A Whole New Mind, why right-brainers will rule the future, by Daniel H. Pink
Animals in Translation, Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior, by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson. An amazing book!
A standout in the magazine department
Yes! Magazine is the stellar quarterly publication of Positive Futures Network (PFN). PFN is an independent, nonprofit organization that supports people’s active engagement in creating a just, sustainable, and compassionate world. Friends come over, pick Yes! up, and invariably look for a corner to curl up and read. Without fail, they also want to take the magazine home with them. All are smitten with its sunny – but not Pollyannaish – outlook. Get a subscription or two for your favorite people, and don’t forget one for yourself.
Look inside
One inevitable byproduct of our floundering economy is that folks are staying at home more. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing. While some are using this opportunity to make living quarters more comfortable, I’m not talking about redecorating. It’s your time that‘s at issue here. Spend time with those who are important to you. When my kids were younger, and around at this time of year, we would line up all the worthy projects and decide which to contribute to. It was fascinating to see what moved them and why. Other suggestions: go for a walk, make popcorn and watch a movie, make something in the kitchen and then eat it, put oldies on the CD player and crank it up, look at old photo albums, tell family stories, have a talent show or devise a scavenger hunt, play charades, get out the cards or a board game, go outside and have a snowball fight, play touch football. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or food pantry.
The truth is that it doesn’t much matter what you do; the key is that you do it together. Most of us know intuitively that accumulating Things doesn’t make us any happier. Likewise, we know in our collective gut that what does bring happiness is quality interactions with those we most care about. So, stay home, get cozy, and, to paraphrase Stephen Sills, “love the ones you’re with!”
1 | 2
