We all now the dangers of clinging on too tightly or feeling the need to control others. It feels like an addiction, where we turn our focus away from ourselves and onto something or someone else, for which we have no control. If you’ve been there (and haven’t we all?) here are some quotes to lead you back to yourself:

As I started to picture the trees in the storm, the answer began to dawn on me. The trees in the storm don’t try to stand up straight and tall and erect. They allow themselves to bend and be blown with the wind. They understand the power of letting go. Those trees and those branches that try too hard to stand up strong and straight are the ones that break. Now is not the time for you to be strong, Julia, or you, too, will break.
– Julia Butterfly Hill



Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
– Oprah Winfrey


By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.
– Lao Tzu


Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
– Raymond Lindquist


Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties.
– Gail Sheehy


Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.
– Author Unknown


Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head.
– Ann Landers


Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions.
– Gerald Jampolsky


Let go. Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing which keeps you from hope and love?
– Leo Buscaglia

Letting go doesn’t mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be.
– Anon

Loving someone is setting them free, letting them go.
– Kate Winslet


People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.
– Thich Nhat Hanh


Some think it’s holding on that makes one strong; sometimes it’s letting go.
– Sylvia Robinson

There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it’s all over.
– Gloria Naylor


Stand up and walk out of your history.
– Phil McGraw

The harder you fight to hold on to specific assumptions, the more likely there’s gold in letting go of them. — John Seely Brown

True love doesn’t have a happy ending, because true love never ends. Letting go is one way of saying I love you.
– Author Unknown

Truly loving another means letting go of all expectations. It means full acceptance, even celebration of another’s personhood.


– Karen Casey

There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life.
– Author Unknown

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.
– Joseph Campbell

Source: Great Inspirational Quotes

We have been called to help the people of Haiti in whatever way possible, realizing it’s a poor country and their disaster has been so profound. This couple has used their medical expertise and household items to help their neighbors - a real reminder that you do what it takes to help:

They have few medical supplies, no nurses, and are using an armchair as an operating table—but Haitian doctors Claude and Yolene Surena make do with what they have to save as many lives as possible in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Ever since the earthquake hit last Tuesday, neighbors have been banging on the doctor couple’s door, pleading for help with urgent medical needs. Fortunately, their house didn’t sustain damage, but many of their neighbors’ homes had collapsed. Some were hurt by falling debris, and had suffered injuries like puncture wounds, gaping cuts, and broken bones.

Yolene Surena said that she treated her first patient about five minutes after the earthquake struck, and by Saturday, she and her husband had helped more than 300 injured earthquake victims, substituting household items like Krazy Clue to help close wounds when they didn’t have the appropriate equipment. They’ve worked tirelessly, night and day, with assistance only from friends with no medical training. Despite the makeshift nature of their operation, they have lost only six patients.

Though it’s tough for the couple to keep up their relentless pace, they are determined to help as many people as they can.

“Each time you get something to do further, you hope that you can save one more life.”

Source: Gimundo

Today, ask yourself, very seriously, “What More Can I Do?”

It often seems like you’re doing something wrong if you’re feeling poorly or thinking negatively. But if we don’t allow for that dark space, it can often cause us problems.

Nobody wants to feel badly (well, that’s up for debate, I suppose!) but there are times in life when its called for. If you are sick or someone you love is, the loss of a job, the stress and worry of rocky finances, loneliness, etc. - they create a heaviness that’s expected.

This is a controversial thought, but have you ever thought about celebrating your negativity? Wallowing in it for a while. Close the blinds, turn off the phone, hide under the blankets and allow yourself to feel the feelings you’ve been avoiding? Make yourself your favorite food, treat yourself to a gift, cry while watching your favorite tear-jerker movie, write an angry poem then burn it. Of course, you can’t live in this place forever…but an occasional visit may be needed.

“What you resist, persists.” - Carl Jung

Let it not be said that pumpkins aren’t taken seriously. VERY seriously. People who compete each year, hoping to win the title of the “world’s biggest pumpkin” work very hard on it and get quite competitive.

Nick and Christy Harp of Jackson Township, near Canton, brought a pumpkin weighing 1,725 pounds to the annual Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers weighoff last Saturday, making them a shoo-in for the biggest pumpkin title - and possibly a Guinness-certified World Record.

“I kind of knew I had a good shot at the world record, but when it hit the scale, it was just happy, I was crying, thought I was gonna pass out,” Christy Harp told Cleveland’s Fox News affiliate, as reported on Fox8.com. She has been growing pumpkins since the eighth grade, and has a friendly rivalry with husband Nick.

“Last year he beat me by 200 pounds. This year I beat him by 400 pounds,” Christy said. “Very good year! My pumpkin, my side of the patch! We separate the patch and never step foot on the other side!”

At one point in August, the massive pumpkin was growing 33 pounds a day, Christy told Fox News. She kept it going by plying the soil with a mix of compost, coffee grounds and cow manure, though seeds with good genetics are also key.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/food/2009/10/07/2009-10-07_recordbreaking_pumpkin_thought_to_be_worlds_largest_weighs_in_at_.html#ixzz0VnoC0jN3

Tea drinking is a complex and historically-rich ritual that spans the globe and the centuries. And for good reason. Not only is tea good for you but it’s grounding and healing. It’s also a break from the rest of the day and a time to connect with a friend or settle down with a good book.

To see just how widespread tea-drinking is, take a lot at this Wikipedia entry. Scroll down the page.

Amazing, isn’t it?

And if you drink tea for your health, keep it up.

From the Himalayas to the Cliffs of Dover, people drink tea with faithful ritual. In Tibet they take it with butter, in England with cream. And now there’s good reason for Americans to take it seriously.

The tea plant, Camellia sinensis, comes in many forms—black, green, oolong. What makes Camellia so healthful is its polyphenols, antioxidants that protect against cell damage and help prevent diseases like age-related decline, cancer and heart disease. But herbal teas like chamomile don’t have the same benefits. That is, all except one. The South African “rooibos,” meaning red bush in Afrikaans, has the benefits of Camellia without the caffeine.

Daneel Ferreira, M.D., of the University of Mississippi, studied and compared rooibos with Camellia and found that both contain a similar amount of polyphenols. And a study at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom bears out the benefits. Researchers found that tea drinking is associated with higher bone-mineral density. And among the 1,256 women studied, tea drinkers were up to 20 percent less likely to suffer bone fractures. Also, at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, tea polyphenols helped prevent the development of arthritis in lab mice.

With rooibos’s many benefits, Americans should consider incorporating England’s afternoon tea ritual—for both its soothing and healing potential.

Source: Psychology Today

So take some time for tea today. Relish in the myriad of healing properties.

Here at Only Positive News, we believe that all positive news websites are created equal. We’re all doing the same thing: getting the word out there. And amidst a plethora of bad news, you kinda can’t have enough positive news websites!

Take The Happiness Project for instance. Gretchen Rubin is working on a book, THE HAPPINESS PROJECT - a memoir about the year she spent test-driving every principle, tip, theory, and scientific study she could find, whether from Aristotle or St. Therese or Martin Seligman or Oprah. THE HAPPINESS PROJECT will gather these rules for living and report on what works and what doesn’t. On this daily blog, she recounts some of her adventures and insights as she grapples with the challenge of being happier.

Here’s an excerpt on how something as simple as making your own bed can increase your happiness:

I’ve written about the resolution to Make your bed before, and I’m bringing it up again. Why? To my astonishment, when I’ve asked people what happiness-project resolution has made a big difference in their happiness, many people cite the modest “Make your bed.”

Happiness is a lofty aim, and making your bed is such a prosaic activity. Why does it boost happiness so effectively?

From my own experience, and what people have told me, I think there are two reasons.

First, making your bed is a step that’s quick and easy, yet makes a big difference. Everything looks neater. It’s easier to find your shoes. Your bedroom is a more peaceful environment. For most people, outer order contributes to inner calm.

Second, sticking to any resolution – no matter what it is – brings satisfaction. You’ve decided to make some change, and you’ve stuck to it. Because making my bed is one of the first things I do in the morning, I start the day feeling efficient, productive, and disciplined.

Noted writer Frank McCourt made a brilliant observation during his days as a teacher in Brooklyn: when kids forged excuses from their parents, they were often more clever and imaginative than when given actual creative writing assignments.

“How could I have ignored this treasure trove, these gems of fiction and fantasy? Here was American high school writing at its best—raw, real, urgent, lucid, brief, and lying.

I read:

• The stove caught fire and the wallpaper went up and the fire department kept us out of the house all night.

• Arnold was getting off the train and the door closed on his school bag and the train took it away. He yelled to the conductor who said very vulgar things as the train drove away.

• His sister’s dog ate his homework and I hope it chokes him.

• We were evicted from our apartment and the mean sheriff said if my son kept yelling for his notebook he’d have us all arrested.

The writers of these notes didn’t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: “Peter was late because the alarm clock didn’t go off.”
One day I typed out a dozen excuse notes and distributed them to my senior classes. The students read them silently, intently. “Mr. McCourt, who wrote these?” asked one boy.

“You did,” I said. “I omitted names to protect the guilty. They’re supposed to be written by parents, but you and I know the real authors. Yes, Mikey?”

“So what are we supposed to do?”

“This is the first class to study the art of the excuse note—the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You’re so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worthy of study.”
Everyone smiled as I went on, “You didn’t settle for the old alarm clock story. You used your imaginations. One day you might be writing excuses for your own children when they’re late or absent or up to some devilment. So try it now. Imagine you have a 15-year-old who needs an excuse for falling behind in English. Let it rip.”

The students produced a rhapsody of excuses, ranging from a 16-wheeler crashing into a house to a severe case of food poisoning blamed on the school cafeteria. They said, “More, more. Can we do more?”

So I said, “I’d like you to write—” And I finished, “ ‘An Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God.’ “ Heads went down. Pens raced across paper.

Before long the bell rang. For the first time ever I saw students so immersed in their writing they had to be urged to go to lunch by their friends: “Yo, Lenny. Come on. Finish it later.”

Next day everyone had excuse notes, not only from Adam and Eve but from God and Lucifer. One girl defended the seduction of Adam on the grounds that Eve was tired of lying around Paradise doing nothing, day in and day out. She was also tired of God sticking his nose into their business.

Source: ReadersDigest.com

TEACHER MAN BY FRANK MCCOURT, COPYRIGHT © 2005 BY GREEN PERIL CORP., IS PUBLISHED AT $26 BY SCRIBNER, 1230 AVE. OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10020.

Many Afghan children, especially girls, rarely partake in recreational sports. 34-year old Australian Oliver Percovich hopes to change all that, with some worn and tattered skateboards.

He plans to open this country’s first skateboarding school, Skateistan, this spring.

“Teenagers are trying to dissociate from old mentalities and I’m their servant,” Percovich said. “If they weren’t interested, I would’ve left a long time ago.”

Now, when he pulls his motorcycle into a residential courtyard here, a dozen youngsters pounce before it comes to a stop, yanking six chipped skateboards with fading paint off the back. The children, most participating in a sport for the first time in their war-hardened lives, do not want to waste any time.

Their skateboard park is a decrepit Soviet-style concrete fountain with deep fissures. Luckily, with upcoming worldwide funding, Ollie will build a skateboard park that will really wow these children.

Here’s some wonderful and inspiring video, showcasing the difference a simple skateboard can make.

Source: New York Times

Actor David Arquette is taking it to the streets - literally. In a creative attempt to bring awareness to the homeless situation in America, he is setting up camp on the streets of New York City.

According to MSNBC:

The 37-year-old actor plans to stay in a Plexiglas box above the Madison Square Garden marquee on Tuesday and Wednesday to raise $250,000 for Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief charity. He’ll stay in the box each day for about eight hours.

Donations can come on site or through text messages or a Facebook page set up by Mars Inc., the company that makes Snickers candy bars.

There are many creative ways in which to get a message across. Today, think of ways to express a problem in non-traditional ways. Sometimes its much more effective than words!

You’ve probably heard that even faking a smile elicits a positive response in your brain. It’s sort of an “outside in” approach! But today, we’re going to focus on the power of sharing a smile, with a stranger or a loved one.

We all know that magical feeling when a stranger warmly smiles at us. It seems so polite and warm. It’s a positive, human outreach.

Have you ever tried gently smiling during a tense discussion? Not the easiest thing to do (and not meant to be done in sarcastic way!) but give it a shot the next time you find yourself embroiled in an argument. That simple act is enough to diffuse some of the stormy, negative energy.

Smiling at strangers is a great way to break the ice, in a bigger, sociologcial way. Even if the person doesn’t respond, they feel a sense of safety and comfort and you feel the pride of sharing warmth with someone you don’t know. That’s how the world changes!

Get in the practice of smiling at people first thing in the morning. When you do this, you set a trend for the day - one of positivity and hope.

Smiling can take courage in today’s world, when everyone seems so hustle bustle. But take the time to make eye contact and smile with a cashier or an old friend or a co-worker or a family member.

Again - smiling seems like a simple act but guess what? It’s a simple act that has a tremendous, positive ripple effect. Today, try to smile a little more than yesterday. And tomorrow, a little more than today. You’ll find your spirits lifting along with others.

An Iraqui Girl Smiles a Universal Smile