Ten Principles Of Purpose
How do you know what your calling is? And how do you make it happen? Echoing Green has interviewed hundreds of social entrepreneurs over the last 25 years who each found their purpose and manifested it in the world. From their stories, Echoing Green culled ten principles for identifying your purpose and putting it into action. Read on to learn what the ten principles are.... posted on Jun 11 2013, 67,097 reads

The Power of Creative Constraints
What if a hospital decided to serve anyone who came to its doors, regardless of whether they could pay, and still committed to providing world-class quality care? Can such a self-imposed constraint actually help drive innovation? And what if that constraint is geared toward solving a problem of global proportions, without any outside funding? An almost incomprehensibly ambitious vision to rid the ... posted on Jun 10 2013, 47,818 reads

Are You In Control of Your Decisions?
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely doesn't buy into the notion of immutable human rationality, upon which economic study is traditionally based. In fact, he says, we are often predictably irrational. We understand our preferences less well than we imagine; and all-too-frequently our decision-making is manipulated by the way in which alternatives are presented. We know our physical limitations, and we... posted on Jun 09 2013, 5,102 reads

24 Acts of Kindness To Restore Faith In Humanity
Remember the time when someone let you cut in line at the grocery store because you only had one item to pay for? How about that day on the subway when you witnessed a seemingly self-absorbed teenager, glued to his iPod, giving up his seat for an elderly lady with a cane? These stories stay with us because they are reminders that, even in the face of adversity and darkness we have a shining capa... posted on Jun 08 2013, 45,933 reads

Living in the Age of Distraction
"The evidence is plentiful these days that distracted people cause harm to themselves and to others. We read reports of fatal train accidents caused by the engineer texting and of commercial flights crashing because pilots were chatting. Pedestrians and drivers are killed because they're on the phone. We need look no further than ourselves to observe distraction. How long can you focus on any acti... posted on Jun 07 2013, 67,641 reads

Four Ways to Give Good Feedback
"When effectively administered, feedback is a powerful way to build knowledge and skills, increase skills, increase motivation, and develop reflective habits of mind in students and employees. Too often, however, the feedback we give (and get) is ineffectual or even counterproductive." This piece from Time magazine suggests four ways to offer effective feedback, drawn from research in cognitive sc... posted on Jun 06 2013, 15,461 reads

A Midwife to the Dying
"In having been in the field of dying for many years, I have frequently encountered the tragic limitations of dying in America. Our lives are an ongoing opportunity for us to realize compassion in the world and to really be a benefit to others. How extraordinary at the moment of death we have this opportunity to unify with our basic nature." Joan Halifax, a "midwife to the dying", has spent over 3... posted on Jun 05 2013, 25,273 reads

The Ten Gifts of A Servant Leader
"As many small trickles of water feed the mightiest of rivers, the growing number of individuals and organizations practicing servant-leadership has increased into a torrent, one that carries with it a deep current of meaning and passion. Robert K. Greenleaf 's idea of servant-leadership, now in its fourth decade as a concept bearing that name, continues to create a quiet revolution in workplaces ... posted on Jun 04 2013, 121,286 reads

Know the Beauty of Place: Interview With An Eye-Opening Writer
What is a place? We don't have a word for it, really. A place is an intimate thing. It's so much more than just an area you can measure. Jane Wodening says, "When I see one, and I see its welcome, I like to go and sit in it awhile. A place might be very small or cover acres and acres. It's full of people -- I mean, critters and plants and water and air and dirt and light -- living their lives and ... posted on Jun 03 2013, 16,155 reads

9 Things Educators Should Know About the Brain
Learning is a dynamic function that each person experiences in a vastly different way. For instance, one individual may retain knowledge the best by studying a textbook while another may need to link an idea to a physical activity they perform. It is important to apply this concept both in our classrooms along with our own daily lives. This is especially critical in a child's early formative years... posted on Jun 02 2013, 147,804 reads