Today’s Solutions: January 19, 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.

Crowdfunding brings business i

Crowdfunding brings business innovation to underserved regions

Historically, funding for startups comes from venture capitalists. And for efficiency reasons that leads to concentration: Venture capitalists and startups tend to be in the same places. As a result, large regions of society lack the fresh energy and job creation that business innovation brings. Read More...

Deepak Chopra reveals 7 mindfu

Deepak Chopra reveals 7 mindful ways to reduce stress and anxiety

With busy schedules and constant societal pressure, stress and anxiety are no strangers to most of us. It can be hard to unwind, relax and experience peace. However, this is where mindfulness can help. Recent research has shown mindfulness strategies can not only reduce stress and anxiety, but can Read More...

New Spanish exchange converts

New Spanish exchange converts bitcoin and fiat currencies at 7,000 ATM’s

HolyTransaction Trade is a new universal cryptocurrency wallet in Spain that enables bitcoin and Euro instant conversions. Within Spain’s 7,000 ATMs, a person can convert their bitcoin into fiat currencies and vice versa, helping to push the country into the digital world. HolyTransaction has Read More...

Amazon says it will start acce

Amazon says it will start accepting food stamps soon

Starting this summer, seven online food retailers, including Amazon and FreshDirect, will start accepting food stamps from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Other participating retailers include Safeway, ShopRite, Hy-Vee, Hart's Local Grocers, and Dash's Market. The two-year Read More...

This social enterprise is crea

This social enterprise is creating a 'new generation of readers' in Brazil

Literacy in Brazil is a major problem. Of the 28 million students enrolled, 50 percent scored below the basic proficiency level in the 2012 PISA international assessment tests. According to the Instituto Paulo Montenegro, 27 percent of Brazilian adults are functionally illiterate. Text Read More...

Why the Dutch raise the worldâ

Why the Dutch raise the world’s happiest children

Unicef has rated Dutch children the happiest in the world. According to researchers, Dutch kids are ahead of their peers in childhood well-being when compared with 29 of the world’s richest industrialized countries. Two American moms living in the Netherlands have been finding out why and wrote a Read More...

Three ways to cultivate a sens

Three ways to cultivate a sense of hope, even when times seem hopeless

All Souls Unitarian, a liberal church two miles north of the White House in Washington, has seen record attendance in the weeks after the election of Donald Trump. Congregants have filled the pews, bringing fears and disillusionment about what the next four years could mean for them and for Read More...

Changing the way you think

Changing the way you think

Many of us may already be struggling with our New Year’s resolutions, but at least we can take comfort in modern neuroscience. Forty years ago, we’d have been less hopeful. Back then neuroscience would say that the brain was fixed after early childhood. One famous experiment in the 1960s showed Read More...

The Kurdish woman building a f

The Kurdish woman building a feminist democracy while fighting Isis

Asya Abdullah is not a polished politician. She speaks slowly and deliberately in Kurmanji in a tone which suggests she has had to practise her material many times. But despite the reserved and careful exterior, Abdullah is one of the most radical and effective revolutionaries in the world today. Read More...

Hundreds of professors from 17

Hundreds of professors from 176 US law schools oppose Trump’s attorney-general pick

The president-elect’s decision to choose Alabama senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general is less than reassuring for forward-thinking Americans. Sessions is known for his objection to women’s and LGBT rights legislation, his complete opposition against illegal immigration, and for his many Read More...