Sangha of Auspicious Companions

September 16, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

The Man Who Builds Bridges & Saves Lives

More than 13 years after his parents drowned in a flash flood, David Kakuko is at the Moruny River, building a bridge that might have prevented their deaths. The hanging footbridge will provide safe passage over the Moruny, a frequently flooded waterway in West Pokot, Kenya. “Before the bridge, there [were] so many people, so many who lost their lives,” said Kakuko, 32. “I know, because I have no parents. I have no parents, because this river took them.” Kakuko is working alongside other local residents and Harmon Parker, a master mason who has been building bridges through Kenya’s mountainous terrain since 1997. { read more }

Be The Change

Build more “bridges,” and help others do the same.

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September 15, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

Blooming in the Whirlwhind

“‘Conduct your blooming in the noise and whip of the whirlwind.’ Strange message in a stranger place. I don’t know who said it, but this pronouncement suddenly appeared on a huge wall of the 59th St. subway tunnel connecting the Lexington Avenue trains to the N and R lines. For many months I’d passed the area, which was roped off and covered over with heavy paper — reconstruction in progress. What else is new in NYC! Then one fine day the plastic barrier was cut and the brown paper pulled down. There, gleaming in vivid colors, was a giant mosaic mural with a great scroll of a message running through it in a waving line that ran up and down from ceiling to floor and back.” Author Patty de Llosa shares this timely reflection on finding freedom within our constraints. { read more }

Be The Change

“Learn to posses all things — your time, your pace of work, your moments of rest, your privacy — all.” Pierre Pradervand, from ‘Letter to A Friend in A Hurry’ { more }

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September 14, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

How To Build A Beautiful Company

In the early 1970s, Bill Witherspoon lived for months in a school bus parked in the Oregon desert. A hundred miles from the nearest town, he spent day after day painting the sky and the clouds. He later sold his work for tidy sums. Witherspoon would spend the rest of his life alternating between painting and launching companies. When Witherspoon, then 60, launched The Sky Factory in 2002, he wondered, Was it possible to create a company as beautiful as a work of art? A beautiful company, in Witherspoon’s mind, starts with the elimination of hierarchies that impede and repress the expression of people’s natural curiosity and creativity. The Sky Factory’s organizational structure is as flat as its creator’s beloved desert. There are no employees, just owners, and everyone cares deeply about doing what is best for the group. { read more }

Be The Change

Do something today that adds beauty to your workplace.

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September 13, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

Feeding the World From A Garden Shed

The corrugated tin hut crouching in the undergrowth, dwarfed by dripping firs, looks like a wartime relic nobody could be bothered to clear away … a sign reading “Mary’s Meals” has been stuck above the doorway. To Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, his father’s shed in Dalmally, Argyll, has acquired a talismanic significance. It’s where he stockpiled food and clothes for Bosnian refugees in the 1990s — an amateurish humanitarian mission that eventually led him to sell his house, give up his job and concentrate on the much bigger project of feeding poor children in developing countries. Today his efforts provide over 550,000 children with a daily life-saving meal. { read more }

Be The Change

Watch this inspiring video about how Mary’s Meals work. { more }

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September 12, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

Planning & Other Paths To Less Stress

A recent survey by psychologist and self-help author Robert Epstein found that 25% of our happiness hinges on how well we’re able to manage stress. The next logical question is, of course, how best can we reduce our stress? The stress management technique that worked best, according to the survey: planning. In other words, “fighting stress before it even starts, planning things rather than letting them happen,” says Epstein. “That means planning your day, your year and your life so that stress is minimized.” This Time magazine article shares more. { read more }

Be The Change

Try incorporating one of Epstein’s relaxation techniques in your own life.

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September 11, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

The Ripple Effect of Kindness

“Over the last few years, I’ve become a big proponent of Smile Cards. The premise behind these small cards is simple: do an anonymous act of kindness and leave a card behind, inviting the recipient to pay-it-forward. If he/she does, the chain keeps going, resulting in “ripples” of kindness radiating out. Smile Cards are wonderful in ways I cannot count. Small, simple, humble — yet powerful, because one act of kindness can be the start of a long chain. But for all these reasons, the main reason why I use them is the subtle change that has begun to occur in the way I think.” So begins this reflection on how the ripple effect of kindness leads to change — both externally and internally. { read more }

Be The Change

Do a kind act, leave a smile card, and start a chain. Download or receive a gift of pre-printed smile cards here. { more }

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September 10, 2011

a project of CharityFocus

10 Strategies for Reducing Prejudice

UC Berkeley professor Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton provides research-based tips for overcoming prejudices based on differences. Here are his top ten strategies, summarized: Travel (somewhere that challenges your worldview); Take a course on prejudice; If you value egalitarianism, recognize that unconscious bias is no more “the real you” than your conscious values; Laugh a little — smiles and happiness help trump racial bias; Recategorize other people according to characteristics that you share; Do your part to save the planet; Stay healthy — a sense of security promotes tolerance of other worldviews; Acknowledge differences, rather than try to fight an uphill battle to ignore them; Remember that people are really bad mind-readers, so communicate; Make a cross-race friend. This in-depth article shares further. { read more }

Be The Change

Make a conscious effort to be aware of preconceived notions — and to stop propagating them internally.

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