Taking Back The Time
"As a species, we humans possess some unique capacities. We can stand apart from what's going on, think about it, question it, imagine things being different. We are also curious. We want to know "why?" We figure out "how." We think about what's past' we dream forward to the future. We create what we want rather than just accept what is. So far, we're the only species we know that does this. But a... posted on Jun 20 2014, 21,072 reads

Joyce Carol Oates On the Art of Beholding Beauty
Perhaps counterintuitively, the diaries of celebrated artists, writers, and scientists, private as they are, are often reminders not only of their humanity but of our own, brimming with deeply and widely resonant insights on our shared struggles and yearnings. Such is the case of The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates -- a chronicle of Oates's characteristically self-reflexive, sometimes self-conscious,... posted on Jun 19 2014, 9,857 reads

The Fourth Wall of Empathy
Rick Raemisch, Colorado's new Chief of Corrections, asked to spend time in solitary confinement in an effort to ignite a larger discussion about the overuse of solitary confinement. He knew he needed to walk the walk in order to talk the talk. Read about how his empathetic experience garnered national headlines and encouraged prison administration and policymakers to question the frequency of this... posted on Jun 18 2014, 19,314 reads

Fritjof Capra On Life & Leadership
Sustainability is not an individual property, but is a property of an entire web of relationships. It is a community practice. This is the profound lesson we need to learn from nature. The way to sustain life is to build and nurture community. Because of the close connection between sustainability and community, basic principles of ecology can also be understood as principles of community. In part... posted on Jun 17 2014, 18,351 reads

Empty Hands, Full Heart: Music for the Soul
At the pinnacle of a dizzying career, young Indian-American rapper Nimesh "Nimo" Patel was haunted by an unshakeable sense of emptiness. In his mid-twenties, he abandoned the limelight. An inner voice nudged him to radically simplify his life and find his purpose in service to others. Moving to the Gandhi Ashram in India, he dedicated himself to the children in surrounding slums. After a 7-year mu... posted on Jun 16 2014, 47,869 reads

Transforming Trauma Into Creative Energy
Shoshana had her share of trauma. As a young Jewish women, she fled Antwerp during Hitler's rise to power in Europe, and thus survived the war. Years later, the trauma was deep inside, and it began to surface mysteriously when she took to weaving. Instead of ignoring the pain she felt, she courageously decided to complete her healing by working with others experiencing trauma as a psychotherapist.... posted on Jun 15 2014, 23,246 reads

The Washed Ashore Project
What do 3 tons of garbage look like? If you are Angela Haseltine Pozzi, you turn this trash into sculptures that draw attention to the problem of plastic pollution. Unlike other artists that work with plastic beach debris, she doesn't cut everything up into tiny, beautiful pieces so you don't know where this plastic came from -- you can see each piece of plastic for what it is -- and you know tha... posted on Jun 14 2014, 3,004 reads

How To Cultivate Practical Wisdom
"A wise person knows when and how to make the exception to every rule... A wise person knows how to improvise...And finally, perhaps most important, a wise person is made, not born. "These are the words of psychologist Barry Schwartz, who together with political scientist Kenneth Sharpe explores how to find the "right" course of action in their new book, Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the R... posted on Jun 13 2014, 17,794 reads

Why Compassion In the Workplace Matters
Workplaces vary on the extent to which "companionate love" is present. According to Wharton Management professor Sigal Barsade, companionate love is shown "when colleagues who are together day in and day out, ask and care about each other's work and even non-work issues...They are careful of each other's feelings. They show compassion when things don't go well. And they also show affection and car... posted on Jun 12 2014, 22,742 reads

12 Habits of Productive People
Practicing "selective perfectionism," ordering their to do lists, and not being chained to email are just three habits of highly productive people. Read on for these and other insights from productivity gurus Robert Pozen of the Harvard Business School and Adam Grant of the Wharton School.... posted on Jun 11 2014, 49,880 reads