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 11 countries with the highest quality of life
Each year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development releases their Better Life Index that categorizes countries based on quality of life. To create the list, the OECD studies countries across 11 parameters of well-being, including financial wealth, safety, and environmental Read More...
Leonard Cohen's tortured love affair with Zen Buddhism
Leonard Cohen was waiting for the miracle to come, and he waited half his life away. For three decades, the Jewish poet pop star studied Zen Buddhism. At 65, he finally saw small miracles. ‘There was just a certain sweetness to daily life that began asserting itself,” Cohen told The Guardian in Read More...
Colombia peace deal: Government and Farc reach new agreement
The Colombian government and the Farc rebel group have announced a new peace agreement, six weeks after the original deal was rejected in a popular vote. Alvaro Uribe, a former president who led the "no" campaign, was involved in this round of negotiations intended to end 52 years of civil war. The Read More...
Is Bitcoin the answer to Zimbabwe's currency woes? Some economists think so
Tendai Biti sits in his office in a leafy Harare suburb, contemplating another collapse of the Zimbabwean economy. Thanks to a chronic shortage of United States dollars, the country is running out of cash. There are long queues outside every bank, with some customers forced to wait overnight for a Read More...
Working less improves productivity and wellbeing
Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers. But they are not more productive. Yes, there’s compelling evidence that slowing down and actually "doing nothing" can improve productivity Read More...
Donald Trump, Brexit and what's happening with democracy
Many Americans have woken up questioning how the polls could be so wrong. And wondering why a man who, according to 60 percent of the population doesn't have the qualities to be a president, nonetheless was elected. They feel like many Brits did after Brexit. At that time the Belgium author David Read More...
A Google mindfulness program that makes meditation a lot less frustrating
Over the past few years, I've had an on-again-and-off-again flirtation with meditation. It's on whenever I get jealous hearing someone talk about how their sitting practice has totally changed their life. I could do that, I think. And then I try sitting on my own for a few days and find it Read More...
How blockchain will change your life
Until the mid-1990s, the internet was little more than an arcane set of technical standards used by academics. Few predicted the profound effect it would have on society. Today, blockchain—the technology behind the digital currency bitcoin—might seem like a trinket for computer geeks. Read More...
Need a ride to the polling booth? Zipcar, Lyft offer free and discounted rides
If you are in the U.S. and still wondering how you can get to the polling booth, ride-hailing and car-sharing services say they’ve got your back. Zipcar and Lyft are offering big promotions to encourage you to get out and vote today. Zipcar has made more than 7,000 vehicles free. Lyft offers Read More...
After 25 years, Eastern Europe has closed the “happiness gap” with the West
The idea was that the transition from a centrally-controlled economy to one based on market forces would improve the quality of life for people living in Eastern Europe. Well, it did. But it took 25 years. For the first time, a report shows that the “happiness gap” between people from Read More...