I have some bad news for you: The more you email, tweet, post messages on Facebook, read blogs (including this one), the less clever you become. With the advent of ever more capable mobile devices, people are online all the time, everywhere. You see people texting while waiting in line for their coffee, while exercising in the gym, while going up or down in an elevator. The opportunities to make the tiniest windows of time productive or entertaining become almost endless. But the achievement comes at a price. Scientists are discovering an unexpected side effect: The higher digital input we receive, the less time our brains get to process information, learn and become creative. In other words: We need downtime to get new insights and new ideas.

This doesn’t come as news to me. I have always found a walk on the beach or on a mountain trail with a long view to be a very good “idea producing” event. In fact, on an ongoing basis, I find my best ideas come to me in the morning shower when my mind is still fresh and when I’m not even close to my computer.

I loved this graphic! I found it on Wise Earth: The Network for Social Responsibility.

“Volunteers of Shanti Fund are ambitious about celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi Statue on Long Island. Volunteers have contacted many schools and have received very strong and enthusiastic responses from administrators and teachers for their participation.

I’m always delighted each time I see a “No Food, No Farms” bumper sticker because its 100% true. What we eat is directly linked to our personal health and well-being. Without farms, we wouldn’t have real food to eat - plain and simple. Even with the continuously expanding popularity of farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture (CSAs), small- and medium-sized farms still struggle daily to keep their businesses afloat.

Twenty-five years ago, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert. In 2001, Dave Mathews joined the non-profit. In their 25 years, Farm Aid has raised over $37 million for family farms to help them stay independent from major agriculture companies.

Elise Boulding often said her path in life was determined by World War II. When she was a girl, she recalled, her mother had been homesick for Norway, and young Elise conceived of that country as a haven, a place to hold in reserve as a retreat, where she would always be safe. That vision was shattered in 1940 by the Nazi invasion of Norway.

“And that was when I realized that there was no safe place on earth,” she said. “And I knew that I had found my life’s mission.”

My friend, award-winning Rolling Around Heaven author, Jessica Maxwell, sent me this email.

Dear Friends of RAH!

First, a big thank-you to all who sacrificed our First Sunny Weekend of the Year last week to attend Molly's fabulous Roll Around Heaven Book Club Tea Party (Molly, please forward this to all book club members...Tea d'Esprit invite coming soon!) or our Mt. TaborSpace RAH! Talk in Portland, OR. And a special hooRAH! to Molly, Maggie and Carley for making all the arrangements. We have lots of RAH! Events coming up posted on www.RollAroundHeaven.com as we roll along.

Where do artists go for advice, camaraderie and shop talk?

Sure, there’s the coffee shop, the bar, and Master of Fine Arts programs around North America and the world. But for cheaper, more instant access to career strategies and collective wisdom, they can now turn to Pablo Helguera’s Estheticist. The monthly publication debuted in July.