The artist appeals to that part of our being…which is a gift and not an acquisition—and, therefore, more permanently enduring . —Joseph Conrad. With The Gift we can learn that a gift is kept alive by its constant donation. Lewis Hyde gives it to us. The labor of gratitude Once a gift has stirred within us it is up to… View Post
Hannah Brechner has always loved that her family communicates via handwritten letters. In October of 2010, she began writing love letters intended for strangers and tucking them away in libraries and cafes across New York City, for people to randomly discover. Soon, she offered on her blog HannahBrencher.com to write a letter to anyone who needed one. Over the next year,… View Post
Quote of the day Permission is an asset, and it is the heart of what can be built online in the connection economy. But permission is notoriously unresilient. If the message doesn’t get through, nothing happens. ~SETH GODIN, author of The Icarus Deception ECONOMY Actually, we need more Harvard Professors who would call out overcharges at a restaurant, Slate AGING… View Post
The Art of Fiction gives a private series of extemporaneous lectures, analyzing the four essential elements of fiction. If you know where your inspiration really comes from, you will never run out of material. A rational writer can stoke his subconscious just as one puts fuel in a machine. If you keep on storing things in your mind for your future… View Post
John Maeda is a Japanese-American graphic designer, computer scientist, academic, and author of Redesigning Leadership. A leader doesn’t start with storytelling, they start with storylistening. Leaders bridge the past and the future and the present. (…) We don’t like change. But a great story from a leader can bring people long that path. This is how it was. And this is how… View Post
Quote of the day Women’s shoe heel size exerts a powerful effect on men’s behavior. Simply put, they make women more beautiful. ~NICOLAS GUEGUEN, a behavioral science researcher. CREATIVITY Creativity emerges when you change-up the routine (How to Reach Enlightenment), The Creativity Post SCIENCE Study proves high heels do have power over men, Associated Press Calling it sex when… View Post
Willpower has become one of the most intensively studied topics in social science. Researchers around the world have found that improving willpower is the surest way to a better life. While self-esteem is fundamental to our personal welfare, I believe, as researcher Baumeister exposes in Willpower that major problems, personal and social, center on failure on self-control: compulsive spending and borrowing, impulsive violence,… View Post