The Great Discontent
"At the age of 30, Jedidiah Jenkins quit his day job and embarked on a 16-month, 10,000-mile bike trip from Oregon to Patagonia, Chile, the self-imposed catalyst for pursuing his dream of writing a book." After building a strong following online, he returned to his home in LA, launched a magazine called Wilderness, and wrote a book called. "To Shake the Sleeping Self." Check out an interview with ... posted on Nov 19, 2083 reads

Shin Terayama: A Radical Healing, A Remarkable Life
"From his hospital bed one night, Terayama had a strange dream. He was looking at his body in a coffin. He was 47, and did not yet know he had cancer. That soon changed. After surgery, chemo and radiation, with his cancer now out of reach of medical cure he went home to face death." A few mornings later, I had a very strange sensation in my body. When the sun came up, the sunlight came into my hea... posted on Nov 21, 2103 reads

Pico Iyer on the Wisdom of Travelers
Pico Iyer's latest book, The Half Known Life, looks at the ways in which we seek paradise on earth, sometimes in places that are fraught with risk. In this podcast episode, he and fellow writer Katherine May talk about the similarities in their work, particularly the ways in which they explore secular understandings of big spiritual questions, and they touch on the differences, too."... posted on Dec 3, 1715 reads

What Do You See?
A multitude of silent realities linger just under the surface of what we perceive as 'normal' human experiences. The intriguing phenomenon of seeing colors differently, brought into pop culture consciousness by "The Dress" internet debate in 2015, underpins how each person's individual perceptions differ dramatically. This mind-boggling reality has far-reaching implications that stretch beyond vir... posted on Dec 22, 1756 reads

66 Good News Stories You Didn't Hear About in 2023
Did you know a record number of countries eliminated diseases, from hepatitis C to malaria, this year? Or that a "staggering uptake" of wind and solar energy is making an enormous difference? The International Energy Agency (IEA) announced in October 2023 that global fossil fuel use may peak this year, two years earlier than predicted just 12 months ago. Trees are faring better, too, with 2023 def... posted on Jan 1, 4062 reads

These Uplifting Photos of 2023 Are Guaranteed to Make Your Eyes
"A great news photograph can be many things, but its core quality is that it tells you a story and lives on in your memory," says picture editor Jon Mills, who prepared the Good News Network's list of best photos of 2023. From an image of Mars' surface that closely resembles a bear, to a friendly lion cub... posted on Dec 31, 4803 reads

How Two Moms Founded An Adaptive Clothing Company
When Nicole Puzzo's daughter, Stella, was dealing with her recovery from a double hip surgery in 2015, the challenge of dressing for her condition sparked an ingenious idea. Puzzo created a pair of pants that could be worn over Stella's casts, transforming an everyday struggle into a practical solution. "Understanding how difficult it can be, and what a struggle it can be for millions of people, w... posted on Jan 17, 1689 reads

Love, The Sewer District
Imagine calling your local sewer district with an urgent need -- not for a pipeliner or an engineer -- but for a listening ear. This gravity defying leap was made possible by John Gonzalez, the communications director from Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. He posted a simple message online: "just a phone number, a voicemail, and a whole lot of emotions. 216-361-6772." Through the cryptic soc... posted on Jan 30, 1745 reads

Connecticut Plans to Cancel Medical Debt for Many Residents
Imagine opening an envelope in your daily mail and finding out that your medical debt has been completely wiped out. That's the reality for around 250,000 residents of Connecticut, as the state announces it will become the first to cancel $650 million in medical debt. In the U.S., medical debt is now the largest source of debt in collections; nearly 1 in 10 American adults have more than $250 in m... posted on Feb 29, 1353 reads

'Doctor, Doctor, I Declare': Dennis Ludlow in Conversation
In this charming interview, actor Dennis Ludlow reflects on his first role, having had no stage experience, in the premiere of Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize winning Buried Child at San Francisco's Magic Theater. As he says, "It all began when our back porch caved in. My childhood friends and I made a fort out of it, 'The Daddy-O Club,' and put on little plays in my backyard."... posted on Mar 13, 1122 reads

Daily Phrases from the World's Happiest Nation
Finland has been consistently ranked the globe's happiest nation for six consecutive years. In Finnish culture, happiness isn't flaunted; instead, the norm is to keep a low profile without ostentatious displays of wealth. Success isn't about surpassing others but about achieving personal contentment. Their secret? Embrace life's setbacks... posted on Mar 17, 2964 reads

93-Year-Old Grandmother's Secret to a Meaningful Life
When Ioanna Matsouka, 93, took up knitting in the 1990s, she had no idea she'd end up knitting over an estimated 3,000 scarves over the next three decades. At first, she gifted them to friends. As her creations grew in quantity, she began donating them to children's shelters across Greece. Through acquaintances, her warm creations have found their way to children in Bosnia and Ukraine. U.N. refuge... posted on Mar 19, 2366 reads

Never Too Late: Becoming a World Champion at 40
Deanna Stellato-Dudek, a retired figure skater, made history at the ripe athletic age of 40, becoming the oldest woman ever to win a World Figure Skating Championship. After a series of injuries pushed her to retire from skating at the age of 17 in 2001, Stellato-Dudek went on with her life -- becoming a successful aesthetician and getting married. The unfinished saga of her athletic journey, thou... posted on Mar 25, 1476 reads

World’s Largest Musical Instrument is Hiding in this Cave
A father-son trip turns out to be the beginning of a 3 year journey into inventing the world's largest percussion instrument spanning 3.5 acres across a cave, Luray Caverns, in Virgnia, U.S. In 1954, mathematician and electronics scientist Leland Sprinkle invented the Great Stalacpipe Organ. The mesmerising otherworldly sound created by the mallets striking against the perfectly tuned stalactites ... posted on Apr 25, 5677 reads

Why Multigenerational Households are Making a Comeback
Are you aware that multigenerational living is regaining popularity? As the second decade of the 21st century concludes, we're witnessing a resurgence in multigenerational households -- a trend that has taken many researchers by surprise. The socioeconomic factors from the mid-20th century that altered the nuclear family structure now seem to revert to a pre-1950s model. The disheartening climb in... posted on May 4, 1486 reads

Jane Goodall on What It Takes to Save the Earth
Jane Goodall’s address at Davos 2024 emphasized that climate change is not slowing down: yet there is reason to hope. Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program is an example of what can be done to protect the future if all of us recognize our interconnectedness with nature and each other. The energy of youth, nature’s resilience, the human intellect, and human’s indomitable spir... posted on May 10, 4420 reads

6 Ways to Make New Friends as an Adult
For most people, it’s harder to make friends as an adult than when young. This article provides the top six tips from friendship and relationship experts on how to make new friends as an adult. They include: reframing loneliness as simply an indicator of a basic need; people have different types of needs that take several friends to fulfill; purposefully look for places where interactions wi... posted on May 24, 3493 reads

When Birds Nest in the Doorway, Go Out the Window
“Lives sometimes get rearranged by all sorts of things.” Sometimes, that rearrangement includes climbing out the kitchen window by ladder for a few weeks even though the home has two working doors. This may look like eccentric, nonsensical behavior: it’s not. Author Caitlin Shetterly’s family made this intentional choice one Spring two separate bird families nested over eac... posted on May 27, 6200 reads

Conscience and Courage: A Conversation with Lee Hoinacki
A brief note only hints at the wide horizon of this former Dominican priest, professor, author, prison dishwasher -- and perhaps Ivan Illich's closest friend. One example: "From the time of Descartes on, people in the west have had increasing difficulty in being in contact with their own bodies. How many times do we even open a window?"... posted on May 31, 1762 reads

Weathering the Storm: How Horses Teach Us Community
It was going to be a particularly important day for a healing ceremony with horses. Participants would experience community for the first time in a long time due to the covid lockdown. “Many of those present were single people. They hadn’t had any human contact since the lockdown. No one to get a hug from. No one to hold their hand.” They connected again through meditation, and s... posted on Jun 4, 4814 reads

So No One Dies Alone
Alison Bunce, an award-winning nurse, has pioneered a community that aims to provide companionship to individuals in their last hours. Originating from the No One Dies Alone (NODA) program in the United States, Bunce adapted this model in the UK, calling her project Compassionate Inverclyde. What began as a palliative care initiative has evolved into a larger community service project, offering su... posted on Aug 6, 1953 reads

Dr. Frederick Sontag: A Time of Searching
"Almost 60 years ago, professor Frederick Sontag opened a door I could not have opened on my own. Perhaps it saved my life. On a visit to Claremont, California 30 years later, I proposed interviewing him. He graciously accepted. Revisiting it today, I’m amazed at its relevance, particularly as the November election is almost upon those in the US. He says, 'America has gone through odysseys, ... posted on Sep 15, 1835 reads

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In a national survey of 1,305 employed adults, 13% reported that they or their coworkers had committed an act that they would describe as "desk rage" out of stress or anger, and nearly one in five had quit a job because of stress.... posted on Jul 28, 844 reads

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Known as "the hugging saint," Ammachi, from Southern India, spends 15 hours a day spreading love and compassion through her hugs. For the past thirty years, crowds have lined up daily to experience her warm embrace. To this day, it is reported she has hugged over 20 million times.... posted on Jul 29, 1179 reads

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Did you know that 200 residents of the planet Earth have amassed a combined wealth of more than $1 trillion, while 100 million children are living on the streets? The UN's Human Development Index (HDI) reports that 1.2 billion people get by on less than a dollar a day. While the US has the world's highest gross national product, it also has high levels of illiteracy and the highest poverty rate ... posted on Jul 31, 1000 reads

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After 247 days alone at sea, circled by sharks and almost run over by a tanker, 54-year-old Jim Shekhdar becomes the first person to row across the Pacific solo. Further proof that a determined person can do whatever they decide to do.... posted on Aug 16, 590 reads

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You'd like to help a child - give them some positive encouragement and maybe a little sensible advice, but you just don't think you have the time to be a mentor. Think again - mentoring organizations are focusing on bringing together busy working adults with at risk kids - to the great benefit of both.... posted on Aug 17, 716 reads

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Specialized rescue teams from all over the world flooded into El Salvador after the big earthquake to provide hope, comfort and rescue aid to disaster victims.... posted on Aug 21, 595 reads

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Job stress costs employers more than $200 billion each year in absenteeism, tardiness, burnout, lower productivity, high turnover, worker's compensation and medical insurance costs. ... posted on Aug 29, 604 reads

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Wind is the fastest growing source of energy in the world. Windmills are non-polluting and based on renewable energy sources; they also often make economic sense. ... posted on Aug 31, 487 reads

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Scientists have observed that tears of joy, and tears from being in the vicinity of onions, have a different chemical structure.... posted on Sep 1, 570 reads

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Loneliness has been shown to double the risk of catching a cold. Lonely people are four times more likely than others to suffer a heart attack, and four times more likely to die from it. By comparison, smokers are only twice as likely as nonsmokers to die from a heart attack.... posted on Sep 2, 619 reads

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Trevor Loflin got perfect 800 scores on the SAT college admission tests - that's pretty amazing. Perhaps even more amazing is that he managed those test scores despite the fact that his family had no permanent home. And did we mention that he has no school either? The 17 year old was home-schooled - obviously quite well - while his family slept, well, wherever.... posted on Sep 3, 755 reads

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Only 37% of youth report feeling a sense of personal power, and only half feel that their life has a purpose.... posted on Sep 13, 648 reads

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Seventy-six percent of workers age 16 and older drove alone to get to their jobs, while about 11 percent carpooled.... posted on Sep 16, 513 reads

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Approximately 25 million American adults have enough hearing loss to qualify for disability payments. Yet certain Bushman tribes in Botswana and the Maabans of southern Sudan exhibit no significant hearing loss as they grow older.... posted on Sep 17, 838 reads

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Our intention behind this daily e-mail has always been to bring inspiration and to help encourage each other in being good forces in the world. Our daily actions may be small, but they have a ripple effect. With anger in the world, there is a clear need to keep increasing the love in our actions, until the ripples reach every heart on this planet. Until that time, we can always do more. If you... posted on Sep 19, 518 reads

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The internet has proven to be a valuable tool for providing information and facilitating charitable giving after the terrorist attacks.... posted on Sep 25, 1073 reads

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The abdomen of the ant contains two stomachs. One stomach holds the food for itself and second stomach is for food to be shared with other ants.... posted on Oct 3, 569 reads

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A recent study determined that employees perceptions of the psychological climate at work influenced job involvement, work effort and work performance.... posted on Oct 23, 562 reads

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In 2000, firearms killed 5,285 children in the U.S. (compared with 0 in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, and 153 in Canada).... posted on Oct 29, 523 reads

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The more teenagers feel loved by their parents and comfortable in their schools, the less likely they are to have early sex, smoke, abuse alcohol or drugs, or commit violence or suicide.... posted on Nov 3, 623 reads

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If you cut a redwood tree, its root system will create "angel rings" around the stump and as many as 100 trees will grow around it in a circle.... posted on Oct 25, 465 reads

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To make one pound of honey, the bee has to tap into 2 million flowers and travel 55,000 miles.... posted on Nov 2, 491 reads

Healing Power of Doing Good
In his 1991 book, "The Healing Power of Doing Good", Allan Luks documented that serving others produced a 'helpers's high' that also functioned as an antidote to stress and other medical conditions.... posted on Nov 28, 1049 reads

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Stanford psychiatrist David Spiegel took 86 women with advanced breast cancer and gave half of them weekly psychotherapy combined with lessons in self-hypnosis. The group receiving therapy survived on average twice as long as group that received none. (Source: Ageless Body, Timeless Mind)... posted on Dec 1, 850 reads

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Two Buddhist monks, Rev. Heng Sure and Marty Verhoeven, took a pilgrimage of about 800 miles, except that after every three steps they took one full bow to the ground wishing joy for all beings. Read some excerpts from their journals online:... posted on Dec 11, 661 reads

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Larry Scherwitz, a University of California psychologist, taped the conversations of nearly 600 men, a third of whom were suffering from heart disease, the rest of whom were healthy. Men who used the word "I", "me", and "mine" most often had the highest risk of heart trouble.... posted on Dec 19, 562 reads

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The Earth is not perfectly round but is slightly flattened at the poles and bulges a little just south of the Equator.... posted on Dec 20, 388 reads

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An organization in San Francisco allows you to travel and make a difference -- Airline Ambassadors. Started by a flight attendant, you can find more online:... posted on Dec 21, 887 reads