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Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
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| Aug 28, 2011 |
| I would define “good” as the daily pursuit of making the world ever so slightly better than you found it.” –Chris Baker |
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 “This morning, as I got dressed for work, I chose one of my favorite necklaces. I do not wear it often because I want to hold onto it for a long time. When I got to work, I was walking though a doorway and a woman stopped me and said, ‘I love your necklace.’Â I stopped walking to talk to her for a few minutes as she admired it and told me how great it looked on me. I recalled the many mornings that she has spoken to me with a smile and then remembered something that my mom taught me. ‘You only give to others things that you would want to have.’Â As this thought ran through my mind, I unfastened the necklace from around my neck and told her she could have it. As I walked off I told her that a blessing given is a blessing received.” — hasifa
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| “I went to the mall on my lunch hour from work, and wrapped a smile card with a five dollar bill and left it on a pole in the middle of the mall. After some time, two ladies walked by and one of them took the money rather quickly, and then I saw her and her friend read the smile card and then turn it over and read the back. Then I saw a big smile on her face and she looked up to heaven and I think she said thank you. Wow. What a wonderful feeling to see the smile on her face! I realized that there is no better way to make your day than to make someone smile, and it is even better when you do it annonomously. Thank you Helpothers.org for this website. I sure am having fun with those smile cards. God bless you.” — Happy7 |
| What is a “smile card”? It’s a game of kindness — do something nice for someone and leave a card behind asking them to pay it forward. To date, 958,228 cards have been shipped without any charge.
The ‘Smiles’ newsletter is emailed to 83,548 subscribers with the intent of spreading more smiles in the world. You can unsubscribe anytime.
get smile cards | donate | write to us |
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People with high levels of personal mastery cannot afford to choose between reason and intuition, or head and heart, any more than they would choose to walk on one leg or see with one eye.
– Peter Senge –
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Study, Practice and Serve: Peter Senge
Peter Senge is a senior lecturer at MIT, and the author of The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. The Journal of Business Strategy named Senge one of the greatest influences on business strategy over the last 100 years. In this dialogue with Dr. Prasad Kaipa, Senge talks about how his own internal development helped him develop a perspective on systems theory: “I think the terminology I would use is ‘a continuous process of reflection’. I’ve always thought of only two questions that have mattered to me personally. One is what is really needed in the world and the second is what’s really important to me and how these two intersect. It’s always been a reflective process — spiraling around these two poles.” { read more }
Be The Change
Study, practice and serve. |
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The softest, freest, most pliable and changeful living substance is the brain — the hardest and most iron-bound as well.
– Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1903 –
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How Nature Affects the Brain
“For the first time in three days in the wilderness, Todd Braver is not wearing his watch. “I forgot,” he says. It is a small thing, the kind of change many vacationers notice in themselves as they unwind and lose track of time. But for Braver and his companions, these moments lead to a question: What is happening to our brains? Braver, a psychology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, was one of five neuroscientists on an unusual journey. They spent a week in late May in this remote area of southern Utah, rafting the San Juan River, camping on the soft banks and hiking the tributary canyons. It was a primitive trip with a sophisticated goal: to understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.” { read more }
Be The Change
Take a small retreat into nature (however you define it). |
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Video of the Week
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Aug 26, 2011 |
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One Man, One Sign, One Message
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| You are perfect. One simple message, one simple truth. A local filmmaker profiles an inspired man dedicated to sharing this message with his community. |
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We must not cease from exploration; the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.
– T. S. Eliot –
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A Morning When Everything Fell Into Place
“I finally found a Motel 6 about twenty-five miles east. When I got there around 11pm, from the cars and people I saw — it was still warm outside, maybe 85 degrees — I got the impression I was deep in gang territory. A young couple checking in at the office counter ahead of me added to this impression. I was nervous and felt out of place, but ended up getting a good night’s sleep. In the morning, as I was carrying my bags to the car, there was a young man standing in the parking lot. I glanced at him and after a few more steps looked at him again. ‘Good morning,’ he said. ‘Good morning,’ I responded. And then, continuing to look at me with his smile, he said, ‘Have a blessed day.'” So starts an extraordinary everyday story. { read more }
Be The Change
Explore a situation today with no assumptions, and see what opens up. |
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Your identity is not equivalent to your biography. There is a place in you where you have never been wounded, where there’s a seamlessness in you, and where there is a confidence and tranquility.
– John O’Donohue –
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The Inner Landscape of Beauty
For the late Celtic mystic John O’Donohue, the visible world isn’t all there is — it’s “the first shoreline of the invisible world.” The question of what should I do, is secondary to the question of “how should I be?” In short, spirituality isn’t an esoteric notion, but an accessible, natural response to the landscapes of beauty around us, and within us. His unique perspective, captured in this rare interview, is informed by a rich life experience, including a career as a Priest, a PhD scholar of existential philosophy and ancient Celtic wisdom, a corporate business consultant on leadership and creativity, and a modern poet and visionary. { read more }
Be The Change
Explore more of John O’Donohue’s words on beauty and wisdom. { more } |
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I would define “good” as the daily pursuit of making the world ever so slightly better than you found it.
– Chris Baker –
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OneSeed Expeditions: Traveling for Good
When you are 22, the world is your oyster. For Yale University graduate Chris Baker, that oyster contained a pearl, which was the idea for OneSeed Expeditions. OneSeed is now a way to take an amazing trip and give an entrepreneur in Nepal the seed money needed to start a business. As President of the Yale Mountaineering Club, Chris was inclined to start a business that would marry his passion for Nepal and love of climbing. OneSeed Expeditions germinated following his fellowship with Kiva.org, where he worked closely with a microfinance institution in Nepal and learned how he could create trips that could also assist the people of the region. { read more }
Be The Change
The next time you take a trip, look for a small way to give to the local community you are visiting. |
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The only important thing about design is how it relates to people.
– Victor Papanek –
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A 21-Year-Old’s Solution to Homelessness
As a design student in Detroit, Veronika Scott was keenly aware of the increasing numbers of homeless people suffering deeply during the relentless winters. At the tender age of 21, she created The Detroit Empowerment Plan to provide much-needed warmth to the city’s 20,000 street dwellers. Scott is the creator of Element S, a coat that is self-heated, waterproof, and transforms into a sleeping bag at night. It is made by a group of homeless women who are paid, fed and housed while creating these coats made for those living on the streets. This Fast Company interview shares more. { read more }
Be The Change
Do something to reach out to someone in need today. |
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| Aug 22, 2011 |
| “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” –Margaret Mead |
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 “A retired gentleman who lives a few doors away from me can occasionally be seen picking up trash. He does it cheerfully and never complains. This morning, I was out walking my dog when I saw another neighbour picking up trash with his kids! When I commented on what a good job they were doing he said, “Well, there’s an older fellow in our street who does this. And my friend and I thought it wasn’t fair that he had to do it all the time, so now we take a turn.” The older gentleman had inspired others to pick up trash by doing it himself! It just goes to show we should be the change we want to see in this world.” — Wayfarer
[ share your story >> ] |
You can also contribute comments on each story! |
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| “I went to a caregiver’s retreat this past weekend and encountered a lot of wonderful people doing fabulous work caring for their loved ones. Because of my recent physical problems I had to go in a wheelchair. After the retreat was over, I was pushing myself across the large campus. It was hot and I was exhausted from the effort. A lady came up to me and said, “Can I push you somewhere?” It was the kindest thing imaginable. She pushed me all the way to my car! When we got to the car I thanked her so much. I told her what a blessing she was and how much I really needed that random act of kindness at the end of a long tiring day. She said it was her joy – and I really believed her because she was all smiles and wishing me a happy day. I realized in that singular moment that there is no kindness too small to make the difference in the life of someone else. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. In fact, the little ones are often the sweetest.” – wooka85257 |
| What is a “smile card”? It’s a game of kindness — do something nice for someone and leave a card behind asking them to pay it forward. To date, 957,034 cards have been shipped without any charge.
The ‘Smiles’ newsletter is emailed to 83,402 subscribers with the intent of spreading more smiles in the world. You can unsubscribe anytime.
get smile cards | donate | write to us |
|
You’re receiving this email because you are a DailyGood subscriber.
Trouble Viewing? On a mobile? Just click here. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe. |
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[Learning how to think] means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to, and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.
– David Foster Wallace –
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Attention as an Art Form
185 billion bits of information. In an average lifetime, this is what the human brain is capable of processing. With any limited resource, the fact that it’s in short supply can quickly create a feeling of scarcity. But it can also motivate wiser use of our attention, one of the fundamental building blocks of human experience. This article breaks attention down into four key aspects: Awareness, the ability to notice all that is happening around and within us more and more consciously; Choice, extending beyond just the domain of our actions, into what and how we think; Engagement, which is a progression from a passive interest to an active curiosity, and finally to enchantment; and Flow, the continuity of attention that allows us to more deeply experience and value what is already in front of us. { read more }
Be The Change
Make a conscious effort to use your attention in an artful way today. |
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