Safe means that you are being your best self and living the life you've imagined even in the face of uncertainty. It means that you are being kind and brave -- to yourself and to others -- even if you are afraid. Even when you don't know what's going to happen next.
It also makes technology's powerful ability to save pieces of the recent past for us crystal clear. Who knew something as mundane as a saved voice mail could be such a simple yet profound document of life and death and love?
A hundred years from now, after the dust has settled, the case of renowned anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon will surely rank high in the annals of science for the systematic persecution of scientific conclusions.
MOOCs are good at certain things and terrible at others, and we need to understand the difference if we wish to educate human beings, not just workers with credentials.
Over the course of the last two centuries, animals have become all but invisible in the American scheme of things, drummed out of the society of their myth-making companions, gone from the rural as well as the urban landscape.
Many of the ethical missteps we see in everyday life are made possible when we assign blame to other people ("The cashier gave me too much change, I didn't make her do it").
As a child in Romania, I watched the Communist authorities come into our house and pull my grandfather from my grandmother's arms -- taking him to a prison where he was eventually kicked to death by a guard.
We may gravitate toward a world view based on stable personality type -- one populated by unambiguously good and bad apples -- but we don't know people as well as we think we do.
If the benefits of living in a city are diminished because the Internet brings access to the world to you, then why deal with the high real estate prices, traffic, crime, pollution and difficulty of living alongside millions of other people?
My husband and I have had a running argument and we've agreed to consult you as the final arbiter. I contend that people are basically good. My husband contends that people are basically bad. Who wins?
Old-school marketing was about persuading clients, pushing them as to why they should hire you or buy your product. New-style marketing is about inspiring potential customers to come out and play, pulling them toward you -- of their own free will.
When resources become skimpy, human beings don't suddenly cooperate to conserve what's left. They fight to the last scrap for possession of a diminishing resource. We also know that man-made catastrophes that hurt everyone, such as war, don't come to an end even though peace benefits everyone.
SPECIAL FROM BetterAfter50
The other night, I was dining at State Road, one of my favorite Martha's Vineyard restaurants.Ā It's such a popular place ...
Altruism is a lofty aspiration. The do-gooders of the world are widely revered for their pureness of heart, selflessness and generosity. Could it be that they have an ulterior motive? Even if their reward is simply to feel good about themselves?
I don't remember when the conversation turned to the issue of homosexuality, but I was deeply impressed with how it was conducted. What I witnessed was how a community works.
When I hear Morten Lauridsen's choral composition, I sense a boundless beauty and tenderness within the nature of humankind. Here, there is no place for evil. Perhaps his music is even the wind that would bend us to be better.
The human spirit within you is a primary resource you can tap into to find your way through your difficulties and into the life you truly want to create, experience and fulfill.
By my rough estimation, we spend perhaps 50 percent or more of our waking hours in storytelling. Humans make stories but, in some sense, we are also made by our stories.
What makes someone attractive to you? Specific physical features? A particular personality type? A certain indefinable quality of character or depth of soul? All reasonable answers, sure, but there's another critical influence on who you're attracted to: context.