The Gift Economy

You're receiving this email because you are a DailyGood subscriber. Trouble Viewing? On a mobile? Just click here. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe.

July 9, 2011 a project of CharityFocus If you're really mind-full, and if you underline that aspect of fullness, wholeness, or wholeheartedness, it reveals the gift character of everything. - Brother David Steindl-Rast - The Gift Economy "Want to fix the economy? Next time you buy coffee, purchase a cup for the person behind you. Or as you grind your way through the morning commute, pick up the tollbooth charge for the driver behind you, draped over his steering wheel and ranting at the long delay. You've heard that famous Gandhian quote about being the change, well these are good measures to start with, packing more punch than you might imagine. This approach to life starts with the following premise: What exactly did I (or you) do to deserve to be alive? If you can process that question and come out thinking it was a gift that you can't ever pay back, then beginning a life of greater giving is the only logical and remotely reciprocal way to go." Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Van Slambrouck reflects on the gift economy. { read more } Be The Change Think of an experience of gifting (either receiving or giving) that has stayed with you, and share it with others here. { more } COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News The Benefits of Single-Tasking Oprah: A Case Study Comes Alive Leadership Through Solitude Retailing With Heart DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 106,664 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

Read more...

High Schooler Pays Forward $40,000

You're receiving this email because you are a DailyGood subscriber. Trouble Viewing? On a mobile? Just click here. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe.

July 8, 2011 a project of CharityFocus Service doesn't start when you have something to give -- it blossoms naturally when you have nothing left to take. - Nipun Mehta - High Schooler Pays Forward $40,000 They wanted to show kids in Compton, CA, one of the most dangerous cities in America, how to create community spirit, and so organizers put on a basketball contest for top academic students. But following a tear-jerking gesture from the winner -- it appears the true lessons learned were by the adults. Senior Allen Guei won in front of a packed house. And three months after winning the $40,000 top prize, he donated all of his winnings to the seven other finalists. Guei, a star player on the basketball team has a full scholarship, and wanted to give his classmates a chance to make their academic dreams come true, too. "I've already been blessed so much and I know we're living with a bad economy, so I know this money can really help my classmates," he said. "It was the right decision." { read more } Be The Change The next time you receive something, consider how you could share it. COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News The Impossible Floating Village Football Team Human Spirit Rises to Meet Japan's Tsunami 25 Visionaries Changing Your World Change Your Life with a Thank-You Note DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 106,646 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

Read more...

Bill Moyers: Naomi Shihab Nye

You're receiving this email because you are a DailyGood subscriber. Trouble Viewing? On a mobile? Just click here. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe.

July 7, 2011 a project of CharityFocus Walk around feeling like a leaf. Know you could tumble any second. Then decide what to do with your time. - Naomi Shihab Nye - Bill Moyers: Naomi Shihab Nye Renowned poet Naomi Shihab Nye writes about button-hooks, onions and her grandmother's tea. Her poems speak of ordinary things -- things we take for granted until it's almost too late. For her poetry is a "conversation with the world, conversation with those words on the page, allowing them to speak back to you -- conversation with yourself." The daughter of a Palestinian father and an American mother, she's lived in old Jerusalem, in St. Louis, and now with her own family in San Antonio, Texas. Bill Moyers carries a poem of hers in his wallet, and interviews her here. { read more } Be The Change Ponder on the power of words. A poem of Naomi Shihab Nye's, "Before You Know What Kindness Really Is:" { more } COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News The Reading Promise: An Extraordinary Father-Daughter Story Monday is the New Sunday 30 Years of Work Bears Fruit The Artist Who Gives It All Away DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 106,659 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

Read more...

7 Must-Read Books on Education

You're receiving this email because you are a DailyGood subscriber. Trouble Viewing? On a mobile? Just click here. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe.

July 6, 2011 a project of CharityFocus A person becomes wise when they can see what needs to be done and do it successfully without being told what to do. - Inuit Elder - 7 Must-Read Books on Education Education is something we're deeply passionate about, but much of today's dominant formal education model is in need of a paradigm shift. While lots has been said and written about education reform over the past couple of years, the issue and the public discourse around it have been going on for decades. So how does the free speech movement of the 1960s relate to digital learning and The Beatles? Via popular internet publication Brain Pickings, here is a round-up of the most compelling and visionary reading on reinventing education from the past century, including videos that feature Isaac Asimov and Howard Gardner. { read more } Be The Change Share a life lesson with a student. COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News Homeless Man with 'Golden Voice' Bill Clinton Starts a Vegan Revolution! The Professional Development Ethic Beauty in Subtlety DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 106,621 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

Read more...

The Blind Man Who Taught Himself To See

You're receiving this email because you are a DailyGood subscriber. Trouble Viewing? On a mobile? Just click here. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe.

July 5, 2011 a project of CharityFocus Vision is the art of seeing the invisible. - Jonathan Swift - The Blind Man Who Taught Himself To See Daniel Kish has been sightless since he was a year old. Yet he can mountain bike, navigate the wilderness alone, and recognize a building as far away as 1,000 feet. How? The same way bats can see in the dark. Since his infancy, he has been adapting to his blindness in remarkable ways. He has learned to use what he calls "Flashsonar," or echolocation. He produces a brief, sharp click with his tongue, and the sound waves bounce off every object around him, returning to his ears vastly decreased in volume, but perceivable. Kish has trained himself to hear these slight echoes and to interpret their meaning. Standing on his front stoop, he can visualize, with an extraordinary degree of precision, the two pine trees on his front lawn and the curb at the edge of his street. { read more } Be The Change Practice the art of "seeing" something that is invisible to you. Some inspiration on vision-making regularly: { more } COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News Save Energy by Breathing Genius of the Fold A Light in India Scientists Discover by Sharing DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 106,567 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

Read more...