A Morning When Everything Fell Into Place
"I finally found a Motel 6 about twenty-five miles east. When I got there around 11pm, from the cars and people I saw -- it was still warm outside, maybe 85 degrees -- I got the impression I was deep in gang territory. A young couple checking in at the office counter ahead of me added to this impression. I was nervous and felt out of place, but ended up getting a good night's sleep. In the morning... posted on Aug 26 2011, 11,556 reads

The Inner Landscape of Beauty
For the late Celtic mystic John O'Donohue, the visible world isn't all there is -- it's "the first shoreline of the invisible world." The question of what should I do, is secondary to the question of "how should I be?" In short, spirituality isn't an esoteric notion, but an accessible, natural response to the landscapes of beauty around us, and within us. His unique perspective, captured in this r... posted on Aug 25 2011, 6,526 reads

OneSeed Expeditions: Traveling for Good
When you are 22, the world is your oyster. For Yale University graduate Chris Baker, that oyster contained a pearl, which was the idea for OneSeed Expeditions. OneSeed is now a way to take an amazing trip and give an entrepreneur in Nepal the seed money needed to start a business. As President of the Yale Mountaineering Club, Chris was inclined to start a business that would marry his passion for ... posted on Aug 24 2011, 2,998 reads

A 21-Year-Old's Solution to Homelessness
As a design student in Detroit, Veronika Scott was keenly aware of the increasing numbers of homeless people suffering deeply during the relentless winters. At the tender age of 21, she created The Detroit Empowerment Plan to provide much-needed warmth to the city's 20,000 street dwellers. Scott is the creator of Element S, a coat that is self-heated, waterproof, and transforms into a sleeping bag... posted on Aug 23 2011, 14,857 reads

Attention as an Art Form
185 billion bits of information. In an average lifetime, this is what the human brain is capable of processing. With any limited resource, the fact that it's in short supply can quickly create a feeling of scarcity. But it can also motivate wiser use of our attention, one of the fundamental building blocks of human experience. This article breaks attention down into four key aspects: Awareness, th... posted on Aug 22 2011, 23,883 reads

Homeless Kid Wows Korea
At three years old, he was handed off to an orphanage. At five years old, he was living on the streets. At twenty-two years old, he's persevered and pursued his love for the arts, amazing the world with his heartfelt performance on this video of Korea's Got Talent. Meet Choi Sung-Bong, a person who embodies the idea of never giving up. ... posted on Aug 21 2011, 9,657 reads

Whiz Kids: 5 Amazing Young Inventors
15-year old Chester Greenwood wanted to ice skate in the winters of Maine, so he invented ear mufflers. Also at the age of 15, Louis Braille in France invented what became the standard language for blind people all over the world. Philo Farnsworth, a 14-year-old electronics prodigy, came up with the concept of a television, and mentored by his chemistry teacher, developed it some years later. And ... posted on Aug 20 2011, 5,814 reads

The Age of Social Transformation
The most significant social transformation in the last century is the shift, in dominance, of the industrial to knowledge based worker, according to the father of modern management, the late Peter Drucker. Regardless of numbers or power, knowledge workers will uniquely define the emerging knowledge society. This classic, in-depth Atlantic Monthly article by him is a survey of the epoch that began ... posted on Aug 19 2011, 5,228 reads

What Makes Extreme Do-Gooders Tick?
"From protecting our natural environment to improving our children's education to combating global poverty and disease, we've come to rely on extreme do-gooders to tackle the world's toughest problems. Few of them will make as much as they could in the private sector. They may lose a relationship with a loved one to their work, or miss their kids' big moments. All of which raises the obvious: Why?... posted on Aug 18 2011, 4,779 reads

Her Heart Was Bigger Than This Room
It is a tragic story, but one that touches and inspires. For her 9th birthday, instead of getting presents for her, Rachel Beckwith asked loved ones to donate to charity:water, a nonprofit bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Her goal was $300, enough to give 15 children access to clean water, but she only got to $220. A month later, tragedy struck, when her fami... posted on Aug 17 2011, 10,702 reads