of those we love. Sometimes, too, questions create a bridge within ourselves, allowing us to hear what's going on at a deeper level. We know when we've encountered a question that has this potential because it stays with us -- maybe for the day, maybe for our whole lives. It taps us on the shoulder to wake us up, or it wiggles its way in more deeply, opening us up to seeing things in a new way. I still recall first encountering Judith Duerk's chorus of questions about how my life might have been different if there had been a sacred circle to step into. Mary Oliver asking me about my plans for this one wild and precious life, Oriah Mountain Dreamer wanting to know what I a... posted on Oct 26 2012 (13,343 reads)

I really need to learn I can learn from children. I can learn from the wonder with which they see the world, from their ability to live completely in any given moment, from the way they can both laugh and cry freely, from their unconditional love, trust and belief. I often wonder why and how and when we lose those things that we know to be natural and right when we are children. Most of what I have learned about greed, and its opposite charity, I have learned from the children in my life. In the early days of Akanksha, I remember organizing a party for our children at a club. There was much excitement around the games, balloons, chips and ice-cream. I remember noticing that P... posted on Dec 16 2012 (21,098 reads)

work directly for shamefully overdue policy changes that might not end gun violence, but could certainly curb it.  Nor am I wealthy so I can’t help pay for the 26 funerals for those whom we lost on the cold New England morning that will forever be etched in our memories. But what I could do was pray.  And while praying I felt deep in my spirit a call to spiritual activism.  I felt a call to fast.  So, I am fasting for the next 27 days.  One day for each life lost in Newtown – including the gunman’s.   Fasting has been a part of my spiritual life for some time, but it was always impressed upon me to never tell others when I ... posted on Dec 17 2012 (13,421 reads)

with the onset of severe seizures, was diagnosed with both autism and epilepsy. I coordinate Anand’s care for my family, building relationships with his doctors and educators. I try to help increase my family’s understanding of Anand’s condition. I haven’t yet missed an appointment or teacher conference, even if I can only call in on the phone. Being Anand’s older sister has involved moments big and small and has been the most formative relationship of my life. I believe big moments in life are the ones that grab us awake, the ones that force us to stand up for what we believe in, to deliver precisely when the stakes are high and many are counting on u... posted on Jan 2 2013 (24,295 reads)

waiting for? You should be thinking about it as you're making choices for colleges or your career path. I personally didn’t realize the importance of reflecting on my legacy until I had children and realized that I needed to do something to make this world a better place for them to live. The sooner you realize your goals, the more time you have to make them happen. Find something to strive for and begin to plan ways to make it happen. Without purpose life feels meaningless and tasks feel daunting. Find the things that you are passionate about, and dive into how you can create a legacy while doing what you love. *My work is a part of... posted on Jan 16 2013 (37,129 reads)

show each other the way out at San Francisco’s Delancey Street. In early May 1995, Margie Lewis sat on a bench at the Delancey Street Foundation, a residential education center for addicts and ex-convicts in San Francisco, awaiting intake. Until that moment, her life had been defined by institutions—teenage years in the California Youth Authority and long stays in jail as an adult. Enrollment in the program was her last chance—her only alternative to the life sentence that would otherwise be mandated by the state’s new “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law. Lewis was filled with optimism. At Delancey, she saw no paid professional social wo... posted on May 24 2013 (11,401 reads)

there is a defining conceit at the heart of the way so many of us think about leadership, it is that of the no-nonsense, hard-charging, often-wrong-but-never-in-doubt boss who enjoys the glories (and bears the burdens) of success all alone. That’s what makes executive life (in theory) so glamorous: Who isn’t eager to match wits with brilliant rivals and stay one step ahead of a complex world? Of course, that’s also what makes executive life (in reality) so exhausting: What happens when rivals come at you from more directions than ever, when markets change faster than ever, when problems loom larger than ever? As a business culture, we’ve made the lure of exe... posted on Jun 17 2013 (26,091 reads)

posts): "To be hopeful means to be uncertain about the future, to be tender toward possibilities, to be dedicated to change all the way down to the bottom of your heart." Mark Karlin: What drew you to writing a book that shows how "extraordinary communities" can "arise in disaster?" Rebecca Solnit: A disaster. In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake hit the Bay Area, and I was amazed by my own response - to never think again about the person who was making my life difficult and think instead about the people and place I loved - and everyone else's. For years after, I noticed how many people looked happy when they told their earthquake stories (and duri... posted on Jun 24 2013 (14,714 reads)

backgrounds, and that fascinated me. And then ultimately what fascinated me was the sameness of us all. You know, we would go to a bar in Amarillo, Texas and tell stories, and there was a sense of familiarity about this. And the connections, that these are, you know, my brothers and sisters, that we look at the world and we experience the world in similar ways, even though it may seem that we do not. I never knew that Africa was going to be so important in my life. And then, the big thing in my life happened, and that was that after I got my Master’s I wanted to take a break, as many people do. Eastern Africa was just receiving its independ... posted on Jun 25 2013 (13,643 reads)

for example, has been nicknamed the “love hormone” for its role in bonding people with each other.  But what’s less well known is that oxytocin plays a role in excluding others from that bond. One 2011 study found that Dutch students dosed with oxytocin were “more likely to favor Dutch people or things associated with the Dutch than when they had taken a placebo.” Furthermore, they were more likely to say “they would sacrifice the life of a non-Dutch person over a Dutch person in order to save five other people of unknown nationality.” We can just as well call oxytocin the “patriotism hormone”! This is only... posted on Jul 4 2013 (20,058 reads)

the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." -- Meister Eckhart When I was in Bali several years ago, I had the good fortune of visiting several temples. Before entering each one, we were asked to tie a sash around our waist as a symbolic gesture of "containing our appetites" as we prayed. It seems that the Balinese believe in the power of prayer, and even more so, in the value of asking only for what is most needed, and not more. I found this ritual and way of thinking quite striking, especially in contrast to the "abundance" mentality in our culture. For years, I've listened to public figures and moti... posted on Aug 19 2013 (34,240 reads)

years ago, at 37, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist and spokeswoman for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, had a stroke that traumatized her left hemisphere. Through the eyes of an ever-curious brain scientist, she felt her mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall the incidents of her life. Several weeks later, she underwent major brain surgery to remove a golf-ball-sized blood clot that was applying pressure on the language center in her brain’s left hemisphere. During her eight-year recovery, her mother was her chief caregiver. Initially, Taylor did not know who she was and had no recollectio... posted on Aug 21 2013 (44,164 reads)

the debris of the clear-cut to a rock she’d loved to sit on as a child. First, she gave gratitude to the trees for all they had provided to the soil, the birds and animals, the sky, and the people. She wept for what was lost. Wishing to leave something of herself, she cut and buried a piece of hair. Finally, she asked what the forest wanted her to know. “I realized the land did not belong to me,” she said. “Even in the midst of the ceremony, I saw that there was still life there. I saw a pheasant. Flowers were starting to pop up. Green growth was coming through the brown. This gave me hope and faith.” Holding What It Meant Why bother to spend time in a d... posted on Aug 26 2013 (16,473 reads)

watched cat videos on Youtube, corporations leveraged globalized financial markets and network technologies to amass unprecedented wealth while impoverishing the rest of us. But then, around 2009, something began to change. Primed byfinancial need and the social media boom, people started to share more than just cat videos and haughty manifestos. A wave of new online services emerged that used the grammar of social media to help people share some of the essential resources of modern life: cars, skills, rides, experiences, housing, money, work, workspace, clothes, books, and more. At the same time, the rapid adoption of smartphones turned sharing into a real-time, on-the-go, pl... posted on Sep 4 2013 (17,871 reads)

morning at the age of 18, fresh out of high school, Maggie Doyne awoke with the feeling that she was not yet ready to move into her freshman dorm. Instead, she wanted to defer college for a year to travel and discover her “inner-self.” It was a decision that would change her life in ways she could never imagine. Four countries in and thousands of miles later, Maggie found herself in the midst of a remote, war-torn village in Nepal. She watched in despair as the Nepalese children would break down rocks into gravel and then sell them for one dollar a day just to buy food. Maggie was compelled to take action. One young girl in particular had touched her heart, so Maggie paid ... posted on Sep 17 2013 (70,813 reads)

I’m battling a stubborn cold.  My schedule is manageable and still I can’t manage to be with everyone I’d like to see.  Somehow, I’m getting things done and yet I have a nagging sense of helplessness.  In short, I’m not on my A game. And I think I know why.  I recently spent two consecutive nights with two remarkable individuals who put their lives on the line defending human rights in Ethiopia and Russia.  They’ve seen in real life some of the worst offenses human beings do to each other.  Violations I’ve only read about in books, seen in pictures, and never ever want to witness in person.  And still, I&rsqu... posted on Nov 18 2013 (61,692 reads)

of altruism requires a constant exposure to a certain way of thinking that can change our brain. And you also mentioned that there is a technique that helps people to develop their altruism: it’s through meditation… The term meditation is mystical, exotic, but its meaning is to educate oneself, to become familiar with a new way of thinking and acting while developing one’s qualities. Let’s consider the altruistic behavior. It’s obvious that throughout our life we feel unconditional love for our children, for someone else, or even for an animal, and that feeling doesn’t require any effort in showing altruism: wishing they were healthy and happy in... posted on Jan 27 2014 (7,833 reads)

25-year-olds think getting rich is an important goal, and 64 percent think it’s the most important goal. Sadly, only 30 percent believe that helping others in need is important. While these studies focused on university students and young adults, the findings suggest that somewhere in their earlier development, they weren’t cultivating the skills needed to connect with others. So how can teachers help students avoid the joyless path of self-absorption and instead cultivate a life in which they feel part of something larger than themselves—one of the keys to a meaningful life? There are, of course, many strong programs that have been designed to help students deve... posted on Dec 19 2013 (108,530 reads)

do we need compassion? We need compassion because life is hard. We are all susceptible to diseases and injuries. Every one of us has a lifespan that had a start and will have an end. Just like you, I am vulnerable to disease. Just like you, I could have a blood test tomorrow that says my life is going to end. Just like you, I could hear that my son has been killed in a car crash. Because these things can happen to any of us at any time, we’re all in this together. No one—no one—escapes. And the more we work together, the more we can make this journey of suffering bearable. The Buddhist tradition puts it this way: “Just like me, you want to be happy; just lik... posted on Jan 8 2014 (33,360 reads)

your job seem dull and meaningless? Morten Hansen and Dacher Keltner point the way out. Do you experience meaning at work—or just emptiness? In the United States people spend on average 35-40 hours working every week. That’s some 80,000 hours during a career—more time than you will spend with your kids, probably. Beyond the paycheck, what does work give you? Few questions could be more important. It is sad to walk through life and experience work as empty, dreadful, a chore—sapping energy out of your body and soul. Yet many employees do, as evidenced by one large-scale study showing that only 31 percent of employees felt engaged with their work. ... posted on Dec 30 2013 (37,535 reads)