Today’s Solutions: December 18, 2025

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.

A meditation exercise for peop

A meditation exercise for people who simply cannot 'quiet' their minds

For thousands of years, people have used a simple breathing meditation to enhance spirituality and understand our place in the universe. This insight meditation also enhances creativity and clarity of thought while promoting a sense of peace and Read More...

Could this resiliency program

Could this resiliency program help solve mental health issues amongst students?

You've heard it a million times, "kids these days". It's an age-old challenge that we've heard called the generational superiority complex - where the last generation bemoans the readiness of the next generation to take on the world. Well, that's not a particularly Optimist point of view and we Read More...

Amsterdam, Netherlands: Dereli

Amsterdam, Netherlands: Derelict church becomes vibrant community hub

Stichting Bildung aims to build bridges within society—from excluded groups to wealthy ones, from low to higher educated— in a space filled with culture, altruism, and social connection. The project is being designed and implemented by a small group of people from different countries and Read More...

The Favorite Story of 2018

The Favorite Story of 2018

The end of the year marks a threshold and invites a pause for reflection. It's a great time to take stock of the year behind and look ahead at the year to come. As an emissary of The Optimist Daily, you are familiar with the continuous outpouring of solutions to the many challenges that humanity Read More...

Foreign aid campaigns have lon

Foreign aid campaigns have long been flawed—these groups are changing this

The problem with foreign-aid donations is that they often fail to create the positive impact that donors had hoped for. Specifically, while large-scale efforts often improved infrastructure, they typically fell short on a key dimension: bring greater democracy and inclusiveness to decision-making Read More...

These are the 5 best eco-frien

These are the 5 best eco-friendly places to retire

Finding the best place to retire used to be pretty simple. Lots of sunshine? Read More...

Giving with meaning this holiday season

An antidote to holiday overload - Give gifts with meaning

People, Planet, and Purchasing Power By the Optimist Daily Editorial Team The holiday jingles playing on repeat these days remind us ‘tis the season to show our family and friends how much we love them. Traditionally, this includes giving them presents. Yet, the whole experience of holiday Read More...

How exercising regularly can m

How exercising regularly can make you feel young for most of your life

Exercising is definitely an essential component to living a long and healthy life, but the key is to do it on a very regular basis. A study found that people in their 70s who have been exercising regularly for decades seem to have put a brake on the aging process, maintaining the heart, lung and Read More...

How to foster empathy in child

How to foster empathy in children

As the year’s end approaches, most Americans get bombarded by emailed and snail-mailed requests for donations to all manner of charities, A to Z. I’m an easy target, a softy readily seduced by impassioned pleas to help improve the well-being of people, animals, and the environment, and I often Read More...

This interactive map will help

This interactive map will help you choose your next travel destination

If you’re looking for a 2019 getaway but can’t settle on a destination, engineers at MIT have developed an interactive map that could help you narrow down those countless options. The interface, called Escape, asks that you enter in your origin city and your dates to show you how much it costs Read More...