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Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
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Video of the Week
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Jun 03, 2011 |
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Of Forests and Men
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| To commemorate 2011 as the International Year of Forests, the United Nations appointed Yann Arthus-Bertrand to create a short video to raise consciousness about forests. Using stunning aerial photography and video footage, the producer (whose previous online movie was seen by 400 million people) has done it again. |
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When you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.
– J. Krishnamurti –
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10 Worst Listening Habits — and Their Cure
We spend up to 80% of our waking hours in some form of communication, and 45% of that time is spent listening. And yet, it is the skill in which we have the least training. It isn’t surprising, then, that studies show how poor and inefficient we can be as listeners. Apart from lack of explicit training, other reasons factor in. To start with, we think faster than we speak or listen, leaving us with much room for distraction. As a result, the average listener understands and retains only 50% of what is said in a 10-minute presentation. But there is hope. Ralph G. Nichols, long-time professor of rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, identifies the 10 worst listening habits of Americans, and more importantly, ways of turning them into good listening habits. { read more }
Be The Change
“Four words that could change the world: Tell me your story.” Try Dan Gottlieb’s experiment. { more } |
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Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe –
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A Biologist’s Solution For A Troubled City
To many residents Binghamton, New York, appears to be on the decline. The once thriving community was struck hard by the economic downturn. It now has a shrinking population, rising crime rates and increasing drug use among youth. But recently, the city’s quality of life got a boost from an unusual source: an evolutionary biologist who has studied microbes, zooplankton, and birds. Professor David Sloan Wilson is an expert on the evolutionary roots of altruism and cooperation, and he’s applying his insights to helping Binghamton promote kindness. Wilson’s Binghamton Neighborhood Project is part of a “whole-neighborhood” movement that seeks more comprehensive ways to improve the lives of at-risk kids. More broadly, it is helping community leaders understand how a neighborhood’s social environment can increase kindness and reduce problems like violence and drug use. { read more }
Be The Change
Talk to your neighbors today — a way to start building a warmer environment for kids in your community. |
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The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
– Charles DuBois –
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Retirees Volunteer to Tackle Japan’s Nuclear Crisis
In Japan, The Skilled Veterans Corps is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60. A group of more than 200 Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power station. They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation, not the young. It was while watching the television news that Yasuteru Yamada decided it was time for his generation to stand up.: “I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live. Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop.” Mr Yamada is lobbying the government hard for his volunteers to be allowed into the power station. The government has expressed gratitude for the offer but is cautious. { read more }
Be The Change
Following the Tsunami in Japan, one of our subscribers sent us some really inspiring stories of her country’s response to the tragedy. Read it here. { more } |
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Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
– Mark Twain –
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Building Curious Employees
Design thinking is a process of empathizing with the end user. David Kelley, founder of IDEO and Stanford’s d.school design program, takes a similar approach to managing people. He believes leadership is a matter of empathizing with employees. In this interview, he explains why leaders should seek understanding rather than blind obedience, why it’s better to be a coach and a taskmaster and the effects of intrinsically motivating people. { read more }
Be The Change
Practice being a curious, empathetic person; ask “Why?” questions to help in understanding other people’s perspective. |
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| May 30, 2011 |
| “Kindness is never wasted. If it has no effect on the recipient, at least it benefits the bestower.” — S. H. Simmons |
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 “I have been sending out Smile Cards with little gifts around my work place for about six months. Since I place the gifts in our inter-office mailbox, I never know who gets them or see their reactions. As I place gifts in the mail box, I imagine people’s reactions and it makes me happy to know that maybe I am making someone’s day a little brighter. Today, I actually got to witness the reaction. Apparently, one of the little gifts I left in the mailbox this morning made it’s way to a co-worker of mine. Today’s gifts was a little cloth kleenex holder that you can leave in your purse and a yarn flower bag tag, so my co-worker, a guy, passed it along to another female co-worker. I heard them talking as they figured out what it was and why they had received it, and they started discussing the whole concept of “paying forward”. I later heard her talking and brainstorming on what she would like to do. It was exciting to hear others get excited about the “pay it forward” concept and hear their ideas.” — keriann
[ share your story >> ] |
You can also contribute comments on each story! |
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| “I was recently disabled, and went from $80000 a year to poverty. Random gift cards would show up in the mail or stuck in my purse and calls from my nieces to say how much I’m loved.” — Annie74 |
| 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, 925,583 cards have been shipped without any charge.
The ‘Smiles’ newsletter is emailed to 81,289 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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Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise.
– George Washington Carver –
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The Great Tree Survey
According to a 2010 United Nations report, the rate at which forests are destroyed-logged or cleared to make way for farms or mines-was nearly 20 percent lower from 2000 to 2010 than it had been in the previous decade. Huge tree-planting programs, especially in China, reduced the net loss of forest even further. But vast areas are still being slashed, mostly in the tropics, including each year a Switzerland-size area of previously undisturbed, ecologically precious “primary” forest. Most of those trees are burned, and the carbon stored in their wood literally goes up in smoke. However, a new way of measuring the carbon in forests may help keep them from being cut down. { read more }
Submitted by: CF
Be The Change
Visit your local arboretum. Sponsor a tree. Plant a seed. |
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Slow travel isn’t only about the mode of transportation — it’s also about the way you travel. You settle in. You have to go to the grocery store. You get to know the people who run the cafe. It makes for a completely different trip.
– Pauline Kennedy –
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Grounded For Good
After spending 18 months abroad, McMillans were inspired to return home to Scotland with as little environmental impact as possible. En route from Singapore, they journeyed across 14 countries over 85 days, using 22 buses, 14 trains, 11 boats and numerous rickshaws. They enjoyed it so much that they started a website to help others do the same — flightless travel. Aircrafts currently produce 4% of Europe’s CO2 emissions but recent research has found that aircraft emissions have up to 2.7 times more impact on the air than ground emissions due to the delicate nature of the upper atmosphere. While “slow travel” is better for the environment, Tom McMillan feels that is also a great way to engage with the world and “savour the moment.” { read more }
Be The Change
If you’re planning a future car trip, offer a ride to a stranger by making a posting on Craigslist’s carshare board. { more } |
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Adversity introduces a man to himself.
– Albert Einstein –
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Making a Case for Mindfulness
Growing numbers of attorneys are embracing some form of practice to achieve mindfulness. Their reasons for doing so are varied, but chief among them are stress management and improved mental and physical health. This is a hopeful shift, given the well-known Johns Hopkins study which found that lawyers are more prone to depression than members of any other profession. In the most recent study, Harvard researchers found that practicing a form of mindful meditation for as little as 30 minutes a day for eight weeks resulted in measurable changes in the brain regions involved in learning, memory, emotion regulation and stress. Charles Halpern, a trailblazing public interest lawyer notes that a growing openness to the practice of mindfulness “is making us more skilled and effective as lawyers, more focused, more active listeners, better at helping our clients and serving justice, and doing it in a way that is sustainable.” { read more }
Submitted by: Lavanya
Be The Change
Talk with a few coworkers today about how they manage stress. { more } |
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It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.
– Author Unknown –
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Her Prom Date? A Football Star!
Joslyn Levell couldn’t wait to get to school Monday. The eighth-grader became the most talked-about kid at Suncrest Middle School in West Virginia, after scoring a date with Chicago Bears rookie J.T. Thomas for her end-of-school-year formal dance Friday. “I’m not used to the attention, but I like it,” Levell said. Joslyn has spina bifida, a condition in which the spine doesn’t properly develop, and is confined to a wheelchair most of the time. Thomas’ 7-year-old brother, Jared, has autism and rides the same bus as Joslyn and it was their bus-driver who envisioned this memorable moment. “After so many people turned me down, this was so big especially, because he asked me instead of me asking him,” Josyln said. { read more }
Be The Change
Reach out to someone with a disability and do whatever it takes to make them smile! |
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