Findings from largest public study on kindness
Kindness can turn a bad day into a great one in a matter of seconds. We all hold the power to give the gift of kindness within us, whether that's giving someone your full attention in a conversation or just simply smiling at a stranger on the street, these little gestures can mean a lot. As a Read More...
To improve young people’s self esteem, ditch the term virginity
Here at The Optimist Daily, we are all about empowerment. Whether it’s through societal, financial, or physical means, hearing these stories are important to inspire our own. That is why this Valentine’s Week, we wanted to share with you this interesting take on sexual empowerment and the Read More...
Research shows societal openness and tolerance makes for happier citizens
How do a society’s policies about openness, equality, and privacy affect the citizens who live in it? New research published in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that citizens living in more open and tolerant countries are significantly happier. Researchers from Kyoto University in Read More...
Possibility: Keeping refugees afloat
From The Optimist Magazine Fall 2015 A quarter of a million. That’s the number of immigrants and asylum seekers who have already tried to get to Europe in 2015 by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. It’s the highest number on record, according to the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees. Thousands Read More...
Q & A with John Taylor Gatto
Ode talks with John Taylor Gatto, an ex-New York City schoolteacher and author of five anti-public schooling books, including Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling , which you’ll find an exclusive excerpt in the October 2008 issue. Read More...
The forgotten thinker you need to know
Thirty years ago, Ivan Illich raised questions on the promise of progress. The blind faith in modern development and technology was a threat to human's freedom, he argued. That critical analysis was one of the pillars for the Ode founders. In 2001, a year before Illich died at the age of 76, Read More...