In association with hhdlstudycirclemontreal.org
Archive for June, 2011
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It’s not good enough for us to complain about what other people aren’t doing for us. It’s important that we all band together, think of an idea and pursue it.
– Derreck Kayongo –
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Soap That Saves Lives
Perhaps he noticed because his father was a soapmaker in Uganda. When Derreck Kayongo learned how much soap was thrown away by hoteliers in the US, and that 2 million children die each year due to a lack of santitation, he decided to do something about it. He started Global Soap Project. Volunteers across the U.S. collect the hotel soaps and ship them to the group’s warehouse in Atlanta. On Saturdays, Atlanta volunteers assemble there to clean, reprocess and package the bars. Then, they work with partner organizations to ship and distribute the soap directly to people who need it — for free. Thanks to this CNN Hero, more than 100,000 bars have been gifted to communities in nine countries. { read more }
Submitted by: Fran Korten
Be The Change
Tell a local hotel about the Global Soap Project. { more } |
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No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.
– H. E. Luccock –
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Measuring the Wisdom of a Crowd
The “intelligence” of a group can be measured, according to a new study, and it has little to do with the brain power of its individual members. What makes a team more intelligent has more to do with the group’s interactions. More equal participation and greater social awareness on the part of its members are the key factors in predicting a group’s intelligence. “It really calls into question our notion of what intelligence is,” said study lead author Anita Williams Woolley of Carnegie Mellon. “It’s been thought about as something that resides in one person.” Instead, three key social factors were correlated with group intelligence: how good the group was at distributing turn-taking, how socially sensitive the group members were, and how many women were on each team. { read more }
Be The Change
In your next meeting, explore appropriate ways of eliciting the group’s wisdom. |
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We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
– Thornton Wilder –
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Why Gratitude Is Good
“Count your blessings,” we’re often told — but what good does that do us? Plenty, according to Robert Emmons, the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude. After a decade of research, Dr. Emmons has found that people who practice gratitude have stronger immune systems, feel happier and more optimistic, and are more generous and compassionate. In this thorough article from Greater Good magazine, Dr. Emmons explores why gratitude does us so much good, brings to light the obstacles to practicing gratitude, and offers steps to leading a more grateful life. { read more }
Submitted by: S. Fassberg
Be The Change
Count your blessings. For inspiration, a short passage by Pierre Pradervand, from “The Gentle Art of Blessing:” { more } |
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Reading takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.
– Hazel Rochman –
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The Reading Promise: An Extraordinary Father-Daughter Story
When Alice Ozma was in the fourth grade, her family was going through a rough patch. Her parents had just split up, and her older sister had recently left for college. Ozma was suddenly spending a lot more time alone with her dad, Jim Brozina, an elementary school librarian. So Ozma and her father made a pledge: to read together every single night for 100 days. But after 100 days, they just kept going. Their streak ultimately lasted nine years. 3,218 consecutive days — spanning from Ozma’s fourth-grade year to her first day of college. Their commitment to reading and to each other are the subject of Ozma’s debut book, The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared. { read more }
Be The Change
On this Fathers Day, share your gratitude with someone who has supported your life journey. |
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Help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours.
– Les Brown –
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A School for the Homeless In Las Vegas
Principal Sherrie Gahn knew she had a problem that a traditional public school could not fix. Inside Whitney Elementary School in East Las Vegas, nearly 85 percent of the children are homeless. That’s 518 kids out of 610. “When I saw the children eating ketchup for lunch, and wanting to take it home,” she says, “it just crushed me,” says Gahn. So she came up with a plan involving the kids, their parents and the community. “I told the parents that I would give them whatever they need,” Gahn says. “All I need them to do is give me their children and let me teach them. In turn I will give you food and clothes and we will take them to the eye doctor. I will pay your rent, pay your utilities, but keep your child here.” { read more }
Be The Change
Consider volunteering with a school or mentoring students in your community. |
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Video of the Week
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Jun 17, 2011 |
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Hope is an Action
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| The story began in 2006 when Nyla Rodgers suffered the sudden loss of her mother to cancer. As an only child raised by a single mom, it was like losing her entire family all at once. A few months later she happened to be in Kenya working for the UN and decided to look up a young man her mother had sponsored there named Benard Olando. She met Benard in Kisumu and, along with him, hundreds of women whose parents had died of AIDS whom her mom had also helped. They welcomed her in an unexpected and overwhelmingly moving celebration. Nyla describes that it was that day that her work found her … and Mama Hope was born. |
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Each of you is perfect the way you are … and you can use a little improvement.
– Shunryu Suzuki –
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25 Reasons to Embrace Criticism
Criticism isn’t always easy to receive — and yet, it can be transformed into an opportunity for personal growth, emotional development, time efficiency, improved relationships, and self-confidence. This article shares 25 reasons to embrace criticism: “I realize criticism doesn’t always come gently from someone legitimately trying to help. A lot of the feedback we receive is unsolicited and doesn’t come from teachers — or maybe all of it does. We can’t control what other people will say to us, whether they’ll approve or form opinions and share them. But we can control how we internalize it, respond to it, and learn from it, and when we release it and move on. If you’ve been having a hard time dealing with criticism lately, it may help to remember the following:” { read more }
Be The Change
This week, keep yourself open to criticism — and turn it into an opportunity to grow. |
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If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
– Mother Teresa –
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Social Media for Social Change
Kecia Cruz’s son had been sleeping on a cold linoleum floor since returning to live with his mother nearly two weeks ago. Cruz has served time in prison and her son is a recovering drug addict. Cruz sees her child’s return as a second chance. She didn’t want him sleeping on the floor, but she didn’t know where to turn. Her neighbor had an answer: Beremedy — an organization that utilizes social media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs to streamline the donation of food, clothing and furniture to people in need. The name is a short way to say “you be the remedy for someone in need. Within 15 minutes of posting Cruz’s need, a hairstylist with a spare mattress responded. In the spirit of generosity Beremedy connects the dots this way multiple times a day — every single day. { read more }
Be The Change
Find a way to connect to needs in your own neighborhood. |
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When you enter the moment with heightened awareness, what you need to do becomes obvious. You discover that you already have the answers.
– Patricia Ryan Madson –
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The Neuroscience of Improv
How does an act of imagination happen? How does the mind create on command? Recent experiments have attempted to figure out the mystery behind this kind of creativity, from John Coltrane letting loose on a saxophone to Jackson Pollock dripping paint on a canvas. These are works made entirely in the moment – their beauty is spontaneous. Researchers have found that before a single note was played, jazz improv pianists exhibited a “deactivation” of the DLPFC, a brain area associated with planned actions and self-control. They were inhibiting their inhibitions, which allowed them to create without worrying about what they were creating. There was also a spike in the medial prefrontal cortex, an area often linked with self-expression. This article delves further into how creativity springs from a choreographed set of mental events. { read more }
Be The Change
There are times to plan, and times to substitute attention for preparation. A Stanford Theater Professor on knowing when to improvise: { more } |
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“At the end of a trip home to California with my son, I was in the airport and decided to send a couple of postcards thanking my family for their hospitality. After I wrote them I returned to inquire about stamps. The clerk said they didn’t sell them in her store or anywhere in the airport. A woman standing nearby with her baby in a stroller overheard the conversation and said, “I have stamps that I’d be glad to give you.” I offered to buy them from her but she insisted she didn’t want anything in return. I accepted her gift and thanked her. I then turned back to the clerk to ask if there was a mailbox anywhere in the airport. Again the answer was no. But she said, “I’d be happy to mail them for you on my way home.” I returned to my seat in the waiting area and related the story of back to back acts of kindness to my son. He had just volunteered to let someone charge her phone with his power cord – by coincidence it was the same woman who gave me the stamps!” — rludeman
Sangha of Auspicious Companions 