InSpiritry

School’s Out for Summer!

If you have young people in your life, you know what makes the last week of May special: it is the end of the school year. University students have finished their exams, high school students are handing in final projects and elementary students are enjoying relay days and field trips. In classrooms everywhere, there is excitement in the air: for the next twelve weeks, no homework!

And it’s not just the kids who are excited. Parents are happy too. (more…)

       “Value your relationships.”  Barbara Bush

Lately, I have been thinking about relationships and the strength they bring to our lives.

With that on my mind, this week I read an insightful article  about “the power of many” in an investment newsletter. As evidence of how personal relationships empower us in the midst of these unsettled economic times, the article noted an interesting custom I read about several years ago in Dan Buettner’s eye-opening book, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest .

The custom comes from the island of Okinawa, where for years people have formed social cooperatives called moai. Essentially, moai are informal groups formed by people who want to count on and cooperate with each other. (more…)