There are plenty of things that can comfort us: a warm hug from mom or dad, a gooey chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven, a puppy curling up in your lap to take a nap, and even some information about our world that can provide you a bit of hope. While the rest of the internet is flooded with news that might make your faith in humanity shrivel up, this article can be a brief break from all of that to experience a few moments of peace.
A week ago, Reddit user Subornion posted on Ask Reddit requesting readers to respond with some “VERY comforting facts”, and lucky for us, many people delivered. The post received over 13k comments, featuring a host of interesting and uplifting fun facts, so we’ve gathered some of our favorites down below for you to read, as well as interviews with Subornion about how this conversation began in the first place and Corey Ferreira, co-founder of the meditation app Declutter the Mind, about how meditation can bring our lives some comfort. Be sure to upvote the responses that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, and then if you’re interested in learning even more positive facts, check out this Bored Panda piece next.
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Switzerland has implemented a scheme ‘Time Bank’; which is an old-age assistance programme, under which, people can volunteer to look after the elderly who require assistance, and then, the number of hours they spend with or caring for seniors gets deposited in their individual social security account.Eventually, when the volunteer reaches that old age when he or she requires support, this ‘Time Bank’ can help them by providing time-based services which include consultations, babysitting, hairdressing, gardening, tutoring, or any other time-consuming job in addition to being looked after by a volunteer as well.About 34 countries are trying to apply this scheme.
Very Wholesome and humane!
With the hustle and bustle of our daily routines, it can be hard to make time for anything that bring us joy or comfort. Wake up, commute to a stressful job, work for 8 hours, sit in rush hour on the way home, return home to face responsibilities and chores, rinse and repeat. We get so caught up in our obligations that we forget to stop and smell the roses. I urge you to take the next 10 minutes while you read this article to take some deep breaths, play some relaxing music, grab a warm cup of tea or coffee, and fully embrace some comfort. Don’t feel guilty about it. You deserve a moment of rest.
We reached out to Subornion on Reddit to hear her thoughts on this topic. She told Bored Panda that nothing in particular inspired her to start this conversation last week, but she’s very happy with how the post turned out. When asked why we all need to hear some comforting facts every now and then, and she told us, “Honestly, especially with what's happening in the US, sometimes our faith in humanity needs to be restored, and this post allowed hundreds of people to help each other with that.” She is referring to the Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, eliminating millions of Americans' access to safe abortions. That devastating news is certainly a valid reason to seek out some positivity.
There is a group of bikers called bikers against child abuse who support child abuse victims in court by looking tough and giving the kids confidence to testify against their abusers it’s actually an international group
We also asked Subornion if any of the responses to her post particularly resonated with her. “The responses that meant the most to me were the ones that talked about how they genuinely appreciated a post like this,” she told us. “And also that one comment that talked about how rats giggle to themselves.” We're thankful Subornion sparked this conversation, because now we all get to receive a little comfort from strangers on the internet too.
It is amazing how soothing a few words on a screen can be. According to Dr. Andrew Newberg and Dr. Mark Robert Waldman, co-authors of the book Words Can Change Your Brain, “A single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.” Their book even explains how exercising positive thinking can affect how we perceive reality. “By holding a positive and optimistic [word] in your mind, you stimulate frontal lobe activity. This area includes specific language centers that connect directly to the motor cortex responsible for moving you into action. And as our research has shown, the longer you concentrate on positive words, the more you begin to affect other areas of the brain.”
Crows will let other crows know if you’re a good person. Feeding a crow in your backyard can quickly become many crows over time since the rumour spreads. And nearby crows in your area will know you as one they like. They can also be known to be protective of you and even bring you gifts. Sufficed to say, crows are one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet and they are truly underrated
One great way you can find a little comfort in your daily life is by practicing meditation, so we reached out to Corey Ferreira, co-founder of Declutter the Mind to hear from an expert on the topic. First, we wanted to know how Corey became interested in meditation in the first place. "Many years ago when I was 17, I was on a high school field trip where we as a class, visited different monasteries, churches, and temples to learn about world religions," he told us. "When we visited a Buddhist temple, we were taught by a monk how to meditate. While we were too young and rambunctious to appreciate it and understand it, when I later went home it stuck with me. It certainly made me feel different, especially as a young introvert with a racing mind. For years I thought I 'knew' or understood meditation, but it wasn't until my mid-twenties when I went on my first Vipassana meditation retreat that I began to deepen my practice and carry it over to my daily life."
There is a type of mold growing on/around the Elephant's Foot in Chernobyl. This mold eats radiation, and the radioactivity of the Elephant's Foot has decreased drastically since the mold started growing there. idk, it's just comforting to me that the planet can heal no matter how bad the scar we left.
We also asked Corey to share some of the benefits we can experience from meditation. "The reason meditation is often called a 'practice' is because it's taking time out of your day to practice mindfulness. When you practice this enough with meditation, you can start to live more mindfully and in the present moment in your daily life," he explained. "What this truly means to me is that you stop living life on auto-pilot. You stop getting caught up in the momentum of your life, and living at the whim of your emotions, thoughts, and immediate reactions. Life is a little less of a blur and thus, I'm able to really appreciate things, people, and places instead of being lost in thought or living in my head constantly. This has a lot of side effects. Being a more mindful person and living a more examined life can make you happier, calmer, patient, empathetic, grateful, and just improve overall wellbeing and mental health."
All of the cardigans Mister Rogers wore on camera were knit by his mother.
Corey even shared some tips for people who are interested in meditation but just don't know where to start. "Of course, thanks to technology, you don't need to go on a retreat or find a teacher to learn how to meditate or do a simple practice. While that's great for those who can and want to do it, you could start with a simple online 5 minute guided practice. You can either find one on YouTube, or from a podcast, or of course, a guided meditation app like ours, Declutter The Mind, which is free to download and use. I would recommend anyone interested start with a simple 5 minute mindfulness meditation practice and use their breath as an anchor for their attention. And it's really just as simple as watching the breath and body breathe on its own, and whenever the mind wanders, or you catch your mind lost in thought, you gently bring it back to the breath. Repeating this process helps build that mindfulness muscle, that we can then more easily use outside of the practice and in our daily lives."
Lastly, Corey wanted to add that, "Meditation doesn't need to be 'woo-woo' or have any spiritual or religious contexts to be effective. We all know what living in the moment, being present, and entering flowstates feels like. This is simply a way to practice this so we can get there more in our daily lives. Of course, there are levels to it and ways to deepen your practice and learn about some ideas and philosophies around the mind, consciousness, and ego. But start simple and seek out the teachers and practices that offer you something rational and simple."
The dog estimates the time of your return home by how much of your smell is left in the house from your morning routine.
Cats, on the other hand, couldn't care less until the food stops appearing.
Corey discussed some of the benefits of meditating already, but let's dive in a bit deeper. According to Healthline, there are plenty of science-backed benefits ranging from reducing stress to helping fight addiction. In one eight-week-long study, regular practice of mindfulness meditation “resulted in [participants having] a significantly smaller post-stress inflammatory response”. Similarly, meditation can help us keep our anxiety under control, as mindfulness meditation has been found to reduce symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. When we are not dealing with crippling stress and anxiety, we have more energy to explore the hobbies we love and strengthen our relationships with friends and family members. Finding just 15 minutes to practice meditation every day might go a long way.
I once found a ladybug in my room in the middle of winter. I tried to look up if I could feed it somehow, and found countless other people asking the same question.
The world is full of people who have compassion enough to feed a lone bug in the winter.
Sometimes dogs in movies have to have CGI tails because they keep wagging their tails. They are just so happy to be there!
Sea otters hold hands when they sleep to keep from drifting apart.
Meditation has also been found to promote emotional health and increase our self-awareness. One medical review including trials with over 3,500 participants found that mindfulness meditation can improve symptoms of depression. By increasing positive thoughts and lessening symptoms of depression, individuals are less likely to dwell on negative news and more likely to accept comforting information. Using meditation to increase self-awareness is also a great trick to steer our mindsets into a more positive direction. The better we know ourselves, the easier it is to set boundaries around following negative news cycles and seek out more constructive media or activities instead.
India's tiger population grew from 1,411 in 2006 to 2,967 tigers as per the 2018 census. Based on the best available information, tiger populations are stable or increasing in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia and China. But much more work is needed to protect this species if we are to secure its future in the wild.
It's illegal in Switzerland to own just one guinea pig. You have to have at least two if you want to have any. Guinea pigs get lonely.
Obama was the president for 8 years.
Confederacy existed for 4 years.
America had a black president longer than the confederacy existed.
Do you have trouble focusing for extended periods of time? Meditation might be the answer for that as well. Healthline reported that, “One study found that people who listened to a meditation tape experienced improved attention and accuracy while completing a task, compared with those in a control group.” Focusing our minds is just like any other exercise, practice makes perfect. Meditation can help us work out our memory muscles as well, as another study found that various meditation techniques can help older individuals increase their attention spans, memories and mental sharpness. So if you have noticed that your brain is just not as quick as it used to be, have no fear. The meditation gurus of the internet are here!
Bees inform their friends about good flowers nearby by dancing.
The ozone layer is slowly repairing itself
Housecats would meow and wait by the bathroom door if you don’t let them in while you’re in.
They do this because in nature, animals are open to dangers while “using the bathroom”, and your cat is just trying to protect you from the dangers of indoor plumbing!
If you struggle to find ways to incorporate random acts of kindness into your daily life, meditation might be able to inspire you in that regard as well. There is a specific type of meditation called metta, that focuses on cultivating kindness for all beings. One month-long study of 50 university students found that by practicing metta meditation 3 times a week, they were able to improve their positive emotions, interpersonal interactions and understanding of others. Similarly, people struggling with addiction can even use meditation to help manage their emotions, cravings and stress. By understanding themselves better and exercising more compassion, it is possible for people battling addiction to use meditation to reduce triggers and seek out healthier coping mechanisms.
Nurse here.
If you're having a general anaesthetic for a routine operation, and worried about dying while under, please be aware there are about 7 different "levels" of stuff we can do to bring you back.
So if the thing we normally do doesn't work, we've got plan B, then we've got plans C, D, E, F, G& H. ( and we rarely need to even go to Plan C, let alone the rest!)
It's ridiculously rare for you to never wake up from a routine op, of course it happens occasionally, but for every case you've heard about it happening, there's THOUSANDS of identical operations where it didn't. I've been qualified 15 years and it's literally never happened anywhere I've worked.
If 99 percent of the world population finds you unattractive, there are still 78 million people in the world that find you attractive.
That's a lot of people.
Edit: Thanks to u/TrixieLurker that commented the actual amount.
A cat meows just for humans to hear them. And a dog dreams of its owner when it sleeps.
So if you are interested in embarking on a meditation journey to find some inner peace and comfort in your daily life, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Thankfully, the internet is full of podcasts and blogs with recorded meditations and tips for how to delve into the world of peace and serenity. Don’t be overwhelmed at first; you can start small with only a few minutes each day. In fact, according to neuroscientist Amishi Jha, there is an exact prescription for the minimum dose of effective meditation. After conducting numerous studies with her team, Amishi found that the exact cocktail to see benefits from your meditation training over the course of a month is 12 minutes per day, 5 days a week.
There’s a place in Japan called “Capybara land” where you can hang out with capybaras and see them chilling in hotsprings
Zebras rest with their heads on each other’s backs so they can literally watch their zebra buddy’s back. Plus it looks like a zebra hug.
90% of what can kill us on this earth luckily for us lives in some distant place called Australia.
To get into the habit of meditating to get your daily dose of comfort, Mindful.com recommends setting reminders around your home to avoid forgetting for days at a time. A note on the refrigerator or your bathroom mirror, an event in your phone’s calendar at a designated time each day, your yoga mat sitting out in the living room begging for your attention until it gets used. It can be difficult to build habits, but once you have incorporated meditating into your routine, your body and mind will crave those minutes of serenity.
If you make it to the airport without dying, you've already passed the deadliest part of plane travel.
I'm assuming everyone who has died in a plane crash *also* made it to the airport without dying
Most seahorses are monogamous and mate for life. Young seahorses actually go on “dates” with their prospective partner before settling and starting to procreate. They can also be seen swimming in pairs with their tails linked together
When you finally sit down to meditate, it can be difficult to stop your mind from wandering. Guided meditations can be the perfect solution to this problem. There are infinite options out there, helping listeners focus on their breath, posture, emotions and more. You can do a body scan to help release any little ache or pain you may be feeling or even try a walking meditation if staying in one place feels too restrictive. If you want to work on showing compassion towards yourself and the world around you, try out a loving-kindness meditation. There are endless possibilities for meditation, and if you’re looking for a good place to start, I recommend using Mindful.com’s guide right here.
Baby puffins are called PUFFLINGS
Which is about as adorable as it gets. I find comfort in that.
Thought i would share this, irish philosophy when it’s best 😜
Why Worry
In life, there are only two things to worry about—
Either you are well or you are sick.
If you are well, there is nothing to worry about,
But if you are sick, there are only two things to worry about—
Either you will get well or you will die.
If you get well, there is nothing to worry about,
But if you die, there are only two things to worry about—
Either you will go to heaven or hell.
If you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about.
And if you go to hell, you’ll be so busy shaking hands with all your friends
You won’t have time to worry!
I like this saying. Plus I love how the last part about shaking your friend#s hands in hell can be interpreted as a warning against having bad friends. Who you keep around you really does influence your life.
My city has a no kill shelter, the animals have nice beds, and get walks. People come and read to them. The cats are all together in a big area with toys and scratching post, people come to pet them.
Sometimes shelters can be so stupid... our local shelter did only allowed you to take one dog for a 30m walk. So if you had more time or you wanted to go more days you couldnt. Their dogs could be much more socialized and walked but they refused because of their stuborness.
We hope this list has helped you take some deep breaths, giggle a little or restore a tad bit of your faith in humanity. Enjoy the rest of these comforting facts about people, animals and our planet, and be sure to upvote all of your favorites. Let us know if you have any more uplifting information that might make someone else’s day, and don’t forget to incorporate a bit of comfort into your daily life. Anything from enjoying a piece of your favorite chocolate to sending an “I love you” text to your partner can go a long way in breaking up the mundanity.
Your pets will forgive you if you accidentally step on them
You can talk to your pet rabbit by quickly pushing your lips downwards and upwards as if you were trying to look up your nose in a mirror. Do it quickly and you're chatting. It mimics the nose movements they make and you can see them wiggle their noses faster out of interest. Copy their rhythm to and watch them talk back.
Also, stomping your foot like they do as well as turning your back on them when annoyed is understood too. If they have chewed something they shouldn't have you can stomp one foot and turn around with your arms folded. Have a look over your shoulder to make sure they see you. They should come to check on you and if they don't stomp and make sure they see your back is turned. Eventually they get it and come over to make sure your ok. Then let the nose waggling commence.
You can expect them to do the same to you as well, like when you clean their enclosure.
Monarch butterfly populations are doing better. Not out of the dark, but better. I found a monarch caterpillar on my milkweed the other day.
We have a bunch of milkweed that has started growing in our flower beds and we just let it do its thing. It's not a weed at all to us! Plus we love seeing the butterflies and bees.
My dog will always love me no matter how bad I f**k up in life. Although it might be a bit sad, she truly is my best friend.
Your pet doesn't care how fat you are, or if you're ugly. They don't care if you do something embarrassing or if you walk around naked. They don't care if you do something wrong. They just want to love you. I can't understand people who abuse dogs because literally all they want is to make you happy and they love you unconditionally. They don't even have to know why, if you lift your voice to talk to them, their tails will start wagging. If you're happy, they are, too.
Cats blink when they like you.
It's supposed to mean I love you. You do it real slow. I tried it with my mom's cat. She did it back...or she's scheming me.
Know that really embarrassing thing you did? Well, there's a high likelihood no one else remembers it. If they do life will give them far more experiences that one thing will seem like nothing in comparison.
Nobody pays all that much attention to you. Everyone is the main character in their story and thinks you’re just another supporting role or an NPC.
I find this very freeing.
The North Pacific humpback whale population is estimated to be 15x greater then it was 60 years ago
I woke up this morning. So did my wife. And our kid. And the pets.
Cheetahs are very shy animals. So some zoos give them support dogs like those for humans. Its the cutest thing ever.
The bigger reason for this is that cheetahs vision likes to hyperfocus. In a crowd like ones at the zoo, they would get anxious looking at each individual and would try to analyze each person, which can be very stressful for them. Dogs are VERY good at reading groups and crowds. They pair a dog with the Cheetah to rely on emotionally. If the dog is calm, the cheetah will trust them that there's nothing to worry about from those crowds.
How zoo prevent the cheetah from killing the dog?
They're typically introduced at a VERY young age and imprint on each other. Cheetah's are also not naturally driven to kill dogs as prey. A cheetah could kill a dog, but typically a cheetah would never hunt a dog in the wild. If it was in its territory, or if a dog appeared hurt and by itself, a Cheetah might go for an opportunistic kill, but those are special circumstances. The most likely situation you'd see in the wild would be if they were hunting the same prey and they fought over a kill.
You know how dogs get down in front with their butt in the air when it's play time? That's called a "play bow" and it's a common signal for play in the animal kingdom. A guy once watched as a bear wandered up to his sled dogs and, after the animals investigated one another, they all kind of did the play bow and proceeded to romp around the area having a f*****g blast. They'd repeat the motion occasionally to confirm with each other that yes, they were still playing, and in the case of the bear, to signal to these new friends that mauling was not in the plans for today. The human stayed away and watched from afar because 1) he was surprised the bear did not instinctually murderize the dogs, and 2) he didn't want to be injured if he disrupted play time himself to "rescue" them.
Primates have also a similar sign called play face where they bare their theeth but signaling that they are being playful. So they "fight" but in a fake way. A bit like a parent telling a kid 'I am a monster i will eat you' whitout the kid being agraid because of the voice and context.
Jupiter has been protecting earth from almost every stray asteroid strike coming in from out of the solar system since the planets first formed.
There are incredible scientific advances in fusion energy and machines that can filter greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere.
Aswell as a whole bunch of brilliant ideas to clean the space and the oceans of garbage.
The science comunity is incredibly loving and fills me with so much hope for the future.
I seriously considered not having children and at some point i was even contemplating suicide.
Now i will study physics and i even would consider having a child in case i find a woman who loves me.
I am curious where my life will go from here.
You don't really forget something. You just have the information hidden but once you get back to it, you can recover your knowledge and skills rapidly.
I've had a huge break from learning German but a few days ago I went back to it and I'm already on a similar level I was, despite the fact I was certain that I forgot everything
I have that with my second language Valencian. I was perfectly bilingual in the past but i havent spoken it for about 15 years or so. Now when i want to speak it english comes instead. I can rarely remember words. But funily i can understand almost everything and i still know a few songs bh memory. My skill is somewhere there but its half asleep i guess.
If you quit smoking by age 40, your life expectancy is the same as a non-smoker.
Also: it's never too late to quit.
Problem is cancer is literally a random mutation. you are constantly disposing of cancer cells, until one day you aren't. It's why some people can smoke till they die, cancer free and others who never took a toke, die. Very insidious disease. While you can reduce the chances, it's not the same as eliminating them.
Dogs love us as much as we love them. Studies have found that when dogs look at each other they get an oxytocin surge, but they also get a surge like that when they interact with us. Cats do as well, but they don't get quite the same level of surge that dogs do.
They might love us even more than we love them. There's a saying "be the person your dog thinks you are."
They've very recently discovered an enzyme that is the reason for sudden infant death syndrome. The enzyme basically tells the body to wake up from sleep if it can't breathe. SIDS will soon be a thing of the past.
​
[NY Times Article](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/well/family/sudden-infant-death-syndrome-study.html)
Thank goodness. It's hard to imagine what a parent must be going through when a baby dies from SID. But now, those cute little bundles of fun will soon be able to run around the house, play games and drive their parents crazy. 🤪🥸
1 in 5 people dont have friends :’)
Not alone being alone
Many politicians in DC are approaching statistical life expectancy.
Next month we'll start to see some images from James-Webb. A NASA presentation on the 12th. Our next step on learning about the early universe begins.
My dog really likes soft things. This is to the point that if I'm wrapped in a blanket he will pull on it with his mouth so I'll lift it up. He will then jump under, get comfortable, and then fall asleep.
My boy used to do something like that, he'd walk to the edge of the blanket and wait for me to lift it up so he could get under.
Idk if this counts, but despite the fact that they were staunch political rivals on the national scale, Kennedy and Nixon were close friends, even though Kennedy beat Nixon in the 1960 election. When Kennedy died, Nixon made a handwritten letter to Jackie Kennedy, stating, "While the hand of fate made Jack and me political opponents I always cherished the fact that we were personal friends from the time we came to Congress together in 1947. The nation will be forever grateful for your service as First Lady." It just goes to show how people can get past their political rivalries
When cats close their eyes as you Pet Them, That means That they Are content and trust you. Cause when they close their eyes, they Are more vulnerable (This also goes for lions and tigers if you ever get to pet one). Same goes for dogs Who lay on their back with their belly exposed. Also makes Them vulnerable and shows trust in you
Renewable energy is now a lot cheaper than coal and other fossil fuels.
I read a day ago that the EU voted for banning the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars by 2035 :)
There are more trees in the U.S. this year than there were last year. And it’s been like this every year since the 1970s.
There are more public libraries in the U.S. than McDonald’s.
The discourse on Reddit, and all media for that matter, is not reflective of reality.
Having animal companionship lowers blood pressure, relieves stress and raises dopamine levels.
There's a Japanese pillowfighting sport which features grown adults lying down in futons before the whistle blows and then they play a game of dodgeball with pillows in nightgowns and learning about that just made my day :)
some fish like to be pet
Why would people come up with the idea of petting fish in the first place? 🤔
Global forest cover is actually increasing
Edit: interesting this has blown up a bit.
I posted this link initially - the criticisms below that it still showed declines for the world are actually valid, in *one* sense:
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/forest-area-as-share-of-land-area?tab=chart&time=earliest..latest&country=England~Scotland~FRA~USA®ion=World
That is based on the UN FRA survey data.
However, what I was thinking of was this data:
https://courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/Courses/global-change-debates/Sources/Forest-fires/more/Song-etal-2016.pdf
Which actually demonstrates the opposite conclusion to the FRA data, and convincingly shows (using satellite data) that forest cover has in fact been increasing since the 80s.
Why the discrepancy? Well the link below explains some of it. But the basic point is that the FRA data is based on aggregating national reported statistics, and it turns out that national reported statistics are deeply unreliable in many countries.
https://www.cgdev.org/blog/three-reasons-fao’s-new-forest-numbers-don’t-add
So, there’s a slightly more interesting story behind the statement than first appears. Those criticising me for picking the wrong chart are right, but only as far as me rushing and posting a chart from the wrong data series. If they want to criticise the statement itself, they have to address the *Song et al.* data series.
The quality of the tree cover should be factored in - ancient rain forest lost vs gained sapling in either abandoned or previously barren land. Hopefully won’t all be cut down when population centres shift due to climate change.
the pollen that bees collect on their legs as they pollinate flowers are called pollinator pants!!! so next time you see bees hard at work, take a look at their legs, and you might be able to see the pants depending on how much they've pollinated :)
A person born in the world today is less likely to die violently than at any other point in human history. And each year it gets better (never perfect, just better)
I don't believe this! *Looks at "wiches" being burned alive* You know what? Maybe it's not that bad nowadays
This may get downvoted but we are just some little organisms living in an ongoing huge explosion, our actions ultimately won't matter so stop putting in your head that you have to achieve this and that. Just do what makes you happy and what will lead to a happy future.
Humans can hear each other smile through the phone through differentiating vocal intonation between smiles and non-smiles.
[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18255131](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18255131)
[https://hyken.com/customer-experience-2/guest-blog-smile-customers-phone/](https://hyken.com/customer-experience-2/guest-blog-smile-customers-phone/)
Your body’s cells regenerate constantly to the point where you could say you’re a whole new person every 7 years or so. Very therapeutic to those with trauma
The most amazing miracles that stopped nuclear holocaust aren't the ones featuring the US and USSR but India and Pakistan. They've had nukes for forty years now, and hate each other fanatically. Furthermore their nuclear arsenals are controlled not by generals or statespeople but captains.
And yet, the human species is still approaching 80 years without a nuclear war.
This tells me, when all is said and done, we love life more than we hate each other.
Between 2000 and 2017, the maternal mortality rate worldwide dropped almost 40%!
This is what happens when women have access to pre-natal health care, and good contraception.
On April 13, 2029 an asteroid "apophis", with the radius of 606.96′, (370 meters) will skim the surface of earth at around 19,600 miles. It will be visible by the naked eye. It's a comforting fact as it's been studied extensively and will not impact earth that day.
Dogs follow you into the bathroom because they believe you’re in your most vulnerable state so they want to watch at the door to protect you. It’s a instinct they have in the wild to watch other members of their pack while they go to the bathroom. So next time you’re wondering why your dog is watching you take a s**t, thank them
No matter how stupid you are, there is always someone more stupid than you. This is one true reason I still have a little bit of self esteem left
The observable universe is only 0.0000067% of the entire universe. So the unobservable universe is 15 million times larger (atleast, if not more) than what we can observe. Comfort in there somewhere.
Yet on earth people still believe that their personal god(s) created the whole universe just for them.
that everyone alive has had diarrhea, thrown up, had a public fall, or otherwise bad day at one point. when I was younger no one seemed as scary. diarrhea, the shitty equalizer
edit: no one seemed as scary after that
No matter how beautiful that person across the room is, no matter how much you are afraid of going over there and saying hi, remember that they are just as full of s**t as you are and will eventually have to sit down and let it out like everyone else.
You have not yet met all the people that are going to love you.
(Yes, I saw this phrase on a Tik Tok but I found it to be a very comforting fact : )
No one is noticing any of your tiny physical imperfections you constantly obsess about. Everyone is too busy thinking about their own tiny imperfections to notice anyone else's.
dogs know that we love them
Two hundred years ago, over 80% of the world lived in poverty.
Today that percentage is down under 20%
sauce: https://economicsandpoverty.com/read/how-much-progress-have-we-made-against-poverty/
Here's a lame fact, there are probably thousands of people right now that are appreciative of you for asking this question, and even more so for those of you who are answering genuinely.
I know I'm one of them!
It’s cold outside but my bed is so warm rn
Commercial airplanes are made to withstand turbulence MUCH worse than anything you're likely to ever experience on a commercial flight.
There are 3,400 species of spiders in north America. Only two can even remotely harm you and both have the ability to be stopped with simple penicillin or bactrum.
A middle or even low income people in developed countries are living a much more comfortable life than the richest people centuries or even millennia ago, in large part thanks to modern medicine making death from a mere infection no longer a near guaranteed death.
This too shall pass. Yeah it sucks that the good times pass and unfortunately we’re all gonna die someday. But use that as also a reminder that bad times will always get better, and in the end, all our problems will be insignificant :)
The vast majority of people with a first time seizure will never have another seizure again and will not need lifelong anti seizure medication. Everybody gets one freebie!
Seizures are WILD. I've had some pretty unbelievable experiences throughout my many seizures. Two stick out the most- one time I somehow saw myself from the corner of the ceiling, looking down at myself lying in bed with the paramedics walking in. The second thing I cannot explain was seeing my late grandmother during a seizure and apparently when I came around I told my partner I wanted to stay with her.
Despite all the shitshows we constantly see all around in the news, humanity is striving. According to all metrics, things have been consistenly better for us as time march on. Even taking into accounts the wars and catastrophies: people on average are less violents, we live longer, etc.
I recommend the book "The better angels of our nature" by Steven Pinker on that subject
Most of us feel scared/nervous when presenting in front of a group of people? So, you're not alone. We are here beside you, scared as well.
(Unless you're those types of people who love presentations...)
I had to do part of a speech to parents at school. Was so worried about how it would go. But I spoke to them the way I speak to the kids (straightforward with my own brand of humour) and I crushed it.
Getting fired isn't the end of the world. (I'm about to be few hours from now probably.)
Gum's gotten mintier lately
This past year there has been a massive breakthrough on SIDS research. Meaning in the future we may be able to detect SIDS in infants and possibly avoid as many infant deaths.
that everything has it's expiration date, no matter how difficult or fun something is, it has period and it will end. once you understand that you will enjoy to the max the fun times and the painful times will end.
It was recently discovered that mealworms can eat styrofoam, and an enzyme was made that can break down plastic polymers. (sources: https://news.wsu.edu/news/2020/08/25/styrofoam-eating-mealworms-safe-dinner/ and https://www.sciencealert.com/engineers-create-an-enzyme-that-breaks-down-plastic-waste-in-hours-not-decades)
Yes! I dont understand how this didnt become huge news when it was published. I tried recreating the experiment at home but I could not get live mealworms. I shall try again in the future.
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It was recently discovered that mealworms can eat styrofoam, and an enzyme was made that can break down plastic polymers. (sources: https://news.wsu.edu/news/2020/08/25/styrofoam-eating-mealworms-safe-dinner/ and https://www.sciencealert.com/engineers-create-an-enzyme-that-breaks-down-plastic-waste-in-hours-not-decades)
Yes! I dont understand how this didnt become huge news when it was published. I tried recreating the experiment at home but I could not get live mealworms. I shall try again in the future.
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