Forward the Smile
Angelo Pangalos' project has a simple purpose - to encourage and inspire people to share a smile with a stranger. Pangalos has been in and out of hospitals since the age of five. Faced with one health...
View ArticleBillions in Change: The Man Who Gifts 99% of His Wealth
How do you change the world? Is foreign aid the most effective tool, or should charities funded by millions of small donors lead the way? A new organization called Billions in Change is trying a new...
View ArticleHow to Avoid Abusing Power
"When we receive power, it feels like a vital force. It surges through the body, propelling the individual forward in pursuit of goals. When an individual feels powerful, he or she experiences higher...
View ArticleWhat Would A Slow School Movement Look Like?
"Pausing to ponder the nature and consequences of a burger bar in the center of Rome was how a major eating revolution began. Carlo Petrini, a prominent Italian journalist, was walking past a newly...
View ArticleA Life-Saving Coat for the Homeless
"Six years ago, Veronika Scott accepted a challenge from her college professor: Design something to "fill a need" in Detroit. Scott, an art student, found her inspiration on the streets."In Detroit,...
View ArticleThe Art of Medicine: W.H Auden & Oliver Sachs
"The poetry of W.H. Auden was among Oliver Sacks's formative books. When the two men eventually became friends in the final years of Auden's life, Dr. Sacks was still a thirty-something neurologist...
View ArticleSmart By Nature: Schooling for Sustainability
"There is a bold new movement underway in school systems across North America and around the world. Educators, parents, and students are remaking K-12 education to prepare students for the...
View ArticleHow One Woman's App is Feeding Thousands
Komal Ahmad was a student at UC Berkeley when she experienced a life-changing moment. She had just returned from summer training for the U.S. Navy when she met a homeless veteran on the sidewalk. He...
View ArticleFinding Meaning in a Digital Age
Almost 200 million bloggers on the internet create a new blog every half second. Homaira Kabir regrets that writing "now comes in bite-sized pieces for a public looking for ease and entertainment, and...
View ArticleThe Thank You Project
In 2004, Kellie Haddock and her newborn son were in a horrible accident that took her husband's life. 10 years later, Haddock spent 6 months tracking down the people who saved her son's life and...
View ArticleThe Library of Things: Sharing More Than Books
Ever been in a situation where you want to take on a Do-it-Yourself project, only to be demoralized by having to go out and buy an item that you know you will likely use just once? Well, enter the...
View ArticleOutsmart Your Next Angry Outburst
"Robert and Howard had always gotten along well. They'd worked on several projects together and considered each other friends. So when Robert discovered that Howard held a strategy meeting and hadn't...
View ArticleThe Brightness of a Greyhound Journey
"Our new driver was a brisk lady, vigilant but amiable. As we hit the road again, she introduced herself over the speakers and set the rules for the journey. She spoke clearly from experience and I...
View ArticleTranslating Meaning Into Life: A Taoist Parable
"During a time of great drought, a Taoist master was asked by members of a village if he could help bring rain to their dry fields. They confessed trying many other approaches before reaching out to...
View ArticleThe Lullaby Project: Homeless Mothers Make Music
Since 2011, the Lullaby Project, a Carnegie Hall program (part of its larger Musical Connections initiative) that takes musics transformative power outside gilded concert halls and into neglected...
View ArticleThe Sandwich Man
Allan Law first came across hunger and homelessness as a middle school teacher in the inner city schools of Minneapolis, Minnesota. In his retirement, Law has spent every day of the last 12 years on...
View Article#MakeVirtueViral: A Graduation Speech for Uncertain Times
"Commencement speakers are typically supposed to inspire you to make a splash in the world, be somebody, do something big and important. But this isn't a typical university, and you're not a typical...
View ArticleAllow Breathe Curious: A Coloring Book for Mindfulness
"Allow Breathe Curious" is a unique collaboration that emerged from one mother's budding interest in mindfulness and her daughter's deep-seated conviction that art can be an instrument of positive...
View ArticleWhy We Feel Awe
"News stories and social media posts inundate us every day with tips for greater happiness, health, and general well-being. But who has time to fit them into our already packed schedules? Recently,...
View ArticleThinking Like An Ecosystem
Ecology is all about interconnection and unending change, creating patterns of causation that shape every organism and phenomenon, so "thinking like an ecosystem" means living in the perpetual "why."...
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