Today’s Solutions: January 23, 2025

Lifestyle

Alongside taking care of other people and the planet, make sure you take good care of yourself. The Lifestyle section at the Optimist Daily has solutions for everyday wellbeing on topics like food, beauty, fashion, and the latest trends. Curious about caring for houseplants, eating plant-based, or parenting tips? It’s all in there.

The Favorite Story of 2018

The Favorite Story of 2018

The end of the year marks a threshold and invites a pause for reflection. It's a great time to take stock of the year behind and look ahead at the year to come. As an emissary of The Optimist Daily, you are familiar with the continuous outpouring of solutions to the many challenges that humanity Read More...

Foreign aid campaigns have lon

Foreign aid campaigns have long been flawed—these groups are changing this

The problem with foreign-aid donations is that they often fail to create the positive impact that donors had hoped for. Specifically, while large-scale efforts often improved infrastructure, they typically fell short on a key dimension: bring greater democracy and inclusiveness to decision-making Read More...

These are the 5 best eco-frien

These are the 5 best eco-friendly places to retire

Finding the best place to retire used to be pretty simple. Lots of sunshine? Read More...

Giving with meaning this holiday season

An antidote to holiday overload - Give gifts with meaning

People, Planet, and Purchasing Power By the Optimist Daily Editorial Team The holiday jingles playing on repeat these days remind us ‘tis the season to show our family and friends how much we love them. Traditionally, this includes giving them presents. Yet, the whole experience of holiday Read More...

How exercising regularly can m

How exercising regularly can make you feel young for most of your life

Exercising is definitely an essential component to living a long and healthy life, but the key is to do it on a very regular basis. A study found that people in their 70s who have been exercising regularly for decades seem to have put a brake on the aging process, maintaining the heart, lung and Read More...

How to foster empathy in child

How to foster empathy in children

As the year’s end approaches, most Americans get bombarded by emailed and snail-mailed requests for donations to all manner of charities, A to Z. I’m an easy target, a softy readily seduced by impassioned pleas to help improve the well-being of people, animals, and the environment, and I often Read More...

This interactive map will help

This interactive map will help you choose your next travel destination

If you’re looking for a 2019 getaway but can’t settle on a destination, engineers at MIT have developed an interactive map that could help you narrow down those countless options. The interface, called Escape, asks that you enter in your origin city and your dates to show you how much it costs Read More...

At this new online banking pla

At this new online banking platform, customers are the owners

In a given year, the biggest banks in the U.S.–Wells Fargo, Citi, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase–rake in billions of dollars in fees that their customers pay to the bank they are with, and money they have to turn over if they overdraw from one of their accounts. Often, the banks then Read More...

Researchers found one way that

Researchers found one way that long-term marriages get happier

It turns out that a long, happy marriage resembles a slow-moving rom-com, one that plays out over decades. The first few years of a marriage are rife with conflicts, but the emotional weather eventually changes, according to a new study by psychology researchers at UC Read More...

For a happier, healthier world

For a happier, healthier world, live modestly

Gibran Vita makes every effort to get rid of the dispensable. He lives in a small home and wears extra layers indoors to cut his heating bills. He eats and drinks in moderation. He spends his leisure time in "contemplation," volunteering or working on art projects. "I like to think more like a Read More...