Tiny Superheroes: Acknowledging The Heroism of Children
How many of us have seen children tie towels around their shoulders and race around as superheroes? In just four months, Robyn Rosenberger has given 500 children battling difficult medical conditions that feeling of invincibility by making custom capes for each one. She posts stories of these Tiny Superheroes to give each child a voice and a face for their condition. These capes are more than just... posted on Jun 18 2013, 6,033 reads

Are You Humbitious Enough to Lead?
What is humbition? It is that particular blend of humility and ambition that drives the most successful businesspeople, and is an antidote to the arrogance that can often trip up companies and entrepreneurs. The wisest leaders are the ones "smart enough to admit that they cannot take all the credit for their success. More likely than not, what they've achieved is some combination of good fortune, ... posted on Jun 17 2013, 26,143 reads

A Moving Letter from Fiona Apple
Opening up her heart to her fans or "a few thousand friends I have not met yet" in her own words, Fiona Apple lays her vulnerabilities bare in this touching and most-humane note to cancel an upcoming concert tour so she can be with her dying dog. Her words share the deep joy and dedication she feels for her most cherished companion of 14 years, Janet - a rescued pitbull who seems the embodiment o... posted on Jun 16 2013, 22,082 reads

10 Hypotheses on the Commons
"Question: before refrigerators, what did people do when they had too much food? Answer: they threw a party!" What happens when we adopt an attitude of abundance, and embrace this natural phenomenon in our lives? In this excerpt from his keynote address at the International Conference on the Commons, Roberto Verzola explores 10 connections between systems of abundance and the re-emerging "commons"... posted on Jun 15 2013, 21,296 reads

Humor As Spiritual Practice
"I was going through airport security the other month, participating in the grind of pulling out my laptop and my Ziploc baggie full of plastic bottles, and removing my belt and my shoes and my watch and my jacket and trying to fit them all into the plastic bin in such a way that nothing would fall out as it went through its screening. On the other side, I quickly gathered my belongings so they ... posted on Jun 14 2013, 24,135 reads

The Unexpected Antidote to Procrastination
"A recent early morning hike in Malibu, California, led me to a beach, where I sat on a rock and watched surfers. I marveled at these courageous men and women who woke before dawn, endured freezing water, paddled through barreling waves, and even risked shark attacks, all for the sake of, maybe, catching an epic ride. After about 15 minutes, it was easy to tell the surfers apart by their style o... posted on Jun 13 2013, 36,694 reads

Debunking the Myths of Happiness
Psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky is an expert on the subject of our most common happiness myths. One pervasive myth is that a desired change in lifestyle such as getting married or striking it rich will make us irrevocably happy. Research has shown that while these events may cause happiness in the short term, their positive effects are unlikely to last as long as we might hope. A second myt... posted on Jun 12 2013, 27,110 reads

Ten Principles Of Purpose
How do you know what your calling is? And how do you make it happen? Echoing Green has interviewed hundreds of social entrepreneurs over the last 25 years who each found their purpose and manifested it in the world. From their stories, Echoing Green culled ten principles for identifying your purpose and putting it into action. Read on to learn what the ten principles are.... posted on Jun 11 2013, 67,175 reads

The Power of Creative Constraints
What if a hospital decided to serve anyone who came to its doors, regardless of whether they could pay, and still committed to providing world-class quality care? Can such a self-imposed constraint actually help drive innovation? And what if that constraint is geared toward solving a problem of global proportions, without any outside funding? An almost incomprehensibly ambitious vision to rid the ... posted on Jun 10 2013, 48,039 reads

Are You In Control of Your Decisions?
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely doesn't buy into the notion of immutable human rationality, upon which economic study is traditionally based. In fact, he says, we are often predictably irrational. We understand our preferences less well than we imagine; and all-too-frequently our decision-making is manipulated by the way in which alternatives are presented. We know our physical limitations, and we... posted on Jun 09 2013, 5,108 reads