Recycling Soap and Saving Lives
That bar of soap you used once or twice during your last hotel stay might now be helping poor children fight disease. Derreck Kayongo and his Atlanta-based Global Soap Project collect used hotel soap from across the United States. Instead of ending up in landfills, the soaps are cleaned and reprocessed for shipment to impoverished nations such as Haiti, Uganda, Kenya and Swaziland. "I was shocked ... posted on Oct 01 2011, 4,073 reads

Runner Carries Competitor Half a Mile
When high school cross-country runner Josh Ripley heard the screams of a competing runner, Mark Paulauskas, Josh knew he needed to help. While other competitors in the race ran by, Josh stopped to see what was wrong. In the first mile of a 2-mile race, Josh found Mark holding his ankle and bleeding profusely. Worried that Mark had punctured his Achilles heel, Josh carried the wounded runner for a ... posted on Sep 30 2011, 9,244 reads

She Planted Ideas -- and 35 Million Trees
"The planting of trees is the planting of ideas. By starting with the simple step of digging a hole and planting a tree, we plant hope for ourselves and for future generations." Visionary, human rights advocate, environmental activist Wangari Maathai passed away on 25 September 2011 from cancer. She leaves behind a legacy of "firsts," including being the first African woman to receive the Nobel Pe... posted on Sep 29 2011, 4,025 reads

To Affect the Quality of the Day
"Either way, there I am with recently-turned-eight year old Neha under the Coral Jasmine tree; I reach over and shake the trunk gently and she tilts her head up and watches the white sudden swirl of blossoms falling like stars, like snowflakes with an expression of perfectly mingled awe and delight (my day is Made in that moment). And then we both bend to the sweetly-scented task at hand. I find m... posted on Sep 28 2011, 2,908 reads

Why Collaboration is Risky -- And Worthwhile
"Why is teamwork so difficult? Because collaboration is actually a pretty risky business. Perhaps, like me, you are generally of the mindset that two heads are better than one. But because your ideas frequently get co-opted, there's a risk-reward imbalance that makes you reluctant to engage. Or maybe you've reached out to a potential collaborator only to have your lack of expertise exploited. So, ... posted on Sep 27 2011, 13,655 reads

6 Ways to Boost Your Helping Habits
"Just last year, a survey of 4,500 American adults showed that 73 percent agreed that "volunteering lowered my stress levels," 89 percent reported that "volunteering has improved my sense of well-being," and 92 percent agreed that volunteering enriched their sense of purpose in life. These benefits are available even -- or perhaps especially -- to those in the midst of crisis. A recent study by my... posted on Sep 26 2011, 12,600 reads

The Flip Side of Your Signature Strength
"As an executive coach interested in exploring what drives people to successes and failures, I have worked with hundreds of ambitious people including business executives, sports legends and Nobel laureates. One key discovery I made repeatedly over the last fifteen years is that there is a common driver to the successes and failures of the people I studied. I call this driver, the 'Signature Stren... posted on Sep 25 2011, 12,158 reads

Wind Powered Art
Beautiful art can inspire a person to see life in a totally new way. Theo Jansen is the Dutch creator of what he calls "Kinetic Sculptures," where nature and technology meet. Essentially these sculptures are robots powered only by the wind. Amazingly, these machines are made completely of recycled items. The 'stomach' of the sculpture is made with retired plastic bottles that capture the air pumpe... posted on Sep 24 2011, 6,709 reads

6 Tips for Raising Non-Competitive Kids
Competition, according to author and lecturer Alfie Kohn, is defined as any situation where one person can succeed only when others fail. Kohn is convinced that we've all bought into dangerous myths about the value of competition in our personal lives, workplaces, society, and economic system. He laid out his arguments in his 1986 book No Contest: The Case Against Competition, and he's been spread... posted on Sep 23 2011, 18,343 reads

Unexpected Gestures of Compassion
"Through some incredible good luck no one was seriously hurt but the experience was very frightening. There was so much smoke that my first thought was to just get out of my car as fast as I could. I could hear the children from the car behind me screaming and crying as I was trying to claw my way out of my car. When I got out, I could see their mum was frantically trying to comfort her shaking c... posted on Sep 22 2011, 4,244 reads