Positive News
When we open newspapers or watch the news on television it is easy to feel overwhelmed and discouraged by the amount of negative news that is the media’s focus.
And yet, throughout the world, there are many “points of light” – people and organizations who labour hard and tirelessly to make this world one that is brighter, more equitable, and responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable among us. These are the types of inspiring stories this new section will include – they can’t help but bless!
How you can change the world
"Don’t worry if you feel you can only do one tiny good thing in one small corner of the cosmos. Just be a Buddha body in that one place." ~Thich Nhat Hanh Happiness, health, prosperity and peace, a better world for our children – all of us want these same things in...
Centuries-old Jerusalem soup kitchen serves up ‘food with dignity’
Taylor Luck - Special correspondentDown an almost-hidden passageway in Jerusalem’s labyrinthine Old City is Tikiya Khaski al-Sultan, a soup kitchen that dates to the height of the Ottoman Empire. It is a lifeline for modern-day Jerusalemites facing rising costs and...
A pop-up restaurant in Kabul is run by women for women. The Taliban are watching
By the side of a busy road in Northwestern Kabul, the savory smell of bolani, traditional vegetable-stuffed flatbread, wafts out of a cloth-walled, temporary building. Inside, a woman in a hijab and a white apron is starting to clean up the balloons, ribbons and empty...
Finding Happiness
A beautiful woman in an expensive dress came to her psychiatrist, saying that she was depressed, and her life was meaningless. 'I'm going to ask Mary here to tell you how she found happiness. All I want you to do is listen to her.' The psychiatrist called the old lady...
Albania declared the Vjosa River a national park, preserving one of Europe’s last “wild” rivers
Along its 169 miles, from Greece through Albania to the Adriatic Sea, the Vjosa runs through forests, valleys, and canyons, free from artificial barriers. About 119 miles of the river and its tributaries in Albania will now remain so – crucial for the health of some...
The values that led humanity forward this year
In an excellent article on December 22, 2022, The Christian Science Monitor highlighted some of the values that guided actions in the world during the year – ingenuity, responsibility, dignity, equality, cooperation. You can read the entire article here. We highlight...
Choices, choices …
Pierre Pradervand in his book, 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World, says he starts his day by saying “Yes, thank you” at least seven or eight times as he gets out of bed. The idea--whatever comes his way that day he will not only be appreciative of, but he will...
The world’s first “sand battery”
capable of storing green power for months at a time, is up and running in Finland. One obstacle to year-round renewable power is the difficulty of capturing and storing energy when intermittent sources like wind or solar energy are unavailable. Finnish engineers at...
Angola
Flag of Angola Angola remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with over 73 million square meters of land contaminated and over 1,100 known and suspected minefields. Millions of landmines and other unexploded bombs are still scattered throughout...
Shine some light!
Our positive news this month is an Excerpt from an article by Elizabeth Gilbert, an American author best known for her memoir Eat, Pray, Love. Some years ago, I was stuck on a crosstown bus in New York City during rush hour. Traffic was barely moving. The bus was...
Medical bills cancelled
Soon after giving birth to a daughter two months premature, Terri Logan received a bill from the hospital. She recoiled from the string of numbers separated by commas. Her daughter is now 13. Then a few months ago … Logan received some bright yellow envelopes in the...
Helping the Rich Let Go
By Chuck Collins (excerpts from the original article. Read the full article here. Over the next 20 years, a minimum of $35 trillion, and up to $70 trillion, in wealth will transfer from the post-World War II generation to the next younger generation. Most of that...
How a radical humanitarianism slayed a soulless corporate giant
The following is an excerpt from Marianne Williamson’s Transform article and interview. It’s an inspiring story of how one person can make a difference in building a world that works for all! In April of 2022, a young man named Christian Smalls led a...
Jackpot winner of lottery donates most of winnings to a foundation to protect the environment
A lucky Frenchman has decided to dedicate most of his record-breaking $217 million lottery jackpot to a nature foundation he created, he told Le Parisien in an exclusive interview published Wednesday. The winner, nicknamed "Guy" by French lottery group Françaises des...
Amid war and disease, World Happiness Report shows bright spot
In this troubled time of war and pandemic, the World Happiness Report 2022 shows a bright light in dark times. According to the team of international researchers, including McGill University Professor Christopher Barrington-Leigh, the pandemic brought not...
Gleaning: the ancient right that is making a comeback in Cornwall
An idea dating to biblical times that could be replicated elsewhere! The Cornwall Gleaning network was started in early 2020 after its founder, Holly Whitelaw watched a Simon Reeve documentary about Cornwall, its hidden poverty and challenges being faced by its...
Smile!
A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive it, without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and none is too poor that he...
Amazon of Europe
UNESCO has designated a 4,876-square-mile area around the Mura, Drava, and Danube rivers the first biosphere reserve to span five countries. Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovenia have been campaigning for recognition of a biosphere reserve – dubbed the...
Choose Love Movement
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town of Newton, Connecticut and shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children between six and seven years old, and six adult staff members. The incident is the...
Compassion Through Song at Life’s Thresholds
There's no time Kate Munger can remember that her mother wasn't singing. Every night, Kate and her four siblings would be graced with lullabies at their bedsides. The physical proximity of the vibrations of her mother’s body would activate the cells in Kate. Now, Kate...
Madrid building a huge urban forest in a bid to combat climate change
By Jaime Velázquez • Updated: 19/07/2021 To combat climate change and pollution, Madrid is building a green wall around the city. A 75-kilometre urban forest with nearly half a million new trees. “What we want to do is to improve the air quality in the whole city,”...