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Welcome to today's edition of The Good – a gentle pause in your day, filled with beauty, kindness, and inspiration. Each morning, we gather little reminders of what’s good in the world and place them in your inbox.

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What if resilience looked less like striving, and more like listening to yourself, to others, even to the world around you? Today’s stories explore creativity that heals, courage that blooms late in life, and technology that lets nature speak for itself. Together, they remind us that renewal can mean beginning again, more gently, with open eyes and an open heart.

what happens when trees finally get to talk back

In London, Dublin, and Austin, a small grove of trees has found its voice, quite literally. A creative experiment from Droga5 has used AI to translate bioelectrical signals of living trees into real-time “conversations” with humans, reports Positive News. The project, part art installation and part environmental acknowledgement, transforms data like soil moisture, wind speed, and temperature into thoughtful responses, becoming a digital echo of nature’s inner life.

When Austin’s mayor asked a 50-year-old oak how he could help, the tree replied, “More stable temperatures and consistent moisture would help. Thank you for asking.” It’s a moment both poetic and profound, and a reminder that connection, even one mediated by technology, can spark empathy where statistics cannot.

Beyond the exhibition, the project points toward something larger: how technology might help us listen more deeply to the planet, to each other, and to the systems sustaining life all around us. The future of innovation, it seems, may sound a lot like a rustle of leaves, inviting us to slow down, pay attention, and truly hear the world speak.

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how one artist turned ashes into a second act

When the 2017 Thomas Fire tore through California, it left behind ashes where decades of Alice Matzkin’s artwork once lived. More than 100 paintings, portraits that had hung everywhere from the White House to the Smithsonian, were gone. But as she told the LA Times, she refused to be undone. Years later, at 85, Matzkin is back in her studio in Ojai with a creative spark stronger than ever, and this time, trading realism for bold, abstract works alive with color and energy.

Her renaissance began with a whisper. One afternoon, while sweeping the floor, she felt a calling to go to her studio. With only a few salvaged supplies, she began to draw again. At first strange, spontaneous sketches, then sprawling canvases that seemed to pulse with movement and life. “I couldn’t stop,” she says. “It just poured out.” What emerged wasn’t just new art, but a new way of seeing: wild, intuitive, and joyfully unrestrained.

For Matzkin, creativity has always been a mirror for living. Her experience shows us all that beauty evolves with time, and that loss can clear the space for something new to bloom. Her work now hums with the wisdom that resilience can look like reinvention, and that the act of creation is its own kind of love story.

A GENTLER WAY TO APPROACH CREATIVITY

In her iconic TED Talk, Your Elusive Creative Genius, author Elizabeth Gilbert reimagines creativity as a gift we get to share. With warmth and wit, Gilbert challenges the myth of the “tortured artist,” suggesting that creative brilliance is actually something that moves through us, not something we are. By seeing genius as a companion rather than a demand, we free ourselves from the pressure of perfection and rediscover the joy of making, simply for the sake of making.

Gilbert’s perspective is both ancient and deeply modern, rooted in the old belief that inspiration comes from something beyond us, yet speaking directly to today’s culture of self-critique and burnout. She reminds us that our job isn’t to chase genius, but to show up for it and to meet the muse halfway, again and again, with courage and humility.

It’s a revolutionary idea that creativity doesn’t have to be so heavy. When we release the need to be extraordinary, we create space for the extraordinary to find us. And in that space, art, and life itself, can feel a little lighter, a little freer, and infinitely more human.

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REDEFINING WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE WELL

What does it really mean to live a good life? Researchers Lukas Novak and Nona Kiknadze ask this question in their study on positive emotions, exploring whether a deeper sense of living well always depends on feeling good. While many modern ideas of wellbeing focus on maximizing happiness and minimizing discomfort, their work reminds us that the full picture is more layered. Growth, meaning, and even struggle might matter just as much as joy.

Their review of contemporary wellbeing theories reveals a fascinating divide in some scholars seeing positive emotion as the cornerstone of a good life, while others argue that living truly well is about functioning, or showing up fully, even when emotions are mixed. After all, sadness can deepen empathy. Frustration can fuel creativity. Peace can come from purpose, not pleasure.

Their takeaway? A good life isn’t one that feels good all the time, but one that makes room for everything. The beauty and the ache. The easy and the hard. Because being human isn’t about chasing constant positivity, but about engaging with the world, wholeheartedly, in all its complexities.

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THE ART OF STAYING WELL IN A BUSY WORLD

Modern life moves fast and for many of us, it can feel like there’s no space left for rest, nourishment, or balance. But as Scripps reminds us, living well doesn’t require a full lifestyle overhaul. It starts with small, intentional choices: a glass of water in the morning, a quick walk between meetings, a stretch before you scroll. When we approach wellness with compassion instead of perfection, the little moments begin to add up, and our energy follows.

Dr. Kati Urbina calls it “sustainable change.” It’s the kind of wellness that sticks because it fits real life. Think: stocking your kitchen with wholesome snacks, swapping multitasking for mindfulness, or waking up just a bit earlier to reclaim some calm before the day begins. Each habit becomes a way to meet the world with more steadiness, focus, and care.

Healthy living, it turns out, is actually about doing less, more intentionally. With presence. With grace. With the reminder that caring for yourself isn’t one more task to manage, but an act of self-respect and a way to move through the day feeling grounded, energized, and whole.

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