Sara Hacala has written a pathbreaking book that presents 52 ideas and practices to spur us on to a revival of a more civil society. Here is an excerpt on nurturing civility on the Internet.

“The Internet, which has become a nearly indispensable global communications tool in only a few short years, has afforded many positive benefits, far outweighing its drawbacks. Whatever your personal view, it is fair to say that the Internet, in all its forms, has altered the way that most of us communicate interpersonally.

“In July 2010, the Pew Research Center issued a report, ‘The Internet and the Future of Social Relations,’ based on 895 respondents, 371 of whom were technology experts. Asked to project, in 2020, whether the Internet will have produced a mostly positive or negative effect on the larger picture of their social relationships, 85 percent foresaw the Internet as a positive influence.

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From athletes who “choke” to concert violinists who flub well-rehearsed passages, to presidential candidates who space out, all of us are susceptible to performing poorly under pressure. Your motor memory might have a routine down pat, but as soon as the conscious, anxious part of your brain takes over, those normally smooth and automatic processes go awry.

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Ancient yogic lore discusses special abilities, called siddhis, which may be attained through the disciplined practice of meditation. From a modern perspective, tales about siddhis are usually dismissed as superstitious nonsense. But when systematic science is applied, abilities once regarded as impossible, ranging from conscious control of the autonomic nervous system to perception through time, are found to be possible after all. This doesn’t mean that all yogic lore is true, but if we’ve overlooked even a tiny proportion of our remarkable capacities, what does this imply about the full range of human potential? And what does it imply about the way that mainstream science has marginalized or ignored such abilities?

What do you think? Join the discussion at Noetic:

The infinitely complex field (or ocean) of information that surrounds us—the higher-dimensional unified field of consciousness—interacts with us in myriad ways. First we see the normal consequences of our actions—A causes B causes C. In addition, similarly vibrating fields of meaning within the ocean bring helpful and even curative synchronicities into our lives. How can we connect with it all?

Our glowing etheric body provides a clue. We are more than our physical bodies. Interpenetrating our physical form are energetic aspects of ourselves that extend far beyond the etheric level—according to many teachings, they include the astral body, the mental body, and the causal body. These energy bodies may literally provide us with a way to link up and interact with the higher-dimensional consciousness field—by tapping into the mechanism of similar vibrations. That is what the wisdom teachings of many recent teachers are all about—being in the “same vibration” as one’s goals.15

What is the trigger that can activate the awareness and power of our true higher-dimensional selves? The gateway, according to most of humanity’s wisdom traditions, is the now. Remember: as our fish rested in the stillness and quiet of the ocean in a state of present and loving awareness, it was suddenly propelled into a greater and expanded oceanic world. So can it be for us. By developing what I call active consciousness—a deep form of awareness that not only passively receives information from the greater consciousness field but also acts, interacts, creates, and manifests within it—humanity may finally fulfill its greatest potential.

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Post written by Leo Babauta.

After last week’s article on How I Changed My Life, In Four Lines, I had many people ask the same question:

“I want to change a few different things in my life — health, debt, productivity, etc. Do I really need to do them separately, focusing on one thing only and nothing else until that change is done? Even if they’re in different areas?”

Yes, I would recommend you focus on one change at a time. Here’s why.

It’s very hard to make changes that stick, especially if you’re trying to focus on more than one. In my experiments, I’ve found very consistently that changing multiple things at once doesn’t work very well. Your focus gets spread thin, and in the long run you end up failing to stick to any of the changes. If you’ve tried and failed at multiple changes at once before, you’ll know what I mean.

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‘What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step.’ ~C. S. Lewis

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Changing your life can seem an incredibly tough and complicated thing, especially if you’ve failed a great number of times (like I did), found it too hard, and resigned yourself to not changing.

But I found a way to change.

And I’m not any better than anyone else, not more disciplined, not more motivated. I just learned a few simple principles that changed my life.

I’ve written about them many times, but realized they’re spread out all over the site.

Here is how I changed my life, in a nutshell.

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The inner workings of the brain can now be read using low cost hardware

You don’t have to be a Jedi to make things move with your mind.

Granted, we may not be able to lift a spaceship out of a swamp like Yoda does in The Empire Strikes Back, but it is possible to steer a model car, drive a wheelchair and control a robotic exoskeleton with just your thoughts.

"The first thing is to clear your mind…to think of nothing," says Ed Jellard; a young man with the quirky title of senior inventor.

We are standing in a testing room at IBM’s Emerging Technologies lab in Winchester, England.

On my head is a strange headset that looks like a black plastic squid. Its 14 tendrils, each capped with a moistened electrode, are supposed to detect specific brain signals.

In front of us is a computer screen, displaying an image of a floating cube.

As I think about pushing it, the cube responds by drifting into the distance.

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Uncertainty. It’s a terrifying word.

Living with it, dangling over your head like the sword of Damocles, day in day out, is enough to send anyone spiraling into a state of anxiety, fear and paralysis.

Like it or not, though, uncertainty is the new normal. We live in a time where the world is in a state of constant, long-term flux. And, that’s not all. If you want to spend your time on the planet not just getting-by, but consistently creating art, experiences, businesses and lives that truly matter, you’ll need to proactively seek out, invite and even deliberately amplify uncertainty. Because the other side of uncertainty is opportunity.

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