Wavy Gravy: Saint Misbehavin
"I was asked, in the mid-seventies, to go the Children's Hospital in Oakland and cheer up kids. On the way out the door of my house, someone handed me a red, rubber nose. I discovered it enabled me to get out of myself and be entertaining to the kids. After awhile, I began to paint my face up as a clown. I worked with kids almost every day for about seven years. I had to go to a political rally at... posted on May 18 2013, 4,152 reads

Elemental: Water, Film & the Human Spirit
Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee is a director, producer, musician and composer who set out on a journey around the world to film a documentary about water -- that integral substance that connects us all and sustains life. In this conversation, Emmanuel talks about his practice of focusing on the process rather than the outcome, staying authentic to himself and those he films, and trusting the ripples. He ref... posted on May 17 2013, 4,763 reads

David Foster Wallace's Speech for the Ages
O, the maddening tedium of the everyday responsibilities of adult life! It plagues us because the "default setting" of our mentality is to feel victimized by circumstance. We place ourselves in the center of the universal narrative, making the plot-line all about ourselves. In his 2005 commencement address, novelist David Foster Wallace speaks refreshingly about personal empowerment. The freedom c... posted on May 16 2013, 6,025 reads

11 Places So Beautiful It's Hard to Believe They Exist!
"Our world is so full of wonders that new and amazing places are discovered every day, be that by professional photographers or amateurs. Different geographical locations, climatic conditions and even seasons offer the widest variety of natural wonders: pink lakes, stunning lavender or tulip fields, breath-taking canyons and mountains, and other places you can hardly believe actually exist! Some o... posted on May 15 2013, 272,855 reads

An Interview with the World's Happiest Man
Matthieu Ricard, an author with a PhD in cell genetics, is also a Buddhist monk who serves as the Dalai Lama's French interpreter. In this interview, Matthieu speaks to us about his book, "Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill." He explores how individuals tend to spend considerable time and energy pursuing external circumstances in the hopes of attaining happiness, but expl... posted on May 14 2013, 55,556 reads

The Soul of Teamwork
Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson -- by percentage (.738) the winningest coach in NBA history -- is renowned for his ability to turn megastars into team players. And his secret is spiritual. "The most effective way to forge a winning team," he writes in Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior, "is to call on the players' need to connect with something larger than themselves." He ... posted on May 13 2013, 34,787 reads

History's Finest Letters of Motherly Advice
"Last year, we celebrated Father's Day with an omnibus of history's finest letters of fatherly advice, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, Jackson Pollock, and Neil Armstrong. Later adding to them was more timeless epistolary advice from notable dads like Ted Hughes, Sherwood Anderson, Richard Dawkins, and Charles Dickens. It's only fitting to honor Mother's Day with a similarly spirite... posted on May 12 2013, 20,400 reads

What My Mother Gave Me
"Mother's Day is this Sunday. While some people are racking their brains to think of the perfect way to show their love and appreciation for Mom, a group of distinguished women recently flipped that script and wrote about the most profound gift their own moms gave to them. Their essays are collected in the new book What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-One Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most." This art... posted on May 11 2013, 10,153 reads

The Science of Love
"We now know that a steady diet of love -- of these micro-moments of positive connection --influences how people grow and change, making them healthier and more resilient. And we're beginning to understand exactly how this works, by tracking the complex chain of biological reactions that cascade throughout your body and change your behaviour in ways that influence those around you as you experienc... posted on May 10 2013, 28,015 reads

Life On A Farm
"Yes, we are part of the world, and the world is within us as we are within an alive and enormous network of being that looks back at us. To perceive this is at once so profound and also simple. It begins with the most obvious everyday things around you." Luanne Armstrong has been living on the same farm for sixty years. Wandering this land each day, she has come to realize that the more she knows... posted on May 09 2013, 16,964 reads