Polly Frier is a content creator who will do anything to play with animals. She travels the world, befriending all the animals, much like a 21st-century Disney princess in real life. Based in Cornwall when she isn’t traveling, this solo travel blogger has a real zest for life. She also has a love for penguins and did a stint as a penguin keeper. Returning after a trip, she received this amazing greeting. @pollyinparadise No better feeling #penguin #bestie #bestfriend #animallover ♬ The Winner Is… – DeVotchKa Version – DeVotchKa When the little penguin sees its friend, it waddles quickly to get some cuddles. Although we don’t normally see penguins as a “cuddly” critter, this one seems to enjoy the human companionship that Polly offers. Aside from the smell of the penguin enclosure, which Polly mentions in one of her comments, being a penguin keeper must be a dream job. Checking out some of Polly’s incredible journeys, we stumbled on one of the reasons she has such a well-grounded approach to life. Her dad obviously has a great sense of humor, as evidenced by this instantaneous transformation. @pollyinparadise He put his pink shorts on especially and requested the pink sunglasses #funny #dad #daughter #fragilemasculinity ♬ Got to Be Real – Cheryl Lynn That was a staged video, and Polly’s dad even dressed for the role and made a specific request for the pink sunglasses. The reel shows that there is no shame in a man being comfortable with femininity. Making the short reel was a great father-daughter bonding moment. Penguins in the wild have displayed an incredible amount of empathy. When these two little penguins lost their partners, they comforted each other. Most penguins mate for life. Penguins can’t make jewelry, so they use pretty pebbles as their trinkets. After accidentally leaving the gate open, the penguin walk in Edinburgh has become a tradition. Now, the gate is intentionally left open, allowing the mischievous penguins to “escape.” Please share. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Zookeeper Shares Penguin’s Joyful Reaction To Her Return After Vacation appeared first on InspireMore.

Nurses don’t get nearly enough recognition for all the work they do. Even those who are newer to the field, like nursing student Allison Mills, take on a ton of responsibilities from the start. There are parts of the job that requite a lot of medical knowledge, of course, but there’s also the human aspects, too. Holding onto compassion when working with others can be challenging for anyone to do, including nurses. This is especially true when a patient is refusing to cooperate. You can imagine, then, what it might be like to start your shift by finding out that one of your patients is “extremely combative” and “constantly screams.” That happened to Allison, who shared more of the report on this patient below. TikTok This report could have led Allison to be closed off to her patient from the start. Instead, she kept an open mind and led with both compassion and empathy. As a result, she was able to make so much progress with the patient. This Young Nurse’s Compassion is Sure to Leave a Lasting Impact on All of Her Patients Within the first hour, Allison says she helped her use the bathroom, talked to her about her daughters, and ate chips with the patient as she had dinner, something she thinks helped her feel comfortable enough to eat the hospital food. She was also able to do a full linen change, get her new clothes, brush her hair and teeth, and give her lotion and Chapstick. All in an hour! TikTok Needless to say, the report that Allison left at the end of her shift looked much different than the one she was given. In fact, she made sure future nurses knew that, to best help this patient, it’s important to check in on her frequently. And, if at all possible, to keep her company while she eats. Allison summarizes it best in the caption of her post: “It just takes a little compassion.” You can find the source of this story’s featured image here! The post Nurse Shares Touching Way She Goes Above And Beyond To Show Compassion For Patients appeared first on InspireMore.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Remember the flutter of excitement before the first day of school? The smell of new books, a carefully chosen outfit, and the sense that anything could happen? That back-to-school buzz isn’t just for kids. With a little creativity, you can capture it right now, even if your school days are far behind you. Turn meal prep into a creative ritual Think of it as adult lunchbox fun. Kevin Curry of FitMenCook preps versatile basics like chickpeas, chicken, jasmine rice, and leafy greens, and mixes them into new combinations daily. “With those five foods, I made about ten different meal combinations,” he says. Switch up sauces, from tangy tahini to smoky barbecue, for a quick mood lift. Curate your closet with intention A closet revamp is often in the cards when it comes to back-to-school season. As an adult, instead of impulse shopping, give your wardrobe a thoughtful edit. Actor and YouTuber Asia Jackson suggests asking, “Do you feel good in this item? Do you look good in this item?” Use the pieces that pass the test as anchors for your personal style refresh. Start your mornings with a book Starting the day off with some thought-provoking reads is something we often leave behind with our school days. Trade the more common sleepy bedtime read for an energizing morning chapter. NPR’s culture correspondent Lynn Neary recommends weekend mornings especially: “It’s a nice way to start your day,” she says. Make to-do lists that actually work If you miss writing out daily tasks in your school agenda, then the adult equivalent is an efficient to-do list. Angel Trinidad, founder of Passion Planner, says that the secret to to-do lists that work are making sure they’re comprised of tasks that are clear, short, and doable. To cut the fat, she swears by the two-minute rule: if it takes less than two minutes, do it immediately.  Once you’ve identified the bigger tasks, Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, suggests breaking them down into more specific steps. According to Burkeman, to-do lists don’t work because they’re too vague, saying, “We don’t get them done because we’re not expressing them in a doable form.”  Rediscover the joy of play Play doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. Stuart Brown of the National Institute for Play says even noticing the shapes in clouds counts. If you’re struggling to figure out what kind of play will work for you as an adult, ask yourself what you loved to do at recess as a child, and bring a slice of that into your life. Build friendships with bold kindness Meeting new friends in your adult years can be challenging. It’s easy to think that everyone already has their friends, but, according to advice columnist Heather Havrilesky, the best thing to do is to assume exactly the opposite. Remember, friendship starts with vulnerability. That awkward first text to invite someone out? It’s the first step to building something meaningful. Fall offers the perfect backdrop for reinvention. By blending the curiosity of youth with the agency of adulthood, you can make every season feel like a fresh start.The post Reignite your spark: 6 playful ways to channel back-to-school energy as an adult first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Exploring the beauty of America’s national parks should be something everyone can enjoy. But for millions of disabled visitors, that promise of adventure often falls short. Now, Rocky Mountain National Park is making powerful strides to change that. Despite budget cuts within the National Park Service (NPS), a growing number of parks are adding adaptive equipment and mobility tools to help more people experience the outdoors. As of now, around 28 national park sites offer such tools. Among the latest to expand its offerings is Colorado’s popular Rocky Mountain National Park, which just rolled out new upgrades aimed at making the landscape more accessible than ever before. Expanding access with mobility in mind Thanks to support from the Rocky Mountain Conservancy, the park’s nonprofit arm, several new accessibility initiatives have come to life. These include a new wheelchair-accessible Field Institute bus, upgraded accessible picnic tables, and an expanded fleet of all-terrain wheelchairs available to visitors at no cost. The Accessible Field Institute Bus includes space for two wheelchairs, a lift, and 12 standard seats, allowing a group of 15 to ride and learn about the park’s native flora, fauna, and geology. “We’ve long dreamed of having a wheelchair accessible bus for our Field Institute,” the Conservancy shared in a recent newsletter, crediting a grant from the R.C. Kemper Charitable Trust and Foundation for making it possible. Big improvements made possible through community support Other upgrades include accessible picnic tables to replace 130 aging units across the park. These new concrete tables comply with modern accessibility standards and are built to last longer, helping ensure that campgrounds and day-use areas are more welcoming. Perhaps most exciting for adventurers: three new GRIT all-terrain wheelchairs have joined the park’s equipment fleet. Visitors can borrow them for free via the Estes Park Mountain Shop to explore both the park and the nearby Estes Park area. “The people who rent GRIT wheelchairs are able to experience Rocky in a way that would not be possible without them,” said Zach Zehr, owner of the shop. “Adding these additional chairs more than doubled our fleet, and my hope is we always have a chair available to rent in the future.” From snowy trails to picnic tables: inclusion in action Rocky Mountain National Park’s efforts don’t stop at hiking trails. The park recently added a wheelchair sledge to its educational programming. Designed for snowy terrain, the sledge allows students to stay in their own wheelchairs while safely navigating snow-covered ground. It includes skis, a brake, and adjustable supports for better control. The sledge was successfully used on Conservancy-funded snowshoe field trips this past winter, showing that learning and exploring the outdoors doesn’t need to stop with the seasons. A long-term vision for an accessible outdoors Looking ahead, Rocky Mountain National Park is developing a comprehensive accessibility guide, which will help visitors plan their trip with confidence. Expected in 2026, the guide will include park information, amenities, and location details tailored to the needs of disabled visitors. It will be available in braille, large-print, PDF, print, and audio formats with written transcripts. One of the park’s most passionate advocates is Quinn Brett, a former climbing ranger who became paralyzed after a fall in 2017. “After I was injured… I returned to the National Park Service in a unique role. I’ve been educating on the type of mobility devices out there, opening doors for us to explore,” she wrote for Outside magazine in 2023. Today, Brett sees how her home park is stepping up. “Realizing that there’s a lot of places in our national parks—the opportunities we’re providing are not really widespread,” she told Denver’s 9News. But Brett remains determined. “I’m gonna be an advocate louder than I can be for people with disabilities recreating in our national parks and in our public lands… Let’s amp it up, man. We got places to go, things to do.” For the Rocky Mountain Conservancy, that kind of energy is exactly what fuels their work. “Our job is to steward the park for everyone,” said communications manager Kaci Yoh. “Forever.”The post How Rocky Mountain National Park is making trails more inclusive for all visitors first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.

A mass shooting carried out by the trans-identifying man Robin Westman has revealed that lies are far more dangerous than guns — despite the left’s unwavering belief that the two are flipped.“A lot of people are evaluating the transgender angle of this, and it’s worthy of evaluation, but it’s really just a symptom of a much larger problem. And it’s a larger problem of the lies that we have introduced into American society, the lies of convenience that we tell in the name of tolerance, in the name of inclusion,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock explains on “Fearless.”“Lies are actually the source of wickedness and evil. Lies are what got America in this place. Lies are more dangerous than guns,” he continues.And Whitlock points out that in Minnesota, those who thrive on leftist lies are in control.“Minnesota is a crazy place. ... But trust me, if we were willing as Christians — so-called, self-professed Christians — if we were willing to live out the truth and the wisdom expressed in the Bible, Jacob Frey, George Floyd ... this new guy from Somalia, Muslim that’s running for mayor, Ilhan Omar ... they wouldn’t exist. Their lies would be intolerable to us,” Whitlock says.“These lies are the slippery slope that will create tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. Our children will be more unsafe. We’re going to create more evil, wicked nutjobs and not get them the help that they need. And the help that they need is the truth,” he continues.The truth for Robert Westman — who had changed his name to “Robin” Westman — is that he was not a woman and would never be one.But the left refuses to point out the lie.“These lies that we keep telling ourselves fuel a culture of deceit. And if Jesus Christ and the Bible are the source of truth, anything that stands in the way of truth is evil and wicked. It’s the antithesis of a biblical Christian obedient worldview,” Whitlock says.“This is so obvious,” he continues, “but it’s also very dangerous because once you go down this path, once you start having this conversation and you start evaluating things from like, okay, are we serving Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior? And if we’re not, what are we really doing? And who are our real allies?”“People don’t want to have these discussions because it could cost them money," he says. "It could cost them reputation in the world."Want more from Jason Whitlock?To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The Beats Fit Pro were the perfect AirPods Pro replacement. These are the improvements Beats could be readying for the Powerbeats Fit.

The Beats Fit Pro were the perfect AirPods Pro replacement. These are the improvements Beats could be readying for the Powerbeats Fit.

The mother of the man who fatally shot two children at a Minneapolis Catholic church on Wednesday has secured a criminal defense attorney, according to Fox News. Mary Grace Westman is the mother of the…