community needs a commons where people can gather as friends, neighbors and citizens. This can be a grand public square, a humble Main Street or a vacant lot with a few handmade benches where locals sit down for conversation. Or even a bridge, beach or bus station, as the examples below show. What’s important are the connections made among people, which can lead to wonderful things: friendships, love, partnerships that flower into new ideas for businesses or community projects. Project for Public Spaces, a New York-based group that works around the world helping citizens boost the sense of community in their neighborhoods, compiled a comprehensive catalog of ... posted on Aug 14 2012 (17,562 reads)

data and warnings about climate change have been with us for twenty years. The issue has morphed into something like a low-level toothache. The public is numbed by all the bad news, and in place of sensible solutions, we witness the folly of political polarization. You can't believe in climate change and be a good conservative. This departure from fact-based reality is only part of the problem. China and the U.S., who produce 40% of the world's harmful emissions, block measures to reverse the trend toward global warming for purely selfish reasons - two rich economies want to preserve the status quo. One can react to this situation in various ways, leading to a choice... posted on Aug 17 2012 (18,224 reads)

than 30 years ago, a teenager named Jadav "Molai" Payeng began planting seeds along a barren sandbar near his birthplace in India's Assam region, theAsian Age reports. It was 1979 and floods had washed a great number of snakes onto the sandbar. When Payeng -- then only 16 -- found them, they had all died. "The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms," Payeng told the Times Of India. "It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. ... posted on Aug 16 2012 (80,011 reads)

itself is a commons to which everyone should have equal access. That’s the view of Enrique Peñalosa, who is not a starry-eyed idealist given to abstract theorizing. He’s actually a politician, who served as mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, for three years, and now travels the world spreading a message about how to improve quality-of-life for everyone living in today’s cities. Peñalosa’s ideas stand as a beacon of hope for cities of the developing world, which even with their poverty and immense problems will absorb much of the world’s population growth over the next half-century. Based on his experiences in Bog... posted on Aug 24 2012 (21,262 reads)

know the type: coworkers who never have anything positive to say, whether at the weekly staff meeting or in the cafeteria line. They can suck the energy from a brainstorming session with a few choice comments. Their bad mood frequently puts others in one, too. Their negativity can contaminate even good news. "We engage in emotional contagion," says Sigal Barsade, a Wharton management professor who studies the influence of emotions on the workplace. "Emotions travel from person to person like a virus." Barsade is the co-author of a new paper titled, "Why Does Affect Matter in Organizations?" ("Affect" is another word for "emotion" i... posted on Aug 25 2012 (38,173 reads)

knows that our school system, in general, is not giving our kids the basic reading, writing, ‘rithmatic and science skills needed to be competitive in the high-tech workforce of the upcoming generation (at least, that’s the general assumption, and we won’t argue it here). But there’s much more to life than those basic subjects, and unless you have an exceptional teacher who is willing to break out of the mold, your child isn’t learning the crucial things he or she needs to learn in life. Think about your own experience for a moment. When you got out of high school, did you know everything you needed in order to survive in life, let alone... posted on Aug 28 2012 (116,804 reads)

part of my summer internship with ServiceSpace.org involved initiating conversations with people I didn't know, and one question I'd ask them is what do they know for sure in life? Something they know with certainty. When I was initially asked this question, the immediate answer that came to mind is death. Death is everywhere. And I don't mean death is everywhere in some cynical or morbid sense, but death is an inevitable part of life. Rather than seeing death as something good or bad, it is just something that happens. When I was 12, I attended a boarding school that was also a temple. My parents came to pick me up to for winter break. My mom wa... posted on Aug 30 2012 (40,118 reads)

of the more heart-warming stories to zoom around the Internet lately involves a young man, his dying grandmother, and a bowl of clam chowder from Panera Bread. It's a little story that offers big lessons about service, brands, and the human side of business — a story that underscores why efficiency should never come at the expense of humanity. The story, as told in AdWeek, goes like this: Brandon Cook, from Wilton, New Hampshire, was visiting his grandmother in the hospital. Terribly ill with cancer, she complained to her grandson that she desperately wanted a bowl of soup, and that the hospital's soup was inedible (she used saltier language). If only ... posted on Aug 31 2012 (128,144 reads)

Simon: You’re listening to “Insights at the Edge.” Today my guest is Angeles Arrien. Angeles is a teacher, author, and cultural anthropologist, and somebody I am so pleased to be able to call a friend. Her teachings, which connect the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, and comparative religion, focus on humanity’s shared beliefs and values, along with ways to incorporate this wisdom into our modern lives. With Sounds True, Angeles Arrien has created the programs The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom, which is both a book and audio series; an audio program called Gathering Medicine: Stories, Songs, and Methods for Soul Ret... posted on Sep 17 2012 (30,591 reads)

I was angry. And I was a little afraid. After all I’ve not been free in so long. But, when I felt that anger well up inside of me, I realized that if I hated them after I got outside that gate, then they would still have me. I wanted to be free so I let it go.” ~Nelson Mandela upon leaving prison after 27 years of confinement   Frustrated, impatient, raging…aaarrrrrrgh! Yes, it’s normal to feel angry – you are human, after all. But if anger causes problems in your life – if it interferes with your health and happiness – then consider these 10 life-changing facts. Get curious about anger, and you just might discover a... posted on Feb 16 2022 (208,163 reads)

now we are all extremely familiar with the litany of challenges we face as a global species, the threats of scarcity which pit state against state and community against community, problems manmade and visible in nature: growing population, increasing urbanization, deforestation, damaged watersheds, over-consumption of resources, energy shortages, waste, pollution....All of us could easily add to this list. We know there will be no easy fixes, no panaceas, but nevertheless as we try to set priorities and search for the most promising ways to approach these problems, many of us find ourselves looking to different cultures and to earlier eras for inspiration. In this regard, the Edo ... posted on Sep 19 2012 (25,945 reads)

please come to the front desk. Katy, you have a package at the front desk." Immediately my sensors were on. Package? Why do I have a package at work? Did I order something? Did my mom send me something? Maybe it's from one of my clients. They might have mailed their paperwork in using priority mail. But they wouldn't have called me over the intercom. Hmmmm, a package. Wait a minute.........could it be........is it...did they.... As I approached the front desk Sabrina and Tatiana sat comfortably in their chairs in front of their computers. Nothing was out of the ordinary. They were focused on their tasks at hand and barely noticed me approaching, a s... posted on Sep 26 2012 (8,308 reads)

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 complicated workout regimens. Here are nine simple, scientifically proven—and sometimes surprising—ways to empower yourself to make the right choices for your body and health.  1. Laugh to your heart's delight “Laughter might be one of the on... posted on Oct 5 2012 (76,159 reads)

in action. We've all heard the cliche a million times but there's something about the way Nancy Rivard says it, that makes it reverberate in your heart for days to come. Maybe it's because she actually walks her talk and speaks with the confidence of experience; maybe it's because there is an uncanny sincerity in her demeanor; or maybe it's impossible to pinpoint any one particular reason. Whatever the case, if you spend an evening with this World Woman of Peace (1999), you get a flavor of her infectious enthusiasm, a love affair with humanity that fills Nancy's heart and surrounds her presence. "Like the in breath and the out breath,&quo... posted on Oct 9 2012 (19,053 reads)

by Nara Simhan. We’re driving home around sunset, late summer. Daniel, age nine, says aloud, “Mom, what do you think is at the end of the universe? Dragonflies? Or just inky blackness?” I write it down. A good moment when what shines in him shines through, but there are plenty of bad moments, too. Daniel, as exquisitely creative, loving, and intelligent as he is, suffers from what experts label an invisible disability, a chemical imbalance, a little extra electricity in his system. To kids his own age he’s a nuisance. To the school district he’... posted on Oct 10 2012 (10,130 reads)

view of the world is powered by personal algorithms: observing how all of the component pieces (and people) that make up our personal social system interact, and looking for patterns to predict what will happen next. When systems behave linearly and react immediately, we tend to be fairly accurate with our forecasts. This is why toddlers love discovering light switches: cause and effect are immediate. The child flips the switch, and on goes the light. But our predictive power plummets when there is a time delay or non-linearity, as in the case of a CEO who delivers better-than-expected earnings only to wonder at a drop in the stock price. Enter my co-author, MIT-trained strategist... posted on Oct 11 2012 (20,424 reads)

Van Beek of Byron Center smoked two packs of cigarettes and chewed a tin of tobacco a day, and the only exercise he got was playing in a Monday night softball league. "And then we would go drink a couple of beers after our game," said Van Beek, 38. But two years ago, Van Beek quit smoking, lost weight, whipped himself into shape and started running. Van Beek plans to run in his second Fifth Third River Bank Run 25K on Saturday morning. It turned out that all Van Beek needed was a little inspiration to get off the couch. "If you want to be a runner, you have to have something to run for, whether it is your health, it doesn’t matter," Van... posted on Oct 16 2012 (12,732 reads)

of an uncertain future: it can stop us from doing great things, and it can keep us holding onto things that are hurting us. For example: you might be holding onto clutter for reasons of comfort and security, even if the clutter gives you anxiety and costs a lot of money. And: you might be staying in a job you don’t like, because you’re afraid of taking the plunge, because you’re afraid of failing. And again: you might not travel to a country that feels very unfamiliar because you don’t know what will happen — and miss out on an amazing life-changing experience. This is just the start of how fear of an uncertain future affects our liv... posted on Oct 17 2012 (32,868 reads)

love the idea of loving questions -- seeing the potential beauty that they contain. I don't think we always give questions the time and attention they deserve, often mistaking them as being mere stepping stones to an answer. We also abuse questions in our everyday way of relating to them, presenting words under the guise of an inquiry when in fact we're only trying to make a point. I know I'm guilty of this in my own home -- asking my children if they've brushed their teeth or finished their homework or eaten all their dinner before moving on to dessert. Asking the dog if he shredded the paper towel in hopes that he'll admit his guilt. All these moments of undercover... posted on Oct 26 2012 (13,879 reads)

the very earliest time When both people and animals lived on earth A person could become an animal if he wanted to and an animal could become a human being. Sometimes they were people and sometimes animals and there was no difference. All spoke the same language That was the time when words were like magic. The human mind had mysterious powers. A word spoken by chance might have strange consequences. It would suddenly come alive and what people wanted to happen could happen-- all you had to do was say it. Nobody could explain this: That's the way it was. -- Nalungiaq, Inuit woman interviewed by ethnologist Knud Rasmussen in the early twentieth cent... posted on Oct 28 2012 (15,757 reads)