5 Ways To Bring Mindfulness Into Everyday Life, by Headspace.com
does it mean to be mindful?  Essentially, mindfulness means to be present, and in the moment.  It is important that we remind ourselves of this simple fact.  All too often we can lose the true essence of mindfulness by over-complicating things or putting all our emphasis on the act of meditation alone.  Mindfulness is not something we leave at the chair, but something we can carry through our everyday lives.  If we can apply mindfulness on the chair, then why not while brushing our teeth, catching up with an old friend, or even waiting for our morning train?  All these moments present an opportunity for us to apply mindfulness,... posted on Aug 2 2013 (227,234 reads)

12 Productivity Tips From Incredibly Busy People, by Bruna Martinuzzi
Eric Schmidt to Danny Meyer: How super successful, super busy entrepreneurs organize their day "Personal productivity is a key differentiator between those who succeed in their chosen field and those who do not," says bestselling author Brian Tracy. Leaders and entrepreneurs who are at the top of their game know how to achieve what they want in less time than others. We can learn a lot from the tactics of these successful, and incredibly busy, individuals on how to better organize our own days. Here are 12 top tips worth trying out: 1. Have a single purpose focus. One thing many successful entrepreneurs have in common is the ability to focus on what matters most... posted on Aug 12 2013 (154,000 reads)

Can You Learn to Control Your Mind?, by Richard Davidson
people believe that it is not necessary to learn to control one’s own mind because they think they already have such control.  Others, based on casual introspection and analysis of forces constantly impinging upon our minds, believe that we will never have control of our own minds and that such control is simply an illusion, though it may well be an illusion with important adaptive consequences.  The view the question invites is somewhat more nuanced.  It asks whether we can learn to control our mind, and thus assumes that there is a gradient of control ranging from little to more, and that individuals may vary in where they fall along this continuum.  Furt... posted on Aug 15 2013 (61,697 reads)

'I'll Take Two, Please', by Karen Horneffer-Ginter
the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." -- Meister Eckhart When I was in Bali several years ago, I had the good fortune of visiting several temples. Before entering each one, we were asked to tie a sash around our waist as a symbolic gesture of "containing our appetites" as we prayed. It seems that the Balinese believe in the power of prayer, and even more so, in the value of asking only for what is most needed, and not more. I found this ritual and way of thinking quite striking, especially in contrast to the "abundance" mentality in our culture. For years, I've listened to public figures and moti... posted on Aug 19 2013 (34,638 reads)

Rituals for Wastelands, by Trebbe Johnson
shut ourselves away from wounded places, psychologically, emotionally, and communally, but there is a better way to heal ourselves and our world. Whenever Lisa Olson returned to her hometown in Wisconsin, she would bundle everyone into the car and drive out to the old farm that had been in the family since the 1800s. Although Lisa’s parents had sold the place years earlier, the family still felt deeply connected to it. The house that had belonged to Lisa’s grandmother stood on one side of the road. Pastures ranged over the rolling hills. Tall oak and beech woods lined both sides of the valley, and when sunlight suffused through them, they seemed as enchanted to L... posted on Aug 26 2013 (16,845 reads)

Why Compassion in Business Makes Sense, by Emma Seppala
often mistakenly think that putting pressure on employees will increase performance. What it does increase is stress—and research has shown that high levels of stress carry a number of costs to employers and employees alike. Stress brings high health care and turnover costs. In a study of employees from various organizations, health care expenditures for employees with high levels of stress were 46 percent greater than at similar organizations without high levels of stress. In particular, workplace stress has beenlinked to coronary heart disease in retrospective (observing past patterns) and prospective (predicting future patterns) studies. Then there’s... posted on Nov 25 2013 (29,717 reads)

5 Reasons To Be Kind, by KindSpring
ON KINDNESS BY POETS, SAGES & ACTIVISTS In a dominant paradigm weighted towards self-interest and self-orientation, we must make a special effort to question our mode of being. Can we afford to be narrowly self-focused? Can we grow to anywhere near our true potential if we look out only for ourselves? What role do kindness and compassion play in bridging a world that is growing increasingly fragmented? What follows are five powerful reasons to be kind, articulated by some of the greatest minds and hearts from around the globe. 1. BECAUSE THERE CAN NEVER BE ENOUGH KINDNESS IN THE WORLD Even if we do not achieve perfect peace on earth, because perfect peace is not of this... posted on Sep 3 2013 (156,263 reads)

How the Internet Helped Us Create the Sharing Economy, by Neal Gorenflo
1996, the poet and essayist John Perry Barlow published A Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace. It was the height of the cyberutopian thinking in fashion at the time. It declared, “We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.” It foresaw a world of unfettered free speech, self-organized governance, and compassionate peer relations that needed to be kept separate from the laws of “meatspace.” Barlow didn’t anticipate how the Internet would eventually empower individuals even more offline than online. Seventeen years later, freedoms online and off ha... posted on Sep 4 2013 (18,186 reads)

The Day I Stopped Saying Hurry Up, by Rachel Macy Stafford
you’re living a distracted life, every minute must be accounted for. You feel like you must be checking something off the list, staring at a screen, or rushing off to the next destination. And no matter how many ways you divide your time and attention, no matter how many duties you try and multi-task, there’s never enough time in a day to ever catch up. That was my life for two frantic years. My thoughts and actions were controlled by electronic notifications, ring tones, and jam-packed agendas. And although every fiber of my inner drill sergeant wanted to be on time to every activity on my overcommitted schedule, I wasn’t. You see, six years ago I was blesse... posted on Sep 13 2013 (133,024 reads)

How to Focus A Wandering Mind, by Wendy Hasenkamp
research reveals what happens in a wandering mind—and sheds light on the cognitive and emotional benefits of increased focus. We’ve all been there. You’re slouched in a meeting or a classroom, supposedly paying attention, but your mind has long since wandered off, churning out lists of all the things you need to do—or that you could be doing if only you weren’t stuck here… Suddenly you realize everyone is looking your way expectantly, waiting for an answer. But you’re staring blankly, grasping at straws to make a semi-coherent response. The curse of the wandering mind! But don’t worry—you’re not alone. In fact, a&n... posted on Apr 18 2015 (152,337 reads)

Can You Run Out of Empathy?, by C. Daryl Cameron
empathy a limited resource, easily depleted and restricted to those closest to us? That’s the argument psychologist Paul Bloom makes in an essay for this week’s New Yorker, subtitled “The case against empathy.” He admits that empathy can do a lot of good: Decades of research shows that feeling empathy can lead us to be more caring, forgiving, and altruistic. But according to Bloom, empathy also can do a lot of bad. It’s an untrustworthy moral compass because it is “parochial, narrow-minded, and innumerate.” Empathy seems tuned to only one frequency, that of a single identifiable victim, with whom we feel some personal connection. According t... posted on Oct 1 2013 (18,613 reads)

How to Be More than a Mindful Consumer, by Annie Leonard
life cycle of a simple cotton T-shirt—worldwide, 4 billion are made, sold, and discarded each year—knits together a chain of seemingly intractable problems, from the elusive definition of sustainable agriculture to the greed and classism of fashion marketing. The story of a T-shirt not only gives us insight into the complexity of our relationship with even the simplest stuff; it also demonstrates why consumer activism—boycotting or avoiding products that don’t meet our personal standards for sustainability and fairness—will never be enough to bring about real and lasting change. Like a vast Venn diagram covering the entire planet, the environmental an... posted on Sep 28 2013 (31,736 reads)

How the Mind Can Heal the Heart, by Jill Suttie
Bennett-Goleman and Daniel Goleman explain the science behind "mind whispering"—a technique for overcoming self-defeating habits of mind. Tara Bennett-Goleman and her husband Daniel Goleman form a kind of intellectual dream team—one almost exclusively preoccupied with emotions. In best-selling books like Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence, Daniel Goleman has laid out the cognitive science and theories behind our emotions and social interactions. In her work as a psychotherapist and in her best-selling book Emotional Alchemy, Bennett-Goleman has applied those theories to overcoming self-defeating habits of mind and improving our relationships. ... posted on Oct 6 2013 (31,013 reads)

Peter Buffett: We're Not Doing Enough, by Allison Jones
late July Peter Buffett, son of billionaire Warren Buffet and co-chair of the NoVo Foundation, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times, arguing that too much of philanthropy is focused on making the donor feel good, and not on providing actual solutions to pressing social problems. This behavior, which he refers to as “philanthropic colonialism,” perpetuates inequality instead of eradicating it. The article sparked a sector wide debate with some praising Peter’s assessment that we pay too much attention to donors and not enough attention to new systems while others stating that he oversimplifies the problem without offering any solutions. (Read a roundup of responses on ... posted on Oct 8 2013 (25,167 reads)

Avoiding the I'll-Give-Back-Later Trap, by Knowledge@Wharton
Davis is president and CEO of PATH, an international nonprofit whose goal is to help communities break longstanding cycles of poor health. The cross-sectoral skills he has accumulated during his earlier work in other organizations, he says, are crucial when it comes to adapting innovations to the places that need them most. In an interview with Wharton management professor Michael Useem during the World Economic Forum in Davos, he talks about his approach to leadership, the importance of strategic partnerships, the effort to eradicate malaria in northern Africa and how to avoid the ‘I’m-going-to-give-back-later [to society]‘ trap. An edited transcript of the conver... posted on Oct 26 2013 (14,140 reads)

How To Turn Your Brain From Anger to Compassion, by Paul Gilbert
is like a spotlight—whatever it shines on becomes brighter in the mind. This knowledge can help us build compassion, says Paul Gilbert. Why do we need compassion? This week, we feature the video of a Science of a Meaningful Life presentation by Paul Gilbert, the author of Mindful Compassion. This essay is inspired by his talk. We need compassion because life is hard. We are all susceptible to diseases and injuries. Every one of us has a lifespan that had a start and will have an end. Just like you, I am vulnerable to disease. Just like you, I could have a blood test tomorrow that says my life is going to end. Just like you, I could hear that my son has been killed... posted on Jan 26 2014 (25,300 reads)

Advocacy for Altruism, by Huff Post
– Forget everything you have been taught, because Matthieu Ricard is here to teach you a new way of interpreting the human being. A French Buddhist monk and a disciple of Dalai Lama, Matthieu Ricard is the author of Plaidoyer pour l’altruisme (Advocacy For Altruism), in bookstores since September 19. It is a non-religious book similar to an encyclopedia, and its content is very relevant for these times of economic crisis. There is evidence that we aren’t selfish human beings driven only by our own interests. Moreover, today’s society is not more violent than it was in the past. Yes, we can change the way we are and, therefore, cooperate more, not only ... posted on Jan 27 2014 (7,920 reads)

10 Ways to Help Girls Transform The World, by Kim Crane
sourced solutions for girls’ access to education. In our recent digital action campaign, World Pulse asked our community to share their testimonies on the obstacles that stand in the way of girls' dreams. Grassroots voices from all over the world chimed in with lived experiences that illuminate the disturbing statistics: There are currently 66 million girls in the world that should be in school, but are not. Thirteen girls under age 18 will be married in the next 30 seconds. The number one cause of death for girls aged 15-19 is childbirth. Out of more than 350 submissions from over 60 countries, an alternative vision for the future emerged: Global legions of gi... posted on Nov 15 2013 (22,989 reads)

Too Much Stuff? 7 Ways To Change That, by Shannan Stoll
Change the rules University procurement policies are one of the most effective pressure points for students seeking big change. The college apparel industry, which retailed an estimated $4.6 billion in 2011, is mostly supplied through overseas factory labor for brands like Nike and Adidas. When one Adidas factory supplier in Indonesia abruptly closed in April 2011, 2,700 workers were left without jobs and were owed $1.8 million in severance pay. United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) responded by launching a two-year campaign aimed at pressuring university administrators to end their contracts with Adidas if the company refused to pay the workers. Seventeen universities and c... posted on Jan 21 2014 (44,774 reads)

Let Us Begin With Courage, by Jeannette Armstrong
word Eníowkin comes from the high language of the Okanagan people and has its origin in a philosophy perfected to nurture voluntary cooperation, an essential foundation for everyday living. The term is based on a metaphorical image created by the three syllables that make up the Okanagan word. The image is of liquid being absorbed drop by single drop through the head (mind). It refers to coming to understanding through a gentle integrative process. Eníowkin is also the name given our education center by elders of the Okanagan; it is meant to assist and guide us in restoring to wholeness a community fragmented by colonization.  To the Okanagan People, as to... posted on Dec 15 2013 (31,870 reads)