Over the past days, the media has produced possibly one of the most intense news cycles since the end of the Cold War. And for good reason. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign European country, is an unprecedented act of war in the 21st century.
But if you feel like you need a distraction from the grim headlines and you're the type of person who can find comfort in the positive side of the internet, you're not alone. The Instagram account kALE SALAD is here for you.
The guy behind the account calls himself the "king of wholesome memes" and I know what you might be thinking: people who crown themselves are rarely worthy of the title. But 3.8 million people think this one is.
Browsing kALE SALAD's feed, it's hard to disagree with them. Continue scrolling and take a look for yourself.
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While we may feel guilty for being joyful while others are grieving, happiness is actually very important in challenging times. Focusing on our own emotions can give us the resilience we need to change situations both in our personal lives and on a larger scale.
Dr. Laurie Santos, who is an expert on the science and psychology of wellbeing, and shares her findings with thousands through her wildly popular Yale University course, The Science of Wellbeing, said that while it may sound counterintuitive, happiness is exactly what we need to get us through uncertainty, fear and anxiety over the future.
Below you will find Dr. Santos's top insights from the field of positive psychology on happiness and how it can help us to overcome difficult situations like the ones we are facing today.
"We can harness the toughness to experience the power of post-traumatic growth," Dr. Santos said.
Difficult situations have the potential to make us stronger and even happier in the long run. By surviving a particularly tough scenario, we learn to appreciate what is truly meaningful and important in life and how to better prepare ourselves to face future adversity.
Damn! That's one hell of a birth story to pass on to future generations!!
Heck if you live in close proximity this is a wonderful and considerate thing to do.
You have exactly 333 upvotes, that is the ONLY reason I'm not upvoting you.
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There are some people under the impression the Cry-It-Out (CIO) method is abuse. This parent is not abusing a baby by letting him cry. There is more than one type of CIO. I prefer the Ferber method. This parent is using a different method, and only using it for a week. So chill, ladies and gentlemen. Maybe partake in some tequila. Have a nice day.
Mammals babies sleep tight to the mother for a long time. Human babies are mammals. They need to be close to the mother as much as possible.
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Anyone who is willing to bribe me with tequila is a-ok in my book
Receipt that is NOT how you do cry-it-out! That's how you teach the baby to suck it up, nobody cares
I would swap places with them to keep watch the bawling bundle of joy... So the parents get a good night's sleep. My 1st kid a boy had colic. Couldn't sleep belly up or without burping n puking constantly. I had to turn him over n hold in my arm, let him tummy press on my forearm n head in my palm. Walk around all night. So I know it's hard parenting the brats..
I never understood this type of parenting. We just naturally adopted co-sleeping in the family bed. We have so many happy memories of all snuggling up together. Bedtime was never an issue at all in our house. The kids always put themselves to bed when they were tired and never had any problem waking up. (I suppose that if we didn't have a king size bed and had more than two kids, we might reconsider doing this. It wouldn't really be an option for a family like the Duggars 😄 )
Good God!!! I love that woman. Their boy will surely grow up to be exceptional.
I know!! To be so considerate and funny whilst her brain oozes...I would have to become her friend after that
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Im a mother, too. With one of my 3 children, i had no choice but to sleep train because rocking, driving in a car, snuggling, bundling didn’t work. It’ll be a cold day in hell that I allow ANYONE to say I abused my child. It took 4 long, painful, dreadful nights. Fast forward to today and my child is 34 years old, a married mom of 1 & a successful businesswoman who calls me her best friend, despite having MANY people in her life who love and adore her.
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This is not how you get a small child on a sleep schedule, I could know, I've walked 6.5 months with a crying baby in my arms from 23pm until 6am in the morning each and every night, not once have I ever considered letting her just cry it out. She's 5.5 years now and sleeps like an angel through the night, knowing that Mommy is there and that if she has a bad dream or a cramp or whatever, she has someone that will take care of her and offer her the security she'll need.
I'm pretty sure these are the behaviors in parenting that lead to overly codependent and emotionally incapable adults.
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My parents have seven kids (including me). when a child cries at night usually it'll stop after five minutes and go to sleep. If it's any longer then probably go check
We're all well raised healthy people spanning 17 to 4 years ol
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I had the same problem with my baby girl, took her to sleep with me in bed for a month. Gave her a lot of cuddles whileshe was crying, struggling to fall asleep. Now she is 6 months old and she is back in her cot,. No drama. If you are not prepared for these periods and can not be bothered to give all the love and attention to your baby, just dont have one. This cry out s**t is for lazy and pitty ppl.
Even better, bake them some muffins. They're great for breakfast so that'll be figured out for a couple days
Babies are for holding. If you hold them all the time then they will never cry to be picked up. Think about that.
Going any checking every 5-10 minutes is not "seeing if they will self-soothe"
I don't drink. Do you have weed? They say it works better than alcohol. I'll bring food for the munchies 😁
Whenever the baby downstairs cries, I just crank up my 15" JBL with some gruesome DnB. The vibrations must put her right to sleep because I never hear crying after that. The parents do start screaming outside of my door for some reason, though.
When my sister had her baby, I learned about the magic of silicone earplugs. They're actually comfortable enough to sleep in and they're powerful enough to block out a screaming baby in the next room. Now, I just wear them sometimes when I want a really deep sleep.
This breaks my heart 😢 this is pure cruelty and a huge amount of stress for the baby. Wish I could hold him and make her/him feels safe.
So sad that this is still an accepted parenting method. Self soothing is a nice word to keep your own mind at ease. The baby doesn’t soothe itself, it learns to keep quiet because it knows no one is coming. At that point keeping quiet is safer than making noise. Unfortunately adrenaline and cortisol is raging through their body just as hard as when they were balling their eyes out. And yes, that is scientifically proven.
Run the vacuum cleaner outside the kids bedroom door. Worked for me.
Shakespeare: 3 things must never be interrupted: health, wealth & sleep. Nobody likes noise so consider installing carpet/padding which absorbs noise for downstairs' neighbors. Perhaps furniture around much of crib to absorb other noise? For a couple of mos. Sending good karma your way.
when a baby cries there is a reason they can't just talk so crying is their communication...for months they have heard sounds in the belly heartbeat, sounds from outside, your voice the blood circulation...and now they have to be somewhere dark lying in a quiet room with nothing around them to comfort them..so they have anxiety or a general feeling of loneliness,or a pain or itching a cramp or whatever...so they cry..,and what do they learn from it that you make them cry....NO ONE IS THERE FOR ME I AM ALONE....and yes at some point they fall asleep, but NOT because they have learned anything, but because their little bodies are completely exhausted from everything that crying.. and the reason for that crying is still there.. And when it wakes up, that crying starts again with the chance that it will also cry during the day, so you create a cry baby. Great job mom and dad and a those in the. evening hours already goes mad with fear as soon as it has to go to bed ...
because it knows that it is alone then .... No really this is a very good upbringing, (NO IT'S NOT) This is child abuse that unfortunately is accepted had to be legally banned.Leaving a baby cry until it falls asleep exhausted is CHILD ABUSE
Load More Replies... when a baby cries there is a reason they can't just talk so crying is their communication...for months they have heard sounds in the belly heartbeat, sounds from outside, your voice the blood circulation...and now they have to be somewhere dark lying in a quiet room with nothing around them to comfort them..so they have anxiety or a general feeling of loneliness,or a pain or itching a cramp or whatever...so they cry..,and what do they learn from it that you make them cry....NO ONE IS THERE FOR ME I AM ALONE....and yes at some point they fall asleep, but NOT because they have learned anything, but because their little bodies are completely exhausted from everything that crying.. and the reason for that crying is still there.. And when it wakes up, that crying starts again with the chance that it will also cry during the day, so you create a cry baby. Great job mom and dad and a those in the. evening hours already goes mad with fear as soon as it has to go to bed .
There is a proven way to have babies stop crying. VERY EFFECTIVE! record your baby when it cries.....then play it back to him/her when they start again.....they will immediately recognize their own cry and stop in their tracks....try it and be amazed even if you don't understand how that works...
Nice note, but I can't stand the idea of letting a baby, a four month old baby cry that long. I'd be willing to rock or walk the baby over hearing him cry that long, no tequila needed. I know, not my place, but maybe a few minutes of help on occasion will reduce their stress level, make it easier to get baby to sleep without the everybody suffers cry it out method.
They are going to mentally abuse their kid. And themself. Thats sad...sleep training Is b******t! Take your kid to your bed and make him feel loved and safe. God damn...
They just had to let him sleep with them. It's a horrible trauma for him. Be careful
When I lived in an apartment years ago I baked my upstairs neighbor cookies to make up for all the noise we made moving in and that b**** proceeded to move furniture directly above my bedroom at 2:00 in the morning for the majority of the time I was there. Some people are just miserable, lucky if you have good neighbors so appreciate them!!
This is the kind of neighbor I'd love to have. I would even babysit. The humorous humility and honesty of mom is just so human. I would take some lemons over
Wow that's nice of them for giving warning note I have 3 younger siblings
Look...this is the kind of noisy neighbors that have a perfectly understandable reason for the noise and then they even took the time to write an apologetic letter in ADVANCE. I love these neighbors ❤️
Why anyone wants one of those screaming piss poop and puke factories is beyond me. I'm sixty and without children. Best decision I ever made.
I'd offer to do the 10 pm to 2 am shift for them...lol.
Seems the DNA donors care more about their neighbor than their own child.
How about you leave them a parenting manual instead. Cry it out is cruel and unnecessary
You didn’t read the note, obviously. It is stated in writing that, during the 45-60 minute cry out, they will be going into the child’s room every 5-10 minutes to reassure them they’re not alone. I know reading and comprehension are hard, but do try it in future. You’ll stop embarrassing yourself.
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Lol I made of one these 4 years back and still have it. It's ugly af on the inside WhatsApp-I...a-jpeg.jpg 
"If we want to be happier during times of stress, we need to use a special mechanism of protecting ourselves, and we can do that through social connection."
When used properly, technology has the power to keep people connected even when they are physically apart from each other. Loneliness and isolation can have a major negative impact on both our mental and physical health, so Dr. Santos suggests embracing those Zoom happy hours and exploring new ways to maintain relationships with family, friends, and coworkers.
However, Dr. Santos said studies on happiness also suggest that a big part of it comes from focusing on other people.
Even though we hear a lot about self-care these days and this text is kinda advocating it too, the reality is that truly happy people are what Dr. Santos refers to as "other-oriented."
Meaning, helping others, especially during times of crisis, makes us feel good and gives us a sense of purpose. Not only are we boosting our own mood by lending a hand, but we are also working towards solving real problems.
"If we want to be happier and if we want to protect our willpower and get more resilient and even improve our performance, we need to harness the power of gratitude," Dr. Santos added.
Gratitude might not be the first thing that comes to mind during a life-altering experience such as a global pandemic or war, but acknowledging even the little things that we appreciate in our everyday life can improve our overall wellbeing and boost our emotional resilience.
F’real want a pair. Is that a “pair”? Whatever you call it, I want it.
Mindfulness and meditation are powerful tools, especially when we're living under stress. "If we want to be happy, we need to find ways to be in the present moment, even if that present moment sucks."
We spend around 47% of our day with our minds wandering. By learning to truly focus on the present, we can be more productive and improve our sense of wellbeing by improving our stress response.
This is not funny when it's happening to you. But right now, it is. It so is!
"If we want to protect ourselves during tough times, we need to make room for healthy practices.”
When stress levels are high, it's really easy to skip a workout or two, make less nutritious choices at mealtimes or deprioritize our sleep. It can feel overwhelming to have to put this extra effort into "being healthy," but the reality is that these are the times when we need it the most.
Beyond our physical wellbeing, exercise is a great way to relieve stress and improve our mental state, a balanced diet can have mood-boosting benefits, and getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep each night can keep us happier, more focused, and improve our immunity. By maintaining these healthy habits, even when we just don't feel like it, we become stronger in dealing with the current stressors and will be better equipped to handle difficult circumstances in the future.
I love both of these looks! I would 100% have rainbow hair, goth-vibe clothes, a mat that says 'go away' on it, and a rainbow fence.
Wow ! Reminds me of the tent used by the Weasleys during the Quidditch World Cup. "I love magic."
This is such a cute idea. I just came across some of my dad's shirts. I didn't want to get rid of them, but I didn't really know what to do with them. Might just have to give this a try.
And das why I love god. (Please tell me you all got the joke...sorry I'll just see myself out.)
Haha!! This is SUPER smart!!! (is it bad I kinda want to try this!!)
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completely agree! So over the lazy BP editors just reposting reddit gripes.
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I know kale irl. I was shocked to see his page went from a normal insta to memes and having a whole following. It's insane that now I'm seeing it here lol.
Umm and I think you're like one of the only people here that even knows who you're talking about
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I don't think the title is right. Most of these are not memes and plenty aren't wholesome either.
Love this. Laughed out loud so much. It's phenomenally better than the BP posts which claim to be funny but are just stressful posts shaming people's behavior, or just downright creepy or complaining and griping. We come to Bored Panda because we need uplifting, not because we need to read about crap.
completely agree! So over the lazy BP editors just reposting reddit gripes.
Load More Replies... I know kale irl. I was shocked to see his page went from a normal insta to memes and having a whole following. It's insane that now I'm seeing it here lol.
Umm and I think you're like one of the only people here that even knows who you're talking about
Load More Replies... I don't think the title is right. Most of these are not memes and plenty aren't wholesome either.
Love this. Laughed out loud so much. It's phenomenally better than the BP posts which claim to be funny but are just stressful posts shaming people's behavior, or just downright creepy or complaining and griping. We come to Bored Panda because we need uplifting, not because we need to read about crap.
