I have been consciously spending some time each week looking for positive story’s, breakthrough studies, heart-warming moments, inspiring songs, which keep my little candle light flickering through the negative news tornado. I am going to try a weekly Good News post, to share that upliftment and positivity with others, because we need it.

You can shift your perspective. The internet may be many scary things, but it is one of our greatest tools for moving forward in my opinion. Start using it Wisely!

Image courtesy of @riverflows

A Brazilian Photographer & his wife spent 20 years restoring an entire forest, planting 2.7 million trees!!

Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado and his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado are a wake-up call to us all that one person really can make a difference, yes I am talking to you. Don’t let anyone or anything make you believe anything different.

Sebastião, a photojournalist, had been away working for some time in Rwanda reporting on the genocide. It was a traumatic experience and he was devasted when he came home to find deforestation had taken place in his childhood land. His home land, the Minas Gerais, once a paradise of tropical forests, was now barren land with no wildlife or trees.
He described the land as sick, with only 0.5% of the area covered with forests. He knew he had to help somehow so that his homeland did not turn into wasteland like many modern forests. Salgado’s wife Lélia, came up with the idea of afforestation – replanting the forest. They went on to inspire people, raised funds, made teams, and recruited partners. By April 1998, Salgado had founded Instituto Terra with the mission of transforming the barren land back to the paradise it once had been, aiming to recover 1,502 acres of forest.

The first round of seed planting began in December 1999. The trees to be planted had to be native to the land as it has been observed that native wildlife would not return unless the trees were native, which would mean the once loud forest would be replaced with a silent one. The replanting process prevented soil erosion, and the water resources slowly replenished themselves. He singlehandedly planted over 2 million seeds of 290 different species of trees and more. This was the result after 12 years of hard work, the process is still ongoing to this day.

172 species of birds have returned, 6 of which are endangered. The forest’s 8 natural springs it once hosted have come back, as well as the return of the fauna. #earthtribe

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India rules that sex with a child bride is always rape, a huge win for Girls Rights!

The Supreme court in India has ruled that sex with a child is always rape, obliterating a clause which previously allowed men to have sex with underage girls who they were married to.

This landmark decision closed a legal loophole which until now allowed perpetrators of rape to evade punishment. The age of consent in India is 18, but with this now obsolete clause, the age of consent was lowered to 15 if she was married. The judge ruled that this clause was “discriminatory, capricious, arbitrary, and violates the bodily integrity of the girl child.”

Girls under 18 can now report their husbands for rape, as long as they report it within a year of it happening. It’s a step forward in protecting girls from exploitation and abuse, regardless of their martial status. I personally am deeply happy that this judgement has been passed. #Awakening
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Triangle Solo!

Drum solo, guitar solo, piano solo, we’ve all heard of them. This 1-minute clip below of a triangle player breaking the rules made me laugh so much I had to share it, it’s not something you see often!

Are you fearful of getting old?

I am 30 years young, and over the last year or so have started to have other people tell me I am too old for stuff. My dad thinks I am too old to train in something new (he was promptly corrected), friends tell me that If I don’t think about having kids soon ill be too old (thanks for the concern, but I’m not planning on popping out any mini me’s). Some people think I am too old to still be dreaming of travelling the world, my response to them is Are you mad?
The reason I may have seemed stagnant for a bit is because I had to unravel the self-limiting restrictions the generations before me placed upon us growing up. I’m afraid your work orientated, debt riddled, failing health & repetitive life paying off the box you bought to live in for the rest of your life, is not appealing to me at all, it’s not appealing to many of us.

People living a life like this are appealing to me, inspirational to me, and should be to us all! Presenting the 65 year young skateboarder! (short clip)

A family from California owe their lives to their beloved pet Pitbull, Sasha.

Nana Chaichanhda had retired to bed on summers evening last year, unaware of the fire which had started in the neighbouring apartment, which belonged to her cousin. Nana has 3 children under the age of 10, the youngest being 7 months old at the time. This particular night was one of the rare nights that Sasha the dog was left out for the night, she enjoyed being out in the hot summer nights. This perhaps intuited decision Nana made may have saved her life.

Sasha realised a fire had started next door and started barking and banging against the door, when Nana got up from bed and opened the door the dog seemed so agitated that she realised something was wrong. She stepped outside thinking perhaps another dog or wild animal was in the garden, then she realised there was a fire next door. She ran upstairs to her 7-month-old daughter’s room whilst shouting to wake the other two up, but when she got to the bedroom, she was amazed to find Sasha already dragging the 7-month-old towards the door by pulling her by the diaper. Overwhelmed with emotion Nana figured it would be better if she carried her daughter, she gathered her other children and evacuated everyone from the house.

The cause of the fire was left for investigation as Nana’s cousin was not home when it happened. Both apartments were deemed unsafe to live in short term even though firefighters managed to contain the flames in the attic, but a small price to pay really.

What an incredible demonstration of animal intelligence and altruism, and a much-needed positive story about pit bulls. The problem is not the breed, the problem is this breed has been chosen to be a fighter dog and also carries some social status for wannabe gang members and hardnuts, meaning a higher percentage of pit bull owners are assholes compared with other dog breeds and it is these people who give pit bulls a bad name, raising them aggressively and neglecting them of the love they crave.

Thanks to Sasha’s warning, everyone made it out unharmed. “It means a lot,” Nana said. “I owe Sasha everything. If it wasn’t for her, I would have still been in bed and things could have taken a worse turn.”

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Inspirational Music

This is a song by Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - A letter from God to man.
I’ve been in numerous debates and discussions with people about religious dogma, and god/creator. Sometimes I have been met with those no effort at thinking questions such as- “If god is real then why are there children starving?” I used to get into a headlock debate, but this is a waste of time and energy. I have this video saved on my youtube account and I’ll either play it for the person or send it to them to watch and say “Watch this first, then we can talk”.
The first time I heard it I was buzzing, it’s so on point, it makes you really think about our impact on each other and the planet. I can almost hear the clogs turning in the minds of the people I play it to, check it out!

When a negative thought enters your mind, think three positive ones. Train your self to flip the script.

Thanks for Reading
Much Love
MyIndigoInsight