A Doctor's Notes on Hurt & Healing in Haiti
"There is always humming from somewhere. It is usually low and musical as patients try to distract themselves from phantom limb pain that is not at all phantom. It is 13 days after the earthquake. I am coordinating a 12-member team at St. Marc's hospital, a government facility on the west coast of Haiti." In this gripping piece, poet-doctor Sriram Shamasunder covers life and death, resilience, com... posted on Jan 19 2012, 10,516 reads

What We Aren't Taught About Creative Thinking
"Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different, must desire success but embrace fa... posted on Jan 18 2012, 60,416 reads

In Africa, the Art of Listening
"For nearly 25 years I've lived off and on in Mozambique. Time has passed, and I'm no longer young; in fact, I'm approaching old age. But my motive for living this straddled existence, with one foot in African sand and the other in European snow, in the melancholy region of Norrland in Sweden where I grew up, has to do with wanting to see clearly, to understand. The simplest way to explain what I'... posted on Jan 17 2012, 30,111 reads

Nurse Donates Own Kidney to Patient
The way Clay Taber looks at it, he's got three moms now. There's the woman who gave birth to him and raised him, of course. Then there's his fiancee's mother. And then there's the transplant nurse who, though practically a stranger, donated one of her healthy kidneys so that he might start married life untethered to a dialysis machine. Allison Batson first heard about Taber, now 23, in August 2010... posted on Jan 16 2012, 24,242 reads

Our 5-yr-old: Alone But Not Lonely
"We live in a rural farm in India, don't have a TV at home, and have bought our son a total of two toys. Most of his clothes are gifted by family and friends. He doesn't eat cookies, chocolates, carbonated drinks, or fast food. He must be one miserable kid, right? If I say, 'No,' one might respond with, 'Well, he doesn't know what he is missing and he is being brought up in an extremely protective... posted on Jan 15 2012, 0 reads

The Power of Failure
Often times we invest failure with the wrong kind of power by thinking it's a permanent state that holds us down, rather than a temporary condition that we can learn and grow from -- often to remarkable heights. This 1-minute video gives us a window into well-known figures of the world, such as Edison, and Lincoln who all share a common trait. They each failed (and spectacularly so!) in their res... posted on Jan 14 2012, 6,186 reads

How Vulnerability Can Be a Strength
The word vulnerable itself comes from the Latin 'vulnerare' which means 'to wound', and so at the root of vulnerability is our own sense of wounded-ness. To be authentic in a moment in which we feel wounded, we have to honestly acknowledge the places where we feel hurt and then muster up the strength to just be with the pain. If we can embrace this vulnerability, we can fully accept the discomfort... posted on Jan 13 2012, 30,033 reads

Less Work, More Living
"Millions of Americans have lost control over the basic rhythm of their daily lives. They work too much, eat too quickly, socialize too little, drive and sit in traffic for too many hours, don't get enough sleep, and feel harried too much of the time. It's a way of life that undermines basic sources of wealth and well-being -- such as strong family and community ties, a deep sense of meaning, and ... posted on Jan 12 2012, 45,108 reads

Two Ducks & Their 7-Year-Old Hero
"When I was around 7 years old, I saw a pair of ducks in my front yard. I knew ducks liked bread, so I decided to feed them before they had a chance to fly away. I didn't know it then, but these two ducks ended up being one of the most influential factors in who I've become today." Over the following months the ducks showed up regularly at the little girl's home -- quacking at her door for bread c... posted on Jan 11 2012, 29,429 reads

Language Is More Than Just Words
"We Still Live Here" is a fascinating documentary that tells a life affirming story of cultural revival. It follows the journey of social worker Jessie Little Doe Baird, a member of the Wampanoag tribe of Native Americans, who undertook an incredible quest to reclaim the language of her people. In 1993 Jessie began to hear the voices of her ancestors speaking in a language she didn't understand. A... posted on Jan 10 2012, 10,588 reads