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.
These Montana moms created a nonprofit that welcomes refugees to their city
After seeing the tragic photo of a drowned Syrian refugee—Aylan Kurdi, age 3— laying face down on a beach in Turkey, Mary Poole got her book club together in Montana and asked “what can we do about this?” Together, they decided to create a nonprofit to help refugees called Soft Landing. Read More...
Japan's population is falling faster than it ever has before
Japan's population fell at the beginning of this year at the fastest pace since 1968, when the earliest comparable figures started getting collected. As of January 1, the number of Japanese people (excluding resident foreigners) fell by a record 308,084 from a year earlier to 125,583,658, Read More...
Crossing the US-Mexico border: The world’s most illegal game of volleyball
In many ways, the border that separates the US from Mexico is reminiscent of a war zone. Helicopters constantly fly overhead, border agents patrol along it, and militarized weaponry are all in place to stop immigrants headed northwards to find work. A heavy fence stands as a symbolic divider Read More...
Book review: The self-compassion skills workbook
Is it really possible to transform ourselves in just fourteen days? Tim Desmond, author of The Self-Compassion Skills Workbook believes it is. Desmond provides an overview of what self-compassion is before presenting his fourteen day program in which readers are encouraged to work on Read More...
Can you buy anything real with Bitcoin? On the streets, it proves a hard sell
My journey into the dark economy starts much as expected: in front of a computer screen, late at night. It ends somewhere quite unexpected, in a humdrum setting a world away from the stereotype of modernity, equality and sticking it to the man promised by digital currencies such as Bitcoin: it ends Read More...
Elon Musk about basic income: 'I don't think we're going to have a choice'
Across their three presidential debates last year, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump uttered the word “jobs” 86 times – but the word “automation” never came up. And by all accounts, nothing is going to transform the American labor market more dramatically, and likely Read More...
Cryptocurrencies can make money work for all
Cryptocurrencies can make money work for all—not just for a few. You can read here why you need to get ready for digital currencies. This story also explains why bitcoin should make sense to Read More...
The perfect meditation technique for people who can't meditate
Could this be the meditation solution I've been looking for? A couple years ago, I heard ABC News anchor Dan Harris speak at Chicago Ideas Week. He told all of us in the audience how mindfulness meditation changed his life. He was a self-proclaimed "fidgety skeptic" who had an on-air panic attack, Read More...
How the blockchain could usher in a future of shared mobility
Cars sit idle most of the time, but thanks to the decentralized blockchain system that supports cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, people can safely and easily monetize their vehicles while they’re not using them. An example of this is Turo, a new peer-to-peer car rental marketplace that currently Read More...
Is yoga the path to happiness?
Certain body posturing, respiration and thinking positively influence our physiology. Studies show that recalling a happy memory makes you happier. Dana Santas is the creator of Radius Yoga Conditioning, a yoga style designed to help athletes move, breathe and focus better. She's the yoga Read More...