The Optimist View
Our weekend edition long form journalism explores in-depth solutions to global issues.
Active Hope in the Face of Despair
Heartsongs of Courage from an “Environmental Elder” By Marc McGinnes For the past 15 years or so, I’ve found myself teetering on the edge of despair. In the midst of the environmental movement, we’ve won important victories and suffered agonizing defeats. Our hearts have been buffeted Read More...
Peace: A New Definition
By Sadie Wilbur The sun warms my skin as I step out of the car and, with a deep breath, the fresh morning air fills my lungs and wakes my senses. It’s the same walk into the Optimist Daily office that I make every morning, but today I stop and notice a white pole standing to the right of the Read More...
The Value of Sadness
"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain." - Kahlil Gibran Love Makes Us Sad Love can arouse feelings of sadness. This is not the kind of sadness that comes when our feelings are hurt or our heart is broken. That sadness makes sense to us. This type of Read More...
Earth I Love
The economy is based on competition—violence. Nature is exploited to make money. There can only be an end to poverty and pollution when we discover a spiritual economy that is based on relationships, not ownership, with each other and with nature. We must realize that nature is the real source Read More...
Women in Charge: Bringing Balance into the Workplace and the World
BY: Samantha Moser & Kristina Jansen In the aftermath of the financial crisis that shook the United States and global markets in 2008, a panel of financial experts gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and debated whether the collapse was associated with masculine, Read More...
Prelude to Courage
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] How anger can improve health, enhance intimacy, spur creativity and even inspire social change. By: Diana Rico with reporting by Ursula Sautter in Berlin It’s the 1980s, and I am sitting in the Beverly Hills living room of a major 1950s television star, Read More...
Welcome to the Silver Age
By JURRIAAN KAMP There was a time—as strange as that may sound today—that people were looking forward to getting older. Until the late 19th century, it was cool to look old. Men did their best to appear older by wearing wigs powdered white. Clothing accentuated an older build: narrower, rounded Read More...
Be More with Less: Minimalism & Simple Living
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry By Shaelyn McHugh I used to be a thrift shop junkie. As a teenager, I would take BART into San Francisco and rummage through thrift store bins in search Read More...
Be More with Less: Minimalism & Simple Living
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry By Shaelyn McHugh I used to be a thrift shop junkie. As a teenager, I would take BART into San Francisco and rummage through thrift store bins in Read More...
Soul Talk: Can Spirituality and Politics Govern?
By Sister Jenna Have you ever wondered who our congressional leaders are? What do they really believe, beyond what we know of their policies? Who are the people making the decisions for the lives of citizens in America? “Soul Talk on the Hill,” a series hosted by Sister Jenna takes us into Read More...