5 Ways Laughter is Good For Health

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April 21, 2011 a project of CharityFocus At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities. - Jean Houston - 5 Ways Laughter is Good For Health Ever felt lighter after a good laugh? Physiologically speaking, that's no coincidence. Laughter is shown to increase blood flow, strengthen immune system, reduce muscle pain, lower blood sugar and shed calories. Along similar lines, singing or listening to music can improve the brain's auditory and language processing functions, and decrease insomnia, stress and stroke. Regular grounding practices like meditation or attending a religious service can reduce blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tension. Cures can come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes as simple as a moment of laughter, song, or reflection. { read more } Be The Change Laugh, sing, meditate and feel all better. COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News Six Keys to Excellence How to Deliver the Speech of Your Life Dirty Secret of Search Engines Embracing Imperfection DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 105,953 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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72 Hours to Transform Your City

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April 20, 2011 a project of CharityFocus Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears we never use. - Schultz - 72 Hours to Transform Your City A hundred designers, 10 urban challenges, very little money, and no sleep. That's the recipe for 72 Hour Urban Action, a three-day marathon for designers to improve their city. Founder Kerem Halbrecht first debuted the concept at the Bat-Yam Biennale of Landscape Urbanism in Israel in September, where 120 participants working in 10 teams got three days and three nights to solve problems in public spaces. "I wanted to challenge the common perception that creating change in public space is long and difficult, and to see if public space can respond to changing needs in real time." By all accounts, the first 72 Hour Urban Action was brutal but exhilarating. The competitors slept (when they did sleep) in an empty school, and had to split a paltry $2,500 budget between all the teams. They did, however, have a truck and tractor for everyone to share. And cute orange jumpsuits. { read more } Submitted by: Kate T. Be The Change Do something to energize your local community. For inspiration, check out a video of 72 Hour Urban Action in action: { more } COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News Ice Cream Truck of the Digital Age How to Recycle: An E-Waste Odyssey New Way to Watch your Blood Pressure Recycled Cell Phones Save Lives DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 105,932 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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The Art of Giving

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April 19, 2011 a project of CharityFocus Where there is no gift, there is no art. - Lewis Hyde - The Art of Giving First there was Ehren. Then Fariba, and Ashley. Ehren Tool: "Literally a woman took a photograph of a bowl that I made for her and sold the photograph of the bowl for thousands of dollars in New York. You can't ask for thousands of dollars for a ceramic bowl. [laughs] But the photograph will last only fifty years; the ceramic piece will last a couple of thousand. So rather than accept five dollars for a cup and say that's what it's worth, I just give it away." Fariba Safai: "I feel that in the process of giving, you're receiving. You can't change anybody else. So all you can do is hopefully start with yourself. So in the end, in that process of giving, you're really self-healing. I think that's the greatest aspect of the true artist." { read more } Be The Change Make something artful and give it to someone. COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News The 3 A's of Awesome 20 Ways to Travel Over Ten Thousand People Attend His Funeral New Kind of New Year's Resolution DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 105,915 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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Restaurant Chain Displaced By Students

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April 18, 2011 a project of CharityFocus Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves -- and be free. - Cesar Chavez - Restaurant Chain Displaced By Students When a 1,300-outlet fast-food chain announced plans to open a branch on the campus of the University of California Berkeley, a group of students protested. Given the nature of the city's resonance with local, seasonal and organic food, this wasn't a surprise. However, the students not only defeated the chain but also took their victory one step further by raising $100,000 to replace the fast-food joint with a student-run co-op carrying fresh, local, healthy, sustainable, and fairly produced food that would be sold at affordable prices. As if that weren't enough, the students have even started an organization to train students nationwide how to open their own campus food co-ops. { read more } Be The Change Get your next produce from local farmers. COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News A Poem Is Entrepreneur of Small Things The Burrito Man Who Changed Lives A Blessing from A Homeless Man DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 105,910 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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Bell Curve of Empathy

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April 17, 2011 a project of CharityFocus It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to. - W. C. Fields - Bell Curve of Empathy Rhesus monkeys can be trained to pull a chain to obtain food but will refuse to do so if this means another monkey receives an electric shock. How do those monkeys compare with Nazi concentration camp guards? It was childhood tales of Nazi atrocities that first set the Cambridge psychologist, Simon Baron-Cohen, on the path of studying human cruelty and empathy. Instead of "evil", Simon frames such acts as "empathy erosion" in his book, Zero Degrees of Empathy. Unempathic acts are simply the tail end of a bell curve, found in every population on the planet, and thus, any problem immersed in empathy becomes solvable. { read more } Submitted by: Vinciane Rycroft Be The Change Take the empathy test and figure out what is your EQ -- Empathy Quotient. { more } COMMENT | RATE               Related Good News How Do You Want to be Remembered? The World's Happiest People 82 Hour Hunger Fast A Message in a Wallet DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers "good news" to 105,910 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here. Other CharityFocus projects include: HelpOthers  //  CF Sites  //  KarmaTube  //  Conversations  //  More

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