Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal

It is the marriage of the soul with nature that makes the intellect fruitful, and gives birth to imagination. — Henry David Thoreau

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Good News of the Day:
When former Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner was asked to help find funding to finish constructing two classrooms in the elementary school where she worked in Guatemala, she decided to use — or rather reuse — a common piece of trash. Kutner used what was known in environment-friendly circles as “eco-blocks” — plastic bottles stuffed with inorganic trash — and encased them in chicken wire. Once covered in a few layers of cement, the bottles provided cost-efficient and eco-friendly insulation for the classroom’s walls. “They stay cooler than traditionally built schools and have even inspired new community initiatives to find everyday solutions to trash management,” Kutner said. http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4640

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Be The Change:
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

**Share A Reflection**
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What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible. — Theodore Roethke

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Inspiration of the Day:
In 1954, England’s Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile. Today, of course, the it is routine among the top runners, but until Sir Roger (knighted in 1975) accomplished it, it was considered beyond the realm of human possibility — like climbing Mount Everest or walking on the moon. Bannister though, being a medical student at Oxford at the time, recognized it more of a global, psychological barrier. Sure enough, after he broke the record, within 3 years, 16 others had done it. He disappeared from the track scene shortly after his record run, and upon graduating, devoted his life to medicine. A near-fatal car accident in 1975 kept Bannister from running again, but gave him perspective. “The car accident said, ‘Well, if there’s something you want to do, you might as well do it, because after the next car accident, you might be dead.'” http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4675

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Be The Change:
An article from Wharton: “What’s Behind the 4-Minute Mile, Starbucks and the Moon Landing? The Power of Impossible Thinking” http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4675a

**Share A Reflection**
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Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power. — Seneca

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Inspiration of the Day:
In the classic Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, researchers gave children a choice between one marshmallow right away, or two later. Most struggled to resist the treat and held out for less than three minutes. “A few kids ate the marshmallow right away,” Walter Mischel, the Stanford professor in charge of the experiment, remembers. “They didn’t even bother ringing the bell. Other kids would stare directly at the marshmallow and then ring the bell thirty seconds later.” About 30% of the children, however, successfully delayed gratification until the researcher returned, some 15 minutes later. These kids wrestled with temptation but found a way to resist. The most interesting results came years later: children who waited fifteen minutes had SAT scores that were, on average, 210 points higher than those of those who waited only 30 seconds. This New Yorker article delves into the mental processes behind self-control. http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4668

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Be The Change:
Make an effort to remain “in your own power” today.

**Share A Reflection**
http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4668

If you’re really mind-full, and if you underline that aspect of fullness, wholeness, or wholeheartedness, it reveals the gift character of everything. — Brother David Steindl-Rast

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Good News of the Day:
“Want to fix the economy? Next time you buy coffee, purchase a cup for the person behind you. Or as you grind your way through the morning commute, pick up the tollbooth charge for the driver behind you, draped over his steering wheel and ranting at the long delay. You’ve heard that famous Gandhian quote about being the change, well these are good measures to start with, packing more punch than you might imagine. This approach to life starts with the following premise: What exactly did I (or you) do to deserve to be alive? If you can process that question and come out thinking it was a gift that you can’t ever pay back, then beginning a life of greater giving is the only logical and remotely reciprocal way to go.” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Van Slambrouck reflects on the gift economy. http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4681

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Be The Change:
Think of an experience of gifting (either receiving or giving) that has stayed with you, and share it with others here. http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4681a

**Share A Reflection**
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Service doesn’t start when you have something to give — it blossoms naturally when you have nothing left to take. — Nipun Mehta

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Good News of the Day:
They wanted to show kids in Compton, CA, one of the most dangerous cities in America, how to create community spirit, and so organizers put on a basketball contest for top academic students. But following a tear-jerking gesture from the winner — it appears the true lessons learned were by the adults. Senior Allen Guei won in front of a packed house. And three months after winning the $40,000 top prize, he donated all of his winnings to the seven other finalists. Guei, a star player on the basketball team has a full scholarship, and wanted to give his classmates a chance to make their academic dreams come true, too. “I’ve already been blessed so much and I know we’re living with a bad economy, so I know this money can really help my classmates,” he said. “It was the right decision.” http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4678

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Be The Change:
The next time you receive something, consider how you could share it.

**Share A Reflection**
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Walk around feeling like a leaf. Know you could tumble any second. Then decide what to do with your time. — Naomi Shihab Nye

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Inspiration of the Day:
Renowned poet Naomi Shihab Nye writes about button-hooks, onions and her grandmother’s tea. Her poems speak of ordinary things — things we take for granted until it’s almost too late. For her poetry is a “conversation with the world, conversation with those words on the page, allowing them to speak back to you — conversation with yourself.” The daughter of a Palestinian father and an American mother, she’s lived in old Jerusalem, in St. Louis, and now with her own family in San Antonio, Texas. Bill Moyers carries a poem of hers in his wallet, and interviews her here. http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4622

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Be The Change:
Ponder on the power of words. A poem of Naomi Shihab Nye’s, “Before You Know What Kindness Really Is:” http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4622a

**Share A Reflection**
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A person becomes wise when they can see what needs to be done and do it successfully without being told what to do. — Inuit Elder

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Tip of the Day:
Education is something we’re deeply passionate about, but much of today’s dominant formal education model is in need of a paradigm shift. While lots has been said and written about education reform over the past couple of years, the issue and the public discourse around it have been going on for decades. So how does the free speech movement of the 1960s relate to digital learning and The Beatles? Via popular internet publication Brain Pickings, here is a round-up of the most compelling and visionary reading on reinventing education from the past century, including videos that feature Isaac Asimov and Howard Gardner. http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4671

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Be The Change:
Share a life lesson with a student.

**Share A Reflection**
http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4671