out, filmmakers Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustemeyer decided to stop buying groceries and only eat food that would otherwise be thrown away. The pair’s exploration into the wastefulness of the industrial food system—and their experience with life-sustaining dumpster diving—is documented in their film Just Eat It. Nearly 50 percent of the food grown in our society is thrown out. The food-waste statistics exposed in the film are staggering. Couple that with surreal images, like Baldwin standing knee-deep in a dumpster full of hummus, and you might be left wondering how much your own personal actions contribute to this giant waste habit. Want to know if you&rs... posted on Jul 30 2015 (10,014 reads)

In today’s era of high-speed travel, incessant texting, and digital distractions, it's not society's defining trait. And we're all to blame. Because we’ve all been there. Driving to work while making a phone call. Eating dinner while writing tomorrow's to-do-list. Watching a movie while texting and eating popcorn. The list goes on. In a hyper connected world, bombarded by multiple forms of stimulation, how do we remain aware of the quiet gifts that the present moment has to offer? Cultivating a mindfulness practice can be a powerful way to train our minds and tune into the beauty of here and now. There are&nbs... posted on Aug 18 2015 (26,699 reads)

glucose.” No brain glucose, no willpower. That doesn’t mean your entire brain is shutting down due to lack of fuel. It’s just a small area of the brain—and feelings may become more intense as self-control weakens. Like the warning light on your gas gauge, those feelings are a signal to take a break and get a snack. In another now classic experiment, Todd Heatherton, PhD, a social neuroscientist at Dartmouth, had dieters look at pictures of food while their brain images were recorded. Next, they watched a comedy and had to suppress their laughter, an activity that is mentally draining. Afterward, they were shown pictures of food and their brains were imaged ag... posted on Aug 17 2015 (31,675 reads)

creating my own kind of bucket list. Not the usual listing of things I wish to do before I leave this earth, but an accounting of the gracious drops of kindness that have filled my pail to the brim. Whether the contribution was a single drip from an eyedropper or gallons upon gallons of generosity, all have buoyed my soul, washed away hours of pain, and carried me through turbulent trials. And so I have decided to make a conscious effort to recognize these not-so-random acts. Some were as temporary as the morning dew, but equaling as cooling. Others have been like IVs, injecting nourishment continually. A few were summer storms: electrifying, powerful, and brief. Whether thei... posted on Aug 27 2015 (23,308 reads)

do the Grand Canyon, Sistine Chapel, and gazing at distant stars all have in common? They can awaken a deep appreciation for the world around us and inspire a profound sense of awe. This sensation is often accompanied by an awareness of something larger than ourselves—that we play a small part in an intricate cosmic dance that is life. But is that experience strictly personal? New research from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine suggests that experiencing awe can actually prompt us to act more benevolently toward others. In other words, awe can help make the world a better place. “For hundreds of years, people have talked about the importance of awe to human life and interpe... posted on Aug 28 2015 (13,116 reads)

do the Grand Canyon, Sistine Chapel, and gazing at distant stars all have in common? They can awaken a deep appreciation for the world around us and inspire a profound sense of awe. This sensation is often accompanied by an awareness of something larger than ourselves—that we play a small part in an intricate cosmic dance that is life. But is that experience strictly personal? New research from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine suggests that experiencing awe can actually prompt us to act more benevolently toward others. In other words, awe can help make the world a better place. “For hundreds of years, people have talked about the importance of awe to human life and interpe... posted on Sep 12 2015 (9,879 reads)

is crucial, bright/dark, sound/silence. We always forget our deep need for quiet as we go thru our day of achieving, solving, hesitating, and wondering if we’ve done all we should. How refreshing a change would be right then, in the middle of the action! Well, how about it? What if you could stop to listen at any time, over coffee, while brushing your teeth, even at your desk, leaving off focusing on your papers or computer? You could close your eyes and imagine for a moment that there’s another way of functioning. What would you notice? What would you hear? Perhaps your own heart beating and your own soul calling you home. Unfortunately, without being aware of it,... posted on Oct 23 2015 (22,830 reads)

the high desert, the myriad threads of summer spun from the most essential of elements – air and fire, water and earth – begin gathering and interweaving throughout the day, morning, noon, mid-afternoon, a complex ancient familiar yet freshly new dance across time. Small white puff flakes gather behind mountains, clouds purely white grow, rise, slowly, then more quickly, suddenly shades of grays and deep blue blacks winds pick up trees sway leaves flail thunderheads able to release some deluge or a dry, dusty, broken promise of rain teasing darkness. The size and scale of such moments are beyond imagining, even as cacophonies of cloud and thunder shake the earth and saturate... posted on Nov 21 2015 (17,842 reads)

really. Peter: That makes me think of bees. I actually brought Casa de Paz a little jar of honey from some bees I know back in Los Angeles. I like to think of them as friends, but they probably think of me as a honey thief. Bees see ultraviolet, which we can't see. To bees, flowers look different than they look to us. A particular flower might just look white to us, but to a bee it will have this pattern we can’t see in the petals. It stands out to them in the background of images, and they go in there and get their nectar. RW: That’s a good example of how there’s much more than we see. Now am I right that you’ve shifted your focus? Peter: Yes. T... posted on Oct 11 2020 (17,961 reads)

recently met Robin McKenna, the director of GIFT, a film about different facets of the gift economy through the lens of Lewis Hyde's book The Gift. I was struck by how dedicated McKenna is to this project and by the interesting gift-based initiatives from all over the world that she features in her film. Gifting as a concept can seem so abstract. I get a lot of people commenting to me that gift economics sounds great in theory, but what are some examples of it working? People want to know how they can practically put gift culture into practice in their lives, because all around them they only see examples of a taking culture. Gifting feels like a utopia, rather than something we ... posted on Nov 1 2015 (12,697 reads)

years ago, I was told that I needed a full hip replacement. I was 46 years old and athletic, and had none of the precursors for the condition. I was devastated. The orthopedist who gave me my diagnosis, however, was not particularly sympathetic. He pointedly ignored my tears while presenting me with the hard facts, answering my questions—like, “How could this happen to me?”—with answers that were technically precise but emotionally detached. And, while he spoke, he didn’t make eye contact, reassure me, or make any other effort at acknowledging my pain and confusion. Needless to say, I didn’t choose him as my surgeon. Instead, I later found an or... posted on Nov 14 2015 (12,955 reads)

Kaufman and Julia Wise are a young couple living in Boston. Jeff is a software engineer at Google and Julia is a social worker. For the past few years they've been giving away nearly 60 percent of their after-tax income to charities working to reduce poverty and save lives in developing countries. Despite a combined income well into the six figures, they spend little more than $15,000/year on themselves. Since 2008 they've given away more than $250,000. That's a lot of money, and it sounds like a big sacrifice. But they insist that it isn't. In her blog, Julia writes, "The things we love most--spending time with family and friends, making music, dancing, cookin... posted on Dec 5 2015 (10,998 reads)

82-year-old artist Mary Frank traces her earliest debts to the prehistoric images in books that her mother kept around the house. Their shadows have reappeared throughout her sculptures, paintings, and photographs. But she knows none of their creators’ names; there is no address where she can send a royalty check. The best repayment she can offer is the work of her own hands. Those of us who came of age in the millennial period have learned to think about debt and credit quite otherwise. Debt does not motivate so much as it inhibits and stigmatizes. We accumulate it in order to have an education, to make a home, to pay for medical necessities. (Student debt, at upward of $1.3 tr... posted on Dec 7 2015 (8,944 reads)

times gone by, amidst widespread poverty, the flour mills realized that some women were using sacks to make clothes for their children. In response, the flour mills started using flowered fabric… With the introduction of this new cloth into the home, thrifty women everywhere began to reuse the cloth for a variety of home uses – dish towels, diapers, and more. The bags began to become very popular for clothing items. As the recycling trend looked like it was going to stay, the manufacturers began to print their cloth bags – or feedsacks – in an ever wider variety of patterns and colors. Some of the patterns they started using are shown below Ove... posted on Dec 11 2015 (37,944 reads)

lot of effort has been spent trying to get people to engage in healthier and more prosocial activities. We want people to take the stairs rather than the elevator, to eat fruits and vegetables rather than candy bars, and to help others rather than thinking only about themselves. Often, getting people to change their behavior is treated primarily as a marketing problem. If only people really understood how desirable and important it is for them to do the right thing, they would do it more often. In many cases, though, people are already aware of the right thing to do. People know that climbing the stairs helps them to get more exercise, but they simply don’t do it. A fascinating... posted on Dec 19 2015 (11,200 reads)

we muddle through our days, the quest for happiness looms large. In the U.S., citizens are granted three inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The kingdom of Bhutan created a national index to measure happiness. But what if searching for happiness actually prevents us from finding it? There’s reason to believe that the quest for happiness might be a recipe for misery. In a series of new studies led by psychologist Iris Mauss, the more value people placed on happiness, the less happy they became. I saw it happen to Tom, a savant who speaks half a dozen languages, from Chinese to Welsh. In college, Tom declared a major in computer science, but fou... posted on Dec 28 2015 (20,744 reads)

thousands of years, humans have marked the beginning of a new year with sacred festivals. January is named after the Roman god Janus, whose two faces looked to both the past and the future. As you consider the many days ahead in 2016, take some time to reflect on the past as well. Try these tips if you're searching for ways to make this year's New Year's celebration more meaningful. 1. Choose a word of the year. Choose one word that will set the tone for 2016. Think of it like a chapter heading for the book that is your life. Print this word out and place it in a part of your room that you will see every day. 2. Be grateful. YouTube As the year co... posted on Dec 31 2015 (57,308 reads)

Does a Grateful Brain Look Like? Evidence is mounting that A team at the University of Southern California has shed light on the neural nuts and bolts of gratitude in a new study, offering insights into the complexity of this social emotion and how it relates to other cognitive processes. “There seems to be a thread that runs through subtle acts of gratitude, such as holding a door for someone, all the way up to the big powerful stuff like when someone gives you a kidney,” says Glenn Fox, a postdoctoral researcher at USC and lead author of the study. “I designed this experiment to see what aspects of brain function are common to both these small feelings of a... posted on Jan 2 2016 (16,110 reads)

What are you doing?” I asked aghast. I had just walked into my daughter’s room as she was working on a science project. Normally, I would have been pleased at such a sight. But this time, her project involved sand. A lot of it. And, while she had put some plastic underneath her work area, it wasn’t nearly enough. The sand was spreading all over our newly renovated floors. My daughter, who immediately felt my displeasure, began to defend herself. “I used plastic!” she responded angrily. I responded more angrily, “But the sand is getting all over!” “Where else am I supposed to do it?” she yelled. Why won’t ... posted on Jan 4 2016 (44,107 reads)

than a decade after Greater Good first started reporting on the science of compassion, generosity, happiness—what we call “the science of a meaningful life”—the research in our field is acquiring ever more nuance and sophistication. New studies build on and even re-interpret findings from previous years, particularly as their authors use more exacting methods, with bigger and broader data sets, and consider additional factors to explain prior results. These nuances are clearly reflected in this year’s list of our Top 10 Insights from the Science of a Meaningful Life—the fourth such list compiled by Greater Good’s editors. Indeed, many of this... posted on Jan 7 2016 (18,534 reads)