and routinely with young people. That is what I was trying to do with my kids. One thing I learned with teaching and learning about the Secret Kindness Agents, and doing that with my students, is the story of the two wolves. Do you know that story? It is a Cherokee legend. I found it on the First Nations website. A grandfather is speaking with his grandson. He tells his grandson, “I have these two wolves always fighting within me. There is a good wolf, full of kindness, and generosity, and gratitude, and compassion, and then a bad wolf, full of anger, and jealousy, and resentment, and they are always fighting each other.” The grandson asks him, “Well grandfat... posted on May 6 2018 (9,226 reads)

no matter what is going on. My work as a leader, my work as an activist, my work as a mother, a community member is to create the conditions so that people remember what it's like to be a good team member. Remember what it is like to work in community. And for me, the most important obligation of those who take on this beautiful title of Warrior for the Human Spirit is that we have to be the ones, through our own practice and training, who actually embody the best of human qualities: generosity, kindness, intelligence, sanity, and that we have to be a clear and present embodiment of the best of human nature. TS: Now you mentioned, Meg, that you've studied this pattern ... posted on Mar 29 2018 (27,873 reads)

tend to exist at the expense of each other. If one is strong in feeling, one is likely to be inferior in thinking -- and vice versa. Our superior function has given us science and the higher standard of living -- but at the cost of impoverishing the feeling function. This is vividly demonstrated by our meager vocabulary of feeling words. If we had the expanded and exact vocabulary for feeling that we have for science and technology, we would be well on our way to warmth of relatedness and generosity of feeling. ... posted on Feb 4 2018 (27,308 reads)

there a secret to happiness? Is happiness spending time with loved ones, or spending time alone in nature? Is it losing yourself as you dance to music, or finding yourself while quietly meditating? The secret to happiness is actually all of these things and more, and it varies from country to country and culture to culture. According to the annual World Happiness Report, Norway is the happiest country, scoring highly in its approach to caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance. Meanwhile, the Happy Planet Index ranks Costa Rica as the happiest country on Earth. While opposites when it comes to climate, the two ... posted on Feb 21 2018 (21,334 reads)

no matter what is going on. My work as a leader, my work as an activist, my work as a mother, a community member is to create the conditions so that people remember what it's like to be a good team member. Remember what it is like to work in community. And for me, the most important obligation of those who take on this beautiful title of Warrior for the Human Spirit is that we have to be the ones, through our own practice and training, who actually embody the best of human qualities: generosity, kindness, intelligence, sanity, and that we have to be a clear and present embodiment of the best of human nature. TS: Now you mentioned, Meg, that you've studied this pattern ... posted on May 17 2018 (16,440 reads)

welcome them! There's a submission portal on our website where people can spontaneously submit stills and video. When we publish them on social media, we always credit the photographers/authors. The whole model is to disseminate. If we held it close, it wouldn't benefit anyone. So we disseminate as much as possible, and if a piece is particularly meaningful or impactful, we will spend money to promote it. Preeta: Dr. Fryburg, so many times when people talk about acts of kindness and generosity, it comes across to people who are left-brain dominant, like scientists, as quaint, cute, or sweet. I wonder how receptive scientists, academics, and physicians are to how you're expend... posted on Feb 27 2018 (15,109 reads)

love, life, nature, and all the unseen, unknown, and dreamed in between. Hale lives on planet Earth with her rescue dog, Banana. From the slumbering snail to the purposeful gentleness of the honeybees at work to the dance of the leaves in the whispering breeze, Hale beckons eye, heart, and mind to drink in the glorious aliveness of the world with a generous curiosity, evocative of Simone Weil’s assertion that “attention is the rarest and purest kind of generosity.” What emerges is a mirthful modern-day counterpart to Thoreau’s celebration of nature as a form of prayer. Playful levity and vibrancy carry the deeper soulfulness of... posted on Jun 16 2018 (7,166 reads)

even merely witnessing them, also increases levels of oxytocin, a hormone with health benefits as diverse as lowering blood pressure, promoting good sleep, and reducing cravings for drugs such as cocaine and alcohol. That oxytocin should have so many health benefits is not so surprising when we recall its central role in stimulating uterine contractions during birth, the letdown of milk during lactation, the pleasure associated with orgasm and pair bonding. Acts of generosity and compassion also appear to be good for mood. A2010 study showed that while people with money tend to be somewhat happier than those without it, people who spend money on others repo... posted on Jul 19 2018 (20,679 reads)

in a 21-Day Kindness Challenge. During a 21 day period 5000 people from all over the world performed an act of kindness every day, totalling almost 11,000 transformative actions! The first day of the challenge I decided to buy a cake and gift it to someone random on the street. I wanted it to be anonymous so I needed to enlist a partner in kindness. The first person I met was José Juan! He gave away the cake and since then we have been connected in many adventures of service and generosity, including community experiments like Awakin Circles (which we started in his home after our chance meeting) or experiential retreats like Reloveution. José Juan is a permanent sourc... posted on Sep 2 2018 (15,427 reads)

change so quickly it’s stunning.” Gratefulness can drive social action. Gratefulness not only changes your life, but also extends beyond your intimate sphere. It gives rise to compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and empathy, and thus informs how we treat others and how we act in the larger world. Gratefulness makes us better citizens, according to Kristi—more concerned about the well-being of others and the planet. “We open the door to that generosity of our heart, and find we’re able to impact the world in a much different way,” she reflects. “For me, because I’m an environmentalist, when I feel grateful for the&... posted on Oct 17 2018 (22,932 reads)

the centers, and when MWH visits it reinforces the work of these partners. As a professional musician, Mulondo often serves as an ambassador on his tours. He is frequently invited to perform and speak at community and senior centers. He has also performed on Dr. Bill Thomas’ Second Wind Tour and Age of Disruption Tour, a series of performances designed to engage communities who are building new and vastly more rewarding visions of aging. The spirit of interconnectedness, generosity, hope, and love that infuses the work of MWH epitomizes grateful living. MWH creates a vital space for people to be with and move beyond trauma and pain in a way that cultivates wonder, joy... posted on Oct 12 2018 (6,890 reads)

them upon those we cast in the role of the Wrong, who may do the same in turn. How, amid this ping-pong of righteousness grenades, do we maintain not only a clear-minded and pure-hearted relationship with reality, but also forgiveness and respect for others, which presuppose self-forgiveness and self-respect — the key to unlatching the essential capacity for joy that makes life worth living? That is what the wise and wonderful Anne Lamott considers with uncommon self-awareness and generosity of insight throughout Almost Everything: Notes on Hope (public library) — the small, enormously soul-salving book that gave us Lamott on love, despair, and our capacity for change. ... posted on Jan 8 2019 (7,101 reads)

refining perception, being able to see deeply into ourselves and others, to notice the nuances of life. Then there's the practice of wisdom, of insight, and understanding. And finally all these practices culminate in service.  Service is both a goal and a means of spiritual practice.  Another thing that really stood out in the three years of writing about the seven essential practices was that all the contemplatives said if you want to develop qualities like ethical living, or generosity, or patience, spend time with people who embody these qualities.  Consciousness is catchy. We become like those we are around. All the sages emphasized the importance of like-minded co... posted on Jan 17 2019 (6,412 reads)

sacrificing to feed our ever-increasing desires. We need to remember the simple wonder of the natural world around us, which St. Francis celebrated in his beautiful Canticle of Brother Sun: Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,  who sustains us and governs us and who produces  varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs. Yesterday, when I went to my small vegetable patch to pick a few zucchinis for supper, I was once again amazed at the Earth’s generosity, how one plant could give so many vegetables. I had to look carefully under the spreading leaves to discover a zucchini unexpectedly growing almost too large. This is the sacred life that s... posted on Dec 16 2018 (8,102 reads)

I had an actual kind of visceral and physical memory of reaching out towards my mother and feeling her body recoil. And it was in that moment my inability to hug my beautiful child fell away from me, and I was able after that to hug him.” Clare Dubois: Toward a New Nature-Based Feminine Consciousness Claire is the founder of TreeSisters.org, a quickly-growing women’s crowd-funding and consciousness-shift campaign to inspire and direct the brilliance, creativity and generosity of women towards the reforestation of the tropics and shared leadership around ecological restoration On the cyclical nature of the feminine: “The feminine intelligence is equ... posted on Jan 21 2019 (7,079 reads)

these problems, genuinely creating action and programs and thousands of little initiatives to help people. But in some deeper way, the whole thing, actually, I started to realize, was a conservative exercise in protecting the system that kept us on top. Ms. Tippett:You shine a light on language that we’ve all heard so much these days, language that, on a superficial hearing, sounds good: “Doing good by giving back.” But then you peel away — that, also, is an idea of generosity that is a substitute for the idea of justice. Mr. Giridharadas:I think your picking up on the language point is so important. This is as unequal a time as America has been in 100 years. ... posted on Feb 22 2019 (4,979 reads)

involves a sort of conquest, a conquest of self. It is the same domination of nature, this time turned inward. Now I have to say, this story is quickly becoming obsolete. Even its scientific dimension in genetics, physics, and biology are crumbling. In complexity theory, we understand that order can emerge spontaneously out of chaos, without an external organizing force. In ecology, we understand that the wellbeing of one is inseparable from the wellbeing of all. So let me talk about gift, generosity, and gratitude from the perspective of another story, a new and ancient story I like to call Interbeing. In the story of Interbeing, life is a gift. The world and everything in it is a g... posted on Feb 6 2019 (9,558 reads)

our project with two weekends of three days each, first in MA and six months later in KY. Our website handsacrossthehills.org has detailed stories of our exchanges, which included homestays, dialogues, cultural sharing, music, dance, art and local sightseeing. We wanted the in-person exchanges to be long enough for some genuine relationship development and personal transformation, and short enough to accommodate participants’ family and work obligations. My gratitude overflowed at the generosity of our Western MA community in their outpouring of food, funds, venues, program ideas, enthusiasm, and all around support. Gratitude has been a thread throughout, and I know is now shared b... posted on Feb 25 2019 (7,431 reads)

and support them.”  Now we teach inmates every week—theater scenes and exercises. I knew I was given this skill set as a gift from God, and I had to share it. It takes a whole afternoon to go to the prison.  Some days I’m tired. But I just stop my mind from thinking. I explain the exercise to them and sit back. I’m not teaching, but they bloom like flowers! The inmates are our brothers and sisters.  And they are so talented, so full of hope, and generosity. It is a blessing to be with them. I receive way more than I give. The Theater Arts classes, and College Guild are the bright spots of hope and beauty in our prison system. You can see i... posted on Feb 23 2019 (8,025 reads)

large chloroplast awaits the gathering beam of light. Packed with chlorophyll ad membranes of exquisite complexity, the chloroplast converts the light energy into a stream of flowing electrons. This is the electricity of photosynthesis, turning sun into sugar, spinning straw into gold. But more than a biological marvel, Schistostega presents a parable of patience and its bountiful rewards — an allegory for meeting the world not with grandiose entitlement but with boundless generosity of spirit; for taking whatever it has to offer and giving back an infinity more. Kimmerer writes: Rain on the outside, fire on the inside. I feel a kinship with this being whose cold l... posted on Mar 29 2019 (7,074 reads)