You Can’t Buy Empathy, by Jason Marsh
not what you know but who you know,” the saying goes, suggesting that social connections breed success. But it seems there’s at least one way that the rich are less socially connected: New research finds that upper class people have more trouble reading others’ emotions.   In a series of studies, researchers examined how well participants could judge the emotions that other people were feeling, a skill known as “empathic accuracy.” In each study, the researchers (including the GGSC’s Dacher Keltner) compared the empathic accuracy of people of higher and lower socioeconomic status (SES). In one study, they showed 200 adul... posted on Jul 24 2011 (11,806 reads)

7 Ways to Have More by Owning Less, by Maria Popova
consumption, or what lunching ladies have to do with social web karma. Stuff. We all accumulate it and eventually form all kinds of emotional attachments to it. (Arguably, because the marketing machine of the 20th century has conditioned us to do so.) But digital platforms and cloud-based tools are making it increasingly easy to have all the things we want without actually owning them. Because, as Wired founder and notable futurist Kevin Kelly once put it, “access is better than ownership.” Here are seven services that help shrink your carbon footprint, lighten your economic load and generally liberate you from the shackles of stuff through the power of sharing. ... posted on Aug 11 2011 (92,176 reads)

Ways to Connect More Deeply, by Guy Kawasaki
... posted on Feb 1 2014 (90,432 reads)

Pick Up Artists: Driving Across America, Picking Up Garbage, by John R. Platt
most people see a fast-food bag fluttering on the corner of the highway, they probably shake their heads and keep on driving. The Pick Up Artists aren’t most people. These four young environmentalists are driving across America, conducting roadside cleanups and spreading the word about reducing waste. After just three months on the road, the Pick Up America project has already collected more than 37,000 pounds of garbage. And they’re only 340 miles into their 2-year, cross-country trip. The project began March 20 at Assateague Island, Md. They aim to arrive in their final destination, San Francisco Bay, Calif., around August 2011. The team knew what they were getting... posted on Jul 23 2011 (9,730 reads)

Why We Love: 5 Books on the Psychology of Love, by Maria Popova
Oscar Wilde has to do with Hippocrates and the neurochemistry of romance. It’s often said that every song, every poem, every novel, every painting ever created is in some way “about” love. What this really means is that love is a central theme, an underlying preoccupation, in humanity’s greatest works. But what exactly is love? How does its mechanism spur such poeticism, and how does it lodge itself in our minds, hearts and souls so completely, so stubbornly, as to permeate every aspect of the human imagination? Today, we turn to 5 essential books that are “about” love in a different way — they turn an inquisitive lens towards this grand ... posted on Jan 24 2012 (14,714 reads)

The Psychology of Choice: 5 Perspectives, by Maria Popova
psychology of spaghetti sauce and why too many jams make you lose your appetite. Why are you reading this? How did you decide to click the link, load the page and stay? How do we decide to do anything at all and, out of the myriad choices we face each day, what makes one option more preferable over another? This is one of the most fundamental questions of the social sciences, from consumer psychology to economic theory to behavioral science. Today, at the risk of meta-irony, we look at not one but five fantastic books and talks that explore the subject. Take your pick(s) — if you can, that is.   JONAH LEHRER HOW WE DECIDE Among other things, Jonah Lehrer writes the excell... posted on Oct 10 2011 (36,623 reads)

Fostering Virtue, by Kentaro Toyama
much as I liked Narasimha, my favorite mode of travel within India was the auto-rickshaw. The word "rickshaw" comes from "jin riki sha" (人力車), which means "human-powered vehicle" in Japanese. The word probably went to China and got picked up by the British, who then applied it to Indian rickshaws. Auto-rickshaws are thus the etymological equivalent of automobiles. Physically, though, they're a different beast. Auto-rickshaws are three-wheeled, covered, scooter-taxis that zip around in cities throughout India.  Elsewhere, they're called "tuk-tuks," "trishaws," or "mototaxis." They're small, light, nimble... posted on Jul 18 2011 (12,900 reads)

Sister Cyril's Compassionate Vision, by Ashoka.org
Cyril is showing how middle class schools can integrate the poor living around them into their educational mainstream, to their mutual benefit. This profile was prepared when Cyril Mooney was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 1990. The New Idea As principal of Loreto School in the Sealdah area of Calcutta, Sister Cyril has been able to realize many of her (and the National Policy Planners) dreams within its compounds: She has beaten the existing polarity in Indian education by bringing together children of "good schools" with those usually locked out of the charmed circle, to their mutual benefit. "The ripple effect" she's demonstrating – founded on the b... posted on Aug 7 2011 (7,886 reads)

How to Transform Negative Emotions, by Viral Mehta
was a cold night in a wooded area, extremely dark, with no moon in the sky. I must've strayed off of the path at some point. I shuffled my feet around, trying to feel for the smoothness of the trail. But there was just wet grass. The moment I realized I was lost, there was an immediate surge of fear. In situations like these, where we suddenly experience an intense emotion, we often find ourselves facing a storm of "what-if" scenarios: "What if I don't find the trail? What if I can't find my way back? What if I have to be outside in the freezing cold all night?" Before we know it, we are feeding these negative thoughts, which in turn strengthens the emotional response... posted on Sep 19 2011 (68,743 reads)

Becoming a Presence Activist, by Viral Mehta
friend of mine is visiting from out of town and staying in East Oakland, in an area that's infamous for its gang violence and unrest. This friend happens to be a monk. He shaves his head and dresses in the traditional brown robes of his monastic order -- not the kind of person who blends easily into the background. Having spent many years making compassion a conscious practice, his response to situations is to try to do his bit to spread goodness. So he went out for a walk, just to engage with the community. As he was walking up 35th Avenue, a couple of tough-looking street youth yelled out to him: "Hey man!" He turned around, looked at them and said, "Yes?" "... posted on Oct 18 2011 (22,824 reads)

Time is Precious: Dr. BJ Miller's Journey, by Patricia Yollin
BJ Miller is only 40 but he thinks about death a lot. He is the new executive director of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco and a palliative care specialist at UCSF Medical Center. He is also a triple amputee, co-founder of a tea company, owner of a farm in Utah and a newlywed who still looks like the Ivy Leaguer he once was. "I have no fear of death," Miller said. "I have a fear of not living my life fully before I die." On Nov. 27, 1990, he came close to dying. Miller, then a sophomore at Princeton University, got together for drinks with two close friends he'd made on the crew team. Around 3 a.m., they were walking to a convenience store wh... posted on Oct 17 2011 (44,588 reads)

Change Yourself, Change the World, by Birju Pandya
and more today, we see people and organizations taking on big problems with the noble goal of "changing the world." We hear the same opportunities:     * We just need to put the right system in place...     * We just need the right incentives...     * We just need the right NGO's on the ground... All of this makes sense and seems true, but within every 'successful' system or incentive, we also see the shadowy side. Recently microfinance, popularized by the great pioneer Muhammad Yunus, has been tarnished as part of this 'change the world' paradigm. The common thread in changing the world is that ... posted on Oct 29 2011 (31,106 reads)

The Food Movement: Its Power and Possibilities, by Frances Moore Lappe
years I’ve been asked, “Since you wrote Diet for a Small Planet in 1971, have things gotten better or worse?” Hoping I don’t sound glib, my response is always the same: “Both.” As food growers, sellers and eaters, we’re moving in two directions at once. The number of hungry people has soared to nearly 1 billion, despite strong global harvests. And for even more people, sustenance has become a health hazard—with the US diet implicated in four out of our top ten deadly diseases. Power over soil, seeds and food sales is ever more tightly held, and farmland in the global South is being snatched away from indigenous people by spe... posted on Nov 1 2011 (12,621 reads)

8 Approaches to Simplicity, by Duane Elgin
portray the richness of simplicity as a theme for healthy living, here are eight different flowerings that I see growing consciously in the "garden of simplicity." Although there is overlap among them, each expression of simplicity seems sufficiently distinct to warrant a separate category. These are presented in no particular order, as all are important. Uncluttered Simplicity. Simplicity means taking charge of lives that are too busy, too stressed and too fragmented. Simplicity means cutting back on clutter, complications and trivial distractions, both material and non-material, and focusing on the essentials -- whatever those may be for each of our unique lives.... posted on Nov 10 2011 (19,160 reads)

5 Reasons Why Meditation Beats an iPhone, by Rahul Brown
buy iPhones to be universally connected and have a ton of cool functions and features at their fingertips.  But as the wise monk Rev. Heng Sure once said, everything we create in silicon already exists in carbon.  I’d add that the silicon technology is a poor facsimile at best.   So how exactly do you tap into the wonderful carbon technology you carry around with you all the time? Meditation is a phenomenal tool to do just that. Here are five areas where meditation beats an iPhone.   1. Connectivity   The truth is that you can’t really connect to anyone else unless you’re in touch with yourself.  The iPhone allows and enc... posted on Nov 22 2011 (47,073 reads)

Gabon's Nine Dwarves: A Legend of Conservation, by Daniel Glick
the West African nation of Gabon is a poster child for globalization's accelerated reach for resources, its president says he is committed to increasing support for national parks. Taking on the mantle of pressing the government to implement that commitment is a non-governmental organization financed out of the modest salary of an activist who runs a cleaning business on the side. Guest columnist Daniel Glick reports: "A group of nine dwarves lived here, and one day a dwarf dropped his ax in the water," says Ladislas Désiré Ndembet, standing on the shore of Lac Blue, or Blue Lake (pictured above), in Gabon's southern province of Ngounié. According t... posted on Dec 12 2011 (9,029 reads)

How Doctors Die, by Ken Murray
Not Like the Rest of Us, But It Should Be Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. This surgeon was one of the best in the country. He had even invented a new procedure for this exact cancer that could triple a patient’s five-year-survival odds—from 5 percent to 15 percent—albeit with a poor quality of life. Charlie was uninterested. He went home the next day, closed his practice, and never set foot in a hospital again. He focused on spending time with family and feeling as good as possible. Several months later, he... posted on Jan 25 2014 (114,858 reads)

Stepping Out of the Should Trap, by Joanna Holsten
should make more money.” “I should lose weight.” “I should volunteer more often.”   In saying “should” so often, I found myself feeling trapped by a sense of obligation and expectation. I felt this vague pressure to conform to external standards, to be someone or do something. It felt like just being me wasn’t okay. I felt pushed to follow a particular path, behave in specific ways, and believe certain things. In observing my mind and growing towards a more compassionate life, I realized that I had internalized both the messages and the method of the “shoulds.” &nbs... posted on Dec 14 2011 (39,505 reads)

4 Misconceptions About the Simple Life, by Duane Elgin
is important to recognize inaccurate stereotypes about the simple life because they make it seem impractical and ill suited for responding to increasingly critical breakdowns in world systems. Four misconceptions about the simple life are so common they deserve special attention. These are equating simplicity with: poverty, moving back to the land, living without beauty and economic stagnation. 1. Simplicity Means Poverty Although some spiritual traditions have advocated a life of extreme renunciation, it is very misleading to equate simplicity with poverty. Poverty is involuntary and debilitating, whereas simplicity is voluntary and enabling. A life of conscious simplicity can h... posted on Dec 24 2011 (32,332 reads)

Going Green: 12 Simple Steps for 2012, by Danielle Nierenberg
we ring in the new year, here are twelve steps that we can all take to reduce our impact on the environment Washington, D.C.—As we head into 2012, many of us will be resolving to lose those few extra pounds, save more money, or spend a few more hours with our families and friends. But there are also some resolutions we can make to make our lives a little greener. Each of us, especially in the United States, can make a commitment to reducing our environmental impacts. “The global community, and particularly people living in industrialized societies, have put unsustainable demands on our planet’s limited resources,” says Robert Engelman, President of the Worl... posted on Dec 29 2011 (14,222 reads)