how scientific research can help us all understand the ancient roots of wisdom in an age of information. Jenara Nerenberg: There are clearly boundaries and things scientists can’t always touch. But do you see progress in the scientific understanding of wisdom? Krista Tippett: It’s a great advancement to simply take a concept like wisdom into the laboratory and study qualities that are in the ecosystem of wisdom, like empathy, mindful attention, implicit bias, generosity, gratitude, and forgiveness. And to me the big picture, the good news, is that we’re interrogating ourselves in our fullness, the fullness of our humanity. So much of thi... posted on Aug 15 2016 (12,185 reads)

relationship. Often we are only half listening, waiting for our chance to speak, wanting to make our point. When our attention is with our own thoughts, we are not listening. Listening means to enter into the world of the other person, to intend to understand them, even if we disagree with what they are saying. 3. Understand the other person first. When another person feels you understand them, they are far more likely to be open to understanding you. Willingness to understand involves generosity, respect, self-control, compassion and patience. Be ‘curious instead of furious’ about how others are different from you. 4. Understand needs, wishes and values. Everyth... posted on Aug 20 2016 (177,702 reads)

Mahema refused to dwell in it. She put it aside and opened the doors of her changed life to the world. " I know I still can be of service to people," says Mahema, smiling. Listening to her speak you realize that service is an attitude- a mindset. It means putting the best of yourself forward no matter where you are or what you're doing. It's irrelevant that Mahema is in a wheelchair, and that she cannot hold the microphone or even sip from a glass of water by herself. Her generosity of spirit transcends her disability. Some people wonder what they have to give the world. Mahema reminds us that without exception we all have something to give -- arguably one of the best ... posted on Sep 10 2016 (21,122 reads)

felt that you were watching a craftsman at work—and if you knew his history, you understood that this feeling was more than metaphor. In his lectures, every move Alan made was informed by attention to detail and respect for the materials at hand; he connected ideas with the precision of dovetail joinery and finished the job with a polished summary. But the power of Alan’s teaching went well beyond crafted performance. His students knew that Alan would extend himself with great generosity to any of them who wanted to become an apprentice in his field, just as the elders in his own family had extended themselves to help young Alan grow in his original craft. Alan taught fr... posted on Oct 3 2016 (35,487 reads)

take its way unimpeded. Over the obscure man is poured the merciful suffusion of darkness. None knows where he goes or comes. He may seek the truth and speak it; he alone is free; he alone is truthful; he alone is at peace. Extolling the value of obscurity as “the delight of having no name, but being like a wave which returns to the deep body of the sea,” Woolf adds: Obscurity rids the mind of the irk of envy and spite; [it] sets running in the veins the free waters of generosity and magnanimity; and allows giving and taking without thanks offered or praise given. Woolf’s words offer the perfect affirmation of Ferrante’s artistic choice to use a pse... posted on Oct 30 2016 (7,807 reads)

a conversation between his childhood self, Jerry, and his present 80-year-old self, Jacob. I am reminded here of Joan Didion’s memorable quip that “we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not” — advice often difficult to implement as we wince at the petulance, foolishness, and hubris of our former selves, yet something Needleman accomplishes with tremendous grace, warmth, and generosity of spirit toward the imperfect, impatient boy he once was. Jacob Needleman (Photograph: David Ulrich) In one of these exchanges, Jacob articulates to Jerry the central premise of ... posted on Dec 24 2016 (10,830 reads)

(More) What I Learned From A Little Girl At A Train Station This traveler and self-described cynic was moved to befriend a young beggar when she was kicked off his train. He offered to buy her whatever she wanted to eat. The little girl gestured that she was hungry and then gathered more food than her little body could possibly devour. When he followed her, the traveler was blown away to find her happily feeding a small group of children. A poignant lesson in real generosity. (More) The Small Act That Was Not So Small Every Tuesday this exercise instructor at a retirement home stops by a particular resident's room to give her a hug given that... posted on Jan 4 2017 (19,550 reads)

creative mind in any field: The creative state of mind … is, first of all, one whose interest in what is being done is wholehearted and total, like that of a young child. With this spirit, it is always open to learning what is new, to perceiving new differences and new similarities, leading to new orders and structures, rather than always tending to impose familiar orders and structures in the field of what is seen. Echoing Annie Dillard’s warm wisdom on why a generosity of spirit is the greatest animating force of creative work, Bohm adds: This kind of action of the creative state of mind is impossible if one is limited by narrow and petty aims, such ... posted on Jan 7 2017 (21,203 reads)

various corners of the US and globe—from CA to North Carolina, Boston to India, Dubai to China—a crew of our October Laddership Circle tuned in on Tuesday for a deeper dive breakout call on Gift Ecology. "Holding the Questions" Prior to the call, everyone shared initial reflections online. Then, after an opening couple minutes of silence, we each tossed in a question for the conversation—ranging from practical implementations and sustaining gift-based systems to notions of an “inner gift-ecology” and how to honor our families’ wishes along the way. Chris, who comes from many years of monastic living, qu... posted on Jan 26 2017 (11,938 reads)

you’ve taken will manifest. IJ: One of the most powerful moments for me in ‘Into the Magic Shop’, is where you face the option to retain your financial wealth instead of giving it away as you had originally committed to. You chose to stick to your commitment to give away the bulk of your wealth. If only more of us could practice that kind of sharing, focusing on needs rather than wants, the world could be a vastly better place. How can a common man practice that kind of generosity and compassion as you have demonstrated? Dr. JD: Well, I have to say retrospectively I am not sure if it was completely the best decision, because I probably overall would have had the s... posted on Feb 1 2017 (12,220 reads)

you are hungry for news you can trust, journalism that helps you make decisions about your community, reporting that holds power to account, then this is for you. This is my personal advice for people who want to support journalism that matters. It is just a starting point, it is not comprehensive, and it’ll become stronger and more useful if you add your ideas to it. Use the comments to add your list of newsrooms you subscribe to and support. Now more than ever, it is important to our democracy that we seek out and support good journalism. Every person is going to construct their media diet differently, so any list I create will be incomplete. My goal here is to provide a framew... posted on Feb 6 2017 (20,598 reads)

lessons that I know will never leave me no matter where my letters go."  In another story, a mother taught a powerful lesson to her children about loving her enemies: her compassionate response to a band of young neighborhood pranksters, reminds us of how powerful and important it is to keep taking small steps towards loving those who challenge us. When we love those whom we do not even know or those who may never return our love, we learn something about the generosity and depth of our own hearts. *** Could there be more to love than we think? Consider how these kids define love.  How do you define love? What can you do to bring ... posted on Feb 14 2017 (16,554 reads)

who cultivates flowers, but a person who cultivates the soil." In business this has translated for me into the importance of developing agreements and partnerships where vision and values, purpose and intent are explicitly articulated, considered and aligned among all stakeholders of an enterprise - customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and the broader community and natural environment. The garden has taught me about patience and persistence and the ethical principles of generosity and reciprocity. It has illuminated the importance of appreciating the cycles of life and decay. For the gardener, composting is a transformative act - whereby last season's clippings (... posted on Apr 26 2017 (12,296 reads)

your own wisdom and support the collective wisdom. Preeta: That's so fantastic. I love everything you said, especially starting with the notion that we have everything we need within us and it's just a matter of tapping into it. You said at the start, the true self in everyone is good, wise and powerful. Kay: And once we know that, we can relax and we don't need to control others and lots of good things fall from that. ***** Join this Saturday's Awakin Call with generosity entrepreneur Joserra Gonzalez. RSVP and learn more here. ... posted on May 17 2017 (22,167 reads)

When people think I’m joking, I remind them of a simple truth: the more often you get your voice “out there,” even in a venue as small as a fifteen-student course on Thomas Merton, the more likely it is that dumb luck will strike. Be Jennie or Johnny Appleseed, scattering your words hither and yon, and a few may fall on fertile ground. But here’s the deal: this often means giving your work away free for nuthin’. In addition to being its own reward, this kind of generosity maximizes the chance of dumb luck by giving you more exposure than you get by trying to monetize everything. (And if you want to be respected as a writer, never, ever use words like “... posted on May 9 2017 (13,828 reads)

I felt a tipping point in my heart. There was an internal push and desire to share a message of love and respect for women, through this song and video. The creative concept of the film was generated based on three constraints. We wanted to: 1) Show a celebration of love and respect for women  2) Tell the daily stories of women and 3) Do it all within a low budget.  These three aspects aligned in the idea of holding an art exhibition where the strength, courage and generosity of women of all generations could be displayed through art, making it festive -- by inviting the community to come and celebrate those paintings, and using post-production tricks to dive in... posted on May 14 2017 (13,793 reads)

modeling, showing other people that they matter. And I think that that’s such an important skill that probably we could all do a better job at teaching as parents. Ms. Tippett: Adam, I’m also curious about the connection of this kind of collection of things we’re talking about, resilience, adversity, and to your work on giving and originality. As you’ve lived this in friendship with Sheryl, and in your research, how does resilience flow into those things — generosity, originality, creativity? Mr. Grant: It’s really been at the heart of a lot of my work. I spent a lot of my career studying why givers burn out, what happens when generous people e... posted on Jun 17 2017 (17,888 reads)

the ego, and a surrendering to something greater than oneself—whether that’s defined in terms of the ‘divine,’ or unconditional love, or artistic ecstasy, where even the plum tree outside your study window shimmers with meaning, grace and beauty. When our decision making is dominated by fear, jealousy, greed and other limitations of the ego, the economic and political systems we create will feed from and reproduce those qualities. By contrast, the ultimate security and generosity that flow from spiritual experience can anchor systems based on sharing and equality like nothing else. Of course, kindness, joy, love and liberation don’t unlock the doors of stru... posted on Jul 12 2017 (11,107 reads)

of love is fluff. That’s an unconscious prejudice that many bring to their volunteer work. In ServiceSpace, we flip that.  After almost two decades of cultivating that flip, we have seen that you can sustainably build institutional capacity with non-financial forms of capital. This, of course, is not to negate the power of money. ServiceSpace also uses it. For instance, David Brooks mentions "a slush fund", which I think is great idea for something like ‘generosity entrepreneurs’. But it has to stay in proportion, and subordinate, to other forms of capital.  Our creative constraint has been to not fundraise.  That invites us to tr... posted on Jul 28 2017 (10,164 reads)

but appointed? A Nonviolent Generation With Many Perspectives Paraphrasing Gandhi: to overcome the greatest destructive weapon humans have invented, one needs the greatest power humankind has been endowed with: nonviolence. Just as peace is more than the absence of war, nonviolence is more than the absence of violence. It is not simply the negation to cause harm, but it is something infinitely more: it is when one’s heart is so full of love, so full of courage, forgiveness, generosity, kindness and compassion, that there is no room for hatred, resentment and violence. It is not a double negative but a superlative positive. Nonviolence it is a call to disobey inhumane law... posted on Jul 10 2017 (6,653 reads)