How to Get Good at Uncertainty
"Where does this fear of uncertainty and the future come from? It might seem like a silly question, but if you think about it, there's nothing inherently scary about the future, even if you don't know what's going to happen. It's not more likely to be painful or disastrous than the present already is -- it just seems that way. If we become comfortable with change, it's not scary. We can then embra... posted on Oct 17 2012, 32,392 reads

Rick Van Beek's 12-Year-Old Inspiration
Rick Van Beek used to smoke two packs of cigarettes and chew a tin of tobacco a day, and the only exercise he got was playing in a Monday night softball league. But two years ago, Van Beek quit smoking, lost weight, whipped himself into shape and started running. It turned out that all Van Beek needed was a little inspiration to get off the couch."If you want to be a runner, you have to have somet... posted on Oct 16 2012, 12,479 reads

What Tomorrow Brings
There has never been a school for girls in the village of Deh Subz, Afghanistan. Afghan-American Razia Jan set out to change that. In 2009, despite pressure to educate boys and threats to ruin the school, the Zabuli Education Center opened a school to educate 200 girls. Razia's hope is to make life a little easier, even for a few hours a day, for the girls who have to work so hard at such a young ... posted on Oct 15 2012, 3,169 reads

The 29-Year-Old Stockbroker Who Saved 699 Lives
In 1939 Nicholas Winton and a friend, Martin Blake, were supposed to take a skiing vacation. Instead, Blake, who worked with refugees, told Winton, at the time a 29-year-old stockbroker, that he should visit him in Prague and help with the refugees fleeing Hitler's advancing armies. Nicholas Winton did go to Prague and he was deeply affected by what he saw. Fueled by compassion, the young stockbro... posted on Oct 14 2012, 51,572 reads

A Weaver's Reflections
Pam Hiller's weaving teacher, Aziz, taught her not to fix mistakes, but to stop and notice -- and then work with them. "It wasn't just paying attention with the mind; it was also listening with the body," says Hiller. "When someone is learning to weave they literally tie the strings in knots. There's a reason I think that we refer to ourselves as getting knotted up in our emotions because that's t... posted on Oct 13 2012, 3,599 reads

Peace Artist: 6000 Miles of Art & Humanity
It all began with gratitude...And maybe some sneakers and paint. He goes by the name Peace Artist, and he spent the past year running 6,000 miles from Seattle, Washington to Savannah, Georgia. He ran until given shelter and fasted until given food. He carried no money with him, only art supplies, with which to create original works of art that he gifted along the way. He never asked for anything o... posted on Oct 12 2012, 38,195 reads

Throw Your Life a Curve
"According to Juan Carlos Mendez-Garcia, one of the best models for making sense of a non-linear world is the S-curve, the model we have used to understand the diffusion of disruptive innovations, and which he and I speculate can be used to understand personal disruption -- the necessary pivots in our own career paths. [...] Our hypothesis is that those who can successfully navigate, even harness,... posted on Oct 11 2012, 20,125 reads

Love Leads Into Mystery: Raising A Child With Asperger's
"Daniel teaches me that all rules are arbitrary, answers are illusory, future visions are incomplete. He teaches me about the psychic wounds I carry into my parenting, and my only choice is to heal myself. He teaches me to be more patient, more accepting, more tolerant not just of him but of other kids. I see a nine year old hyper boy out in public these days, and I don't get irritated with him; i... posted on Oct 10 2012, 10,010 reads

Wings of Love: Nancy Rivard's Story
On Christmas Eve of 1983, a personal loss changed the course of Nancy Rivard's life. In its wake she purposely got herself demoted from the management track at American Airlines and began traveling the world as a flight attendant. While her travels took her to many interesting places and brought her into contact with inspiring individuals, she was continually looking for a way to use her job to se... posted on Oct 09 2012, 18,635 reads

The Point of Being Alive
"A few weeks ago, I found myself in one of my favorite cities: Seattle, Washington. Within minutes of my arrival to Pike Place Market, I felt an overwhelming sensation that I was meant to be in that spot, at that moment, with my two children. As we meandered around the colorful and lively market, I witnessed six connections...These moments, later comprised one remarkable collection that illuminate... posted on Oct 08 2012, 67,653 reads