Kinder self-talk, greener cities and civic carpentry
People like you
People can be pretty hard on themselves after social interactions. “Was I rambling?” “Was I painfully awkward?” Science is here with comforting news, Psychology Today reports: First, the people you were talking to were almost certainly not thinking those critical thoughts about you that you tend to think about yourself. Second, people almost always like us more than we think they do. This was true in a variety of settings, whether researchers quizzed participants after brief interactions or first-year college roommates over the course of an academic year. So next time you find yourself replaying a conversation and agonizing over your lines, think of Stuart Smalley’s mantra: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”
Guerrilla gardening
City dwellers in the U.K. are bringing nature to neglected spaces in their neighborhoods, with or without permission from the government authorities that own the land. One out-of-the-way lane in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that used to be subject to illegal dumping and vandalism has become a blooming idyll, earning the name Wildflower Alley. Parliament may soon bow to pressure and enshrine a “right to grow” throughout the U.K., according to Positive News magazine. In the meantime, the urban gardener’s mantra remains: “Ask for forgiveness rather than permission.”
Sprouting benches
In Denver, one civic-minded man is making his city more livable, bench by bench. As CBS News reported, when James Warren saw a woman sitting in the dirt as she waited for a bus, he said to himself: “That’s not dignified at all. We need to be doing better by our fellow city members.” So he built a bench and installed it at that bus stop. And then another bench at another bus stop. He’s up to eight now. Like those rogue gardeners in the U.K., Warren’s not waiting for the government to let him improve his community. “I have not asked the city yet whether I’m allowed to do this,” he said. “Until they stop me, I’ll just keep doing it.”
And one more ...
The value of the U.S. dollar is near a 20-year high compared with other major currencies, boosting the travel budgets of Americans abroad and the spending power of consumers buying imports in the U.S. Enjoy those perks while this aberration lasts.
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