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 (25,779 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 (8,244 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 (70,990 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 (18,780 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 (10,037 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 (20,236 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 (12,511 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 (32,544 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 (13,599 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 (15,607 reads)

with Dr. Ted Schettler is probably unlike any conversation you have had with your physician. Raise the topic of breast cancer or diabetes or dementia, and Schettler starts talking about income disparities, industrial farming, and campaign finance reform. The Harvard-educated physician, frustrated by the limitations of science in combating disease, believes that finding answers to the most persistent medical challenges of our time—conditions that now threaten to overwhelm our health care system—depends on understanding the human body as a system nested within a series of other, larger systems: one’s family and community, environment, culture, and socioeconomic... posted on Nov 15 2012 (13,449 reads)

plugged in and constantly juggling tasks at work and at home, many of us feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things we need to do. But wouldn’t it be awesome to feel like you had more time? In fact, a new study suggests that experiencing awe—which psychologists define as the feeling we get when we come across something so strikingly vast in number, scope, or complexity that it alters the way we understand the world—could help us do just that. What’s more, awe might make us more generous with how we spend our time and improve our overall well-being. In one part of the study, researchers induced feelings of awe in pa... posted on Dec 3 2012 (14,428 reads)

when he spots a round-faced man with spectacles striding into a sun-dappled courtyard on the campus of San Diego State University. Like Khamisa, the man wears a pressed white shirt and polished black dress shoes. The two embrace. They’re here to deliver an unusual talk, one that, over the years, they have presented to millions of students across the country. Minutes later, inside a warmly lit amphitheater, Khamisa takes the stage. “I’d like to introduce to you a very special man in my life,” he says. “My brother, Ples Felix.” When introducing Felix, he always uses that word: brother.  Khamis... posted on Dec 4 2012 (29,770 reads)

speech given at St. Mary's College, Moraga, California on May 20, 2012. Six months after leaving grad school, I found myself at a rocket launchpad for one of the very first private enterprise rocket companies. Our business manager was doing the countdown. 5-4-3-2-1, oh, BLEEP. The rocket blew up! That explosion, that failure, launched my career in a completely new direction as an entrepreneur. By being part of an incredibly bold venture, well a bold failure (that didn't kill me or anybody), I became open to becoming an entrepreneur myself. Returning to the Bay Area, I started my own rocket company. It failed. I ended up helping start seven high tech c... posted on Dec 12 2012 (15,138 reads)

grandmothers are different from mine. My grandmother lived a mile away. I played under her bushes where spring violets grew. She baked a dollop of meringue on a saltine cracker as a treat for me—and prepared delicious Sunday dinners: chicken that my grandfather caught and vegetables that she grew in her garden. Her bathtub had feet and her phone had a party line. She folded Christmas wrappings to use again. She kept her money in a safe inside a kitchen cabinet. Coal was heaped high in the basement to heat her house. She wore housedresses and braided her hair into a pigtail she could sit on. Contrast a contemporary grandmother in Argentina who told m... posted on Dec 15 2012 (16,790 reads)

imagine that many of us who travel on public transit had a similar commute home on Friday afternoon.  Shaken spirits while trying to hold on to a shaking subway train.  Tragedy on our minds.  No one saying “Thank God it’s Friday”.  Just “Why God?” and “Please God.”  All of us reading the news on our phones as if we all shared one mind.  One heart.  One deep sadness at hearing, reading, seeing, and feeling the news coming out of Newtown, Connecticut. I called my wife to see how she was holding up and through tears of her own, she told me that when picking up our girls from their elementary school (whic... posted on Dec 17 2012 (13,504 reads)

credit: Andrea Scher She may not be a household name just yet, but when you refer to “the woman who talks about vulnerability,” the seven million viewers of her TEDTalks videos know you mean Brené Brown. A research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, Brown has been studying shame, fear, and vulnerability for 12 years. She has presented her findings in three books, on national television, and in lectures across the country. A mix of no-nonsense Texan and best-friend warmth, Brown shines a light into the inner chambers of our hearts—and illuminates a reason to hope. She discusses her new book, Daring Greatly: How th... posted on Dec 20 2012 (54,980 reads)

holds the possibility for expanding our capacity to love. There is only one reason to forgive. If we want to be free, if we want to live as the full and unlimited expression of ourselves, if we want our hearts to open, then we are being invited to put an end to all stories that keep us closed and contracted. Consider also these benefits of forgiveness: less stress, lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, improved sleep, greater psychological well being. What exactly is forgiveness? When we are in the state of unforgiving, we are holding on to a grudge. A grudge is a story of hurt and resentment that we believe to be true and repeat over and over in our thoughts. I... posted on Jun 7 2021 (60,992 reads)

hate you, Aditi! I hate you!” my little brother screamed to me just minutes after my college graduation. As I pressed the outside corner of my eye to prevent a tear from escaping, I reminded him not to use hurtful words when he feels upset. Together we searched for the source of his frustration and then addressed it: we would get “New York” pizza once the crowds cleared. At the time, my little brother, Anand, was not so little – he was thirteen.Anand was born with cataracts, faced some developmental delays while growing up, and at the age of twelve with the onset of severe seizures, was diagnosed with both autism and epilepsy. I coordinate Ana... posted on Jan 2 2013 (24,466 reads)

days ago, I was in China, speaking to a bunch of influential business leaders. One of them posed a challenge: "You speak about Vinoba Bhave, the spiritual heir of Gandhi, and how he walked 80K kilometers across India and inspired people to donate 5 million acres to their neighbors. Yes, it might've been an unprecedented feat in the history of mankind, but really, how many people remember Vinoba today? Instead, think of how many people remember Steve Jobs and the legacy he left behind." From a short-term impact point of view, it's a thoughtful dilemma. In fact, Forbes magazine did a piece which reflected similarly, asking the question: "Who has changed the world ... posted on Jan 7 2013 (74,070 reads)