Life Through A Camera Lens
"'I couldn't believe how beautiful the ocean was,' he commented. 'I've never seen an ocean before, and then to get to see palm trees in person, and to even touch them. It was just amazing.' He began thumbing through a series of photographs on his phone, each displaying an image of a palm tree." Though she'd seen many palm trees before, the writer describing this encounter realized in that moment t... posted on Aug 01 2012, 13,852 reads

Servant Leadership: Helping People Come Alive
"It's a powerful perspective on work -- holding within it a value for collaboration, agency, creativity, and meaning. What if we all could see what we do in that way? What if our organizations supported us in holding that perspective, and to go one step further, how can we create institutions that release these core values? In his seminal 1970 essay 'The Servant as Leader,' Robert Greenleaf coined... posted on Jul 31 2012, 21,440 reads

Giving Wings to Little Prisoners
2012 CNN Hero Pushpa Basnet found her calling when she was still a student in social work in Nepal. While visiting a women's prison as an assignment for one of her classes, she felt a tug on her shawl and a little girl smiled at her from behind bars -- a child living with her mother in prison. That image haunted Pushpa until she graduated, and she started a daycare in the morning for children aged... posted on Jul 30 2012, 3,297 reads

9-yr-old Helps Disabled Brother Finish Triathlons
Over the weekend, brothers Cayden and Connor Long joined hundreds of other children as they competed in the first annual New England Kids Triathlon in Cambridge. The boys did not win the event -- they didn't even come close. But that didn't stop them from winning hearts across the Internet. The Long brothers are not your typical triathletes. Six-year-old Cayden has cerebral palsy and can neither w... posted on Jul 29 2012, 24,936 reads

Better Eating through Mindfulness
More than a billion people around the world are overweight, leading to all kinds of health challenges. "Obesity increases health risks like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, to name a few, and the health care costs to treat obesity-related illness are skyrocketing, with Center for Disease Control estimates in 2008 reaching $147 billion dollars (just in the US). But now there is a new prescripti... posted on Jul 28 2012, 19,332 reads

Meeting Michael: A Kindness Story
"I was sitting at my desk today, looking out the window. I saw an old homeless man crossing the street, carrying a suitcase. I remembered the many times I had looked on from afar, feeling sorry for the homeless but doing nothing... Sometimes we think about compassion but we push it into the deep corners of our heart because we're too busy with life, too shy, or too afraid of strangers. But all it ... posted on Jul 27 2012, 7,441 reads

A Bicycle Nomad Prepares for Re-entry
In 2010, Manjula Martin and her partner set out to see the world the old-fashioned way: by bicycle. With little money, no itinerary, gadgets or training, they traversed five countries and 3,500 miles and discovered a world filled with generosity. In this article, Manjula Martin describes the transition from bike to home with four rules for re-entry that are strikingly authentic, grounded, and univ... posted on Jul 26 2012, 13,148 reads

Happiness: Getting Our Priorities Straight
There is a vitally important shift underway in how we think about progress. Growing numbers of economists, political leaders and expert commentators are calling for better measures of how well society is doing; measures that track not just our economic standard of living, but our overall quality of life. We too can benefit from a shift in priorities and a recognition that real happiness is less ab... posted on Jul 25 2012, 15,854 reads

The Way of the Peaceful Parent
"While I have learned a lot about being a dad, and finding joy in parenthood, I also know that stress-free parenting is a myth. Parents will always have stress: we not only have to deal with tantrums and scraped knees and refusing to eat anything you cook, but we worry about potential accidents, whether we are ruining our kids, whether our children will find happiness as adults and be able to prov... posted on Jul 24 2012, 82,349 reads

Remembering Stephen Covey
In 1989, Stephen R. Covey penned The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, a book that went on to sell millions of copies worldwide and defined a new genre bridging self-improvement, business management, and personal productivity. Last week, Covey passed away at the age of 79. Maria Popova of Brain Pickings takes a look back at his legacy with some of the keenest insights from his beloved bestselle... posted on Jul 23 2012, 18,022 reads