Sunday, April 25, 2010 Man Sheds 365 Pounds Through Yoga  Last year, he started riding his bike for the first time since 1985. "I feel amazing. I feel like a child released on a playground," Larry says with a smile, his health and happiness clearly restored. How did he do it? "Yoga," he claims, along with the power of a positive attitude. Read More >>
back to top  Saturday, April 24, 2010 Birthday with a Homeless Friend  Lower gaze. Quicken pace. Become absorbed in sight of sidewalk. In the hustle and bustle of city life, this is a common response to the sight of the homeless on the street. One day, a city-dweller breaks out of this routine when she stops to buy a magazine. She discovers that her vendor is a refugee from a war-torn country whose 25th birthday has just passed. Caught with compassion, she finds herself on a mission to celebrate his birthday...And ends up receiving her own birthday gift in return! Read More >>
back to top Friday, April 23, 2010 Celebrating Earth Day in Tough Times  What does Earth Day during the recession mean for Corbyn Hightower's family of five? Fixing, not tossing. Pedaling, not driving. Growing, not buying. Corbyn reflects, "Our needs are modest, our overhead has been lowered, and life has become about simple, sustainable pleasures." Even the four-year-old is turning the soil! Read More >>
back to top Thursday, April 22, 2010 Does Activism Make You Happy?  New research says that it does! In a groundbreaking study, two university psychologists, Malte Klar and Tim Kasser, interviewed college students about their political engagement and level of happiness. The results show that taking action boosts morale: those who are politically involved are happier than those who aren't. Regardless of how engaging the political action, simply taking a stand for what we believe in makes us feel more alive. Read More >>
back to top Wednesday, April 21, 2010 Best Career Advice: Take Poetry  "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard...No one will care if you ever studied American poetry when you get a job." said James Martin's faculty advisor at Wharton School of Business. "Fortunately, I didn't take his advice," Martin announces with a smile, "And it's one of the few courses I remember very well from school." James Martin, Jesuit Priest and author of 'The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything', recounts that the best career advice he ever received came as a question: What would you do if you could do anything? Since then, Martin stopped "shoulding" and started pursuing what he loved. After all, those who do well do what they love. Read More >>
back to top Tuesday, April 20, 2010 9-Year-Old Entrepreneurs!  9-year-old Neha started off selling handmade greeting cards and wine charms. Now, at 13, her nonprofit has raised $30,000 for orphans in India. 10-year-old Kelly invented the T-Pack (a fanny pack worn on the thigh). Now a millionaire, she teaches entrepreneurship to children, and is an author on the side. Oh, and she's 18. With the internet providing easy access to business innovation websites like StartUpNation.com and Young Entrepreneur, standing on the shoulders of giants has never been so easy. The result? Kids tapping into their creativity, and making a difference. Read More >>
back to top Monday, April 19, 2010 Does Thoreau Have a Future?  For a man who relished solitude, living in a small cabin by a small pond in the forests of Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau sure got his ideas heard. Can this philosopher who once refused a doormat- because, as he wrote, "It's best to avoid the beginnings of evil"- still inspire people to live in simplicity in today's increasingly complex world? According to Lawrence Buell, professor of American Literature at Harvard, the answer is yes. Read More >>
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When Van Blake lost her job in February 2009, she fought off depression by offering to design a room in exchange for her client initiating three acts of kindness, asking only that her client pay it forward. Since then, Van Blake has documented 80 clients and 240 acts of kindness in six months! She and fellow designer Joyce Heathcote now run "Design it Forward," a Pay-It-Forward interior design service that offers free room designs for anyone who will commit three random acts of kindness. Both designers say they see the power of kindness unleashed: "We just need to kind of let it go and see what happens." [ 
Napping after learning something new could help you commit it to memory- as long as you dream, scientist say. They found that people who dream about a new task perform it better on waking than those who don't sleep or dream. Volunteers who napped after learning the layout of a 3D computer maze found their way through the real-life maze quicker than those who didn't. "Every day we are gathering and encountering tremendous amounts of information and new experiences," says Dr. Erin Wamsley, co-author of the study, "our dreams are asking the question, 'How do I use this information to inform my life?'" [ 
Richard Whittaker reflects on art and coffee with a stranger: "One morning I looked up from my cup of tea in a local coffee shop and was surprised to see a man at work on a little painting sitting at a table nearby. I walked over, took a peek, and was surprised again. It was really good. I complimented him on his work. He seemed to welcome the interruption, and I asked him a few questions. He was just passing through town and living from hand to mouth. Before long, having had nothing of the sort in mind, I found myself in a conversation that crossed into territory usually reserved for more intimate friends. All along I halfway expected to be hit up for a little cash, but nothing of the sort happened. The more we talked, the more I was touched by this total stranger and his story..." [ 
For most Americans, silence is rare. Traffic and airplane noise fill major cities. Cellphone conversations have taken over parks, buzzing electronics have invaded homes and each store has its own carefully shaped "sonic environment." In his new book, "In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise," George Prochnik argues that noise poses a real threat to our cardiovascular system, mental health and our ability to concentrate. A lover of silence, Prochnik goes to competitions where car owners compete to create the loudest sounds, visits a shopping mall sound designer, and attends European "soundscaping" projects, where designers use technology to decrease noise pollution. He even explores how Hitler's vocal pitch and volume may have seduced his followers! [ 
When William Noriega developed cataracts in both eyes at age 40- and was unable to afford a simple operation to fix them- he never expected an ophthalmologist to restore not only his sight for free but also his faith in humanity. Dr. Bryant Lum gifted his services to Noriega after reading a letter in the newspaper from his father: "My 40-year-old son...can no longer drive or work. He has lost the ability to support his family and pay for insurance. A simple operation would restore his sight and make him a taxpayer again instead of a welfare recipient." As someone who conducts hundreds of cataract surgeries each year, Lum decided one more wouldn't be a big deal to him, but "could change this patient's life." [ 
Nancy Weber shares: "As the director of a creative writing organization, I have heard a lot of amazing, wildly creative poems and stories written by young writers in our workshops. However, I was absolutely stunned by this beautiful poem by Sadie McCann, a five year=old girl from our workshop at the Brooklyn Public Library, Bay Ridge branch. If she hadn't written it right in front of me, I would not have believed that she really wrote it herself. I have the poem hanging above my computer, and I refer to it whenever I need to be reminded that writing a poem is indeed a pure act of love." Sadie's poem: [ 
