Wired for compassion

We’re wired for compassion — our default setting is to help. But sometimes we turn off that part of ourselves.

If we can turn it off, we can turn it back on, too. All it may take is the simple act of noticing.

So says Daniel Goleman, psychologist and award-winning author of Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence in this 13-minute TedTalks video, Why Aren’t We All Good Samaritans, embedded below.

After listening to Goleman’s story about the urban trance and the unconscious man on the subway, I’m left wondering: [Read more]

A stroke of insight with Jill Bolte Taylor

One morning, brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor realized she was in the midst of a massive stroke. As she began to slip away, losing her movement, speech and cognition, she had what she now calls “a stroke of insight” about how we live our lives.

Her stroke marked a functional loss from which it took her eight years to fully recover. It also marked an unleashing of creativity that continues to drive her today.

In this TED video, Jill Bolte Taylor will make you laugh and cry as she shares her central message: [Read more]