7 Ways Sharing Can Make You Happy
One silver lining in dark economic times is that as people learn to make do with less, they are discovering the many benefits of sharing. New psychological research suggests that sharing fosters trust and cooperation in the community and contributes to personal well-being. Researchers are finding that sharing impacts people in the very specific ways that are closely linked to increased happiness.... posted on Oct 20 2011, 0 reads

Why Do Some People Learn Faster
Why are some people so much more effective at learning from their mistakes? A new study by Jason Moser at Michigan State University is premised on the fact that there are two distinct reactions to mistakes, both of which can be reliably detected using EEG. The first reaction is called error-related negativity (ERN). It appears about 50 milliseconds after a screw-up and is mostly involuntary. The s... posted on Oct 19 2011, 13,478 reads

Becoming a Presence Activist
"A friend of mine is visiting from out of town and staying in East Oakland, in an area that's infamous for its gang violence and unrest. This friend happens to be a monk. He shaves his head and dresses in the traditional brown robes of his monastic order -- not the kind of person who blends easily into the background. Having spent many years making compassion a conscious practice, his response to ... posted on Oct 18 2011, 22,513 reads

Time is Precious: Dr. BJ Miller's Journey
Dr. BJ Miller is only 40 but he thinks about death a lot. He is the new executive director of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco and a palliative care specialist at UCSF Medical Center. He is also a triple amputee, co-founder of a tea company, owner of a farm in Utah and a newlywed who still looks like the Ivy Leaguer he once was. "I have no fear of death," Miller said. "I have a fear of not... posted on Oct 17 2011, 44,093 reads

Be Vocal in Times of Beauty
"To stand up and speak out against cold injustice, against the blind wrong-doing that we see in the world -- that is one kind of activism. But there is another kind. A rarer form of fire-in-the-belly commitment to a much less talked about cause. Tell me, do you stand up and speak out when you encounter a moment of unexpected joy, warmth, beauty or compassion in your life? Do you stop to say so whe... posted on Oct 16 2011, 4,548 reads

Technology is Not the Answer
"Technology is not the answer. That's the conclusion I came to after five years in India trying to find ways to apply electronic technologies to international development. I was the co-founder and assistant director of Microsoft Research India, a Bangalore computer-science lab, where one of our objectives was to research ways in which information and communication technologies could support the so... posted on Oct 15 2011, 16,608 reads

Barry Lopez: A Sense of Reverence for Life
His travels have taken him to some of the most inhospitable places on the earth, outside the furthest reaches of human civilization. But Barry Lopez always returns to his home in Oregon to write about what he has seen. And though nature is often his inspiration, it is not his subject, Lopez tells Bill Moyers, "I'm not writing about nature. I'm writing about humanity. And if I have a subject, it is... posted on Oct 14 2011, 3,448 reads

25 Insights on Becoming a Better Writer
Today, writing well is more important than ever. Far from being the province of a select few as it was in Hemingway's day, writing is a daily occupation for all of us -- in email, on blogs, and through social media. It is also a primary means for documenting, communicating, and refining our ideas. As essayist, programmer, and investor Paul Graham has written, "Writing doesn't just communicate idea... posted on Oct 13 2011, 33,728 reads

In Praise of Selflessness
"Who are you doing it for? Asked that question, many entrepreneurs would answer, 'me.' There's nothing wrong with that. Plenty of great companies were built by people for whom CEO is an imperfect acronym for "He who must be obeyed." Servant leaders, by contrast, put their people and their organizations before themselves. They don't view employees as a means to an end; rather employees' happiness a... posted on Oct 12 2011, 6,499 reads

A Roaming Refuge for 1200 Animals
Raymund Wee, a former flight stewart and pet groomer, sold his Singapore-based business and used the proceeds to establish Noah's Ark CARES. What began as a place of refuge for a couple hundred animals grew by leaps and bounds after a severe flood a few years back, and soon the haven was so full of three legged, one-eyed, emotionally wounded dogs and cats that he was forced to move the entire ark ... posted on Oct 11 2011, 14,450 reads