It’s been a rough week, so let’s cap it with a positive video.

The United State of Women event was held on June 14. Watch Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey talk about the next generation of women, gender equality issues, and more in the video below.

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Baby, you may have been born this way. But that doesn’t mean you can’t encourage positive thinking and start to see things in a brighter way. Find out how top happiness gurus filter out negative junk. Spoiler: You can do this too!

“I tend to look at the glass half empty. Can’t help it, I was just born that way.” Sound familiar?

So maybe you were born with a less than rosy outlook on life. Sometimes being a pessimist comes in handy. Say, when you are sizing someone up for a job or trying to make a big decision.

That said, let’s not let the neggies get in the way of some good living. Even if you don’t tend toward pessimism, we all battle negative thoughts from time to time. Yes, even those high spirited, ultra-balanced health and lifestyle gurus whose stuff you read.

How do these seemingly always joyful people do it? They put regular effort into filtering out the negative crap that life hands us. Sure, there will always be tough spots in life to deal with. But we don’t need to go looking for them.

There is a stream of not-so-feel-good material you can hook into pretty much anytime of the day. Doubt it? Just hop on Facebook for a sec and see if you don’t come across something that gives you a little bit of ick factor. Seriously, I’ll wait…

How long did it take before you saw pics of a public figure doing something cringe-worthy? Or an acquaintance whose feed full of vigorous workouts, perfect home, and sky high achieving kids made you feel like making over your entire existence? Yep, thought so.

Not long ago, I was watching one of Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday episodes and she happened to mention that she asks her driver to shut off the radio when on her way to an interview or speaking engagement. As someone who has shunned news outlets for years now, my interest was piqued.

Oprah says she requests the quiet so that no news, music, or banter fills her head. She wants her own intentional thoughts filling her noggin, rather than a bunch of garbage she is involuntarily absorbing.

Our society loves news. It is available pretty much anytime, anywhere, and most of us eat it up. Have you noticed how the news networks relentlessly cover scary, sad, or bad news in graphic detail, when news about people helping others or somehow making a positive dent in this world of ours takes a backseat? It’s because people want to see the blood and guts, not the happy faces.

As screwed up as this seems, it is likely not changing anytime soon. What can change? Whether or not we take part.

And it is not just the scary and gory that messes with our positive thinking. Remember that FB friend we talked about? The one with the seemingly perfect life that makes you feel like you are doing it all wrong? That is also a form of allowing garbage to fill our heads.

Marie Forleo, business and lifestyle guru, calls this compare-schlager. As in, it is as toxic to the system and makes us feel just as bad as a Goldschlager (substitute Jagermeister, tequila, Fireball) binge did in college. Forleo goes on to call this inundation of feel bad info the “Hamburglar of Happiness”, and advises avoiding any social media, magazines, TV, etc. that makes you feel grossed out.

If thinking about all of this makes you feel even more stressed and negative, here’s good news. It is well within your control to not allow this junk into your life. If this means turning off the news and flipping on some HGTV, do it. If HGTV gives you house envy, turn on AMC or, even better, get some fresh air. Limit your exposure to Facebook or give it a break altogether.

The key here is this: Whatever it is that is making you feel bad, stop doing that and positive thinking will follow. I like Instagram because the pictures are pretty and most of the content is upbeat. Same with Pinterest. Find what makes you feel good and get more of that in your life. This not only gets the unconstructive stuff out of your head, but allows you more time and space to think about things that matter and will do you some actual good.

Hey, if it’s good enough for Oprah and Marie, it probably works for the rest of us.

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Image of Oprah Winfrey via Shutterstock

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Okay, so he is on Oprah. And it’s basically her job to make people cry, but Pharrell Williams has another reason for gushing. His song “Happy” has changed the world in an unbelievably beautiful way. Just watch the clip already!

Can’t get enough “Happy”? Check out this infectious mashup featuring some of Fela Kuti’s Afro-beat horns. So, so good.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

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Image:

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Ten women who are role models for perseverance, courage, creativity and leadership.

We live in a time where there are many women who are achieving amazing goals and impacting the lives of women and girls around the world. Here are 10 who have impacted and inspired more than they can count.

Judy Blume
She scandalized parents with Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret and other forthright novels about teenage sexuality. For teenagers in the 1970s, Blume’s books were a validation of all that young women felt and questioned. Girls could instantly identify with Margaret and Deenie, characters that alleviated feelings of personal alienation in a time when sex was not as openly discussed and dissected.

Madonna
Who wasn’t captivated by her Borderline video? When Madonna came out gyrating in ruffled ankle socks on the MTV scene, she was flamboyant and expressive and larger than life. She was the original Lady Gaga who pushed sexual, fashion as well as personal boundaries, and offered (to a young generation of women) freedom of expression that many ran with – neon, mini skirts, lace and all.

Oprah Winfrey
Oprah was the first woman to show us that you didn’t have to be white, thin or generically beautiful to be successful in front of the camera. Oprah’s personality, perseverance and business-savvy garnered her a multimedia empire and proved to girls and women everywhere that heart and smarts are what’s important.

Hillary Clinton
After Hillary Clinton spent eight years serving as First Lady, she went on to serve in the U.S. Senate, ran for president, and then became the U.S. Secretary of State. In no matter what capacity she was serving, the former first lady used her political platform and global presence to champion women’s rights. In 1995, she stood up at the World Conference on Women in Beijing and denounced the mistreatment of women around the world, from female infanticide, to forced abortion, to rape used as a military tactic. She famously proclaimed, “If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.”

JK Rowling
JK Rowling created the most well-known trio in young adult literary history and enchanted children around the globe, all the while living a real life rags-to-incredible-riches story. With the Harry Potter series, Rowling made reading a fantastic journey that no one wanted to miss so even kids that had no interest in reading were spellbound. Watching children gobble up these giant 600+ page tomes is truly amazing. From the midnight bookstore parties to unprecedented numbers of first print runs, it was a publishing phenomenon that we will probably never see again in our lifetime.

Mia Hamm
When Mia Hamm and the other players on the U.S. Women’s World Cup team came onto the scene, they made girl’s soccer popular and cool. Their World Cup triumph made the world notice female athletes. Mia Hamm posters graced millions of girl’s bedroom walls, and girls saw that sports equal teamwork, friendship and solidarity.

Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg is an engaging speaker and her passion for women in business is infectious. She is known for telling women to “lean in” to their careers and keep climbing the ladder, no matter what, because it is possible for women to lead and have a family. As COO of Facebook, the most popular and well-known company on the planet, we have to wonder how much higher her star can rise. Perhaps she’ll show us that the sky really isn’t the limit.

Kirsten Gillibrand
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand replaced Hillary Clinton as the junior democratic senator for New York in 2009 – a good fit since Gillibrand also has a passion for women’s rights and leadership, and tirelessly campaigns for more women to get involved in politics. A mother of two small children, she makes balancing a family and helping to run the country look easy. She represents women in a forum where there aren’t many women’s voices or perspective, reminding those in government what challenges half the workers in the U.S. and the majority of consumer decision makers face. Gillibrand, and the small number of other women in government, show girls that women can have an impact on how our country is run.

Annie Leonard
EcoSalon just interviewed Annie Leonard a month ago, and anyone who spends twenty years trotting the globe to find out where our trash goes earns the label of saint. In her Story of Stuff videos, Leonard boils complex topics down into simple examples using straightforward language that everyone can understand. Leonard also wants people to understand how empty materialism is and how much it harms the planet and walks the talk wherever she goes.

Melissa McCarthy
Finally the best friend character – the underdog – gets the glory. For once, it’s not the glamour girl, but the girl next door who is being recognized for her talent, her humor and her hard work. McCarthy, who stars on the sitcom Mike and Molly, spent years as the Gilmore Girls sidekick and broke out recently because of her show and women-centered comedy hit, Bridesmaids. Humor and personality should always win.

image credits: NJ State Library, David Shankbone, Alan Light, Marc Nozell, Beacon Radio, Global Sports Forum, JD Lasica, Freedom to Marry, The Story of Stuff, Audi USA, Kara Allyson

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QuoteDaily quotes at EcoSalon.

“If you look at what you have in life,
You’ll always have more.
If you look at what you don’t have in life,
You’ll never have enough.”

– Oprah Winfrey

Image: Dawn Ashley

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Said Slate writer Arthur Allen as he was about to criticize Oprah Winfrey, “Chastising a celebrity is an exercise in futility. You feel like a kitten being held by the scruff of its neck, scrabbling wildly in the air without drawing blood.” The man has a point. What other celebrity out there has a daily invitation into American homes, whose mere mention of a tip or product can inspire hysterics? Sure, one could argue that Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck might impose the same influence on a select group of Americans. But then, Oprah isn’t as politically polarizing as Palin or Beck. Or is she?

The career of a media mogul inevitably will be marked with scandal and lawsuits, particularly with a figure who commands as much influence as Oprah Winfrey. There is no denying that she can throw down some serious authority when she’s up for it. A mere mention of mad cow disease on her show in the 1990s brought on an infamous defamation suit from the Texas cattle industry. Angry cattle rustlers claimed her show caused the industry to lose 11 million. Free speech prevailed and Oprah was exonerated, but it showed the world that this woman has a voice that could be instantly magnified by millions.

Just how loud is Oprah’s voice? Just one example is her book club which got America reading and made instant celebrities and sometimes millionaires of the authors. (This includes EcoSalon’s January Man We Love, Jonathan Franzen.) Critics of her book club tutt-tutted what seemed to be blind masses following her every word. Even Franzen notoriously worried that her selections, essentially perceived as “chick lit,” may alienate a male audience. But others pointed out she was getting people to read. So what’s the problem?

And there’s the charm of Oprah. To many, she is “everywoman.” To others, she’s mocked as “everywoman.” With a media empire and range of influence that remains unchallenged, she still oozes reliability and empathy with every interview. You feel like you could tell her anything – and hundreds of her guests have done just that. And when she’s dealing with an uncomfortable subject, she is quick to express some variation of “we’re here to learn from your experience, not to exploit your pain.”

And, people respond. Hell, do they respond. Even when she gave away a car at her final “favorite things” show in 2010, she proposed that the utter hysterics in the audience, which she herself called a parody and Saturday Night Live skit, was really about the joy of something unexpected happening during the day. And not, you know, about the free cars.

But when has she gotten it wrong? She publicly scolded author James Frey for fabricating his supposed memoir of drug abuse, A Million Little Pieces. She later apologized for doing so, saying she had felt personally duped and therefore lashed out.

Oprah also infamously featured Jenny McCarthy on her show, an actress on a quest to link vaccines and autism. Vaccines have been completely exonerated in their connection to autism. But has the damage been done? David T. Tayloe is president of the 60,000-member American Academy of Pediatricians. As he told Slate in 2009, even before this latest information came to light, “If you give her a bully pulpit, McCarthy is going to make people hesitate to vaccinate their children. She has no medical or scientific credentials. It disturbs us that she’s given all these opportunities to make her pitch about vaccines on Oprah or Larry King or U.S. News or whatever?”

For better or for worse, Oprah is a cultural force that cannot be ignored. Her power (or empowerment, perspective!) shows no sign of abating. As her epic show ends its run, the media mogul has turned her sights on an entire network, OWN. Now the world of basic cable can hold the hand of the media queen and her all-star spawns, such as Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, Suzy Orman and more. Will it be a success? That remains to be seen. I’m willing to bet on the Big O before I discount her. Now excuse me while I get shaken like a kitten.

Image: Fuzzcat

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One of the many books that has been published recently (without the slightest help or input from me) is Healthy Child, Healthy World, a guide for parents who want to raise children in a “cleaner, greener and safer home.” Author Christopher Gavigan has stuffed this book with boatloads of planet-friendly advice from celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Brooke Shields and Kate Hudson. I may not know what those ladies have in the way of environmental credentials, but I am quite sure that they qualify as celebrities. I’m less sure of why the author saw fit to include eco words of wisdom from Gayle King, a woman whose primary claim to fame is that she is Oprah Winfrey’s bestest friend in the whole wide world.

I actually like Gayle King – she strikes me as a spunky, vibrant and down-to-earth woman, but it ticks me off that she’s become the go-to gal for environmental sound bites based on absolutely nothing but her proximity to Oprah. One might suspect that Gayle’s media mogul bestie is also responsible for her radio show (on the Oprah network) as well as her editor-at-large position for “O” Magazine, which is published by – well, you get the picture.

Thinking about Gayle King’s meteoric rise to the top has led me to believe that my own, more limited career trajectory is not due to any lack of talent, ambition or intelligence on my part – it’s just that my friends are such losers.

Don’t get me wrong:  I love my friends desperately – they are all brilliant, warm, funny and unfailingly loyal. But there is not a billionaire in the bunch and not one of them has her own, eponymous multimedia empire. In short, none of them is in a position to make me a household name.

Oprah is certainly not the only woman who has given her best friend a leg up in the world. Several of Michelle Obama’s pals have ended up with cushy jobs in the current Administration. Jessica Simpson’s best friend became her personal assistant, then had a recurring role on Simpson’s reality TV show, and is now dating that guy with the gold teeth from Clueless (thereby proving that some celebrity friendships are more lucrative than others).

But it is Gayle freaking King, in her role as World’s Luckiest Recipient of Inexplicable Fame, who really sticks in my craw. Judging from the book excerpt I read, her advice about raising an eco-friendly family amounts to fairly standard veggie-worship boilerplate. I think more should be expected from Oprah Winfrey’s BFF and frankly, I think I’m up to the task.

Which leads me, inevitably, to wonder: shouldn’t someone as fabulous as Oprah have room in her life for more than one best pal? Especially now – with her talk show ending early next year, Oprah is bound to have lots of extra time on her hands. I totally think we could hang out.

Are you out there Oprah? Call me”¦

Image: Rubenstein

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