Sometimes I can't sleep, and something within keeps my heart pounding, my mind awake, my body too tense to settle into my night, until I've exhausted myself by staying up late, or by discovering and doing what I'm supposed to do...

Europeans clearly do things differently from us. Yet their ‘smaller’ lives seem in many ways richer and fuller. I’ve begun to notice some of those differences that we might do well to consider. Here are five that really struck me:

Jirka called! On Tuesday, I told you about my unforgettable interview with Jirka Rysavy, the founder and former CEO of Corporate Express, the office-supply company that Staples (SPLS) is buying for some $4.7 billion. This is the guy who lived in a cabin in the woods above Boulder, Colo. “I still live in the same place,” Rysavy told me when he phoned Friday afternoon. Now he’s the CEO of a Nasdaq-traded company, but he still lives simply and yes, uses an outhouse. “I didn’t want money to change me,” he professed. He doesn’t even own a BlackBerry.

Here are the positive actions that create genuine miracles in living and loving. You can expect miraculous transformation when you do four things:

One World

World Fair Trade Day

John talks with us in his living room about how he and his wife Nancy Hensley envisioned and created Sunhawk, their Rastra-block, solar-powered, uber-eco home in Hopland, Calif.

Gaiam Life Videos

Healthy eating at Gaiam Life