GEORGE, Ont. — It may only be October, but a terminally ill seven-year-old boy in southern Ontario had a white Christmas Saturday evening. Doctors have said they didn't know if Evan Leversage, of St. George, Ont., would live to see this holiday season, so his town rallied around him to give him a final Christmas parade. By Saturday afternoon, the ground outside his home was blanketed in artificial snow. There were ornaments in the trees and a sign that read "Santa, stop here'' in the window. A snow machine brought a level of authenticity that is hard to come by even on December 25. Evan has had an inoperable brain tumour since he was just two-years... posted on Nov 7 2015 (11,220 reads)

speeds us away from the present moment, expressing a wish to be in the future because we think we’re going to be late. To counter it, Master Alexander teacher Walter Carrington told his students to repeat each time they begin an action: “I have time.”He tells us that on his visit to the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, where horses and riders are trained to move in unison, the director ordered the circling students to break into a canter, adding, “What do you say, gentlemen?” And they all replied together, “I have time.” Try it yourself sometime when you’re in a hurry. Send yourself a message to delay action for a nano-second before ju... posted on Dec 3 2015 (22,060 reads)

courtesy Lava Mae)  If you woke up this morning and showered in the privacy of your own bathroom, consider yourself lucky: America's nearly 600,000 homeless people often don't have a clean place to clean up. But in San Francisco, where the number of homeless has risen seven percent in the last decade, a non-profit organization is putting bathrooms on wheels and driving them to those in need. The group Lava Mae, whose name loosely translates to "wash me" in Spanish, is retrofitting decommissioned city buses with ensuite bathrooms and bringing them into neighborhoods like the Castro, the Mission and the Tenderloin, currently... posted on Jan 6 2016 (11,694 reads)

to class one day, one of us (Laura) saw a young student crying and waiting for his mother to arrive—he had split his chin while playing. When Laura got to class, the other students were very upset and afraid for their friend, full of questions about what would happen to him. Laura decided to ask the class how they could help him. “Caring practice!” exclaimed one of the children—and they all sat in a circle offering support and well wishes. The children immediately calmed and they continued with their lesson. Young students make "peace wands" as part of the Center for Healthy Minds' Kindness Curriculum.Image courtesy of the Center for Health... posted on Feb 10 2016 (32,680 reads)

from the Huffington Post: On March 2, 2016, my 11-year-old brother was hit by a truck while crossing the street. The trauma knocked him unconscious, and the damage to his brain quickly stopped his breathing. Paramedics gave him CPR and doctors helped him breathe, but it was clear that he wasn’t coming back. Because of his condition, we asked about the possibility of donating part of him to help others. Its what he would have wanted, being the person that he was, and if you are the lucky child who gets his heart, you should know what you can expect. *** Eric’s heart was the biggest part of him. He loved more than normal people. He seemed to ha... posted on Apr 1 2016 (10,385 reads)

Find meaning and purpose Creating and Recalling Positive Events reminds us that pleasure isn’t the only path to bliss; meaning can also bring us happiness, albeit a quieter and more reflective kind. In the Meaningful Photos practice, you take pictures of things that are meaningful to you and reflect on them. Over the course of a week, look out for sources of meaning in your life—family members, favorite spots, childhood mementos—and capture about nine or ten different images of them. At the end of the week, spend an hour reflecting on them: What does each photo represent, and why is it meaningful to you? Jot down some of those thoughts if it’s helpful. Ami... posted on Apr 29 2016 (70,167 reads)

crack sellers, loonies and ex-convicts travel on the bus." This summed up the main message I read on the internet while researching bus travel in the United States, in preparation for a road trip that I was embarking on with a friend. Additionally: it is likely that the bus won’t show up. And if it does, it will break down. Coming from a place where public transport is a norm, and going to a place 'built for cars' -- not even mentioning the many other biases reflected in the comments -- I decided to take the reviews with a huge pinch of salt and bought the bus tickets. About a month later my friend and I were at the Minneapolis Greyhound terminal, ca... posted on May 27 2016 (14,402 reads)

have long known this. Sleep deprived they watch, on occasion awe-struck, as their four-year-old marvels at every object in the world, in a perpetual state of awe, peppering them with endless questions of “why?”. Biographers routinely discover this in their studies of innovators. Awe drives people to paradigm-shifting discoveries and new technologies. Such was the case of Darwin, Muir, and Einstein. Our studies at Berkeley are finding that simply watching short videos of expansive images of the Earth leads people to come up with more original examples when asked to name items from a certain category (e.g., “furniture”), to find greater interest in abstract paintings... posted on Jun 2 2016 (17,239 reads)

science as a human discipline, and they longed for the larger culture to see the value of the scientific enterprise and to celebrate it and enjoy it, in the way we enjoy music and literature. What many of them said is that people are able to enjoy music even if they couldn’t have written it and wouldn’t be able to read it. In the last 5-10 years, I’ve seen this incredible cultural shift. Things like the Human Genome Project and the Hubble telescope, which brought amazing images of the galaxy into our living rooms, have contributed to our sense of awe. We’re morphing to this place where science and scientists and scientific ideas are much more celebrated at the h... posted on Aug 15 2016 (12,211 reads)

Malloy’s father was in Army Intelligence and assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Shanghai when Malloy was an infant. When Chiang Kai-shek fled China three years later, in 1949, Malloy’s family was the last one out of Shanghai on a plane. From there they went to the Philippines during the Huk rebellion. And then there was Java and Borneo and jungle living. By the time Malloy was seventeen, he had moved forty-four times. In his young life as a rolling stone, Malloy learned to rely on himself. Whatever allies and friends he might have begun to cultivate in one place were always torn away by his constant displacement. In schools in New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Oakla... posted on Aug 16 2016 (16,301 reads)

starts to speak, softly and in beautiful Tamil. Now and again he joins in, with a sly sentence here, a funny line there. They are sharing the story of their lives with a roomful of strangers. Before they started no one in the audience knew who they were. By the close of the evening- no one would be able to forget. Manohar is a scientist-writer-artist, an innovator with a restless intelligence and vivid imagination. He grew up in the Madurai of the 1940s, a schoolboy at large, roaming the city under the great gopurams (temple towers) of Goddess Meenakshi. Couple on Wedding Day Mahema, his wife, is an engaging person, lively and articulate. She was ... posted on Sep 10 2016 (21,219 reads)

colleagues who know about Pet Grief said “Get a paw print from Stella before she dies.”  Determined to honor her passing exactly right, I vowed “I will get that footprint.”  Stella and Bartie's feet. Photo by Bonnie Rose. So in the midst of inconclusive vet visits and internet searches for horrifying dog illnesses, I staggered over to a craft store to survey their Pet Memorial Products.  There I found The Pet Memorial Stepping Stone.  The picture on the box indicated you could cement a pristine footprint from your dog and decorate it with mosaic tiles.  Perfect.  I got two.  I came home and mixed the ce... posted on Sep 19 2016 (15,370 reads)

the past decade, I have had the chance to ask thousands of teenagers what they think about school. I’ve found that the vast majority of them generally feel one of two ways: disengaged or incredibly pressured. One thing nearly all teens agree on is that most of what high school teaches them is irrelevant to their lives outside of school or their future careers. One study found that the most common feelings among high school students are fatigue and boredom. Another study concluded that 65 percent of the jobs that today’s high school graduates will have in their lifetime do not even exist yet. But we are still teaching them in the same way that we t... posted on Feb 1 2016 (11,805 reads)

joy be cultivated? And, if so, can we teach our kids how to be more joyful in their lives? In our experience, the answer to both of these questions is yes. But it takes knowing what kinds of practices bring true happiness—and not just momentary pleasure—to your life. Once you’ve mastered that, it’s not too hard to introduce those practices to kids in a way that they can understand and appreciate. This essay is dapted from Awakening Joy for Kids by James Baraz and Michele Lilyanna ©2016. Reprinted with permission of Parallax Press. Our new book, Awakening Joy for Kids, is a resource for parents, teachers, and caregivers who want to give... posted on Oct 22 2016 (21,522 reads)

functioning.” The study, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, finds that sleep loss dulls our ability to read facial expressions, which is an important component component of emotional intelligence. But on the bright side, dreaming actually boosts this ability, the researchers found. How sleep loss impairs the emotional brain For the study, researchers conducted brain scans and monitored the heart rates of 18 young adults while they viewed 70 images of faces with expressions ranging from friendly to neutral to threatening. The participants viewed the faces two separate times — once after a full night’s sleep and once after pull... posted on Nov 11 2016 (18,591 reads)

a conversation this morning, a dear soul sister, pointed out to me a deep transition that is happening on my healing journey. Sensing how I seem to be less aversive to allopathic treatment than I was a year ago, she shared a beautiful quote about the difference between “taking a stance” and holding sacred ground. Taking a stance involves an other with whom we are in opposition or conflict, while holding sacred ground is more inclusive. Everyone can hold their sacred ground without stepping on anyone else’s toes. This really resonated with me because I have been sensing a sea change in how I show up in the world. For three quarters of my life, I have been l... posted on Dec 21 2016 (10,432 reads)

you for inviting me here. I will probably be sharing less from the perspective of a teacher, but more from the experience of a mother. Very early on, even before my child was born, I had the privilege to be located in a place where Gandhi-ji has spent so much of his life. Lot of the experiments in education and lifestyle, values had begun and thrived over there. I think the seeds were starting to be sown right in those moments. When I was to become a mother I had such beautiful welcome messages for the baby and how this baby is going to be shaped into this world. What are the values that the baby is going to learn and what kind of a person that he or she is going to grow up into... posted on Jan 6 2017 (19,044 reads)

a woman's work is never done, just what that work is has changed dramatically in recent years. From financiers to social activists, inventors to world leaders, women are shaping the present and helping to build a stronger future. Together they are easing the burdens of poverty and fighting for social justice. Today marks International Women's Day. In celebration, this Daily Good Spotlight on Women takes a look at a few determined women who have done transformative work around the world and shattered stereotypes while they were at it. GRANDMOTHERS Born into a different time, the grandmothers of today grew up when women did not enjoy&... posted on Mar 8 2017 (14,897 reads)

did gratitude evolve? Researchers are starting to trace this common human emotion all the way back to primate behavior. “Thank you.” Two simple words, among the most repeated on a daily basis. When I travel to a foreign country, it is one of the first phrases I learn, just after “hello.” When children start making verbal requests, their parents quickly teach them to say “please” and “thank you.” Plenty of research shows the benefit of saying thank you, as well as of other expressions of gratitude. Gratitude is one of the fundamentally important parts of human life, and comparative psychologists like myself are always interested in whe... posted on Mar 24 2017 (11,307 reads)

fruits are ripe, there is always the tendency to rush the harvesting. ALANDA GREENE shares her experience of having an attitude of poise and being present in the moment instead of rushing to finish the task. LESSONS FROM THE GARDEN More than with any other berry in the garden, picking blueberries invokes a sense of urgency. I feel it as I see the clusters of deep blue-black orbs, and then see another cluster and another. The feeling is: hurry, there are so many, there is so much to be done, and there’s more there, and there behind you, and over in that bush. Another feeling is also evoked: that there is suddenly so much to do, not enough time. I’ve got to get them pick... posted on Apr 2 2017 (11,919 reads)