We often hold the keys to very complicated life issues in our very hands. But most of us are painfully unaware that our smarts, our skills, our creative abilities, our love, our personality, are more transformative than some external event we keep waiting to happen.

Take Khadijah Williams. Even while moving from shelter to shelter with her mother, she knew she could rely on her brains to break the vicious cycle she and her family were stuck in:

Because the family moved around so frequently, Williams never had the chance to stay at one school for long. Over the course of 12 years, she attended 12 different schools, often leaving in the middle of a term when a homeless shelter shut down or refused to accommodate the family. But as early as third grade, when Williams placed in the top percentile on a state exam, she realized that she had a gift. Her brain would be her ticket out of the slums, and she didn’t want to squander the opportunity.

As a high school student, Williams began to reach out to local educational groups that could provide her with resources like a quiet study space, free summer classes, and networking opportunities. They helped her learn about the college application process, so that by the time Williams started her junior year at Jefferson High School in Orange County, she was determined to stay there and make the most of her academic career.

So, for the last two years of high school, Williams woke up at 4 AM every morning to take a bus to school, and took part in the Academic Decathlon, the debate team, and the track and field team after a long day of classes, finally returning to her shelter at 11 PM at night. After her mother and sister left town, she was invited to move in with a family who volunteered for South Central Scholars, a local nonprofit group. Despite the stresses of her lifestyle, she managed to graduate fourth in her class.

Now, with a full scholarship to Harvard, Williams hopes to become an education attorney and use her life experiences to help other underprivileged students.

You go, girl!

Source: LA Times

Yesterday was Sunday…or “Pancake Sunday” as I like to call it.

Its the only day of the week I indulge in these fluffy breakfast favorites, loading them with everything imaginable: blueberries, oatmeal, nuts, chocolate chips, bananas, peaches (a personal favorite), even more unusual ingredients like pumpkin or cream cheese (which you stir in the batter.)

Without knowing it, I created a tradition for myself: one I’ve grown to look forward to more and more. And it’s not all about the pancakes (I swear!) It’s about the time. I sit down at my table to eat (which is often a rarity these days, as I often eat on the run or at my desk) and read the newspaper, listen to some jazz…relax. It’s the atmosphere I create for myself. The best part? It’s simple. It only requires a little imagination.

What can Monday be about for you? What can you treat yourself to? Maybe its Old Movie Monday Night. Or Bubble Bath Monday. Or Fresh Flowers Monday. Decide what you can do to add some ritual and tradition into your life. You’ll be really surprised at the rewards: a quietude of spirit, a grounding sensation, a gentle and peaceful love of life.

Hope comes in the strangest packages. Take penguin poop for instance (how many times does a writer get to use that last sentence?):

Penguin guano stains, visible from space, have helped British scientists locate emperor penguin breeding colonies in Antarctica. Knowing their location provides a baseline for monitoring their response to environmental change.

In a new study, published this week in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography, scientists from British Antarctic Survey describe how they used satellite images to survey the sea-ice around 90% of Antarctica’s coast to search for emperor penguin colonies. The survey identified a total of 38. Ten of those were new. Of the previously known colonies six had re-located and six were not found.

Because emperor penguins breed on sea-ice during the Antarctic winter little is known about their colonies. Reddish brown patches of guano on the ice, visible in satellite images, provide a reliable indication of their location.

BAS Mapping expert Peter Fretwell explains, “We can’t see actual penguins on the satellite maps because the resolution isn’t good enough. But during the breeding season the birds stay at a colony for eight months. The ice gets pretty dirty and it’s the guano stains that we can see.”

Photo: National Geographic

Source: Happy News (great site!)

Pura vida is their message. Meaning pure life. Costa Rica offers that up and then some. If you’ve never been, there is something truly magical about this country - deeply relaxing, peaceful, joyous and rich with life. The people are gentle, friendly souls and you feel naturally at home.

According to Gimundo:

According to the new “Happy Planet” report from British nonprofit group New Economics Foundation, if you’d like to live a more rewarding life, it might be work trading in your Rolex for a surfboard and heading south. Their comprehensive new report, which compares nations according to their populations’ life expectancies, life satisfaction, and ecological footprint, combining all of the factors to create a “Happy Planet Index” score, ranks the sunny, fun-loving Costa Rica as the number one place in the world to live, followed by the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guatemala, Vietnam, Colombia, El Salvador, Brazil, and Honduras to round out the top ten.

The results may come as a shock: after all, Cuba’s known for Fidel Castro’s human rights abuses, Colombia’s famous for a violent drug trade, and even Costa Rica, while a vacationer’s paradise, is a relatively poor country, statistically speaking. But what these countries may lack in material wealth, they make up for in happiness.

Standing in stark contrast to the materialistic, independent attitude of the United States and many other rich Western nations, “Latin Americans report being much less concerned with material issues than, for example, they are with their friends and family,” claims the report. “Civil society is very active, from religious groups to workers’ groups to environmental groups.”

Two Mexican artists perform traditional dance on the sixth day of the Costa Rican International Art Festival 2008 in San Jose, April 17, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

Okay, we all know that sunlight helps our mood. We know that depression is often worse for people in winter months. We know that too much exposure to unprotected skin can be dangerous.

But did you know:

Sunlight increases the production of endorphins and serotonin in your brain

Absorbing some sunlight during the day can help you sleep better at night. It increasess your melatonin output at night. Melatonin is a natural hormone made by our bodies which enhances sleep and slows down the aging process.

Sunlight helps to balance out your hormones. It may even help to relieve certain symptoms of PMS.

The ultraviolet rays in sunshine act as a natural antiseptic. These rays can kill viruses, bacteria, molds, yeasts, fungi, and mites in air, water, and on different surfaces including your skin.

Getting some sun tends to help clear up different skin diseases such as acne, boils, athletes foot, diaper rash, psoriasis, and eczema.

If you’ve got swollen, arthritic joints, sunlight may help lower your pain levels.

Sunlight is an effective treatment for jaundice.

According to some studies on the benefits of sunlight, exposure to the sun may decrease your risk of breast, colon, and prostate cancers.

The source of this piece is a wonderful online site called National Health Restored.

At Only Positive News, we try to bring increased awareness and appreciation to all living things. Sadly, many animals are mistreated on this planet. Luckily, there are stories like this that remind us there can be a happy ending afterall:

After narrowing the list of potential adopters, the kitten, who was given the moniker “Postina” after she was found inside a Boston neighborhood mailbox, has a new family which was chosen by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or MSPCA.

Her new owner, George Knapp, is a postal service employee in New Hampshire and had been searching to adopt a feline after his previous cat had passed away about a year ago. He and his wife immediately contacted the MSPCA and expressed interest in adopting the two-pound, 8-week-old kitten.

Postina’s story made international headlines and inquiries poured in from as far abroad as Holland and Italy after she was likely stuffed through the mail slot of a Hyde Park mailbox, falling at least a foot onto mail and boxes below. She spent the night inside the box before being discovered.

“Postina has captured the attention of pet lovers across the globe and shone a much- needed light on the seriousness of pet abandonment,” said Meagan Rock, manager of the MSPCA-Boston Animal Care and Adoption Center.

“We also want to remind the public that Postina’s story is shared by thousands of homeless cats that are dumped, neglected as well as abused each year and come to us looking for care and a new home. We currently have hundreds of homeless cats in our care and urge the public to adopt today,” Rock said.The couple has renamed their new pet P.D., for “postage due.”

source: WSVB TV

Pete Peterson had been doing some serious soul searching. A billionairre with a zest for life and a desire to make a difference. In his own words:

“In 2007 the company I cofounded, the Blackstone Group, held a most successful public offering. I found myself, at 81, an instant billionaire. I wish I could’ve called my father, a Greek immigrant who had spent most of his life running a 24-hour diner in Kearney, Neb. The news might have pleased him as much as my being the first Greek cabinet officer, which he never hesitated to tell perfect strangers. In the 1930s, when I was growing up, there was all this talk about millionaires like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Now I was a millionaire 1,000 times over.

But immediately I began wondering: what do I do with $1 billion? The idea of trying to make the money grow felt empty to me. For my father, who saved or gave away so much of his modest income, the ultimate pejorative was “big spender.” So buying a yacht was out of the question. I was also struggling over what to do with myself. I would be retiring from Blackstone, but my mind was still sharp and my energy was good. As my work commitments diminished, the phones gradually stopped ringing. The e-mails slowed. My schedule had too many blank spots. I was liberated. I was free. But I was joyless. I found my new life to be a kind of metaphor for my declining years—one might say a slow dying. I missed the frequent interactions with people I respected and enjoyed. I missed being needed. So I started looking at the lives of other billionaires. Almost all the ones I most admired were major philanthropists: Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Mike Bloomberg, George Soros, Eli Broad—each with a passion to do good, each getting so much pleasure from giving their money away. I decided that’s what I wanted to do. But to which worthy cause would I direct my money?

….Ultimately, I decided to commit $1 billion to the Peter G. Peterson foundation—the vast majority of my net proceeds from Blackstone. Why so much?

Kurt Vonnegut once told a story about seeing Joseph Heller at a wealthy hedge-fund manager’s party at a beach house in the Hamptons. Casting his eye around the luxurious setting, Vonnegut said, “Joe, doesn’t it bother you that this guy makes more in a day than you ever made from Catch-22?” “No, not really,” Heller said. “I have something that he doesn’t have: I know the meaning of enough.” I have far more than enough.”

Peterson’s memoir, The Education Of An American Dreamer, will be published by Twelve this month.

Source: Newsweek