How to find equanimity within a maelstrom of negative news
Equanimity is defined as calmness and composure in the face of difficult situations. When you reach a state of equanimity, then you are better equipped to serve your family, friends, and community. The problem, especially amidst an election season brewing within a pandemic, is that the news media Read More...
Friluftsliv: How to socialize in the cold without feeling miserable
To help people cope mentally with the idea of another winter lockdown, we shared a story a couple of months ago about the “Tromsø” mindset—a positive way of thinking about the long, dark winter that people experience in the Norwegian city of Tromsø. Today, we’re going to take another Read More...
Need to get away? Here’s a 5-step guide to healthy escapist travel
Traveling for escapist purposes won’t solve the problems you might be dealing with, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. According to clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly, Ph.D., a little travel escapism can be a powerful coping strategy when real life feels a bit too heavy, which might Read More...
Moo! Find relaxation in the rural Dutch wellness trend of cow hugging
Yoga, journaling, and mindfulness may be great options for boosting your mental health, but if you’re looking for something that is, well, different, consider a rural wellness trend out of the Netherlands: Koe knuffelen, which translates to cow hugging in Dutch. The practice revolves around the Read More...
8 simple ways to run a more eco-friendly kitchen
From opting for clean energy to supporting climate activist groups, there are so many ways you can help the world become a more sustainable place. But if you don’t really know where to begin, the kitchen is a good place to start introducing more eco-friendly practices in your life. Having that in Read More...
Green burial: This mushroom-based coffin decomposes in the earth
In the Spring of 2019, we shared news out of Washington state where lawmakers officially approved an eco-friendly alternative to burial or cremation: human composting. With human composting, human remains are turned into soil, which can then be used to grow trees. This is a much greener option when Read More...
Motion sensor uses AI to recognize when wildlife is running from poachers
Scientists at the University of Twente in the Netherlands are mixing motion sensors with machine learning to create a powerful tool that could help combat wildlife poaching. Motion sensors have already given conservationists the ability to track the whereabouts of endangered animals, but this new Read More...
20 years on, the world’s biggest trash dump is now a green oasis
In its heyday, the Fresh Kills trash dump on Staten Island was one of the world’s great eyesores. Imagine New York’s Central Park with trash mounds 20 stories high. Now imagine that times three. That’s how bad it was. By the late 1970s, an estimated 28,000 tons of trash arrived at Fresh Read More...
How car-free streets unite communities: A firsthand account from Oakland
The Optimist Daily has never been shy to support urban planning that favors pedestrians over motorists. Not only does it make the streets safer, but it can also clean up the air in a city dramatically. But beyond all this, perhaps the biggest benefit of clearing the streets of cars is that it turns Read More...
Stunning photos from Jupiter and Saturn’s great conjunction
Stargazers got an incredible treat this week when Jupiter and Saturn appeared to align perfectly in the sky in a rare event called the “great conjunction". Although the planets’ positions align around every two decades, this is the first time they have appeared so close together in hundreds of Read More...