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	<title>Optimystic Institute &#124; Tools for Positive Living &#38; Leadership &#124; Embody Optimism</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>Can community campaigns stay positive?</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2492/can-community-campaigns-stay-positive/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2492/can-community-campaigns-stay-positive/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:05:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Positive leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social transformation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=2492</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just came home from a City Council meeting in Mt. Shasta, CA, where I live.  I&#8217;ve been working on a community initiative since last year called the &#8220;Mt. Shasta Community Water Rights Ordinance.&#8221; Tonight the city councilors voted to publicly oppose it by writing an argument against it for the November election packet that [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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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>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=2456</guid>
		<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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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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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>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=2442</guid>
		<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>Can we be &#8220;too compassionate?&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2426/can-we-be-too-compassionate/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2426/can-we-be-too-compassionate/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2010 07:04:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Awareness exercises]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Managing energy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=2426</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While I don&#8217;t believe we can be &#8220;too compassionate,&#8221; I do think sometimes imagining being in someone else&#8217;s shoes can become &#8220;too real.&#8221;
For some of us, empathizing with someone becomes so real that we take on another person&#8217;s energy, burdens, or even illness. We can even take on a society&#8217;s problems, to the point where [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Walking in someone else&#8217;s shoes</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2419/walking-in-someone-elses-shoes/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2419/walking-in-someone-elses-shoes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2010 06:45:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inner optimism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social transformation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=2419</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently, I did a marathon.
No, not the 26.2 mile sort.  Instead, I  went on a TED marathon . . . as in getting mesmerized online for hours and hours by videos from the TED Conferences (Technology, Entertainment, and  Design, though their motto of &#8220;Ideas Worth Spreading&#8221; says it better).
I was particularly struck by [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<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>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=2152</guid>
		<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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		<item>
		<title>Optimism as a radical act</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2135/optimism-as-a-radical-act/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2135/optimism-as-a-radical-act/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:32:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Inner optimism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social transformation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Optimism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[transformation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=2135</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Imagine deciding to live without creating any environmental impact for a year: no trash, no carbon emissions via car or bus, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no  subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning,  no  TV, no flush toilets.  This is what &#8220;No Impact Man&#8221; Colin Beavan, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/2135/optimism-as-a-radical-act/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<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>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=1978</guid>
		<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>An optimistic funeral?</title>
		<link>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/1728/an-optimistic-funeral/</link>
		<comments>http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/1728/an-optimistic-funeral/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:42:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jennifer Mathews</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coping with challenges]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal stories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Videos & photos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[death]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Optimism]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.optimysticinstitute.com/?p=1728</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Not sure if you&#8217;ve ever noticed, but the word &#8220;fun&#8221; just so happens to be in funeral.  How on earth did that happen?  An oversight or intentional?  Is there such a thing as an optimistic funeral?  From my experience, I&#8217;d have to say YES.
In early March, while I was in Vermont, [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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