The Optimist Living
Four tips to help you finish your workweek by Thursday
What if you could work so efficiently that you could kick off your weekend on Thursday evening? It may seem impossible, but there are people around the world who are able to finish their work for the week by Thursday to enjoy a three-day weekend. To help you polish off the bulk of your work before Read More...
You can’t stop thinking, but you can be more present
Many people get frustrated with meditation as they can’t stop thinking. But it is impossible to silence our mind. Our eyes cannot not see. Your ears cannot not hear. In the same way, it’s human to have thoughts. When you try to stop your mind, you are doing the impossible. A quiet mind is not a Read More...
Dogs will like you better if you’re nice to people, study says
If your dog gives you a lot of love, its probably because you’re a good person to the people around you. According to a new study from researchers at Kyoto University, both dogs and monkeys track how humans behave with one another and show more fondness for people who help other people than they Read More...
Letting go of negativity: A simple exercise
It’s easy to cast self-doubt or even blame yourself for things that go wrong. We all do that from time to time. Negative thinking is one of the easiest ways to disconnect from our true selves. But there are ways to challenge and release your negative thought patterns. Here is a 4 step mindfulness Read More...
A perfectionist's guide to coping with failure
Failure and rejection are natural elements of life, but if you are a perfectionist, falling short of any goal can send you into despair. Since we can’t always control the outcomes of our efforts, the best thing we can do is prepare for the possibility of failure. Preparing for setbacks helps Read More...
The social benefits of meditating with your partner
Dyadic meditation, the practice of meditating with a partner, has been shown to strengthen social relationships. Not just between the partners who meditated, but also in general. In a new study, participants of a nine-month course were said to have gained stronger motivation than those practicing Read More...
Relieve stress and anxiety in minutes with this ancient Japanese technique
The western world is good at creating stress. For solutions, we need to turn to the East. Meditation, mindfulness, and yoga all have Eastern roots. And there’s more. Acupuncture—and the related technique acupressure—can be used to simply rebalance energy in the body. This ancient acupressure Read More...
Adopting "the beginner's mind" can transform the way you live for the better
When you drop your expectations and preconceived ideas about something, and start seeing things with an open mind, something very interesting happens. You become more curious and full of wonder. You learn to experience moments better and gain a better understanding of the world around you. Adopting Read More...
Pain serves an evolutionary function: Comfort is not good for you
Our evolutionary drive has been to increase our level of comfort. We fled predators, froze in snowstorms, sought shelter from the rain, and hunted and gathered our food. And, today, our lives are surprisingly easy. When we need something we go to the store. But that’s a problem: comfort is Read More...
Add some extra encouragement to your day with this beautiful movie clip
The powerful thing about film is that can arouse the deepest of sentiments within you. A beautiful example of this is in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness when Will Smith teaches a life lesson to his son about protecting his dreams. Watch the little clip here and remind yourself why you should Read More...