a new novel, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, Mitch Albom, bestselling author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, tells the story of a guitarist who can change people’s lives through the power of his musical talent. Albom recently was a guest lecturer in the Authors@Wharton series. While Albom was on campus, Wharton management professor Adam M. Grant spoke with him about why he wrote the book, his choice to pursue writing, and how we can each discover and share our greatest talent. An edited transcript of the conversation follows. Adam Grant: What inspired you to write the latest book? Mitch Albom: Ever since I wrote Tuesdays with ... posted on Dec 21 2015 (14,932 reads)

a new novel, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, Mitch Albom, bestselling author ofTuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, tells the story of a guitarist who can change people’s lives through the power of his musical talent. Albom recently was a guest lecturer in the Authors@Wharton series. While Albom was on campus, Wharton management professor Adam M. Grant spoke with him about why he wrote the book, his choice to pursue writing, and how we can each discover and share our greatest talent. An edited transcript of the conversation follows. Adam Grant: What inspired you to write the latest book? Mitch Albom: Ever since I wrote Tuesdays with Morrie, ... posted on Dec 21 2015 (3,518 reads)

FOR BILLY MILLS, CHRISTINA TORRES, ASHLEY HICKS, ET AL. — RUNNING AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE syndicated from OnBeing.org KRISTA TIPPETT, HOST: For the Summer Olympics, we’re breaking format to explore a topic our listeners have called out as a passionate force in all kinds of lives, and a connector across all kinds of boundaries in American culture: running. Not just as exercise, or as merely physical pursuit — running as a source of bonding between parents and children and friends. Running as an interplay between competition and contemplation. Running and body image and survival and healing. MS. CHRISTINA TORRES: People from high school now tell me,... posted on Aug 30 2016 (10,705 reads)

easiest way for me to find God is in nature,” Sister Ceciliana Skees explains. Born Ruth Skees, she grew up in Hardin County, Kentucky, during the 1930s. It’s a rural place of soft green hills, where her father farmed his entire life. Now just a few months shy of her eighty-fifth birthday, she remembers feeling the first stirrings of a religious calling at the age of 10. Her peasant blouse and smooth, chin-length haircut don’t fit the popular image of a nun, but she has been a Sister of Loretto—a member of a religious order more than 200 years old—since she took vows at the age of 18. Skees’ commitment to social activism goes back almost a... posted on Sep 26 2016 (9,386 reads)

Ghandi once said “be the change that you want to see in the world”. This week Margaret O’Keeffe meets an inspirational businessman who has used obstacles as a means to create positive change for himself and his community. “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back. " - Albert Camus I have walked in the semi-wilderness of Hampstead Heath in London for many years. One of the roads I use to enter the heath starts at the... posted on Sep 30 2016 (13,831 reads)

the years, we’ve had a love-hate relationship with self-esteem, writes Homaira Kabir. There was a time when we believed self-esteem to be the royal road to flourishing. We had Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live provide us with Daily Affirmations to make us feel special. We tried to reinforce it in our children by letting them know how exceptional they were when they failed. However, later studies showed that such increases in self-esteem did little for our happiness or performance, but ample for our egos. Professor Roy Baumeister’s work with self-esteem showed that we’d been raising a generation of narcissists who went on to wreck havoc in their lives and in thei... posted on Oct 18 2016 (16,437 reads)

is important to celebrate these women who are building a more peaceful world that is open, just, and filled with love.”   Joye Braun recalls setting up her tipi in snow last April at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The camp founded by LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a beloved elder Native woman, was named IÅ‹yaÅ‹ WakháÅ‹agapi Othí, meaning Sacred Stone, which is the pre-Colonial name of the Cannonball River area. “Before colonization, women were traditionally equal to men in our society. What we have seen at Standing Rock is extraordinary—women reclaiming their rightful, sacred place in our community. We know our voices matt... posted on Jun 8 2017 (5,483 reads)

interests and your passion develop over time. I want to disabuse people of this mythology of ‘it happens to you and if you’re lucky, you find it, and then that’s all you have to do.’” Angela Duckworth is a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the bestselling author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. She is the Founder and Scientific Director of a non-profit, Character Lab, and in 2013 was named a recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. Recently, she joined Adam Grant for an evening of conversation as a part of the Authors@Wharton speakers series. Adam Grant is the bestselling author ... posted on Jul 14 2017 (12,566 reads)

think that gratitude is a profound choice. It is not just something that some people do. There is a way to look at life as a “have to” or a “get to” there are all these things in life we could do because we have to do them, or there are things in life we do because we get to do them. ~ Seth Godin Katie Steedly: Having studied wide-awakeness for a long time, gratitude was everywhere in the literature. I also found it in life. Whether talking about presence, or positivity, or happiness, or even success in general, the subject of gratitude kept making itself known to me from all directions. It became obvious: gratitude is the key that unlocks life’s doors.... posted on Oct 7 2017 (13,033 reads)

it comes to moral judgments, we think we are scientists discovering the truth, but actually we are lawyers arguing for positions we arrived at by other means.” The surprising psychology behind morality is at the heart of social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s research. He explains “liberal” and “conservative” not narrowly or necessarily as political affiliations, but as personality types — ways of moving through the world. His self-described “conservative-hating, religion-hating, secular liberal instincts” have been challenged by his own studies. What follows is the transcript of an On Being interview between Krista Tippett... posted on Sep 21 2018 (17,247 reads)

Pignon is a gifted horseman, artist and the original visionary behind the world-renowned equine spectacular Cavalia. I recently had the good fortune of learning from him during a clinic here in New Mexico. In poignant serendipity, his US tour was a last-minute solution to the French government’s continued cancellation of large events (including his) in response to terror attacks. If you watch Frédéric on stage, you’ll see him amidst many fiery horses, freely expressing themselves alongside him in expertly choreographed musical unison—a breathtaking improvisational display of love, passion, reciprocity and trust in action. It... posted on Feb 13 2018 (22,434 reads)

UNPLANNED ORGANIZATION: LEARNING FROM NATURE'S EMERGENT CREATIVITY From Noetic Sciences Review #37, Spring 1996   In my work with large organizations, one of the questions we often ask is, "How would we work differently if we really understood that we are truly self-organizing?" The first thing we recognize is that, just like individuals, the organizations we create have a natural tendency to change, to develop. This is completely counter to the current mantra of organizational life: "People resist change. People fear change. People hate change." Instead, in a self-organizing world, we see change as a power, a pre... posted on Jun 15 2018 (9,257 reads)

Simon: This program is brought to you by SoundsTrue.com. At SoundsTrue.com, you can find hundreds of downloadable audio learning programs, plus books, music, videos, and online courses and events. At SoundsTrue.com, we think of ourselves as a trusted partner on the spiritual journey, offering diverse, in-depth, and life-changing wisdom. SoundsTrue.com: many voices, one journey. You're listening to Insights at the Edge. Today, my guest is Tiffany Shlain. Tiffany is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, author, and public speaker. Regarded as an internet pioneer, Tiffany is the founder of the Webby Awards, and co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Scienc... posted on Aug 11 2018 (5,923 reads)

Worline is Executive Director of the CompassionLab at the University of Michigan, a research scientist at the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University, and co-author of Awakening Compassion at Work, forthcoming in February 2017 from Berrett-Koehler. She sat down with author and entrepreneur Nir Eyal to discuss why empathetic teams make better business deals, how more caring leaders can help prevent corporate scandals, and the steps for cultivating compassion at work. This conversation originally appeared in Heleo: In-Depth Conversations with the World’s Leading Thinkers. Nir Eyal: What is the business case for c... posted on Sep 13 2018 (7,502 reads)

is a dawning realization from many quarters that the changes humans are making on the planet are comparable to the changes of a major geological era. The scientific evidence says we are damaging life systems on Earth and causing species extinction (20,000 species lost annually) at such a rate as to bring about the end of our current period, the Cenozoic era. No such mass extinction has occurred since the dinosaurs were eliminated 65 million years ago by an asteroid. Our period is considered to be the sixth major extinction in Earth’s 4.7 billion-year history, and in this case humans are the primary cause. Having grown from two billion to six billion people in the twentieth cen... posted on Dec 17 2018 (6,459 reads)

this year winds to a close, volunteers suggested that it might be fun for me to do a post with excerpts/nuggets from 10 memorable Awakin Calls of this past year. The idea resonated, so here is my list. Needless to say, these 10 were rather difficult to choose since there is something resonant or meaningful in almost every call we’ve had. And as all members of the Awakin Calls scribe and editing team can attest -- as we spend a lot of time soaking in these calls, even the calls that first seem to be at the outer limits of our sphere of interest unveil some talisman, that we then hold on to, for nourishment. So with that caveat in place (and the invitation to please spend... posted on Jan 21 2019 (6,895 reads)

the parking lot and the front door, those who attend Fearless Dialogues events will typically hear the following greetings several times, says Gregory C. Ellison II: “It’s good to see you." "Welcome to Fearless Dialogues." "Are you ready for change?” Launched by Ellison in 2013, Fearless Dialogues is a nonprofit organization that creates spaces for unlikely partners to engage in hard conversations about difficult subjects such as racism, classism and community violence. The nonprofit partners with organizations ranging from sports teams to schools and businesses to lead community conversations. Three elements -- see, hear and c... posted on May 20 2019 (6,044 reads)

50 U.S. states require schools to have a bullying prevention policy. But a policy, alone, is not enough. Despite the requirement, there’s been a slight uptick in all forms of bullying during the last three years. Bullying can look like experienced basketball players systematically intimidating novice players off the court, kids repeatedly stigmatizing immigrant classmates for their cultural differences, or a middle-school girl suddenly being insulted and excluded by her group of friends. Bullying occurs everywhere, even in the highest-performing schools, and it is hurtful to everyone involved, from the targets of bullying to the witnesses—and even to bullies t... posted on Nov 4 2019 (6,325 reads)

March, I interviewed Nipun for our magazine, Dumbo Feather -- and I left so energized by our chat! It left a deep impression and we locally got active in trying to create an Awakin Circle in Melbourne, we've published another article on "multiple forms of capital", our founders are coming out for a ServiceSpace retreat, and most recently we've been doing some kindness experiments too. I feel so grateful to know ServiceSpace, and look forward to supporting the "ripples". The photo-essay looks gorgeous in the print magazine, but below is a snapshot with some interspersed photos by the talented Ramin Rahimian. Hope you enjoy! For more than 2... posted on Nov 19 2019 (7,521 reads)

Mandela’s long walk to freedom. Kim Ludbrook/EPA As Black Lives Matter protests, triggered by the killing of George Floyd, spread across the world in response to systemic racism and police brutality, questions are being asked about how white people can lend their support. Our previous and ongoing research into the South African anti-apartheid movement provides four key lessons we can draw on today in the fight against racism. 1. Use privilege to support the oppressed The first lesson is that privilege, conferred to some by the system, can be used to support the oppressed. The African National Congress (ANC) launched its Defiance of Unjus... posted on Aug 19 2020 (6,754 reads)