How To Become Productively Generous, by Adam Grant
Western culture, many people define success narrowly as money and power. In her uplifting book Thrive, Arianna Huffington argues that this leaves us sitting on a two-legged stool, which will tip over if we don’t add a third leg. She makes a passionate case, supported by science, for expanding our definition of what it means to succeed. One of her new metrics is giving: a truly rewarding life involves contributing to and caring for others. I love this message. It’s a powerful call for us to become more generous and compassionate. Unfortunately, when people answer this call, they sacrifice their own success. Burning the midnight oil for other people, they fall behind on their... posted on Apr 24 2014 (30,842 reads)

Advice From Artists On How To Overcome Creative Block, by Maria Popova
is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work,” Chuck Close scoffed. “A self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood,” Tchaikovsky admonished.“Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too,” Isabel Allende urged. But true as this general sentiment may be, it isn’t always an easy or a livable truth — most creative people do get stuck every once in a while, or at the very least hit the OK plateau. What then? Not too long ago, Alex Cornell rallied some of our time’s most celebrated artists, writers, and designers, and asked them to share t... posted on Apr 22 2014 (26,762 reads)

Leaders Open Doors, by BJ Gallagher
Treasurer is one of my favorite business authors - not just because his books are good - but because he reminds me of the Wizard of Oz - his work always offers three important elements: brains, heart, and courage. His newest book, "Leaders Open Doors" is no exception. I've been eager to talk to Bill about it and he graciously made time for an interview. BJ: I love the story behind your new book, "Leaders Open Doors." Would you share it with me again, for the benefit of my readers? Bill: For over two decades I've been a senior ranking member of the Legion of Leadership Complexifiers (LLC). We're the folks who make our living out of plumbing, parsing,... posted on Jun 21 2014 (20,255 reads)

Sophisticated Simplicity, by Duane Elgin
kind of "stewardship" fits our emerging world? When we consider the powerful forces transforming our world — climate change, peak oil, water and food shortages, species extinction, and more — we require far more than either crude or cosmetic changes in our manner of living. If we are to maintain the integ­rity of the Earth as a living system, we require deep and creative changes in our overall levels and patterns of living and consum­ing. Simplicity is not an alternative lifestyle for a marginal few. It is a creative choice for the mainstream majority, particularly in developed nations. If we are to pull together as a human commu­nity, it will be cr... posted on Apr 29 2014 (19,731 reads)

6 Things Shy People Can Teach Us About Success, by Lindsay Holmes
are we’ve all experienced a bout of shyness in our lives, whether it’s when we've walked into a party full of strangers or tried to shine in a job interview. And if you identify as a shy person, you’re definitely not the only one -- approximately 40 percent of American adults feel the same way. And yes, shyness has been associated with negative outcomes -- characteristics like difficulty maintaining eye contact, feelings of humiliation and sometimes even detachment are all known to be part of a shy person's M.O. It's these traits that tend to affect some shy individuals' ability to connect, says C. Barr Taylor, a professor of psychology at Sta... posted on May 22 2014 (24,308 reads)

Three Young Activists & Their Causes, by Christine St. Pierre, Miles Becker
three young activists found creative ways to tackle issues from climate change to voting rights. 1. Olivia Bouler: Painting to rescue birds and restore habitat Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Olivia Bouler asked the National Audubon Society how her skill as an artist and her love of birds could be put to use. The fifth grader from Islip, N.Y., created a web page offering her vibrantly colored and lively paintings in exchange for donations. Five hundred of Bouler's watercolors of pelicans, warblers, buntings, and other North American birds were claimed within three weeks, and donors eventually contributed $200,000 to ... posted on Jul 4 2014 (14,077 reads)

Meditations On An Apple, by Janet Brown
essay was first presented during a Bioneers conference workshop. Before the meditation, each participant was given a Red Rome Beauty apple. Here in Northern California, in the early fall, while the leaves are still on the trees and a single frost has not yet touched the field, the apple harvesters are bringing in a treasure. In a place in the world known as Ladakh, before each meal, members of the community take a moment to close their eyes. In the quiet moment, they give thanks for the meal by picturing the face of each person who contributed to bringing the meal to the table and remembering them. As you hold the apple, remember that the ancestor of all apple trees... posted on Jun 28 2014 (21,547 reads)

Don't Be So Sure, by Margaret Wheatley
people I meet want to develop more harmonious and satisfying relationships. But we may not realize that this can only be achieved by partnering with two new and strange allies: uncertainty and confusion. Most of us weren’t trained to like confusion or to admit when we feel hesitant and uncertain. In our schools and organizations, we place value on sounding assured and confident. People are rewarded for stating opinions as if they’re facts. Quick answers abound; pensive questions have disappeared. Confusion has yet to emerge as a higher order value or behavior that organizations eagerly reward. As life continues to speed up (adding to our confusion), we don’t ... posted on May 19 2014 (28,331 reads)

7 Keys to A Good Death, by Charles Garfield
Garfield draws on decades of experience to explore how to create the conditions for a good death. Some years ago, I helped tend to a friend of mine who was dying of cancer. Near the end of his life, he had reached a place of equanimity around dying. But instead of honoring his wishes for a peaceful death, his doctors ordered aggressive chemotherapy treatment, which did nothing to halt his cancer. The treatments caused him immense suffering, rendering him unable to sleep, eat, or converse with family and friends as he was dying. Unfortunately, deaths like my friend’s are not that rare. Though more than 70 percent of Americans surveyed say they want to die in their o... posted on Jun 24 2014 (85,289 reads)

Cartographies of Time, by Maptia, Co-founder Team
of Time: Part II We believe that places are like people and that each has a unique personality. A defining and often delightful aspect of each place’s personality is the way in which time is understood, measured and perceived by the people who live there. Cross the globe and you will encounter many different rhythms of life - some slow, some frantic, some chaotic and changeable, some melodic and rich, and just a few where time goes by entirely untracked. Many farmers use the subtle variations in seasonal weather patterns to measure the passing of time, while others’ religious beliefs can lead them to live their lives according to the waxing and waning of t... posted on Jun 23 2014 (14,540 reads)

Teaching Kids About Living Systems, by Lisa Bennett
not swimming in Walden Pond, Linda Booth Sweeney, a systems educator and writer, focuses on how to clearly and creatively teach students of all ages about living systems to help them make better decisions in the world. She spoke with Lisa Bennett, communications director for the Center for Ecoliteracy and coauthor of Ecoliterate: How Educators Are Cultivating Emotional, Social, and Ecological Intelligence, about leaving a career in advertising for education, teaching her own children about living systems, and feeling hope for the future. LISA BENNETT: You live in Concord, Massachusetts — home of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walden Pond. I assume that you... posted on Jul 5 2014 (19,308 reads)

How We Grieve: Learning To Live With Loss, by Maria Popova
people we most love do become a physical part of us, ingrained in our synapses, in the pathways where memories are created.” John Updike wrote in his memoir, “Each day, we wake slightly altered, and the person we were yesterday is dead. So why, one could say, be afraid of death, when death comes all the time?” And yet even if we were to somehow make peace withour own mortality, a primal and soul-shattering fear rips through whenever we think about losing those we love most dearly — a fear that metastasizes into all-consuming grief when loss does come. In The Long Goodbye(public library), her magnificent memoir of grieving her mother’s death, Meghan... posted on Aug 18 2014 (47,409 reads)

On Play, Spirit & Character, by On Being
Brown: I could ask you as a parent and any other parent that's listening with a young child, you know, say a child over 3 but under 12. And if you just observe them and don't try and direct them and watch what it is they like to do in play, you often will see a key to their innate talents. And if those talents are given fairly free reign, then you see that there is a union between self and talent. And that this is nature's way of sort of saying this is who you are and what you are. And I'm sure if you go back and think about both of your children or yourself and go back to your earliest emotion-laden, visual, and visceral memories of what really gave you joy, you'l... posted on Jul 18 2014 (32,283 reads)

A Quick Guide to Changing the World -- Seriously, by William D. Eggers and Paul Macmillan
solution revolution—the convergence of money and meaning, problem solvers and “patient” capital, governments and citizen (and commercial) changemakers—is underway. But while it flourishes in some parts of the world, other regions are still sitting on the sidelines. So the question becomes: What can we do to accelerate the solution economy? Here are six strategies—over-arching principles applicable to business, government, foundations, investors, and social enterprises—that can really grow this revolution. 1) Change the Lens: Use a Different View to Reveal Both Blind Spots and Untapped Opportunity Start by asking: What is my goal?”... posted on Oct 16 2014 (18,722 reads)

Of Webs, Boxes and Boundaries, by Margaret Wheatley
we divide our world up into pieces because we are afraid to explore its web-like nature? Margaret Wheatley, author of Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, examines our ways of viewing the world and how to thrive in a world of interconnectedness. The dense and tangled web of life—the interconnected nature of reality—reveals itself daily. Since September 11, think of how much you’ve learned of people, cultures and nations that previously you knew little about. We’ve been learning how the lives of those far away affect our own. We’re beginning to realize that in order to live peacefully together on this planet, we ne... posted on Aug 31 2014 (21,993 reads)

Public Art in Detroit Builds Safer, Stronger Neighborhoods, by Anna Clark
your ideas about giant abstract sculptures on museum lawns. In Detroit, public art is an essential part of community life. Asked to conjure up an image of “outdoor art,” most people will picture an oversize abstract sculpture sitting on the lawn of an institutional building. But in Detroit, art that is integrated with the city’s buildings, lots, alleys, homes, and streetscapes is an integral part of the community — a vigorous, and even essential, part of daily life. Art that merges with the landscape brings human presence, safety, and physical activity into the city’s spaces. This kind of art triggers more than one sense: it is something you... posted on Nov 21 2014 (13,697 reads)

One Man's Organized Response To Disaster, by encore.org
executive David Campbell never imagined that a casual lunch with a friend in Boston in December 2004 would change the course of his life. Their conversation turned to the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami that had ravaged Southeast Asia two days earlier. It was a personal shock to his friend who had eaten lunch at a Meridien Hotel in Phuket, Thailand, just ten days before. The hotel had been damaged and several guests killed. The story deeply affected Campbell, who scoured the web to learn all that he could about the largest natural disaster of his lifetime. When he discovered a hotel in Bang Tao, Thailand, that had been damaged but, miraculously, still had Internet service, an ... posted on Dec 10 2014 (20,616 reads)

The Smart Way to Stick to Habits, by Leo Babauta
to a new habit isn’t easy — but if you set up your habit change smartly, you can make it stick. Starting a new habit isn’t too hard — we often get excited about starting an exercise plan or diet or waking up early, for example. But a number of obstacles get in the way of sticking to the habit long enough for it to become automatic. Here are the usual obstacles: 1. You lose enthusiasm: Probably the No. 1 reason people fail is that the enthusiasm they feel when they first start the habit, when they’re fantasizing about how great it’ll be, fades away after a few days or a week. The habit isn’t as great as you fantasized, usually. So yo... posted on Dec 4 2014 (24,427 reads)

The Deaf and Blind Artist Who Followed Her Dream, by www.cooper.edu
Gossiaux working in Daniel Arsham's studio in 2013   'Seat' (2012); Ceramic   '2 Chalices' (2012); Ceramic   'Table with Cup' (2012); Ceramic   'Bird Sitting' (2012); Ceramic and wood Emilie Gossiaux, a senior in the School of Art, has won an Award of Excellence from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., it was announced this week. In addition to a monetary award, she will be one of only fifteen selected artists whose work will be part of theIn/finite Earth exhibition organized by VSA, the Kennedy Center'... posted on Feb 24 2015 (19,040 reads)

Ready, Willing and Able, by Patty de Llosa
Bad to Good: You can get here from there. Ready, Willing and Able trainees in Liberty State Park, Jersey City, N.J. Let’s call him Joe. When I stopped to chat with him on the street one hot summer day, he was sweeping up New York City’s detritus, dressed in the familiar blue pants and shirt of Ready, Willing & Able. Joe told me he got out of prison four months ago. “I’ve learned my lesson,” he said dolefully, “but once I got out the situation was pretty dismal.” That’s when he turned to the Doe Fund, as tens of thousands of homeless men and ex-cons have done since 1990. One of some 700 current m... posted on Jan 4 2015 (31,284 reads)