Empathic, emotionally intelligent work environments have a good track record of increasing creativity, improving problem solving and raising productivity.

One way to boost our will power and focus is to manage our distractions instead of letting them manage us.

When it comes to exploring the mind in the framework of cognitive neuroscience, the maximal yield of data comes from integrating what a person experiences - the first person - with what the measurements show - the third person.

There are a host of surprises among longer-term meditators, like a boost in the immune system from a day of practice, which is not seen in beginners, and a rapid recovery from stress or pain. At the "Olympic level" we find there is no anticipatory anxiety when the stress of pain is certain to come, and no lingering aftereffects - unlike the stress reactions in ordinary folk.

Simple inattention kills empathy, let alone compassion. So the first step in compassion is to notice the other's need. It all begins with the simple act of attention.

Shipping by sea produces 1/60 the emissions of shipping by air and about 1/5 that of trucking.

A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying attention to the person in pain.