119 reads)

week I meet with a group of Los Angeles business owners and entrepreneurs - men and women from very different fields who share a common vision of being self-supporting through self-employment. Among the group are doctors, accountants, attorneys, real estate agents, writers, architects, artists, actors, PR agents, personal trainers, professional speakers, headhunters, musicians, construction contractors, literary agents, photographers, landscapers, and more. The topic for this week's meeting was: "What are you doing to keep your business going in these crazy-making economic times?" Several people said they have upped the number of cold calls they're making; other... posted on Mar 19 2012 (41,533 reads)

deeds are contagious We naturally imitate the people around us, we adopt their ideas about appropriate behavior, and we feel what they feel. Acts of charity are no exception. In our 2010 generosity experiment, we showed that every extra dollar of giving in a game designed to measure altruism caused people who saw that giving to donate an extra twenty cents. 2. The network acts like a matching grant That same experiment showed that contagious generosity spreads up to three steps through the network (from person to person to person to person), and when we added up all the extra donations that resulted at every step, we found that an ... posted on Mar 21 2012 (46,754 reads)

Star dedicated unprecedented coverage to the funeral of 55-year-old Shelagh Gordon – interviewing more than 100 of her friends and family – to show how a modest life can have a huge impact. I met Shelagh Gordon at her funeral. She was soap-and-water beautiful, vital, unassuming and funny without trying to be. I could feel her spirit tripping over a purse in the funeral hall and then laughing from the floor. She was both alone and crowded by love. In another era, she’d have been considered a spinster — no husband, no kids. But her home teemed with dogs, sisters, nieces, nephews and her “life partner” —a gay man — who would pas... posted on Jan 18 2016 (110,997 reads)

the past two years, James O’Dea has found himself synthesizing his remarkable life experience into what he calls “social healing”. Formerly Director of Amnesty International’s Washington, DC office, Executive Director of the Seva Foundation and President of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, O’Dea has now been asking (and answering) some profound questions: What does it take for an individual, community and a nation to heal itself?  Our enriching conversation with O’Dea explored the roots of this tangled question, and unearthed deeply held truths.  “Service ... posted on Mar 27 2012 (24,579 reads)

five women are fighting poverty in a serious way, but they’re not handing out aid. We hope to see them scale up their models this year and make an even bigger impact. Leila Janah - Leila knows that what poor people really want is a job—steady income that pays for food, school and medicine. But American companies that "outsource" work to poorer countries aren't exactly popular right now. To Leila, the concept of “microwork” isn’t exactly outsourcing, either. She founded Samasource, a social enterprise that takes simple, computer-based tasks from companies like Intuit, Google and LinkedIn and turns them into jobs for poor peopl... posted on Mar 28 2012 (17,221 reads)

athletes have the benefit of seeing what's ahead of them -- an opponent, the bars, a vault. But for 13-year-old Lola Walters, she usually has no idea what's coming until she's literally five feet away from it. Walters, a Washington resident, is legally blind, and suffers from a disease called nystagmus which causes her eyes to shift constantly, leaving her with double vision and no depth perception, the Daily Mail reports. "Most people I compete with don't know I am any different to them," Walters told the news source. "And as far as I'm concerned it can stay that way. If they don't know, they don't... posted on Mar 30 2012 (19,881 reads)

is Practice." ~Pele When we learn a martial art, or ballet, or gymnastics, or soccer … we consciously practice movements in a deliberate way, repeatedly. By conscious, repeated practice, we become good at those movements. Our entire lives are like this, but we’re often less conscious of the practice. Each day, we repeat movements, thought patterns, ways of interacting with others … and in this repeated practice, we are becoming (or have already become) good at these things. If you constantly check Facebook or Twitter, that is practice, and you are forming that habit, though it’s usually not with too much awareness. When you s... posted on Apr 3 2012 (32,704 reads)

at schools has become a huge issue. In looking for innovative solutions, Canadian educators turned to a unique classroom program called Roots of Empathy. At the heart of the program, now being implemented in 1,400 schools, lies this insight: When you put an infant and its parent in the center of the classroom, children start to sensitize themselves to the baby's intentions and emotions. The results that ripple out are unambiguous: a measurable reduction in levels of aggression among schoolchildren. The program is successful because it fosters the development of empathy, supporting children in tapping into an unconscious part of themselves. The baby becomes ... posted on Apr 8 2012 (17,382 reads)

for Happiness has developed the 10 Keys to Happier Living based on a review of the latest scientific research relating to happiness. Everyone’s path to happiness is different, but the research suggests these Ten Keys consistently tend to have a positive impact on people’s overall happiness and well-being. The first five (GREAT) relate to how we interact with the outside world in our daily activities*. The second five (DREAM) come more from inside us and depend on our attitude to life.   1. GIVING: Do things for others   Caring about others is fundamental to our happiness. Helping other people is not only good for them and a g... posted on Apr 14 2012 (92,225 reads)

leading development economist speaks on the virtues and limitations of a data-driven approach to healing the world's most intractable problems   Reuters Do free bed nets in some countries lead to more cases of malaria? Could anti-parasite pills raise school attendance in one country and have no effect in another? How cheap does preventative care have to be for low-income families to see the doctor? There might not be a perfect way to answer these thorny questions on a country-by-country basis. But some leading scientists think the most rigorous answer comes from what they call "randomized controlled trials." Esther Duflo is widely recogni... posted on May 19 2012 (9,345 reads)