The Power of Good News  Feeding Your Mind with What's Good for Your Heart

“Full of wonderful stories of human resilience . . . and easy ways for you to boost not only your own mood but the mood of every person you meet. “ —Ken Blanchard, #1 New York Times-bestselling coauthor of The One Minute Manager®

The media’s bias toward stories of conflict, violence, and division is bad for your health. Hal Urban shows how to find the positive and uplifting all around us.

What we eat greatly impacts our physical health. Hal Urban says that we can nourish our minds just like we nourish our bodies by choosing what information we consume. Urban explains why, due to neuroscience as much as economics, the media—left, right, and center—focuses mostly on negative stories. And he describes the psychological toll this takes on our mental health. But he’s not suggesting we ignore these stories, just that we vary our diets.

We can find countless signs of progress and acts of kindness all around the world if we know where to look. And there are positive aspects in our own lives—family, friends, beauty, generosity, and progress—that we take for granted. Offering techniques he road tested as a teacher for thirty-six years, Urban helps readers become a conscious consumer of information, balancing sources like food groups.

If, as the late Zig Ziglar put it, “you are what you are . . . because of what has gone into your mind,” then it’s in our best interest to choose positive, healthy, and uplifting input whenever possible. Urban shows how to do this with open eyes and an open heart.

“Blending storytelling and research, humor and deep analysis, Hal Urban provides us an accessible and valuable treasure.” —Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD, cofounder of the Happiness Studies Academy

Hal Urban is an author, speaker, and award-winning teacher of thirty-six years at San Carlos and Woodside High Schools and at his alma mater, the University of San Francisco. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in history and a doctorate in education from the University of San Francisco, and he has done post-graduate study in the psychology of peak performance at Stanford University. Since 1992, Dr. Urban has traveled more than 2 million miles while speaking nationally and internationally on positive character traits and their relationship to the quality of life. He has authored seven books, all with an emphasis on good character. His first book, Life's Greatest Lessons, was selected by Writer's Digest as the Inspirational Book of the Year and has sold 100,000 copies.