Jingle Bell – Punjabi Tadka

(Thanks to Jack for the submission!)

Hippo and tortoise

This true story has been going around the Internet for years, but it still makes me smile. More proof that differences don’t have to matter.

NAIROBI (AFP) – A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said. The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him. “It is incredible.. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a ‘mother’,” ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park, told AFP. “After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately , it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together,” the ecologist added. “The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother,” Kahumbu added. “The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years,” he explained.

(Thanks to Betty for the submission!)

Piano stairs & the world’s deepest bin

Volkswagen has a “fun theory”–that people will change their behavior for the better if it’s more fun to do it the better way.  Their website, Thefuntheory.com, proves this by presenting ideas from all over the world–like a bike that plays music when you pedal and a book return box that rewards you with a sweet mint.  My favorites, though, are the ones with video proof.  Enjoy, and submit your own ideas to their website by December 15 for the chance to win 2,500 Euros (about $3,700).

(Thanks to Betty for the submission!)

Mysterious Letters on Kickstarter

I recently ran across Kickstarter.com, a website that provides “a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers…”.  Propose a project, and if you’re lucky enough to make it onto the site you can promote your project and bring in pledges from site visitors.  Bit by bit, dollar by dollar, projects are successfully funded every day.  A pretty cool concept.

A lot of the projects are what you’d expect:  books to be published, movies to be made, bands who want to “come play in your town”.  But here’s a wacky one that caught my eye:  Mysterious Letters, a project by two artists in Ireland who want to send a hand-written letter to everyone on the planet.  So far they’ve covered one town in Ireland (see the video on the website) and raised  $1,518 towards their $2,000 goal.  But my favorite part is what you get for your pledge.  In particular:

Pledge $5 or more: You will have your name written in calligraphy on a list that will be read in a reverential tone of voice into the letterbox as we post all of the letters. (Specific accents requestable.)

…

Pledge $24 or more: You will receive a unique hand-written postcard composed whilst we were sober, clear-headed and utterly focused on the task.

Pledge $25 or more: You will receive a unique hand-scrawled postcard written while we were drunk, which we’ll regret horribly by the time it arrives.

Not surprisingly, the highest number of pledges are in the $25-or-more category.

This project not your cup of tea?  No worries, there are plenty of others to choose from.  Your pledge could definitely improve someone’s day!

Kiss someone’s forehead today!

I hereby declare today (and for that matter, every day) International Kiss Someone’s Forehead Day. As you can see, it’ll make you BOTH feel better!

(Thanks to Nick for the submission!)

Biophilia = good nature-lovin’

My husband recently gave me a book that I absolutely LOVE, The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner.  In it, the author visits several different countries to see why they are considered among the happiest in the world.  Things like outlook, attitude, positive politics, and of course free health care figure into the mix, but one thing comes up again and again (especially in countries like Switzerland):  biophilia.

Social psychologist Eric Fromm first used “biophilia” (literally, “love of life or living systems”) to describe our tendency as humans to be attracted to all that is alive and vital.  It’s probably rooted in our biology, since a positive emotional response to living things makes us want to protect them, thereby ensuring their survival.  In other words, our natural love for life helps sustain life.  It also helps explain why ordinary people care for and sometimes risk their lives to save animals, why we keep plants and flowers in and around our homes, and why some people (and I’m definitely one of them) love to be immersed in nature.   Not only does it make us feel better, it’s part of being human.

It seems that nurturing a connection to the outdoors is especially important for children.  In the 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods, author Richard Louv lamented that, thanks to indoor electronic diversions, restricted access to outdoor areas, and overprotective parents,  children are spending less time outdoors, which is leading to all kinds of problems.  He called it Nature Deficit Disorder. Now, I’m not a big fan of inventing disorders to make us feel even worse about ourselves, but the theory behind this one is pretty interesting.

Louv spent 10 years traveling around the USA reporting and speaking to parents and children, in both rural and urban areas, about their experiences in nature. He found that thanks to sensationalist media and good old fashioned paranoia, parents are keeping children indoors in order to keep them “safe” from danger.  As a result, those children are losing their ability to connect to nature.

Electronic media is also a culprit, and we’re all guilty of spending too much time at the computer (even this website relies on you spending at least some time with electronic gadgetry).  Adults tend to balance this with time outdoors near nature  (we still need to run errands, buy groceries, go to the bank), or at least by keeping a plant on their desk.  Children, however, tend to become so immersed in their video games and television shows that they not only don’t go outside, they stop being aware that there is an outside.

According to recent studies, positive effects of nature on children include:  increased respect for the environment (vital for its survival); decreased childhood obesity; fewer attention disorders; stress reduction; better attention span; higher creativity; better cognitive development; and a developed sense of wonder and connection to the earth.

So get your children out into nature, and don’t forget to nurture your own human connection to other living things.  At the very least open up your curtains and take a look outside once in a while.  Better yet, take a walk.  Throw the ball around (your dog will especially appreciate it).  Water a plant.  Listen to the birds.  Even if you’re in the middle of a city, get out of the building once in a while and find one of those little tree wells.

Feel the love.  Feel the biophilia.  Your day will be much improved for it!

Loving kindness…pass it on

You may be familiar with the Loving Kindness meditation, developed from the Buddhist concept of Metta:

May you be filled with loving kindness
May you be well
May you be peaceful and at ease
May you be happy

Stated simply, Metta is the wish that all beings (regardless of social, religious, racial, political, and economic status) have welfare and happiness. Developing Metta through loving-kindness meditation can make it easier to replace feelings of bitterness, resentment, and animosity with more positive feelings of benevolence, sympathy, and love.  Sounds good, right? And it is.

Basically, here’s how it works:  You start out by saying the meditation a few times to yourself, “May I be filled with loving kindness…”.  After that, visualize your loved ones and say it to them.  After that, visualize a mentor or someone who has influenced you in a positive way and say it to him/her.  Then visualize someone who is challenging to you and say it to them (tough, I know, but bear with me here).  Finally, branch out to saying the meditation to your community, country, and the world.  Wish happiness for all beings.

Try it a few times, you’ll see that it really can make a bad day better!  And if a visual way of thinking helps–or you just want to relax for a few minutes–check out this video (bonus: in addition the trippy music, there’s some really beautiful photography):

(Thanks to Betty for the submission!)

Forgive and “forget”…and other tips for health & balance

A great resource for those inevitable bad days (along with The Day Improver, of course), is WebMD’s Health & Balance Guide.  From the intro:

Do you know anyone who keeps it all together, all the time, effortlessly? Neither do we. But a balanced life isn’t about being unflappable or escaping reality. It’s about riding out the changes and stresses we all face from time to time. It’s about choices, priorities, perspective, and letting go. This guide is your starting point.

Among its dozens of articles are  “Choosing to Be Happy” (simple strategies for happiness), “Babyproof Your Sanity” (tips for new parents), and  “Don’t Lose Your Cool” (thinking clearly to stop harmful outbursts).  I also like what they have to say about an often overlooked health-and-balance-booster, forgiving and “forgetting”  (in quotes because the goal is not to erase the memory of a past hurt; you just don’t want it to dictate your present life).  Some highlights from the complete article (in the “Find Peace” section of the guide):

• According to medical research, forgiveness leads to lower blood pressure; a stronger immune system; a drop in stress hormones; alleviation of back pain, stomach problems, and headaches; and a reduction in anger, bitterness, resentment, depression, and other health-damaging negative emotions.
• Forgiving is notoriously difficult, and forgetting is nearly impossible.  But that’s okay: “Forgiveness does not involve a literal forgetting. Forgiveness involves remembering graciously. The forgiver remembers the true though painful parts, but without the embellishment of angry adjectives and adverbs that stir up contempt.”
• Dwelling on injustices creates significant (and measurable) harm to physical well-being.  Cultivating forgiveness–even just imagining forgiving offenders–cuts these costs dramatically.
• You can’t just will forgiveness.  You can, however, create the right conditions for a genuine, heartfelt release of resentment by diminishing hostility and self-pity, and increasing positive emotions.
• Gratitude (focusing your attention on the positive things in your life) creates a biochemical experience that makes it more likely that forgiveness will occur.
• It also helps to change the story you tell yourself (and the story you tell others about yourself) so that you’re more like a survivor who is hopeful about the future rather than a victim with a grievance.
• Decisional forgiveness involves choosing to let go of angry thoughts about the person you feel has wronged you (“I’m not going to seek revenge” or “I’m going to avoid that person”).  However, the ultimate goal is emotional forgiveness, in which negative emotions such as resentment, bitterness, hostility, hatred, anger, and fear are replaced with love, compassion, sympathy, and empathy.
• Emotional unforgiveness causes a chronic stress response, which results in obsessing about the wrong done to you. Rumination is what gets people into trouble and is associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, depression, even hives.
• REACH for forgiveness:  1) Recall the hurt objectively, without blame and self-victimization.  2) Empathize by trying to imagine the viewpoint of the person who wronged you.  3)  Be altruistic–think about a time you were forgiven and how that felt.  4) Commit to forgiveness (this may take some time), and when you finally do,  5)  Hold on to forgiveness.
• If you’ve tried everything and still can’t forgive, at least try to achieve some resolution and eliminate feelings of revenge.   “This is where forgivers and nonforgivers divide.  Sometimes you’re not able to reconnect with the person, but if you go through this process, at least you won’t be a victim.”  And it goes without saying that hurting the other person back or “teaching them a lesson” will only make things worse.

So take a deep breath, and let it go.  You’ll be much happier, healthier, and more balanced for it.

Jasmine, rescue dog and 50-time surrogate mom

Jasmine, a 7-year-old greyhound,  was found dumped in a garden shed in 2003.  She was brought to the Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, nursed back to health by the sanctuary staff…and found her true calling.

Since arriving at the shelter, Jasmine has played foster mother to five fox cubs, four badger cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies, and 15 rabbits.  As of December 31, 2008 (when the full article on Jasmine appeared in The Daily Mail), she was caring for Bramble, a tiny 11-week-old roe deer fawn found semi-conscious in a nearby field.

Check out the pictures below to see more of Jasmine and her brood.

(By the way, this story and the accompanying photos have been confirmed to be 100% true and real by snopes.com…at one point they put a towel under the barn owl so her claws wouldn’t hurt Jasmine, but that’s the only “work” that was done.)

(Thanks to Tina for the submission!)

Op zoek naar Maria

More support for random rejoicing in public! Watch all the way to the end…it’ll definitely bring a spring to your step:

(Thank to Betty for the submission!)