Canadians of every political stripe continue to show their love and admiration for a national leader, Jack Layton, days after his death. Known as Smilin' Jack, he wrote a letter to the Canadian people expressing his hopes for the future and showing optimism even in face of death. His last words have resonated throughout the nation.
After a deadly cancer diagnosis, he dedicated his life to helping hundreds of kids from Haiti's slums. After nine months of treatment and recovery, he returned home determined to start living the life he'd always wanted: helping children from Haiti's poorest slums.
When one of China's most popular Internet portals started offering Open University–style lectures in English last October, eager Chinese netizens flocked to subjects that surprised most observers. Instead of Marketing, Computer or Robotics courses, two contemplative courses — one on happiness, the other on justice — trumped all others.
As a social studies teacher in a Boston public high school for 14 years, Stephen Banno has developed a curriculum called the "Love Course," that present ancient cultural wisdoms coupled with the latest discoveries in modern science to address issues concerning love in our contemporary lives. Students have reported that in small ways, they have transformed themselves, their friends, and the school around them.
Susanne Janson's life was shattered in 2004 when her two young daughters were killed in the tsunami that ravaged Southeast Asia. She found solace and healing by starting a new life in Thailand, where she has provided daily care to more than 100 children in need, as a way to turn disaster into hope.
A non-profit fitness center in Massachusetts providing free gym memberships to low-income and homeless women was nearly forced to shut its doors recently, until an anonymous donor came forward and gave money enough to keep the center open for the summer.
When Sam Johnson first picked up a shovel and mobilized 10,000 fellow students to help clean up Christchurch's streets after last September's earthquake in New Zealand, he never imagined his efforts would turn him into an international star.
Judges of the Eye Remember photography contest in Canada had no idea Tara Miller had any vision problem whatsoever, let alone having only 10 percent vision in one eye. The blind commercial photographer won the contest with her stunning landscape entitled, Fortuitous Twilight.
If only charitable giving was as easy as buying a Coke at a vending machine. Well, now it is—at least in Japan. A Coca-Cola bottling company in Japan and the country's Red Cross have joined together to enable people to make donations by putting money into a vending machine.
An anonymous donor in Denmark has left nearly $200,000 in a clothes recycling bin outside a charity shop run by the Red Cross. The money was found in a bin liner under piles of donated clothing.
Young American volunteers marked Independence Day by continuing their remarkable clean up on behalf of Japan's tsunami survivors. And, their American-style celebration helped to lift the spirits of the struggling community there.
The sixth annual Happiness and Its Causes conference in Brisbane, Australia featured four days of lectures and workshops featuring some of the world's best known happiness gurus, including the Dalai Lama. The successful conference, attended by 2000 people paying big bucks, is just the latest evidence of the recent boom in all things happiness.
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Happiness is a mindset, a conscious choice we make every day