From CNN by Amanda Jackson

A northern California Indian tribe’s sacred land is now back under their ownership, thanks to the help of a conservancy group.
The Esselen Tribe, one of the state’s smallest and least well known tribes, inhabited the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Big Sur coast for thousands of years, according to their website. Nearly 250 years ago, their land was taken from then by Spanish explorers, according to the tribe’s history. The tribe remained landless until Monday. Read the ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE. 

The Esselen Tribe of Monterey County (ETMC) closed escrow on a $4.5 million deal with Western Rivers Conservancy (WRC), an environmental group, to purchase nearly 1,200 acres in Big Sur. The WRC…

Happy Sunday Backyard Bend. We hope you are finding this ‘Positive News’ section, well, positive and helpful to living your best life. More and more research is emerging regarding how our attitude affects us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In this article better sleep leads to being more optimistic, which leads to better everything. Enjoy your day!

From the Good News Network.

People who are the most optimistic tend to be better sleepers, a study of young and middle-aged adults found.

More than 3,500 people ages 32 to 51 were included in the study sample. The participants included people in Birmingham, Alabama; Oakland, California; Chicago; and Minneapolis.

“Results from this study revealed significant associations between optimism and various characteristics of self-reported…

From the Good News Network By Andy Corbley

With no vaccine or drug that reduces symptoms readily available to help the body combat COVID-19, social distancing and self-isolating is one of the most effective measures of prevention to ensure that hospitals don’t become overwhelmed with sick patients.

But the methods most readily available to help reduce the stress and anxiety resulting from seriously difficult times—an embracing hug, seeing friends, or visiting parents or grandparents—are exactly the things we’re told not to do.

There are other options, however—and over 50 years of documented research suggests that we can reduce symptoms of anxiety, and even physical pain responses, by doing them.

In a meta-analysis looking at a half-century of research, scientist found…

From CNN By Skylar Mitchell

When struggling single mom Shetara Sims won $100 on the lottery she decided to donate it all to the family of a police officer who had been shot in the line of duty.

Sims did so despite her own money worries. Like many Americans impacted by coronavirus-related furloughs and layoffs, she had recently lost her job.

The lifelong Kansas City, Missouri, resident said she was down to her last $7 when she found a dollar bill in a grocery store parking lot. She used it to buy a lottery ticket, winning $100.

Sims’ 12-year-old daughter, Rakiya Edmonson, suggested that rather than keep the money, they donate it to the family of a Kansas City police…

This inspiring video will lift your spirit to start the week in Backyard Bend. There are so many essential workers who continued to do their jobs during this pandemic and this community showed them just how much they appreciate them. Read the ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE. 

From the Good News Network. Video From WPLG Miami Local 10 News

Saul and Keon have never missed a day of work picking up trash in Miami Beach—and they’re especially glad they were covering their route this week as a beautiful surprise awaited them.

When their huge truck rolled down the street into the North Bay Road community they found scores of residents who’d gotten up early to line the street with signs and…

Here’s a Sunday morning read for you. We just discovered this new resource, Envision Kindness and it has a lot of great content to help us think about positive attributes like kindness. We hear so much about “everything is connected”, that it has become cliche to some extent. This article helps us dive deeper into that meaning and how to connect with kindness. Enjoy!!!

From Envision Kindness by David Fryburg, MD. Read the ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE.

In my exploration of how kindness connects people, it has become pretty clear how being kind to someone else uplifts both and creates a positive link between them. I have read many times how good people feel after helping someone through volunteering, or…

The pandemic is revealing the many ways our lives intersect. Is this an opportunity for us to reimagine what we can be?

From Reasons To Be Cheerful by David Byrne

I went for a long bike ride today. I needed to get out and clear my head. The sun was shining, daffodils were emerging along the riverside bike path, dogwood trees were in bloom and at one point I thought to myself, “Yeah, life goes on.”

Pretty corny, and maybe even a bit selfish given what so many people are going through right now. But maintaining the basic rhythms of life that remain available can give one a sense of resilience.

I ask myself, is there something we can learn…

It is great to see innovation like this that is solving human created waste problems and delivering green energy at the same time. This makes so much sense. After all, if we can explore Mars with robotic rovers we can surely solve big problems on our home planet.

From The Good News Network by Andy Corbley

California will soon be the home of the largest trash-to-hydrogen power plant in the world.

Similarly to the iconic scene at the end of the Back to the Future film, scientists will be using trash such as used paper, old tires, textiles, and plastic to produce the cheapest and greenest hydrogen energy on Earth.

Super-green Hydro (SGH2) is launching the plant in partnership with…

From Good Morning America by Tommy Brooksbank

A group of factory workers at two separate manufacturing plants are finally home after spending nearly a month working around the clock to make materials for health care personnel amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The 80 workers, who spent 28 days straight in 12-hour shifts at the Braskem America plants in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, and Neal, West Virginia, unanimously decided at the end of March to eat and sleep at the factories where they make materials for N95 masks and surgical gowns.

“Our team wanted to help where they could and were committed to creating these necessary items for our nation’s pandemic response,” Marcus Hook plant manager Stephanie Whitesell said. “We floated the idea…

Here’s some positive vibes for your Sunday morning. We don’t often hear positive outlooks on long term issues such as the decline of our oceans. But we must see the future we want to create. This article lays out a plan for restoring our oceans and we can start to see it is totally possible. Grab your coffee and while reading this, imagine a future with restored healthy oceans and other positive thoughts.

From The Good News Network

A “landmark” new international study has laid out a trailblazing road map for restoring marine ecosystems to healthy levels—and if accomplished, the world’s oceans could recover to their former glory by 2050.

The study, which involved some of the world’s leading marine…