neuroscientists have identified a 10-section “empathy circuit” in our brains which, if damaged, can curtail our ability to understand what other people are feeling. Evolutionary biologists like Frans de Waal have shown that we are social animals who have naturally evolved to care for each other, just like our primate cousins. And psychologists have revealed that we are primed for empathy by strong attachment relationships in the first two years of life.  But empathy doesn’t stop developing in childhood. We can nurture its growth throughout our lives—and we can use it as a radical force for social transformation. Research in ... posted on Aug 25 2013 (229,412 reads)

She cut her first tooth on a rubber giraffe. Our world is different, zoologically speaking — less straightforward and more grisly. We are living in the eye of a great storm of extinction, on a planet hemorrhaging living things so fast that half of its nine million species could be gone by the end of the century. At my place, the teddy bears and giggling penguins kept coming. But I didn’t realize the lengths to which humankind now has to go to keep some semblance of actual wildlife in the world. As our own species has taken over, we’ve tried to retain space for at least some of the others being pushed aside, shoring up their chances of survival. But the threats agains... posted on Sep 5 2013 (14,414 reads)

Dan Paich is an original. In a sense, we’re all originals, but now and then one runs across someone for whom this word is a particularly apt fit. Born in Yugoslavia and, through improbable events, becoming a child radio and film star, Slobodan has had an unusual life. His vision as an artist is remarkably deep and generous. He is, in fact, a real visionary. This interview is the second of two. In the first one, we learn about his life in Yugoslavia and his flight out of his native country to London. This one picks with his innovative summer school project in Italy. We met at the artist’s very small apartment in San Francisco. RW:  Now the last time we talked... posted on Nov 23 2013 (15,433 reads)

health, better jobs, and a better chance to survive on the planet? In an ad for a major phone company blanketing TV this year, a circle of doe-eyed children is asked: "Who thinks more is better than less?" You know the one—an eager kindergartener answers, "We want more, we want more," before the commercial voice intones, "It's not complicated..." To economists, there's no distinction between money spent on stuff that makes life better and money spent on stuff that makes life worse. When it comes to our economy, most Americans also believe that more is always better. More, in this case, is what economists call growth,... posted on Nov 21 2013 (27,222 reads)

practicing bio-regionally self-sufficient economies, the knowledge that the total community must be engaged in order to attain sustainability is the result of a natural process of survival. The practical aspects of willing teamwork within a whole-community system clearly emerged from experience delineated by necessity. However, the word cooperation is insufficient to describe the organic nature by which members continue to cultivate the principles basic to care-taking one another and other life forms, well beyond necessity.  Having been born into such a living community, albeit one becoming more fragmented, I have come to the conclusion that its philosophy is supported by an inf... posted on Dec 15 2013 (31,348 reads)

is rough, no matter how you slice it. But it's also an inescapable fact of life, and our ability to deal with failure and rejection has a hand in determining how successful and happy we are. Happiness isn't the opposite of depression -- resilience is, according to psychologist Peter Kramer. Think of the people you most admire -- many of them didn’t get where they are just by sailing through life without any negative experiences or failures. Most of them distinguished themselves by their ability to get right back up every time they fall, a truism reflected in countless inspirational quotations on the power of perseverance (In the words of Winston Churchill, ... posted on Jan 2 2014 (163,123 reads)

longtime fans of photojournalist Peter Menzel, whose visual anthropology captures the striking span of humanity’s socioeconomic and cultural spectrum. His Hungry Planet and What I Eat portrayed the world’s sustenance with remarkable graphic eloquence, and today we’re turning to some of his earliest work, doing the same for the world’s shelter: Material World: A Global Family Portrait — an engrossing visual time-capsule of life in 30 countries, captured by 16 of the world’s leading photographers. In each of the 30 countries, Menzel found a statistically average family and photographed them outside their home, w... posted on Dec 16 2013 (42,450 reads)

makes some people more successful in work and life than others? IQ and work ethic are important, but they don't tell the whole story. Our emotional intelligence -- the way we manage emotions, both our own and those of others -- can play a critical role in determining our happiness and success. Plato said that all learning has some emotional basis, and he may be right. The way we interact with and regulate our emotions has repercussions in nearly every aspect of our lives. To put it in colloquial terms, emotional intelligence (EQ) is like "street smarts," as opposed to "book smarts," and it's what accounts for a great deal of one's ability to navigate l... posted on May 1 2014 (114,512 reads)

shows us this popular belief just isn’t true at all: how “long” it takes to form a habit depends on the individual, the habit being formed, environmental factors, etc. Just like most research, it’s far more messy, and doesn’t make for great book titles like 21 Days to Blah Blah Blah… Furthermore, this outlook on habits (“I just have to get to X days…”) diminishes the real benefit of forming a habit in the first place: to change your lifestyle which ultimately leads to a better life. Do you honestly think you can create sticky habits just by trying to reach some imaginary number of days where the habit will supposedly stay for ... posted on May 14 2014 (29,434 reads)

the midst of iPads and pop up ads, TV screens and Twitter memes? How do we help bring meaning and balance in the midst of a hyper-demanding (and often overwhelming) world? As a preschool teacher, I believe that introducing our children to poetry at a young age holds at least part of the answer. While technology has brought so much to our lives, and completely changed how we learn and interact, I am hard-pressed to believe that a computer will ever teach a child how to live a purposeful life of love and connection. To pass on these life lessons, I think we have to turn back to the stories and songs of our past, and continue to inspire a sense of wonder in children through our words. ... posted on May 31 2014 (16,963 reads)

excited to spend the day doing something they love—in short, a world full of ‘arbejdsglæde’. Get Involved—Help Us Redefine That #MondayMorningFeeling Have you ever Googled ‘Monday morning feeling’? Try it now. Scroll through pages of posts that give tips on how to avoid the ‘Monday morning blues’. We wanted to do something, however small, to help change this—here at Maptiawhilst things are certainly not always easy in startup life, we always look forward to waking up at the beginning of each week excited to make progress. We can honestly say that we love what we do, and feel that we have an opportunity to create something ... posted on Apr 28 2021 (40,522 reads)

   Think of a hard choice you'll face in the near future. It might be between two careers -- artist and accountant -- or places to live -- the city or the country -- or even between two people to marry -- you could marry Betty or you could marry Lolita. Or it might be a choice about whether to have children, to have an ailing parent move in with you, to raise your child in a religion that your partner lives by but leaves you cold. Or whether to donate your life's savings to charity. 0:41    Chances are, the hard choice you thought of was something big, something momentous, something that matters to you. Hard choices seem to be occasions for agoni... posted on Sep 6 2014 (31,380 reads)

go to such extra effort to practice kindness in the world? In our modern world, making a concerted effort to be kind is as vital as making a concerted effort to get some exercise. The parallels between a workout for your body and your spirit are uncanny, with analogous outcomes as material and mental consequences. One hundred years ago, very few people had to make much extra effort to seek out exercise. For those that lived in cities, there was considerably more activity built into daily life because of the lack of cars, elevators, and other conveniences. This was even more true for the vast majority who lived in rural areas. There was high probability that food was seasonal, organic,... posted on Aug 27 2014 (29,839 reads)

Smith Listens, Strums a Bit, Then Helps Soldiers Write Their Song This story first appeared on the Christian Science Monitor. SongwritingWith:Soldiers provides a healthy emotional outlet. The songs help others facing similar challenges and build a bridge between military service and civilian life. By David Conrads BELTON, TEXAS — It’s a warm, clear morning just outside Temple, Texas. Darden Smith sits down after breakfast with his guitar and his laptop, as he often does, to write a song. In a career that spans nearly 30 years, the native Texan and longtime Austin, Texas, resident has written and co-written innumerable songs, recorded 14 albums, and performed ... posted on Aug 20 2014 (14,596 reads)

the patient you call Paul Bennett who was dying of terrible wounds from amputations that wouldn’t heal. You’d come to the end of what you could figure out to do for him. And you went out to the beach and walked there in the roar of the wind and waves praying for some help that you didn’t know how to find. And the very minute you were back at Laguna Honda you had a call from another physician who suggested a little-used treatment that actually worked and saved the man’s life. Victoria: That’s it. That happened all the time. It seemed accidental at first, and then I started thinking it was serendipitous, that there was a meaning to running into somebody at th... posted on Oct 8 2014 (22,197 reads)

The women’s lives had crossed briefly three years before, when they bonded at a wedding, both being pregnant. The woman knew then who she would give her key to. She wrote the definition of courage on a card and she and her husband drove across three states (460 milse) to be with the grieving family, and to pass along the small key engraved with the word “courage.” And so The Giving Keys go. A person purchases a key engraved with a word they feel may be lacking in their life. Faith. Hope. Courage. Fight. Dream. They wear the key, embrace the message, and when the moment has come that someone else seems to need the word more, they pass the key forward. And then they g... posted on Nov 30 2014 (19,105 reads)

if he was motivated or not. It didn’t matter if he was writing great jokes or not. It didn’t matter if what he was working on would ever make it into a show. All that mattered was “not breaking the chain.” And that’s one of the simple secrets behind Seinfeld’s remarkable productivity and consistency. For years, the comedian simply focused on “not breaking the chain.” Let’s talk about how you can use the Seinfeld Strategy in your life… How to Stop Procrastinating Top performers in every field — athletes, musicians, CEOs, artists — they are all more consistent than their peers. They show up and deliver ... posted on Dec 31 2014 (74,567 reads)

happens to seed affects the web of life." —Vandana Shiva Photo by: Ana Castilho "In every seed lie the components of all life the world has known from all time to now." —Sister Joan Chittister from "Seeds of a New Humanity" Photo by: Deana Holbova "The fact that we have to fight for something so essential to life as the integrity of seeds, speaks to the real drama of this present time: that we have to fight to preserve what is most fundamental and sacred to life." —Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee from "Seeds and the Story of the Soul" Photo by: Ana Castilh... posted on Jan 29 2015 (39,992 reads)

head on my arm I fall asleep easily. On my eyes a mother’s breath, from her mouth to my heart: sleep, child, and dream now the sun is gone. —Edith Sodergran The sun goes to sleep early, and so do I. I have a few weeks between ending one life-cycle and beginning the next. So I burrow into the present moment, until I touch the bright well of timelessness. Beyond sleeping, I walk, I read, and I write. I watch rain clouds scud overhead. I eat foods that are simple and wholesome. Beneath the rough surface of the thinking brain, I glimpse realities that are as rich and unexpected as geodes. I do use the computer, and watch movies. I have a dist... posted on Feb 6 2015 (26,257 reads)

the last few years, ‘empathy’ has taken over my life. The fascination with human understanding has become a deep running passion as the result of many long hours of research, countless exhilarating discussions, and increasing experimentations seeking new ways to apply empathy in business, education, social programs, and public policy. At first it was extremely challenging to grasp, with a holistic view of empathy covering fields as diverse as neuroscience, anthropology, philosophy, biology, psychology and innovation (to name a few). Adding to my beginner’s confusion was a lack of coherent definition for empathy – the term has almost as many descri... posted on Feb 23 2015 (27,735 reads)