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From the Streets to Opportunity and Confidence
 Nguyen Duc Canh says he used to stay at Vietnam’s only “1,000-star hotel.” Translation: He grew up under a bridge. Abandoned by his parents in Hanoi, Canh sold chewing gum to tourists. Eventually, he ran into KOTO, or “Know One, Teach One.” A 2-year program in Vietnam and Cambodia, KOTO trains former street kids to cook, wait tables and speak English. It “taught me life skills and gave me a house and family,” he reflects. The menus at these highly successful training restaurants also reflect research and enterprise. Lister, the chef who designed KOTO’s first menu, took a 2-month eating tour of Vietnam. Auer and his Phnom Penh staff scoured the Cambodian countryside on motorbikes for provincial recipes. And on top of that, eating at the training restaurant is an easy way to sample local dishes while supporting a good cause. Read More >>
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Like Water From a Hummingbird
 On a trip to Japan, Wangari Maathai learned the story of the hummingbird in the forest fire. While other animals run in fear or hang their heads in despair, the hummingbird flies above the fire time and again, releasing a few drops of water from its tiny beak. “Why do you bother?” the animals shout. “I’m doing the best that I can,” the hummingbird replies. For Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient responsible for more than 11 billion trees being planted worldwide, this story reveals the impact of principle-based decisions. Through all her work, from being the first Central African woman to earn a PhD to spearheading an environmental movement, Maathai concludes that it’s our values, not set goals or objects, that motivate us. “I saw that if people have values, they can sustain what they are doing.” Read More >>
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A Town Lines Up to Save An Unknown Man
 Howard Snitzer clutched his chest and crumpled on a freezing sidewalk. He wasn’t breathing. He had no pulse. If he didn’t get help soon, he would die. For the next 96 minutes, more than two dozen local towns folks, first responders, took turns performing CPR on the fallen man. Their teamwork saved Snitzer’s life, in what may be one of the longest, successful out-of-hospital resuscitations ever. What’s even more striking is that his saviors comprise roughly 3 percent of the town’s population! A little weak from the heart attack, Snitzer smiles, “I’m a chef. I told them I’d be fattening them up every chance I get.” Read More >>
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What Lies Beneath
 In 2000, the Census of Marine Life embarked on a 10-year mission to deepen our knowledge of the ocean. The study involved 2,700 scientists, 80 countries, 600 institutions, 500 expeditions and a staggering 9,000 days at sea. On top of recording tens of millions of individual marine organisms and their locations, it also identifies important climate changes. Among the discoveries of 6,000 potentially new species is a species of shrimp thought to have gone extinct 50 million years ago! Read More >>
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Pizza Delivery Saves the Day
 Every day for the past three years, 82-year-old Jean Wilson has ordered a large pepperoni pizza and two diet cokes from the local pizza shop. One day, she took a particularly hard fall in her house that left her unable to get up. After her regular order failed to surface for three days, delivery driver Susan Guy took it upon herself to check on her, an act that saved Wilson’s life! Read More >>
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Beauty and Science: A Conversation with Ed Johnson
 As this distinguished molecular biologist says, “the ultimate decision of whether or not a piece of data is going to get used is completely subjective! To put it analytically, you look at your piece of data and you decide whether or not you think it looks pretty.” He continues, “Scientists devote not just a great deal of energy in thinking about their problem, but devote a great deal of personal emotion. We get involved. I love to recall the words from a lecture Vladimir Nabokov used to give on Tolstoy. He used to say “Tolstoy wrote with the precision of the artist and the passion of the scientist.” Inevitably some person would say, “Sir, didn’t you get those reversed?” But, of course, he didn’t. Johnson goes on to talk about beauty and consciousness in the context of today’s practice of science… Read More >>
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Shhh! Quiet People at Work
 Justice Clarence Thomas has not spoken during a Supreme Court argument in five years. In the past 40 years, no other member has been totally silent through a whole term– not to mention, five terms. Loud People, of course, get all the attention. But if we take a look around, we’ll notice that quiet people are everywhere. Quiet People are different from loners or introverts or recluses. And quietness is not the same as shyness. As one psychology professor notes, “There are people who wish to talk, but are too timid to do so” and there are those who “simply choose not to say much.” Read More >>
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In This Issue
Also This Week
Wisdom Reading
iJourney.org excerpts of wise words: Is Meditation Boring?, by Andrew Cohen
Inspiring Video
KarmaTube.org video with be-the-change actions: The Dark Side of the Lens
Kindness Story
HelpOthers.org story submitted by readers: A Teenage Boy ‘Starts at the Heart’
Community
 
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A pause in a busy day, meditation can be like the eye of a storm. For centuries, there’s been no logic to it. Yet more and more, researchers are beginning to map its effects on the brain. In a recent study, a team led by Harvard-affiliated researchers become the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain’s gray matter. Their conclusion? Participating in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress. Research fellow Britta Holzel remarks, “It is fascinating to see the brain’s plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life.” [ 
On ‘Pay-it-Forward’ day, our family decided we wanted to pick up someones tab at the grocery store, but we didn’t know what we would say to explain it to them. We took the kids along and told our oldest to find someone checking out. I felt drawn to the first man I saw, we all agreed this was the one. It was a family with two small children. They had A LOT of items. Still not knowing what to say I went to the cashier when she rang their last item, gave her my card and told her we were paying. The mother holding the baby was confused and handed her welfare card to the cashier, her husband signaled to her to put it away. We didn’t have to say anything, the couple was deaf. We hugged and cried and left the store. It was a moment we will never forget.” — Lizbbaker
Sangha of Auspicious Companions 