Our world can seem very dark these days, but if you take the time to look around, you may find it sparkling with potential you’ve previously missed. After curating the internet for goodness and progress for 10 years, we’ve found that the version of the world we take with us – dark or light –  is almost entirely dependent upon what we are giving our attention to. Allow your attention to be hijacked by breaking news or social media each day, and you will surely feel like our world is in a downward spiral.

There are people, however, who see all the problems in our world as opportunities, and experience tells us that the people who think that way all have something in common: They are consciously and consistently nurturing a perspective that is full of examples of what’s right with the world, and they’re doing it by actively seeking them out.

Liesl Ulrich-Verderber is one of those people. She is co-founder and CEO of the Goodness Exchange, (the mothership website for this podcast) and she has spent the last eight years curating the internet for leaps in human progress, insights, innovation and natural wonders. This work has taught her one fundamental truth: that our times call for far more practical advice than most notions about simply “thinking positively.”

Liesl and I share what we’ve learned interviewing and writing about some of the most positive, impactful, persevering people in the world; those who have chosen to work towards solving some of the most vexing problems of today have had to develop a treasure trove of strategies in order to stay resilient and perseverent, and speaking to them all has taught us so many helpful perspectives. 

Most of us know that having a positive worldview as a friend, co-worker, or parent is key to happiness, success, and to raising confident and productive children. Finding a path forward, however, can be a quagmire all its own. We’d like to help start you on your way to finding a perspective that serves you and the people who are counting on you. 

If your strategy these days has been to tune out the news, social media, and the chaos of the internet, it would be an understandable reaction to the drama and turmoil that seems to be escalating there; but that just leaves you in a different kind of darkness, because it also limits the positive things you may have been able to find.

We can’t just keep absorbing all the negative noise and saying to ourselves and others “it’s all good.” Pretending that all is well when we know that it’s not only serves to grow our burden of sadness, anger, and guilt. The good news, however, is that there are lots of things we can do to chart an upward spiral course as individuals and a global community. 

To help you find those things, we answer questions like:

• What is The Gratitude Economy, and how can it help?
• Who do we trust? 
• How do we find meaning and avoid plain meanness on social media? 
• What can just 4 minutes of positive news per day do for you?
• How can we circumvent the impulse to check for breaking news, and find a way to limit our news diet to the truly important? 
• How can you reduce the negative noise with a simple change to your clicking habits?

We’ve learned some secrets about the way the internet, social media, and the news are built that can help you reimagine the role that all of them play in your life. Our goal is to help you turn that feeling that “someone who should do something about all this negativity” into a path that helps you be the change-maker in your own life. 

We are at a point now where we face the age-old choice between operating from a position of fear, or one of love. We can fearfully try to tune out the noise, but that will still be like trying to think clearly while holding a screaming toddler. Or, as an alternative, we show you how you can start seeing all there is to love about the world: the beauty, wonder, joy, and generosity that can also be found when we consciously look for it. 

Love does take a lot more courage, patience, and careful thought, but instead of diving into the complexities of “positive thinking” methods, try the practical new habits we’re suggesting for your digital life, and you’ll soon see how well worth it the extra effort is.

• Do Good Institute Episode
• Dr. David Cooperrider Episode
• Dewitt Jones Episode
• Article: Creating a Safer World for Urban Sloths, One Photo at a Time
• Article: Your Local Bees Need a Place to Stay: Shifting Spotlight to Native Bees Near You
• Article: These Tiny Wooden Robots are a Future Forest Falling From the Sky!
• Article: Generations of Love Sewn into the Quilts of Gee’s Bend
• Article: Turning Chopsticks into Tables—Rethinking the Value of “Waste”
• The Elephant Project Episode

• 00:00 – Intro & Welcome
• 04:14 – Real Impact of News
• 06:45 – Positive News Benefits
• 10:03 – Brain Science in Media
• 17:05 – Effects of Negative News
• 22:02 – Critical Thinking in Media
• 24:34 – Intentional Media Consumption
• 31:30 – Break
• 34:11 – Internet’s Role Reimagined
• 45:01 – Inspiring Stories in Media 
• 56:07 – Positive Worldview Impact
• 1:01:03 – Learning from Each Other
• 1:19:39 – Closing