Last year, fewer than half of all Americans took a week off or less for vacation. Compared with the five weeks of paid vacation Europeans get, Americans seem woefully overworked and under-rested. Doctors have been researching the ill effects of too much work, and some claim that a lack of vacation can have real health consequences. Dr. Sarah Speck calls the stress from too much work the new tobacco and says that vacations are an important way to reduce stress and burnout. While a recession may seem like an odd time to push for more vacation time, many experts in the field point to a variety of benefits of vacation.  [ more ]

Be The Change:

Consider the balance of work and rest in your own life — is it time to make room for more relaxation?

source: Daily Good

There is a new worldwide movement developing, made up of people with a different vision for their local communities. They know that movements are not organizations, institutions or systems. Movements have no CEO, central office, or plan. Instead, they happen when thousands and thousands of people discover together new possibilities for their lives. They have a calling. They are called. And together they call upon themselves. This beautiful article by John McKnight celebrates the power of what our institutions cannot do — but that we can and must do together. [ more ]

Be The Change:

Practice the three universal and abundant powers that Mcknight outlines as the heart of a movement: the giving of gifts, the power of association and hospitality.

In an experimental comparison, people who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events. Psychologists Robert Emmons at the University of California at Davis, and Michael McCullough, at the University of Miami, foremost researchers on gratitude, also found that participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals (academic, interpersonal and health-based). And there’s more: young adults who practiced a daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) had higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy compared to the group that focused on hassles or thinking of how they were better off than others. Further research and reflections on gratitude follow. [More]

Be the Change:

Try keeping a gratitude journal on a weekly basis and see what impact it has on your own positivity.

Source: DailyGood