Making Good: The Art of Repair
"The 16th-century Japanese tea master Sen no Rikyu is said to have ignored his host's fine Song Dynasty Chinese tea jar until the owner smashed it in despair at his indifference. After the shards had been painstakingly reassembled by the man's friends, Rikyu declared: 'Now, the piece is magnificent.' So it went in old Japan: when a treasured bowl fell to the floor, one didn't just sigh and reach f... posted on Jul 14 2013, 6,155 reads

Malala's Birthday Wish
It is customary to make a wish on one's birthday. On her sixteenth birthday, nine months after being shot in the head in an assassination attempt by a Taliban gunman in northwest Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai addressed the United Nations Youth Assembly in New York with a wish for universal equality, universal opportunity, and universal education. Once targeted for death because of her outspoken advoc... posted on Jul 13 2013, 6,255 reads

A Tale of Misplaced Love and Irony
"When the world began, there was a place for everything in the human heart, and everything was in its place. This meant one never, ever had to look for anything. Which sounds awfully convenient, and that is exactly what it was. Awfully. Convenient. In this impeccable order of things everything happened on a schedule. Serendipity, for instance got the 2 pm slot on Tuesday afternoons (which meant of... posted on Jul 12 2013, 31,944 reads

Mind In The Forest: The Intelligence of Trees
Scott Russell Sanders spent many meditative days in the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, among the giant trees. He asked himself, How does their intelligence compare with our own? What might we learn from them? He concludes that "only cosmic arrogance tempts us to claim that all this reaching for sunlight, nutrients, and water means nothing except what we say i... posted on Jul 11 2013, 12,681 reads

What Is It To Be Intellectually Humble?
According to Aristotle, "All people by nature desire to know." The wish to know and understand things can foster great ambition. But this article is about intellectual humility, when we care so much about knowing, understanding, and getting to the truth that we become oblivious of what we are "worth." The apostle Paul says, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Can love of knowledge bring us h... posted on Jul 10 2013, 34,484 reads

Uncovering the Blind Spot of Leadership
Why do many of our attempts to address the challenges of our times fail? This article presents the view that two leaders in the same environment acting in the same way can bring about completely different outcomes depending on the inner place from which each operates. We know very little about this inner dimension and this lack of knowledge constitutes a blind spot in our approach to leadership an... posted on Jul 09 2013, 87,304 reads

8 Fearless Questions
"What, really, is available to us if we can't save the world? What do we fund our work for? Where do we gain energy if we don't believe that we're going to be successful? How can we do our work without hope that we will succeed? There's something very interesting to understand about hope. That is, that hope and fear are one. Any time we're hopeful, we don't know it necessarily, but we're bringing ... posted on Jul 08 2013, 42,924 reads

The Morality of Meditation
Meditation is a hot trend in the arena of mind-improvement. Mounting evidence that the practice can boost memory, creativity and IQ has attracted mainstream attention. "But gaining competitive advantage on exams and increasing creativity in business weren't of the utmost concern to Buddha and other early meditation teachers. As Buddha himself said, "I teach one thing and one only: that is, sufferi... posted on Jul 07 2013, 39,209 reads

Love Books? 4 Ways to Share Them
Love books? Learn how you can share this love with others with these simple and fun ideas. From sending your books on a journey to creating a tiny library in unexpected places, these ideas offer a way to promote literacy and build community.... posted on Jul 06 2013, 26,907 reads

Mama Hill: A Gang's Worst Nightmare
This is an inspiring story of a 73-year-old former school teacher who has transformed her home into a refuge and resource center for local youth in Watts, CA. From her days of marching with MLK Jr., to raising kids as a single mom, and a long career serving in some of LA's toughest schools, Mama Hill (as she is endearingly called by her community) has a deep understanding of what urban youth need... posted on Jul 05 2013, 8,630 reads