A Midwife to the Dying
"In having been in the field of dying for many years, I have frequently encountered the tragic limitations of dying in America. Our lives are an ongoing opportunity for us to realize compassion in the world and to really be a benefit to others. How extraordinary at the moment of death we have this opportunity to unify with our basic nature." Joan Halifax, a "midwife to the dying", has spent over 3... posted on Jun 05 2013, 25,343 reads

The Ten Gifts of A Servant Leader
"As many small trickles of water feed the mightiest of rivers, the growing number of individuals and organizations practicing servant-leadership has increased into a torrent, one that carries with it a deep current of meaning and passion. Robert K. Greenleaf 's idea of servant-leadership, now in its fourth decade as a concept bearing that name, continues to create a quiet revolution in workplaces ... posted on Jun 04 2013, 121,570 reads

Know the Beauty of Place: Interview With An Eye-Opening Writer
What is a place? We don't have a word for it, really. A place is an intimate thing. It's so much more than just an area you can measure. Jane Wodening says, "When I see one, and I see its welcome, I like to go and sit in it awhile. A place might be very small or cover acres and acres. It's full of people -- I mean, critters and plants and water and air and dirt and light -- living their lives and ... posted on Jun 03 2013, 16,224 reads

9 Things Educators Should Know About the Brain
Learning is a dynamic function that each person experiences in a vastly different way. For instance, one individual may retain knowledge the best by studying a textbook while another may need to link an idea to a physical activity they perform. It is important to apply this concept both in our classrooms along with our own daily lives. This is especially critical in a child's early formative years... posted on Jun 02 2013, 148,019 reads

Seattle's One of A Kind Food Forest
Can food be free, fresh, and easily accessible? That's the bold question the city of Seattle is hoping to answer with a new experimental farm near downtown that will have fruits and vegetables for anyone to harvest. The planners have discussed what would happen if someone picks all the fruit for themselves. "But that's been perceived as a good thing," says one of the project architects. "We'll jus... posted on Jun 01 2013, 6,563 reads

This Is Your Brain on the Internet
We are bombarded by information, thanks in large part to the internet and its allied technologies. But exposure to unlimited information is not the same thing as the ability to capture it as knowledge or synthesize it as understanding. "We are living in a state of perpetual distraction," says Nicholas Carr, "which crowds out the more contemplative, calmer modes of thinking." We need these quieter,... posted on May 31 2013, 9,058 reads

Transformation By Design: Your Visa Card & Evolution's Plan
Like the familiar phrases yin and yang, work and play, peanut butter and jelly, the term chaordic brings seeming opposites together in harmony. According to Dee Hock, the founder and former CEO of Visa International, the company owes its success to its cha-ordic structure. "Hock coined the term chaordic to describe that perfect balance of chaos and order where evolution is most at home. Yes, that'... posted on May 30 2013, 34,346 reads

10 Ways to Get Ahead Through Giving
Why do some people become successful while others do not? Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at The Wharton School, has studied this question and what he found is surprising: "The people most likely to rise to the top are often those who give the most to others -- people Grant calls 'givers,' as opposed to the 'takers' who try to get as much as possible from others and the 'matchers' who t... posted on May 29 2013, 32,698 reads

How to Change the World with Hot Cocoa & Neruda
"Wake up. Don't press snooze. Sling your legs over the side of the bed. Right. Left. Turn on music. Good, good music...You need a life soundtrack. Has anyone told you that yet? Pick out something spectacular from your closet. Feel good in your skin. Put on an item that tells some kind of story. Always have a story to tell, just a wrist or coat sleeve away. And if that yellow sweater ain't got a st... posted on May 28 2013, 36,084 reads

Miserable & Magical: A Graduation Speech for Paradoxical Times
When the student body of an elite private school in Silicon Valley was given the chance to vote on who would give their graduation address, their first pick was Nipun Mehta. An unexpected choice for these teenagers, who belong to what Time magazine called the "Me Me Me Generation". Nipun's journey is the antithesis of self-serving. More than a decade ago, he walked away from a lucrative career in ... posted on May 27 2013, 549,058 reads