Magazine
Solutions Thinking and Climate Change
Open Minds and Optimism: Keys to Solving the Climate Crisis In February 2022, the world’s leading climate scientists released the most urgent warning on climate change to date. The report, released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), describes the implications of our Read More...
Managing self-care (again) when things fall apart
This article was originally published in May of 2020, but we are bringing it back to the top of our feeds, because we all still need self-care. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. - Pema Chödrön By Kristy Read More...
3 tips to make your work-from-home environment more productive
For many workers, the pandemic has forced a complete switch up of the daily routine. Rather than commuting to an office and settling into a dedicated workspace, many of us now work from the same place we wake up in. And while that may sound comfortable, it’s also making us way more susceptible to Read More...
Optimist View: A how-to guide on surviving mental firestorms and thriving in the midst of chaos
BOOK REVIEW of Emotional Inflammation: Discover Your Triggers and Reclaim Your Equilibrium during Anxious Times by Lise Van Susteren, MD and Stacey Colino By Kristy Jansen Inflammation (n): a localized physical condition in which part of the body becomes reddened, swollen, hot, and often painful, Read More...
OPTIMIST VIEW: Why civil disobedience and ahimsa (nonviolence) triumph in the face of injustice
In the marketplace of ideas, does love still trump violence? By Kristy Jansen “We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe.” Anti-colonialism activist Frantz Fanon was fighting racism and black oppression in Algeria and Martinique when he wrote these words, Read More...
OPTIMIST VIEW: Managing self-care when things fall apart
The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. - Pema Chödrön By Kristy Jansen Back in 2006 when I was about 6 months pregnant, I went in for my semi-annual teeth cleaning and dental check-up. Shirley, my dental Read More...
Neighbor provides free coffee to essential workers from his kitchen window
If you’re an essential worker living in San Francisco, you can grab yourself a free cup of homemade coffee from Ben Ramirez who has started an impromptu to-go coffee shop out his kitchen window. Ramirez makes about 15 cups of coffee a day for local essential workers including nurses, doctors, Read More...
OPTIMIST VIEW: Quarantined in Costa Rica
"The absurdity (and the beauty) of this moment, is palpable" The newspapers today read like a Gabriel García Márquez novel: the stories seem completely unreal, and yet, we are obliged to believe them. The question on every mind, “Is this really happening, or am I going crazy?” The Read More...
OPTIMIST VIEW: Rebalancing Act, or the art of being human in 2020
“It occurred to me when I was thirteen and wearing white gloves and Mary Janes and going to dancing school, that no one should have to dance backwards all their lives.” - Jill Ruckelshaus BY KRISTY JANSEN In honor of International Women’s Day, March 8, 2020, I’ve been thinking about Read More...
Unencumbered: The Wonderfully Bearable Lightness of Leaving Screens Behind
Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true. - Charles Dickens By Kristy Jansen The Friday before Christmas, I left town for the week to meet up with my extended family to share the holiday. My Read More...