In a Giraffe institution, the head nurse job would be to serve the nurses, not to control them. Teachers are there to serve the students, not control them.

Praise and reward create a system of extrinsic motivations for behavior. Children (and adults) end up taking action in order to receive the praise or rewards.

Regardless of our many differences, we all have the same needs. What differs is the strategy for fulfilling these needs.

The key to fostering connection in the face of a 'no' is always hearing 'yes' to something else.

You'll find people less threatening if you hear what they're needing rather than what they're thinking about you.

We only feel dehumanized when we get trapped in the derogatory images of other people or thoughts of wrongness about ourselves.

As radical as it may seem, it is possible to do things only out of play. I believe that to the degree that we engage moment by moment in the playfulness of enriching life- motivated solely by the desire for its enrichment- to that degree are we being compassionate with ourselves.