Peter Sharp - Reminding Humanity Of Our Common Connection, by inspired.org
Pete’s words… Who/what inspires me: Richard Branson and his ability to constantly strive for a better world. My parents for always believing in me and taking supportive action to allow me to further develop myself. Other people who dare to stand up for and/or support something they truly care about. Best advice: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Be true to yourself and watch the whole world change. A train roars through the night, its passengers staring vacantly out the window or into their smart phones. A young man approaches the front of the carriage and announces: “Ladies and gentlemen, is it just me or is this train sometimes like t... posted on Jun 3 2015 (24,124 reads)

Young Delacroix on the Importance of Solitude in Creative Work and How to Resist Social Distractions, by Maria Popova
yourself with grand and austere ideas of beauty that feed the soul… Seek solitude.” “One can never be alone enough to write,” Susan Sontag lamented in her journal. “People who grow bored in their own company seem to me in danger,” the great Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky admonished the young. And yet despite the vast creative and psychological benefits of boredom, we have grown so afraid of it that we have unlearned — or refused to learn altogether — the essential art of being alone, so very necessary for contemplation and creative work. The great French artist and dedicated diarist Eugène Delacroi... posted on Jun 24 2015 (13,895 reads)

19 of the Very Best 'Uplifting Photos of the Day', by Kindness Blog
Beings. Animals. Family. Fun. Friendship. Love. Laughter….What more could you need? 1. These are Men who know how to live a little… 2. An Image That Perfectly Captures True Sisterhood… “3-years ago my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer and she had to lose her hair but my mom wasn’t gonna let her little sister go through this alone.” 3. Something Sweet Was Seen Hanging From the Steering Column of a Taxi Cab… 4. Look at This Mother Listening to her Deceased Son’s Heartbeat Inside the Donor Recipient… 5. ‘My Blind Cousin Find... posted on Jul 13 2015 (140,368 reads)

Three Tricks to Help Find Your Flow, by Christine Carter
was the last time you were so focused that time stood still?  Athletes call this mental state being in “The Zone”; psychologists call it “flow” or peak experience, and they have linked it to leading a life of happiness and purpose. Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher who authored theTao Te Ching, called it “doing without doing” or “trying without trying.” I think of this mental state as our “sweet spot,” where we have both great strength and great ease; it’s the mental state when our best work emerges without strain or anxiety. Instead of making our most powerful effort, we get to experience our own effort... posted on Aug 21 2015 (30,417 reads)

The Pleasure of Serving, by Gabriela Mistral
of nature is a yearning for service: The cloud serves, and the wind, and the furrow. Where there is a tree to plant, you be the one. Where there is a mistake to undo, let it be you. You be the one to remove the rock from the field, The hate from human hearts, And the difficulties from the problem. There is joy in being wise and just, But above all there is the beautiful, The immense happiness of serving. How sad the world would be if all was already done. If there was no rosebush to plant, No enterprise to undertake. Do not limit yourself to easy tasks. It's so beautiful to do what others dodge. But don't fall prey to the error that only Great tasks done... posted on Aug 31 2015 (15,074 reads)

The Science of Stress, by Maria Popova
had lived thirty good years before enduring my first food poisoning — odds quite fortunate in the grand scheme of things, but miserably unfortunate in the immediate experience of it. I found myself completely incapacitated to erect the pillars of my daily life — too cognitively foggy to read and write, too physically weak to work out or even meditate. The temporary disability soon elevated the assault on my mind and body to a new height of anguish: an intense experience of stress. Even as I consoled myself with Nabokov’s exceptionally florid account of food poisoning, I couldn’t shake the overwhelming malaise that had engulfed me — somehow, a physical illness ... posted on Sep 28 2015 (17,668 reads)

India's First Shelter for Dogs with Disabilities, by Tanaya Singh
64-year-old, a former senior officer at the State Bank of India, talks about his disabled and wounded dogs like a father about his children—with the same love, affection, warmth, and tenderness. He is a renowned animal rights activist, the Secretary at People for Animals (PFA), Ahmedabad chapter, and an honorary Animal Welfare Officer. But nothing defines Mahendra better that his immense, undying and undiluted love for animals. It was this love that led him to establish India’s first shelter home for dogs living with disabilities. Today, in Ahmedabad, there are 25 happy dogs living comfortably in his shelter. It all started in 1998 when, while taking a midnight stroll, ... posted on Jan 11 2016 (14,672 reads)

One Woman's Efforts to #GivePhotos to Those Who've Never Been Photgraphed, by Allen Murabayashi
the utter ubiquity of photography in the USA, most Americans probably don’t view photography as special. But in impoverished areas around the world, personal photos can be rare. On visits to her birthplace of Kolkata, India, Bipasha Shom frequently took portraits of people she met, and she was struck by how many people lacked access to a camera and had no family photos of her own. Shom hatched an idea to use instant film to bring photography to these people, and she successfully pitched Fujifilm out of the blue. With donated Instax Wide cameras and film in hand, she recently traveled with her husband Chris Manley (Director of Photography for AMC’s Mad Men) and friend/pho... posted on Feb 27 2016 (11,483 reads)

What Makes a Person?: The Seven Layers of Identity in Literature and Life, by Maria Popova
person’s identity,” Amin Maalouf wrote as he contemplated what he so poetically called the genes of the soul, “is like a pattern drawn on a tightly stretched parchment. Touch just one part of it, just one allegiance, and the whole person will react, the whole drum will sound.” And yet we are increasingly pressured to parcel ourselves out in various social contexts, lacerating the parchment of our identity in the process. As Courtney Martin observed in her insightful On Beingconversation with Parker Palmer and Krista Tippett,“It’s never been more asked of us to show up as only slices of ourselves in different places.” Today, as Whitman’... posted on Mar 7 2016 (16,937 reads)

5 Life Lessons from My Specially-Abled Son, by V.R. Ferose
journey as a parent of a specially-abled son has been one of extreme emotions – from disappointment to hope; from pain to joy; from love to anguish – it’s been a journey like never before. When Vivaan was born, one of my close friends sent me Kahlil Gibran’s famous poem On Children. The first verse in the poem is often quoted, but I would still like to share it here. Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. My journey as a parent of a differently abled son has been one of extreme emotions &ndash... posted on May 2 2016 (15,193 reads)

Why Leaders Need to Grow Authentic Self Esteem, by Homaira Kabir
the years, we’ve had a love-hate relationship with self-esteem, writes Homaira Kabir. There was a time when we believed self-esteem to be the royal road to flourishing. We had Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live provide us with Daily Affirmations to make us feel special. We tried to reinforce it in our children by letting them know how exceptional they were when they failed. However, later studies showed that such increases in self-esteem did little for our happiness or performance, but ample for our egos. Professor Roy Baumeister’s work with self-esteem showed that we’d been raising a generation of narcissists who went on to wreck havoc in their lives and in thei... posted on Oct 18 2016 (16,740 reads)

Two Words That Can Change a Life, by Cheryl Rice
it possible that two words can change someone’s day, someone’s life? What if those same two words could change the world? Well, I’m on a quest to find out – and, with your help, this quest will be a success. This quest inadvertently began last November in a grocery store. I was standing in the checkout line behind a woman who looked to be in her 60s. When it was her turn to pay, the cashier greeted her by name and asked her how she was doing. The woman looked down, shook her head and said, “Not so good. My husband just lost his job and my son is up to his old tricks again. The truth is, I don’t know how I’m going to get through the holida... posted on Nov 10 2020 (106,531 reads)

Quiet Justice, by Charles Halpern
I tell people that I teach a class in law and meditation at UC Berkeley’s law school, I often hear snorts of disbelief. “It’s easier to imagine a kindergarten class sitting in silence for half an hour,” a friend said to me, “than two lawyers sitting together in silence for five minutes.” Charles Halpern (left, foreground) leads a Qigong exercise at a retreat for 75 lawyers at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California.Richard Boswell But the class is no joke. In fact, it’s part of a ground-breaking movement that has quietly been taking hold in the legal profession over the past two decades: a movement to bring mindfulness—a medi... posted on Jan 27 2017 (12,582 reads)

Inner Beauty, by Narendra Kini
beauty always reflects on the outside. This is something we have all heard time and again. But then, do we spend less time in front of the mirror? Do we still pay attention to outward appearances and draw a lot of conclusions based on those? We have not stopped making external appearances a topic of conversation at most social gatherings – business or otherwise. We still spend a lot of time getting ready for an event, office, function or a party. Roald Dahl wrote, “You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”  Thi... posted on Jan 28 2017 (24,656 reads)

Three Stories of Healing + Transformation, by ServiceSpace Volunteers
April of 2017, volunteers from ServiceSpace convened a special circle on Healing + Transformation in Berkeley. Below are three stories that were shared in the circle. A Lesson in Service from an Art Store What inspired me to become a physician was watching my twin cousins suffer through Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, which is a very severe, debilitating and mostly seen in boys. They grew up with that. As a child, I just saw how their mother would care for her two children, and it really propelled me to go out and really help people who needed it. In my third year of med school, my uncle contracted glioblastoma, very severe brain tumor. As I entered my clinical years, I w... posted on Aug 3 2017 (11,080 reads)

The CEO Who Gave 90% of His Salary To His Staff, by Lee Williams
you give away 90 per cent of your salary? Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, did just that and shared it among his staff. It’s a commendable move but will it pave the way for wider pay equality? In April the CEO of a US tech company did something with barely any precedents in the modern business world. He gave away 90 per cent of his own pay to raise the salaries of his employees to a minimum $70,000 a year. Dan Price, CEO of Seattle-based Gravity Payments, recalls the moment when he announced the decision to his 120 staff: “There was a moment of stunned silence. Some people were looking around at each other, a few jaws had dropped, and then someone actually asked me... posted on Jun 5 2017 (34,555 reads)

One Man Single-Handedly Plants Forest Bigger Than Central Park, by Zi-Ann Lum
did it to save his home. In the middle of a braided river tucked in a remote northeastern region of India, one man planted a forest that has now outgrown the size of New York City’s Central Park. As a teenager in the 1970s, Jadav Payeng noticed a rush of snakes washing ashore, dead. Erosion had scrubbed away vegetation from Majuli island sandbars, stripping away grassy cover and ultimately forcing many native species to flee. Floodwaters transformed some parts into barren landscapes. Its shorelines receded with every monsoon rain. The island, Payeng’s birthplace, was rapidly shrinking. Home to approximately 170,000 people, Majuli is one of the world’s lar... posted on Jul 31 2017 (13,861 reads)

One Activist's Oath: First, Vow Not to Burn Out, by MJ Vieweg
Patricia Ikeda is  a teacher, an artist and an activist. She's a published poet. She's worked tirelessly for the upliftment of the marginalized, whether that's in education through inspiration or otherwise. She's received an honorary doctorate in sacred theology. She's been the subject of multiple award-winning films on the topic of poetry in spirit-based activism.   She’s  been a single mother.  She’s earned an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa.  She underwent monastic training in her spiritual lineage, Korean Zen Buddhism.  And for the past eleven years, she's  been one of the senior leaders of East Bay... posted on Nov 15 2017 (11,132 reads)

How Gratitude Motivates Us to Become Better People, by Christina N. Armenta, Sonja Lyubomirsky
has become a hot topic in recent years. Celebrities from Oprah to James Taylorto Ariana Huffington have promoted an “attitude of gratitude,” and gratitude journals, hashtags, and challenges have become immensely popular. Much of this enthusiasm has been fueled by research linking gratitude to happiness, health, and stronger relationships. Yet there has been a backlash. Some critics and skeptics have charged that gratitude breeds self-satisfaction and acceptance of the status quo. Several articles, including a New York Times essay by journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, have recen... posted on Aug 30 2017 (10,180 reads)

Delayed Gratification, by Alanda Green
GREENE uses her experience of planting seeds to discuss the idea of not expecting anything from the work we do. LESSONS FROM THE GARDEN In my Educational Psychology class, I learned about delayed gratification, the ability to wait for a desired result, to postpone an immediate reward for a greater one later. A study of preschool children had been conducted to determine their capacity for delayed gratification. Each student was offered one marshmallow now with the promise of another marshmallow as well if able to wait fifteen minutes without eating the first one. Some gobbled up the marshmallow immediately, others struggled and finally succumbed before the time was up, ... posted on Jul 22 2017 (10,392 reads)