Sangha of Auspicious Companions

Sister Cyril of Calcutta

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August 12, 2011

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The Pay-It-Forward Little Libraries

Bigger than a breadbox, homier than a newspaper box and more surprising than a bookmobile, the Little Library is popping up all over town. On bike paths. Outside coffee shops. In the front yards of private homes. Stocked with books ranging from academic texts to children’s classics, music instruction and gardening magazines, each two-by-two-foot Little Library bears the same simple message: “Take a book. Leave a book.” The brainchild of Rick Brooks of Madison and Todd Bol of Hudson, the Little Library has found a home in more than 20 spots in Wisconsin since last summer and is spreading to communities in states from Minnesota to New York. In an era of laptop screens and eBooks, happening upon a Little Library can have its own special magic. { read more }

Be The Change

Check out the “Build a Library” section of the Little Libraries website. { more }

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August 11, 2011

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7 Ways to Have More by Owning Less

Stuff. We invariably accumulate it and often times develop a certain emotional attachment to it. To some extent, it’s the effect of increased marketing, but it is also our own conditioning. Fortunately, new digital platforms and cloud-based tools are making it increasingly easy to have many of the things we want without actually owning them. Because, as Wired founder and notable futurist Kevin Kelly once put it, “access is better than ownership.” Here are seven services that help shrink our carbon footprint, lighten our economic load and generally free us from the shackles of stuff — all through the power of sharing. { read more }

Be The Change

Start a virtuous sharing cycle among friends, offering some things or services you have access to.

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August 10, 2011

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Secrets to Longevity

They say that the key to a long life is eating well, exercising regularly and reducing stress. Now an eight-decade study indicates that this is only part of the equation. The Longevity Project tracked the lives of 1,500 boys and girls to explain how factors such as social connections, personality and marriage affect long-term health. The results flipped traditional logic on it’s head. “Take disposition, for example. Cheerful and optimistic children are actually less likely to live long lives, they found.” According to this NPR article, the findings clearly revealed that the best childhood personality predictor of longevity was conscientiousness. { read more }

Be The Change

Take the longevity self-assessment at the bottom of the article. { more }

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August 9, 2011

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The 3 Stages of Generosity

How do you think about generosity? In this recent TEDx Talk, Nipun Mehta shares his experiences with generosity, broken down into three stages: Give, Receive, and Dance! When you give, you find that the compassion felt around you is contagious and it, in turn, creates a community. When you receive, you discover abundance, you realize generosity exists in so many different ways. And finally, when you dance, you give and receive with a natural rhythm, helping to create communities where generosity becomes the organizing principle. Then, giving becomes contagious. { read more }

Be The Change

Give, Receive, Dance!

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August 8, 2011

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Going Beyond Profit

The simple for-profit model that has guided business practice in the past appears to be shifting towards a new paradigm. Profitability is important, but only when it serves the more fundamental goal of creating value for others through our gifts. And when a company’s strategy loses touch with this key principle, the potential for true value-creation is also lost. In this article, Decision Analyst Somik Raha also shifts the plane of inquiry to the personal level: “Are profits what motivate us to share our gifts?” The response he receives, “No! More and more, I find that those of us who wish to create value are already in the beyond-profit mindset, driven by a strong motivation of service through a channeling of our greatest creative gifts.” { read more }

Be The Change

Author Lynne Twist explores the soul of money in this short passage. { more }

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August 7, 2011

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Sister Cyril’s Compassionate Vision

As principal of Loreto School in Calcutta, Irish Catholic nun Sister Cyril has worked some real-world miracles. Her school serves 1500 female students, of which 721 are so poor that they need food, medicines, and even money to meet the rent. By bringing children together like this, she is showing a way for middle class schools to integrate the poor living around them into their educational mainstream, to their mutual benefit. “The ripple effect” she’s demonstrating — founded on the belief that everyone receives to give — has helped to transform the school into a center for community development, one that is diverse academically, financially, culturally and even religiously. In 2007, Sister Cyril was awarded the Padmashri, one of India’s most prestigious awards, for having served over 450,000 street children. { read more }

Be The Change

Consider the ways in which you have received from others, and then reach out to help someone in need today.

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August 6, 2011

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The ‘Before I Die’ Project

Artist Candy Chang had an idea to turn an abandoned property in New Orleans into a sort of collective performance art piece in which all are invited to participate, simply by declaring what is important to them. Participants are invited to complete the sentence “Before I die I want to …” Chang has provided chalk, a large-scale blackboard, and the necessary permits. A thought-provoking piece of public art. { read more }

Be The Change

One thing worth taking seriously is the question: Before I die I want to … ? Reflect with others here. { more }

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Becoming Someone

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August 5, 2011

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Alone But Not Lonely

An emerging body of research is suggesting that spending time alone can be good for us. Just as regular exercise and healthy eating make our minds and bodies work better, solitude, experts say, so can being alone. Sherry Turkle, director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, makes the case for people to mindfully set aside time everyday when they are not engaged in so-called “social snacking” activities like texting, g-chatting, and talking on the phone. “People make this error, thinking that being alone means being lonely, and not being alone means being with other people,” John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago said. “You need to be able to recharge on your own sometimes. Part of being able to connect is being available to other people, and no one can do that without a break.” { read more }

Be The Change

Try spending some time alone today — without any “social snacking” 🙂

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