The designers understood the risk. The city waited with baited breath. Would one of the largest living roofs flourish or flop? Well, the answer is somewhere in-between:

It’s been three years since the green roof was planted on Vancouver’s new convention centre.
Is it a success? Is it as good as they promised it would be?
The answer is that some parts are terrific — attractive, quality planting; a beautiful habitat for songbirds and insect life.
But other areas are untidy, scrubby, a bit of a mess; you might even say, an eyesore, and a fair ways from what they could or should be.

Overall, the roof is more a success than a flop, but there’s definitely room for improvement, so the designers should not spend too much time patting themselves on the back. There’s still some refining work to do.
Covering 2.4 hectares (just over six acres), it is still the largest living roof in Canada and the largest non-industrial green roof in North America.
But being 10 storeys above ground, you can’t see much of it from street level, say from outside the Fairmont Pacific Rim at Canada Place.
The roof is mostly visible to people working in adjacent highrise office blocks, such as the Shaw Tower, or living in luxury condos opposite.

Read more at the Vancouver Sun.

Obstacles are meant to be overcome. We do it every day, in our own small ways. This story shows the majesty, beauty and strength in takes to literally run through those obstacles and into the loving arms of family.

Wakana Ueda followed the sounds of applause, of chanting and of her mother’s voice as she crossed the finish line of the Honolulu Marathon on December 11.

The blind, 11-year-old girl from Toyota City, Japan, had tears in her eyes as she reunited with her family after 14 hours, 3 minutes and 12 seconds since the start of the race, Hawaii News Now reports.

The girl’s first marathon was not without its difficulties: the physical strains of the course almost derailed her at several points - but determination and encouragement from her team carried her through the finish line strung with flower petals.

Source: Daily News

From Only Positive News writer Beth Mann:

I worry. More than I care to admit. Sometimes I don’t feel as if I have any control over it. But I do. (I mean, if I don’t, who does? The mailman?)

And it’s tough not to worry in today’s age. Our economy is hurting, our ecology is ailing and we’re disconnecting from one another, based on ever-growing need to be “connect” virtually.

I wanted to share with you a few techniques to stop worry in its tracks. Because I don’t know about you, but I’d rather live my life than worry about it!

1. Laugh. I can’t stress the importance of laughter as a worry-buster. A funny movie or a quick-witted friend can inspire those belly laughs that make you feel free and easy afterward. Can’t find anything funny? Fake it! Tests have proven that even fake laughter has therapeutic effects. Fake some laughter for 30 seconds and notice the difference.

2. Look skyward. Worry tends to make us think very small. We’re locked in a box. The simple solution: open it up by going outside. Look up into the sky and breathe. Take in the world around you and remember, you’re part of something greater. Go for a walk. When you return, check in with yourself. You’ll feel less stressed and more open-minded.

3. Write it out. This one is tough for people because we have trouble making time for it. But simply writing out your worries is a great tool that provides instant relief - so try to fit it in. This doesn’t have to be any masterpiece. On the contrary, purge. Let it all out on the paper in a big, unrecognizable blob. The idea is to simply put the inner chatter on paper, so you can close that notebook and leave the worries on the page.

Worry doesn’t just have to exist side-by-side with us. Don’t get use to it. No matter what the concern, the more you practice breaking free, the healthier and happier you’ll be.

Young adults gain knowledge and compassion when part of charitable projects. Their self-confidence increases as well as their sense of community, which has staying power for a lifetime. This story shows how students and communities work together to help needy families, and interestingly, help themselves:

Normally, the day before Thanksgiving on the campus of Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C is found to be silent. All the students are at home with their families and enjoying the holiday break. However, that is not the case in the basement of the next door church. Faculty, staff and parents have gathered to volunteer their time to feed the needy.

Inside the basement, folks worked diligently all day long making Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings to feed about 50 people that are older and live nearby in the lower income dwellings. The meals are a welcome sight and are a blessing to those that receive them from the volunteers from the school. The holidays are not the only time that this charitable work occurs. Volunteers help feed the needy twice a week all year long in a project founded in 2001.

The project, started by Robert Egger is called the Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) and it uses resources that are both available and left over. They use the campus kitchens, the leftover food and volunteer students to help prepare and feed the hungry. The program has taken hold and spread to 28 colleges and 3 high schools.

Read more at Amazing News.

This story is a testament to the human soul and the mind’s capacity for resilience and creativity. Truly amazing. 

Survivor, Thriver

King spent 29 years in solitary confinement in a six-by-nine-foot cell at Angola Louisiana State Penitentiary.

King was convicted of robbery in 1969 despite the testimony of the main witness who admitted he picked King out of a lineup after being tortured.

King escaped from the Orleans Parish Prison and joined the Black Panther Party in New Orleans—five years after the federal government passed the Civil Rights Act.

He was recaptured within weeks of his escape and sent to Angola, then considered the bloodiest prison in America, in the spring of 1972 where he met Black Panthers Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace in solitary confinement.

They became informally known as the “Angola 3.”  Woodfox and Wallace remain in solitary confinement, while King was released on time served in February 2011.

King learned the power of creative, physical activity while he was in Closed Cell Restriction (CCR), also known as extended lockdown, at Angola.

Unlike the other living spaces on Angola’s 18,000-acre prison grounds, the CCR cells did not have a slot for passing food to inmates.  King had to eat from his plate through the bars while the plate was on the floor or while he balanced the plate in mid-air.

As a solution, King built a cardboard food tray and hung it from strings outside his cell. “All the guys began to do it.  Some guys got creative about it. They drew pictures on their trays. They covered them in table clothes. We had fun with it,” King says.

They also made chess boards out of tissue paper.  They fastened sixty-four tissue squares to their concrete floors with toothpaste to make chessboards. They made expertly sculpted tissue paper rooks and kings.

Read more at Gimundo.

I don’t know about you, but often all it takes to put a smile on my face is a cute animal photo. Check out the full collection here. SO cute. I think the pandas are my favorite:

• 1. Panda cubs cuddling with each other

  

• 2. These dogs surfing

  

• 3. This corgi’s face

  

• 4. A slow loris getting brushed

  

Check out the rest at BuzzFeed!

Solah from Positively Purposeful has contributed some great suggestions to Only Positive News in the past, so when she dropped us a comment, I was excited to pass on an excerpt from her latest article about New Year’s resolutions. We all know how fallible resolutions can be. Maybe we set ourselves up a bit too much. Here are a few pointers to take it down a notch:

One way that we can cultivate belief in ourselves is by incrementally increasing how we challenge our self. We can do this by setting one small goal at a time, taking the neccessary steps to set ourselves up for success and then of course, by sticking with it. Once we reach our goal, it’s equally important that we take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate our achievements before putting our focus on something just a tiny bit bigger. This process builds our belief in self.

It’s important to also know that for a resolution to be successful, it must be lined up with what our subconscious really wants for us. When we try to go against the subconscious, it will always find a way to meet it’s own agenda.

Read more here.

This week, we say goodbye to Vaclav Havel, leader, free-thinker and inspired playwright. He was the tenth and last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003).

During a time when many of us question world leaders, it is reassuring, even in time of death, to look back on a political career with respect, reverence and yes, positivity. According to Lucas Kavner of The Huffington Post:

In many ways, Havel embodied the spirit of the “flower child;” he spoke often of “truth and love” as trumping all other things, and was emphatically anti-war. In 1990, one of his first acts as president was to empty Czech prisons and close down its arms factories. Yet even the most conservative leaders seemed to love him. President George H.W. Bush, in an interview with Columbia University, remembered watching Havel command a crowd of a million after the Velvet Revolution, and said he couldn’t think of another foreign leader for whom he has more respect.

“I cannot say enough good things about President Vaclav Havel,” he concluded.

In 1990, Havel delivered a New Year’s address to a budding new nation, three days after being named its first president. He encouraged the new nation to be built around a politics of morality above all else, a message Orwell would likely have approved himself.

“Let us teach ourselves and others that politics should be an expression of a desire to contribute to the happiness of the community,” he said. “Let us teach ourselves and others that politics can be not simply the art of the possible, especially if this means the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue, secret deals and pragmatic maneuvering, but that it can also be the art of the impossible, that is, the art of improving ourselves and the world.”

This past week we lost a writer and a major intellectual, and we lost a brutal, confounding dictator. We also lost a playwright, a rebel, a rockstar, a chain-smoker, a renowned artist, a non-profit leader, and one of the most beloved presidents in history.

Celebrities often seem out-of-touch with the world around them, draped in excess and entitlement. But many are making sound contributions to their communities, such as Jon Bon Jovi, who opened up a “pay what you can” restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey.

Soul Kitchen is a new restaurant opened in Red Bank, New Jersey, by Jon Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea. The establishment offers a “pay what you can afford” payment model, and serves wholesome, gourmet food made with fresh ingredients grown in the restaurant’s garden, and other local produce.

On the website, they explain that Soul Kitchen is “A community restaurant with no prices on the menu; customers donate to pay for their meal. If you are unable to donate you may do volunteer work in exchange for your family’s meal.”

But as NJ.com reports, this is no soup kitchen serving up desperation and gruel. “The décor is upscale. Patrons don’t wait in line — they are waited on.”

Read more.

We receive tons of great feedback about Only Positive News. Its amazing how few sites provide what we do: positive news. Positive news comes in many forms: actual news stories, poems, quotes, life advice, images. Positive news also comes from you, the people who leave generous comments supporting our work.

Here’s one of our recent commenters:

Solah Nightstar

It became clear to Solah at an early age that her work is to inspire others. She lives a happy, fun and deeply fulfilling life by listening to what her heart is calling out for and then acting upon it. Those she encounters are often wondering how she seems to manifest such a majickal life. Her intention through this blog, is to share some of her guiding principles illustrated through her personal adventures.

Solah Nightstar B.Div is a Manifestation Mentor. She’s also a Certified Empowerment Coach and Passion Test Facilitator. She’s here to help you discover what your heart is most calling out for and then to support you in creating your ultimate reality.

Check out her website. Support the positive news we all possess!