Definitions of Success Down the Ages
Author Bessie Anderson Stanley once defined a successful person as someone who "has left the world better than he found it." Lao Tzu, on the other hand, argued that success was to be found in the journey, not the destination. No matter your definition, we all aspire to be successful - to be the best version of ourselves, to inspire others, and to leave the world a better place. Read on to be inspi... posted on Apr 02 2015, 20,251 reads

Thoughts On Hope, Cynicism & Stories We Tell Ourselves
"Critical thinking without hope is cynicism. Hope without critical thinking is naivete." What is the capital "T" truth when it comes to the state of affairs in our world today? Are we better off than we were before? Are we coming apart at the seams? Can we even know? Maria Popova of Brain Pickings offers her thoughts on how news and the media shape our perceptions of the now, and the crucial impor... posted on Apr 01 2015, 14,951 reads

Replace The Gospel of Money
Change or die. That's the provocative belief of former Harvard Business School professor David Korten as he seeks to radically change the way the world thinks, especially when it comes to the subject of money. Wanting to steer away from the old paradigm that holds money and markets sacred, he believes the world needs to quickly shift into the emerging "Sacred Life and Living Earth" story. This art... posted on Mar 31 2015, 18,000 reads

Before I Go: A Neurosurgeon's Final Reflections On Mortality
Einstein was one of the first to confirm that time and space are truly relative phenomena, and no where is relativity more palpable than in the operating room of a hospital. For neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi, time as he knew it underwent a radical shift when he was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer. From the rush of the operating room to the tortoise trudge of rest and uncertain recovery, Paul, ... posted on Mar 30 2015, 66,017 reads

Opening Doors and Hearts
Opening a door is more than a physical act. It's about putting yourself out there, getting to know people, making them feel comfortable, and making them feel welcome. After being bullied, Josh Yandt decided to make a change that ultimately had a dramatic impact on his life and on the lives of his fellow students. Watch this sweet story of how the London, Ontario, high school paid forward Josh's ac... posted on Mar 29 2015, 5,328 reads

Duane Elgin On Voluntary Simplicity
Duane Elgin is an unusual social visionary, one with an MBA from Wharton and a master's degree in economic history. He is a passionate advocate for shifting away from the consumer mentality which has driven history for hundreds of years. According to Elgin we are now in a time of great transition, a time that can no longer sustain the materialism of a consumerist society, and that calls for new wa... posted on Mar 28 2015, 24,173 reads

A Gang You'll Want Your Kid to Join
The words 'gang' or 'posse' have negative connotations for most people. But not for Deborah Bial. After an aha-moment with a college drop-out, she would go on to form the Posse Foundation, one of the most comprehensive college access programs in the United States. How successful is the program? The list of former Posse graduates is undeniably impressive: Harvard grads, doctors, a college dean, a f... posted on Mar 27 2015, 6,151 reads

Black Madonna: A Song of Forgiveness
"In 1981, two white supremacists brutally murdered an eighteen-year-old black boy in Mobile, Alabama. During the trial, there was an astounding moment: one of the men expressed true sorrow for what he had done. Everyone took a breath. And the boy's mother, Beulah Mae Donald, forgave him." The ability of human beings to love, even those who have deeply wronged us, is a recurring source of amazement... posted on Mar 26 2015, 18,452 reads

How To Retrain Your Brain With Three Words
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, authors of the best-selling book 'Freakonomics,' are back again in an effort to help retrain your brain when it comes to solving problems. From small issues to major crises, in fields ranging from business and philanthropy, to sports and politics, Levitt and Dubner offer up a self-help manual for how to think more productively, more creatively, and more rati... posted on Mar 25 2015, 66,684 reads

Can Connection Cure Addiction?
"It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned -- and all through this long century of waging war on drugs, we have been told a story about addiction...This story is so deeply ingrained in our minds that we take it for granted: There are strong chemical hooks in these drugs, so if we stopped on day twenty-one, our bodies would need the chemical. We would have a ferocious craving. We wo... posted on Mar 24 2015, 27,858 reads