Can You Teach People to Have Empathy?
"According to the latest neuroscience research, 98% of people (the exceptions include those with psychopathic tendencies) have the ability to empathise wired into their brains -- an in-built capacity for stepping into the shoes of others and understanding their feelings and perspectives.The problem is that most don't tap into their full empathic potential in everyday life."... posted on Aug 08 2015, 23,627 reads

Love as a Great Transition Story
We may imagine love to be quite utopian, but consider the alternatives. In not choosing love we are left with law and the prospect of global bureaucratic stagnation. In not choosing law we are left with force and the prospect of either global devastation or global domination. If we value our freedom and vitality as a species, we are obliged to do no less than learn to love one another as a human f... posted on Aug 07 2015, 16,433 reads

Peter Kingsley on Remembering What We Have Forgotten
In this interview author Peter Kingsley points out that "there's something infinitely precious at the origins of (Western) civilization. The trouble is that it's been lost because we started taking it for granted...The challenge (is) to wake up now and take responsibility for what we have been given." ... posted on Aug 06 2015, 3,537 reads

The Pixel Painter
Passion has no expiry date. This is rings true for Grandpa who at 97 years continues to follow his passion for painting. The world has changed phenomenally in his lifetime. He spent his career as a typographer, creating letterforms by hand but now, thanks to his grandson, he produces his art on the computer. This sweet film showcases some of Hal Lasko's work as well as his abundant energy for crea... posted on Aug 05 2015, 4,091 reads

Why We Do What We Do
What motivates our action? In this TED talk life coach and motivational speaker, Tony Robbins, shares his thoughts on the art of fulfillment. "It's about appreciation and contribution.," Robbins shares."You can only feel so much by yourself." In his talk he discusses the "invisible forces" that motivate everyone's actions ... posted on Aug 04 2015, 17,447 reads

Emerson on the True Measure of Wisdom
"We live amid surfaces, and the true art of life is to skate well on them...To finish the moment, to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom." In this article, Maria Popova shares quotes on how to live a rounded and rewarding life, from Emerson's beautiful essay titled "Experience". ... posted on Aug 03 2015, 1,554 reads

Staying Human in a Time of Climate Change
In scientist M Jackson's new book, While Glaciers Slept: Being Human in a Time of Climate Change, she examines climate change by combining personal stories with scientific exploration.... posted on Aug 02 2015, 10,640 reads

Rebuilding a Neighborhood with Dignity and Hope
In this inspirational and motivating TED Talk, Bill Strickland shares his remarkable journey from a kid flunking out of school in a high crime-rate ghetto of Pittsburgh, to a man who has inspired thousands of people in his own neighborhood. Building on the belief that you can transform anyone by offering them hope, respect and dignity, Strickland has been lauded as a visionary genius by some of th... posted on Aug 01 2015, 10,816 reads

Grace Paley: On the Value of Not Understanding Everything
Like any artist, a writer is often a channel for expressing the ineffable. Thus how, in the midst of searching, can a writer consciously reach forth and grasp a wisp of truth? Grace Paley, poet, author, and activist, argues that it is in the counterintuitive embrace of "ununderstanding" that realness in writing reveals itself.... posted on Jul 31 2015, 12,474 reads

Just Eat It: Eating Trash For A Cause
"After learning that nearly 50 percent of the food grown in North America each year is thrown out, filmmakers Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustemeyer decided to stop buying groceries and only eat food that would otherwise be thrown away." Read further to see a trailer of "Just Eat It," a film documenting their exploration into the wastefulness of the industrial food system -- and their experience with ... posted on Jul 30 2015, 9,907 reads