Sangha of Auspicious Companions

April 22, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

The Sharing Economy Emerges

Peer to peer exchange of goods and services has skyrocketed way beyond craigslist.org and Couch Surfing. Now, access to goods and skills is becoming more important than ownership of them. And that has sparked a “Sharing Economy”. Gartner Group researchers estimate that the peer-to-peer financial-lending market will reach $5 billion by 2013. Botsman says the consumer peer-to-peer rental market will become a $26 billion sector, and believes the sharing economy, in total, is a $110 billion-plus market. “Is this purely a warm-and-fuzzy kind of thing?” says Ann Miura-Ko, a venture capitalist at Floodgate Fund. “It’s not. It’s underutilized asset utilization.” That is to say, sharing is becoming common place. { read more }

Be The Change

Share something. Check out dozens of how-to guides on sharing. { more }

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April 21, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

5 Ways Laughter is Good For Health

Ever felt lighter after a good laugh? Physiologically speaking, that’s no coincidence. Laughter is shown to increase blood flow, strengthen immune system, reduce muscle pain, lower blood sugar and shed calories. Along similar lines, singing or listening to music can improve the brain’s auditory and language processing functions, and decrease insomnia, stress and stroke. Regular grounding practices like meditation or attending a religious service can reduce blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tension. Cures can come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes as simple as a moment of laughter, song, or reflection. { read more }

Be The Change

Laugh, sing, meditate and feel all better.

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April 20, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

72 Hours to Transform Your City

A hundred designers, 10 urban challenges, very little money, and no sleep. That’s the recipe for 72 Hour Urban Action, a three-day marathon for designers to improve their city. Founder Kerem Halbrecht first debuted the concept at the Bat-Yam Biennale of Landscape Urbanism in Israel in September, where 120 participants working in 10 teams got three days and three nights to solve problems in public spaces. “I wanted to challenge the common perception that creating change in public space is long and difficult, and to see if public space can respond to changing needs in real time.” By all accounts, the first 72 Hour Urban Action was brutal but exhilarating. The competitors slept (when they did sleep) in an empty school, and had to split a paltry $2,500 budget between all the teams. They did, however, have a truck and tractor for everyone to share. And cute orange jumpsuits. { read more }

Submitted by: Kate T.

Be The Change

Do something to energize your local community. For inspiration, check out a video of 72 Hour Urban Action in action: { more }

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April 19, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

The Art of Giving

First there was Ehren. Then Fariba, and Ashley. Ehren Tool: “Literally a woman took a photograph of a bowl that I made for her and sold the photograph of the bowl for thousands of dollars in New York. You can’t ask for thousands of dollars for a ceramic bowl. [laughs] But the photograph will last only fifty years; the ceramic piece will last a couple of thousand. So rather than accept five dollars for a cup and say that’s what it’s worth, I just give it away.” Fariba Safai: “I feel that in the process of giving, you’re receiving. You can’t change anybody else. So all you can do is hopefully start with yourself. So in the end, in that process of giving, you’re really self-healing. I think that’s the greatest aspect of the true artist.” { read more }

Be The Change

Make something artful and give it to someone.

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April 18, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

Restaurant Chain Displaced By Students

When a 1,300-outlet fast-food chain announced plans to open a branch on the campus of the University of California Berkeley, a group of students protested. Given the nature of the city’s resonance with local, seasonal and organic food, this wasn’t a surprise. However, the students not only defeated the chain but also took their victory one step further by raising $100,000 to replace the fast-food joint with a student-run co-op carrying fresh, local, healthy, sustainable, and fairly produced food that would be sold at affordable prices. As if that weren’t enough, the students have even started an organization to train students nationwide how to open their own campus food co-ops. { read more }

Be The Change

Get your next produce from local farmers.

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April 17, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

Bell Curve of Empathy

Rhesus monkeys can be trained to pull a chain to obtain food but will refuse to do so if this means another monkey receives an electric shock. How do those monkeys compare with Nazi concentration camp guards? It was childhood tales of Nazi atrocities that first set the Cambridge psychologist, Simon Baron-Cohen, on the path of studying human cruelty and empathy. Instead of “evil”, Simon frames such acts as “empathy erosion” in his book, Zero Degrees of Empathy. Unempathic acts are simply the tail end of a bell curve, found in every population on the planet, and thus, any problem immersed in empathy becomes solvable. { read more }

Submitted by: Vinciane Rycroft

Be The Change

Take the empathy test and figure out what is your EQ — Empathy Quotient. { more }

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April 16, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

Our Mentors Are Where We Are

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Wherever you go, there you are”? The same could be said for our mentors. Shannon Cutts spoke to a crowd of several hundred students at Truman State University about body image and eating disorders. The truth she shared with students is that most of us simply don’t have time to stop and analyze all of the messages that come at us each day. Most of us don’t even have time to stop and notice that those messages are there. Yet they mentor us. They sink into our awareness anyway — whether we invited them to do so or not. Wherever we go, there we are. And our mentors will go with us… both the mentors we consciously choose, and the mentors which we allow to choose us unconsciously. { read more }

Be The Change

Reflect on the thoughts, messages, and mentors that influence you.

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