Teaching Our Children To Love Their Enemies
"Forgiveness can lead to understanding. Understanding plants the seeds for love." Loving our enemies may be one of the most difficult pearls of wisdom to live out in our day to day lives. It requires overcoming our fears, our egos, and our need to be right. This piece, that tells the story of one woman's compassionate response to a band of young neighborhood pranksters, reminds us of how powerful ... posted on Mar 14 2015, 18,610 reads

A Brief History of Happiness
What happened to happiness? In the United States, we seem to have lost track of its true meaning, and instead come to see economic growth as synonymous with well being. Yet as Sarah van Gelder of Yes! Magazine reminds us, "Sustainable happiness is built on a healthy natural world and a vibrant and fair society...and cannot be achieved at the expense of others." What does sustainable happiness look... posted on Mar 13 2015, 33,919 reads

From Forgotten Prisoner to University Graduate
After spending a year visiting prisons and witnessing the conditions experienced by prisoners in Uganda, Ashoka Fellow, Alex McLean, founded the African Prisons Project. The African Prisons Project seeks to restore a sense of self-worth and hope to prisoners in Uganda and Kenya in the belief that all humans deserve to be treated with dignity and that societal change can result from such measures. ... posted on Mar 12 2015, 10,738 reads

My House Is Your House
The way attorney and UCLA lecturer Tony Tolbert figures it: you don't have to have money to be generous. Tony became inspired by Kevin and Hannah Salwen, who sold their 6,500 square foot home, and donated $800,000 to charity. He decided to loan his home to Felicia Dukes, a single parent of four, for a full year. After giving birth to her fourth child, Felicia fell behind on payments, and became ho... posted on Mar 11 2015, 4,306 reads

Why It Pays To Put Kids In Control
For years, our public systems have been plagued with issues. More recently, the predominant focus has been that of social control -- where, the "policing of behavior trumps the expanding of minds." In light of this, educating for insurgency may seem a radical, and potentially, dangerous proposition. But, what if this new model empowered students to get involved and take control of their educationa... posted on Mar 10 2015, 15,546 reads

The Contentment Habit
For many of us, it is easy to fall into the habit of thinking or feeling that we are not doing enough when we see others doing great things or having amazing experiences. Constantly comparing ourselves to others and/or feeling as though we are not enough causes us to become unhappy and takes away from living in the moment. Read this article on how to appreciate every day and every moment more.... posted on Mar 09 2015, 40,262 reads

How Long Has It Been Since You Smelled A Flower?
For forty years Thom Irving has led writing workshops with prison inmates. He describes it as unlearning the language of excuses and refusal to accept responsibility for one's acts, then building hope that one is not entirely alone or lost as long as swallows can be seen, even from the narrow slot of a cell window.... posted on Mar 08 2015, 5,382 reads

Going To School With Her Great-Great-Granchildren
Ninety-year-old Priscilla Sitienei is believed to be the oldest primary school student in the world. As an active midwife in Kenya, Priscilla helped deliver many of her primary-school classmates, including six of her great-grand children who are in her class. Community members and students affectionately call Priscilla "Gogo," which means grandmother in the local Kalenjin language. To them, Gogo i... posted on Mar 07 2015, 5,109 reads

Why We Love Music
What is our fascination with music? And, why is it that it sometimes invokes such a deeply emotional response? Scientists have been pondering this question for years, and now -- with fMRI technology they are able to visualize the brain's musical connection. "Music affects deep emotional centers in the brain," shares neuroscientist, Valorie Salimpoor. "It's very powerful." How powerful? In one stu... posted on Mar 06 2015, 29,923 reads

Creating Welcoming Space
Marilyn Lacey, founder and executive director of Mercy Beyond Borders, invites us to consider the power of creating welcoming space for others, even those we consider strangers or enemies. Marilyn explains that hospitality "entails creating not just physical room but emotional spaciousness where the stranger can enter and be himself or herself, where the stranger can become ally instead of threat,... posted on Mar 05 2015, 16,003 reads