“I want other children to read it if they lose their daddy like me,” says Milly Bell.

This brave girl mustered up the strength and creativity to reach out to other children who may be in her situation by writing a book that talks openly about the death of a parent.

“My Daddy Is Dying” is being published by a cancer charity in the hope that it will help other youngsters cope with bereavement.

Among Millie’s pieces of advice is a suggestion that those feeling miserable should make a “Happy Feelings Cake”.

“Sometimes you will feel sad so you can make a cake of happy feelings. What you do is each ingredient is a happy thought.

“E.g. if it was me the flour could be my dog Daisy who makes me smile, the egg could be the start of the new beginning, the sugar could be the sweetness of your family or friends and the butter could be a thought about something you are looking forward to.

“When you decorate the cake the toppings can be happy feelings that you had about making the cake. Then you eat it and it makes you feel better because making it sort of takes your mind off feeling sad.”

Millie’s mother Gaynor Appleby, 37, from Exeter, said: “She was absolutely devastated when she lost her dad, and it broke my heart to see her grief. But she has been so strong - and her thoughts have always been with other children.”

Source: DailyMail.com

Sure, we see photos, we read stories about him. But how much do you know about the Dalai Lama? Here are some facts so you can better acquaint yourself with a revered and cherished world figure.

(Recent news - President Obama has declined to meet with the Dalai Lama during an upcoming visit. This will be the first time in 18 years a President hasn’t met with His Holiness. I personally am quite saddened by this choice.)

• The Dalai Lama is a lineage of religious officials of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. “Lama” is a general term referring to Tibetan Buddhist teachers.




• The Dalai Lama is believed to be the rebirth of a long line of tulkus, who have chosen to be reborn in order to enlighten others.




• The current Dalai Lama is the 14th of his line. He was born to a farming family in 1935 and given the name Lhamo Dhondrub. He was recognized at the age of two, and brought to live in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, at the age of four, where he became His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso.




• When China annexed Tibet in 1959, the Dalai Lama and thousands of his supporters fled into exile. He has lived in Dharamsala, India since 1960 and heads the Tibetan government-in-exile. China does not recognize Tibet as an independent political entity.The Dalai Lama has been a powerful spokesman for Tibet and Buddhism in general and has written a number of books on the topic. His consistent opposition to violence was recognized in 1989 with the Nobel Peace Prize.

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.

Our site on positive news would be remiss if we didn’t discuss the importance of the carbon positive contributions. Carbon Positive is a dense and forward-focused site that explains the movement in detail. Please take a moment to wrap your head around one the articles on this rich site.

Here’s an excerpt from an article about tree planting and its efficacy when it comes to global warming:

So what are the benefits of planting trees?

Planting trees is hugely beneficial to the world in the face of accelerating climate change. There is now a strong international scientific consensus that human activity is causing global warming. A substantial reduction in the planet’s forest cover over recent centuries is a major contributor to this climatic change.

As trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), the main ‘greenhouse gas’ responsible for global warming, thereby reducing the concentration of this gas in the atmosphere. Forests are referred to as ‘carbon sinks’ for this function of CO2 absorption and storage. Planting trees to bolster carbon sink area, an example of what’s termed ‘carbon sequestration’, helps offset the loss of native forests and fights global warming.

Again, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with an article or two on this site. Right now, our ecology demands the highest amount of positivity and that begins with understanding.

This story is a great lesson in putting your troubles aside to help someone else. Not always the easiest task, but giving to someone else when you’re in distress can be a great equalizer.

Brian Tapp, a 59-year-old florist from Sydney, Australia, had just been evicted from his shop. One morning last month, as he made a final trip to his flower shop to collect his possessions, he happened to spot a wallet and passport lying by the side of the road.

Most people in his position would be too miserable to give a second thought to helping someone else out. But Tapp put his own troubles aside to help out a stranger, pulling over to pick up the loose belongings before they were run over or stolen. Along with the wallet and passport, Tapp discovered an itinerary for a flight to Bali—which was due to leave in less than two hours.

“‘The first thing I noticed was that the owner of the passport was on a flight leaving at midday,” Tapp told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It was 10:15 when I found it, and I just thought, ‘This bloke’s going to be at the airport in a bit of a state. So I’ll see if I can find him.’”

The would-be traveler, Adam Morison, hadn’t realized that he’d lost his wallet and passport until he’d arrived at the airport, and was devastated by the mistake. By the time Tapp contacted the airline, Morison had turned around to head back home, his hopes of a surfing holiday dashed. But, while driving home, he received a call from the airline, letting him know that a Good Samaritan had found his possessions and was driving to the airport to deliver them to him in person. Morison turned his car around again, and sped back to the airport.

When he pulled up, he found Tapp, “this angel with a beard,” he said. “I still can’t believe it. I’m a perfect stranger, and he’s having a shocking day, yet he’s picked up my passport, my wallet, all my stuff, found a way of contacting me, and has gone out of his way to make sure I get my flight.”

Thanks to Tapp’s good deed, Morison made his flight after all—but Tapp’s work still wasn’t done. When Morison noticed that some of his cash and cards were missing from his wallet, Tapp returned to the road where he’d found it. Remarkably, they were still lying there. “I found the money, a Medicare card, a MasterCard, and his barrister’s identification card,” said Tapp. Though Morison had already departed for Bali at that point, Tapp mailed the items to Morison’s home.

Morison still can’t believe that Tapp would go to so much trouble to help a total stranger, and is now trying to return the favor by helping Tapp pick up more customers for his floral business. But for Tapp, there’s nothing unusual about his generous deed: ‘‘It’s what I’d expect anyone to do,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m a person who really hates losing things, so I can put myself in the place of the owner.

“It’s just the way I was brought up, I suppose.’’

Source: Gimundo.com

Good Samaritan … Brian Tapp, left, found Adam Morison’s wallet and passport and rushed them to the airport so he could catch his flight in time Photo: Dallas Kilponen

We’ve all heard it before: you are what you eat. But increasingly, research tells us this is true, right down to our emotional state. Of course, this isn’t brain surgery. When you eat sugary, processed foods, you can’t expect to be on your best behavior. Poor diet causes mood swings, irritability, depression and foggy thinking.
Here are some foods guaranteed to boost your mental state, easily and healthily from nutritionist Matt O’Neill:

Salmon, which is rich in Omega 3, is one food that puts people in a better frame of mind, according to the good-food guru.

And one surprise addition to Mr O’Neill’s list is coffee.

The caffeine in coffee boosts the production of the feel-good hormone serotonin, however as with all things, moderation is the key, and he recommends no more than one or two standard coffees each day

Other foods on his list include:

Brazil Nuts
“Nuts are like natures vitamin pills, low levels of selenium have been linked with depression. Brazil nuts are a superstar in terms of selenium.”

Chocolate
“And it’s not going to be surprising that I’m going to say 2 squares. (This) triggers a chemical called dopamine. It’s a feel-good chemical in the brain. Dark chocolate is even more effective.”

Eggs contain vitamin B12, they’ve got protein in them, they’ve got iron, they’ve got zinc, selenium and this is like a megadose. An afternoon snack of an egg, can help you feel more alert and give you a dose of these nutrients that will reduce your risk of depression in the long term.”

Bananas are also on the list due to their high potassium content.

“As recent as last month (a study) compared people that were on a regular diet, versus a higher potassium diet. Potassium can, over time, help your mood go up.”

Understandably, water is on the list, as according to Mr O’Neill, even mild dehydration can cause headaches, anxiety and nervousness.

Usually reserved for Christmas lunch, turkey is a surprise addition to the top 10.

“It has high levels of an amino acid called tryptophan. Now tryptophan is what your brain uses to make another feel good hormone called serotonin, that calming chemical in the brain.”

Grain Bread

“A breakfast of wholegrain bread or muesli or oats or porridge will give you sustained energy throughout the day and your energy levels are regulated and (more constant).”

And finally, eat your greens.

“You know that’s what mum would say to you - it’s high in a nutrient called folate. What it does is it reduces the level of a chemical called homasistene in the blood, and if you reduce (that chemical), they’ve found that linked to better mood and less depression.”

Then, there are the foods which plays havoc with our mood, Mr O’Neill says.

Kicking of the list are the usual suspects - sugar, processed snacks and fried food, and alcohol. Although small does of the latter can be beneficial to your general wellbeing.

So to sum up, we asked Mr O’Neill what would be the best example of a good mood meal?

“A 1/4 of your dinner plate is going to be protein, the next quarter could be whole grains, and the other half, a whole half of your plate, but not just a condiment, should be your leafy green vegetables, so spinach,” he says.

“I mean Popeye got big muscles out of spinach, he also seemed to be pretty switched on, so that’s how he got his mood benefit, with the spinach.”

I’m so glad coffee made the cut!