A Pep Talk From Kid President To You
The effervescent "Kid President" (AKA Robbie Novak) serves-up a half-time pep talk guaranteed to light your fire. He chides us for being boring and encourages us to "take the path that leads to awesome." We have work to do, he says, "and we can cry about it or we can dance about it... It is everybody's duty to give the world a reason to dance."... posted on Feb 26 2013, 4,511 reads

What Grown Ups Can Learn From Kids' Books
"My copy of Le Petit Prince looks like it has been through a natural disaster. Or two. The dust jacket is torn at every edge. What's not torn is frayed. A piece of scotch tape holds together the e and r of Exupery. The white background can't really be called white anymore. And inside, little pencil markings lurk throughout the text ...The book, in other words, has been well loved. That's not surpr... posted on Feb 25 2013, 6,263 reads

Airlines Offers Free Ride to Tardy Butterfly
Each year "thousands of Monarch butterflies begin to emerge from their cocoons and gather en masse in South Texas, storing up energy for their seasonal migration into central Mexico. In late September, butterfly enthusiast Maraleen Manos-Jones discovered a Monarch caterpillar forming a cocoon in her backyard in New York state. Knowing full well that the fragile insect, once emerged, would not surv... posted on Feb 24 2013, 8,366 reads

A Family Living (And Thriving) Without Money
"A Berlin family of three has been living on practically nothing but love and the goodwill of others for more than two years and counting --not as a victims of the rough economy, but as activists who are on a money strike to protest what they call our "excess-consumption society.""... posted on Feb 23 2013, 17,975 reads

James Doty on Magic, Compassion and the Brain
James Doty is no stranger to struggle. He served as a caregiver in a family whose mother was an invalid and father suffered from alcoholism. They were on public assistance all that time. As he said, "At that age you feel like a leaf being blown by an ill wind." ...At age 13 he wandered into a magic store and had a serendipitous conversation with the mother of the owner who was there. She took ... posted on Feb 22 2013, 21,210 reads

The Science of Storytelling
"For over 27,000 years, since the first cave paintings were discovered, telling stories has been one of our most fundamental communication methods. Recently a good friend of mine gave me an introduction to the power of storytelling, and I wanted to learn more. Here is the science around storytelling and how we can use it to make better decisions every day." This intriguing article shares more.... posted on Feb 21 2013, 53,770 reads

Gratitude, Gifting and Grandpa
A picture of John Styn's grandfather, Rev. Caleb Elroy Shikles, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had a huge impact on John Styn's life growing up. It made him realize that great people are not "them" - they are "us." In this funny, emotional TEDx talk, Styn shares his grandpa's lessons of living life in intense gratitude and the joy that comes from gifting. He reminds us of the choice we all have... posted on Feb 20 2013, 4,331 reads

What If Money Were No Object
"What do you desire? What makes you itch? What sort of a situation would you like?" Alan Watts, an English philosopher and writer, routinely asked these very questions to college students in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s. Back then, as in today, many students had no idea what they wanted to do after graduation. Watts' timeless wisdom and guidance to them, as illustrated in this cartoon, stri... posted on Feb 19 2013, 42,505 reads

What If Money Was No Object
"What do you desire? What makes you itch? What sort of a situation would you like?" Alan Watts, an English philosopher and writer, routinely asked these very questions to college students in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s. Back then, as in today, many students had no idea what they wanted to do after graduation. Watts' timeless wisdom and guidance to them, as illustrated in this cartoon, str... posted on Feb 18 2013, 0 reads

The Beautiful Fragility of Language
"I remember my first day of school with such clarity that it might as well have happened last week. I was five, and I was starting in the local kindergarten, along with all the other kids my age. Except for one difference: I didn't speak a word of English. Not a one. The only thing I knew how to do was write my own name-- M-A-R-I-A -- so that I could recognize it if the need arose. I practiced it ... posted on Feb 17 2013, 24,567 reads