Elie Wiesel on How Our Questions Unite Us
What do leadership and loneliness have in common? What is the difference between solitude and isolation? How might we live through to the other side the intense feelings of being alone that can come...
View ArticleNightshift at the Marriott
An emergency search for a room in a town where all hotels were full brought the author and his jet-lagged wife at midnight to a new Marriot-in-construction, as yet seemingly manned by only one or two...
View ArticleHow Do I Love Trees? Let Me Count the Ways...
Trees are interwoven into our existence in so many ways. They give us air to breathe, shade from sun, beautiful colors in the autumn, timber to build our homes, food to eat, paper to write on, and so...
View ArticleThe Power of a Beginner's Mind
Picture this: A substitute teacher wearing a kimono and speaking Japanese to inner city students. Surprising? That was exactly the intention of Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu as he attempted to cultivate a...
View ArticleThe Grace of Great Things
What if the goal of education becomes making visible and lifting up the souls of all those involved in the process? How might this way of reclaiming and re-grounding the learning-teaching relationship...
View ArticleMedicine Baba: When a Man Becomes a Movement
In the aftermath of a building collapse in East Delhi, India, that left some dead and more suffering, Omkar Nath Sharma felt helpless. Before his very eyes, people in pain, some dying, needed medicine...
View ArticleRebecca Solnit: On Breaking Silence
Human beings have a tendency to remain silent regardless of whether they need to utilize their voices. Rebecca Solnit sees how that tendency has harmed the women's movement. She quotes poets,...
View ArticleDefining Hope: A Tribute to Nurses
In 2012, photographer Carolyn Jones was commissioned to create The American Nurse Project, interviewing, filming, and photographing over 100 nurses across the U.S., after her own fight with breast...
View ArticleFinding Joy: The Science of Happiness
We long to find more joy in our daily pursuits even though life has taught us it's not so easy. New discoveries in neuroscience offer insight into how we can develop a brighter state of heart and mind....
View ArticleHow Gratitude Helps Us Grow
Gratitude has been repeatedly shown to improve our happiness, health, and relationships. Yet some critics suggest that it may lead to attitudes of selfishness and self-indulgence. Researchers from UC...
View ArticleWant to Innovate? Become a Now-ist
In 2011, Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab, had a need to understand what was happening with an earthquake in Japan, so he created a way to find that information. He lived and acted in the...
View ArticleSharing Stories in a Broken Culture
In this deeply divided culture, how can we honor people in such as way as to weave with them our common narrative and show each other respect? How do we find common ground? Simon Hodges believes that...
View ArticleReturning the Gift
Robin Wall Kimmerer notes, "In the teachings of my Potawatomi ancestors, responsibilities and gifts are understood as two sides of the same coin. The possession of a gift is coupled with a duty to use...
View Article5 Ways to Step Up Your Love for Nature
Writer Melissa Hellmann discusses 5 ways to take your love of the outdoors to the next level, including activities such as volunteer work and activism. In order to increase our positive experiences...
View ArticleMental Illness: Turning Stigma Into Compassion
In this interview international expert on developmental psychopathy Stephen Hinshaw discusses his book "Another Kind of Madness: A Journey through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness". Dr. Hinshaw...
View ArticleDiane Ackerman's Secular Prayer
What counts as prayer? What counts as spirituality for that matter? Are there ways into the mystery of the divine other than traditional religion? This article, from Maria Popova's website Brain...
View ArticleAre Some Social Ties Better Than Others?
Social capital, or the benefits we get from relationships with family, friends, coworkers, and others, is an important measure of how we give and receive. From online exchanges to intimate gatherings,...
View ArticleTo Try to Have Some Healing: A Conversation with Silas Hagerty
What would you do to remember a deep wrong? Would you ride over 300 miles, through the Dakotas and Minnesota on horseback, in the middle of winter as a ceremonial act of forgiveness and reconciliation?...
View ArticleWhy Is It So Hard to Change People's Minds?
Understanding the emotional connections underlying our deeply held beliefs and ideas can help us learn to listen and talk to others in ways that open up possibilities for change minds; ours as well as...
View ArticleReady to Start Living? First Consider Death
What would you do if today was your last day alive? There's nothing more compelling than the thought of living, breathing and experiencing the playground of life when we consider that all of what we...
View Article