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	<title>Optimystic Institute &#124; Tools for Positive Living &#38; Leadership &#124; Embody Optimism &#187; Inspired living</title>
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	<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com</link>
	<description>Tools to embody optimism for positive living &#38; leadership</description>
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		<title>Choosing to be in awe</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2456/choosing-to-be-in-awe/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2456/choosing-to-be-in-awe/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jun 2010 02:38:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inspired living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Videos & photos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[adventure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lucky]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[skink]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday, my partner and I went for a walk along the McCloud River.  It was the first time in my life that I had seen a black bear on a trail.  Let me be more clear &#8211; the bear was on the same trail that I was on.  Yikes!
It was about 50 to 75 feet [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Inspired by late spring</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2442/inspired-by-late-spring/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2442/inspired-by-late-spring/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 31 May 2010 21:59:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inspired living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poetry & art]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[When I was a kid, I rarely interacted directly with nature.
I did catch grasshoppers in ball jars in the tall grasses of an empty lot across the street from my house, and I helped my grandparents find &#8220;nightcrawlers&#8221; (worms) in their backyard for fishing.  But I hadn&#8217;t helped plant a garden until I was in [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>The courage to hug a stranger</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2292/free-hugs-campaign/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2292/free-hugs-campaign/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:06:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inspired living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social transformation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free hugs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Optimism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[positive living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[random acts of kindness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=2292</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While I was driving around town running errands a few weeks ago, I saw a young man walking around with a piece of a cardboard box.  I could tell something was written on it in bold black marker.  My guess was that this teenager was in desperate need of some cash.  The light turned green [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>The artistic universe</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2152/the-artistic-universe/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2152/the-artistic-universe/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:07:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inspired living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Videos & photos]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[My friend Alex Champion, who creates earth labyrinths, occasionally sends me wonderful NASA photos of our universe.  I find this photograph &#8211; taken on April 11, 2010 &#8211; particularly inspiring and beautiful.  It resembles one of my favorite childhood art projects and is aptly named Spirograph Nebula after the drawing tool used to create colorful [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>The &#8220;fun theory&#8221; in action</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/1978/the-fun-theory-in-action/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/1978/the-fun-theory-in-action/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Apr 2010 06:47:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inspired living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Videos & photos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[playfulness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[positive living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Happy April Fools&#8217; Day!  Upon seeing this video, I immediately felt gratitude for the existence of creative and intelligent playfulness.  Fun is often &#8220;underrated&#8221; and yet it is so essential to our well-being and desire to be fully alive.  Enjoy!

]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Our wild &amp; precious lives</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/1071/our-wild-precious-lives/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/1071/our-wild-precious-lives/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:17:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inspired living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poetry & art]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=1071</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hooray hooray hooray hooray hooray today&#8217;s my birthday!   Hooray hooray hooray hooray hooray today&#8217;s my birthday!  Not the pickle, not the pear, not the elephant, not the bear, not last week or yesterday &#8211; Hooray today&#8217;s my birthday!!!
This is the song I&#8217;ve been singing to friends and family on their birthdays for about the [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Living &amp; dying with passion</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/985/living-dying-with-passion/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/985/living-dying-with-passion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:59:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coping with challenges]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inspired living]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday, on the first day of November (ironically the &#8220;day of the dead&#8221; in many traditions), my good friend Guen Gifford died while paragliding in California.  Most of us are still in shock, regardless of our spiritual beliefs or general optimism about life.
Guen lived a very thoughtful life &#8211; considering pros and cons, examining how [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
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