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The world is full of wonder and goodness. But you often have to consciously look for it when things get truly tough and it feels like everything’s chaotic. A reminder that there are still people out there willing to be kind, supportive, and empathetic can restore a bit of your faith in humanity.

Today, we’re featuring some of the newest and best posts from the sprawling ‘Be Amazed’ online community, which aims to share some of the most positive and—unsurprisingly—amazing things about life, from examples of altruism to impressive nature photos. Keep scrolling to lift your spirits! Oh, and don’t forget to upvote your favorite pics.

Bored Panda reached out to Glenn Geher, Ph.D., to learn about kindness from an evolutionary perspective, as well as how we can all find joy during particularly stressful times. Dr. Geher is a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at New Paltz and a published author. You’ll find our interview with him as you read on.

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#1 Give It Up For This Hero

This is Victoria. She died a hero saving her students from school massacre gunman. She hid first graders in the cabinets and closets after hearing the gunfire. When the shooter came to her classroom, she told him that her students were in the gym. He then gunned her down and moved on. She saved the lives of all of her studens.
Please pass this on if you see it. She deserves to be remembered for her brave. Bless her

“Kindness in humans is very interesting from an evolutionary perspective. At first glance, kindness doesn’t seem to make much evolutionary sense—nature doesn’t usually select for properties that help others at a cost to oneself. But in humans, things are a bit different,” Dr. Geher explained to Bored Panda in an email.

“We evolved to live in stable social groups and at some point, cooperation became a core element of the human experience. With that, people who developed reputations as kind (as opposed to as selfish or greedy) actually did quite well,” he said.

“Being seen as kind makes one more attractive as a friend, collaborator, and romantic partner. And this fact has shaped our psychology such that we tend to value kindness in others quite a bit.”

#2 Wow, This Is Amazing

Four college students from North Carolina State University developed a nail polish that changes color when exposed to certain d***s often used to d***g women, including GHB, Rohypnol, and Xanax. The wearer can stir her drink with a finger. If her drink was tampered with, she’ll know within seconds.

#3 Chiune Sugihara Risked His Life In Saving The Jews From Nazis

Chiune Sugihara – this man saved 6000 jews. He was a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania. When the Nazis began rounding up jews, Sugihara risked his life by issuing unlawful travel visas to jews. He hand-wrote them 18 hours a day. The day his consulate closed and he had to evacuate, wit-nesses claim he was still writing visas and throwing from the train as he pulled away. He saved 6000 lives. The world did not know what he had done until Israel honored him in 1985, the year before he died

Dr. Geher also shed some light on finding goodness and joy even when everything feels very tense and chaotic. “How people respond to stressful situations is a major factor in who someone is at their core. Stressful situations often bring out the worst in people, leading to anxiety, depression, and sometimes anger—things that characterize the worst of the human emotional experience,” he told Bored Panda.

“Finding joy and goodness during stressful times is not always easy. But there are some kinds of experiences that famously help people to de-stress. Getting out into nature has been found to have positive effects when it comes to reducing stress. Sharing one’s emotional experiences with close others often is helpful as well,” he said.

“Another one I’ll put out there pertains to creativity—it is hard to be stressed while painting a watercolor of a beautiful natural landscape, for instance.”

#4 Humanity Goes A Long Way

#5 Such A Nice Guy!

#6 We Need More Of This Kind Of People In This World

Dr. Geher noted that stress is “essentially the bane of our psychological existence.”

“And let’s face it: These days, there is plenty to be stressed about. Finding healthy ways that reduce stress for you is key to living a happy and fulfilling life. It may be exercise, nature, meditation, art, reading, crochet, etc. But once you find what works for you, make sure to institutionalize that into your daily life—doing so will be helpful when inevitable stressors come your way.”

#7 This Is So Sweet

#8 You Will Always Be A Legend

#9 That Only Happens To You Once

Human beings are hardwired in such a way that they focus more on the negative aspects of life more than the positives. This might be useful for survival, but it also means that you tend to have a slightly warped perspective of how the world can be.

Living through extremely distressing events like pandemics and armed conflicts and spending far too much time on social media, following every single negative development, can lead to empathy burnout, exhaustion, and chronic anxiety.

Of course, real life isn’t black and white. It’s nuanced. There’s joy and sorrow, triumph and horror, beauty and destruction, altruism and greed. And so, it’s important to recognize that no matter how horrible or wonderful life seems at the moment, the human experience is much deeper and more varied than it might appear. It would be a tad naive and short-sighted to believe that absolutely everything is amazing/horrible.

Though this means that there’s always potential conflict waiting behind every moment of joy, there are also silver linings to look for during stressful and tense times. It’s up to us to remember to focus on the positives when we’re drowning in stress.

#10 Beauty Of Wildlife: A Cub Looks At Her Mother With Admiration

#11

A homeless man’s rabbit was thrown off a bridge by a passerby, and he instantly leaped into the river to rescue her. He received an award, animal food, and a job, while the passerby was charged with animal cruelty.

#12 Wish More Professors Were Like This, This Is The Sweetest Thing

People tend to pay more attention to bad things and overlook the positives due to evolution, Verywell Mind explains.

It’s likely that in early human history, paying attention to “bad, dangerous, and negative threats” was of utmost importance for survival. To put it simply, it’s theorized that people who were “more attuned to danger” and paid more attention to the bad things surrounding them were more likely to survive and, therefore, pass on their genes.

Negativity bias, also known as positive-negative asymmetry, is something that we’ve all felt in our lives. For example, it’s why you might feel much worse when you get criticized for messing up than when you get praised for doing a good job.

Or why an irritating comment from someone you know can ruin an otherwise perfectly fine day. In short, the average person is more biased toward negativity simply because of how our psychology and biology evolved to keep us safe(r).

#13 This Woman Was So Nervous About Flying, So The Flight Attendant Explained Every Sound And Bump And Even Sat Here Holding Her Hand When It Still Got To Be Too Much For Her

#14 It’s Never Too Late To Learn New Things And Create Meaningful Memories

#15 On Christmas, I Returned To A Place I Had Cleaned Up A Year Ago. Nature Has Reclaimed Back Its Land. This Is A Successful Cleanup I Will Cherish Forever

Furthermore, human beings are more likely to remember traumatic experiences, react more strongly to negative stimuli, and respond more strongly to negative rather than equally positive events.

On top of that, people tend to learn more from negative outcomes and experiences than from positive ones. Negativity bias is also why the average person is more motivated to avoid losing something than to gain something.

#16 When A Vpn Company Does What Congress Won’t

#17 He Saved 22 Of His 23 Students

The man in the photo, Liviu Librescu wasn’t any ordinary man. He was a scientist, engineer, professor and a Holocaust survivor who held the door of his classroom shut during the Virginia Tech shooting. Although he was shot through the door, Liberescu managed to prevent the gunman from entering the classroom until most of his students had escaped through windows. He saved 22 of his 23 students. Librescu was posthumously awarded the Order of the Star of Romania, the country’s highest civilian.

#18 Act Of Generosity

“It is the ‘bad things’ that grab our attention, stick to our memories, and, in many cases, influence the decisions that we make,” Verywell Mind explains.

For example, this is why people tend to see bad news as being more ‘truthful.’ It’s also why negative news stories get more attention.

#19 Elephant Family Sleeping Together

#20 Dad’s Sober Transformation

#21 I’m A Year Sober Today!

Meanwhile, Healthline explains that even though negativity appears to be our “default setting,” we can still override it.

For example, you can increase your positivity by being more mindful of what is and isn’t important in your life. You can also focus on more positivity by looking at what you’re grateful for and what you value.

#22 Dan Black, A Man Who Sacrificed His Chance To Walk Again For A Disabled Boy

A UK man became paralyzed after a cycling accident and spent four years raising $26,000 to pay for a stem cell treatment that might help him walk again. However, upon hearing about a disabled boy needing surgery (who stood a better chance of success), he donated all the money to him instead.

#23 Michael J. Fox Receives The Presidential Medal Of Freedom For His Advocacy In Parkinson’s Research – January 4th, 2025

#24 Indian Actor Suniel Shetty Rescued 128 Trafficked Nepalese Women And Kept The Act Private

In 1996, Indian actor Suniel Shetty saved 128 Nepalese women rescued from a [intimacy] trafficking ring in Mumbai. When the Nepalese government refused to repatriate them, Shetty bought airfare for their return and ensured their safety. He kept this act private until one survivor revealed the story
24 years later in an interview.

Originally, the ‘Be Amazed’ group was created back in late January of 2015. Now, more than a decade later, the project has grown to house a whopping 8.8 million members from all corners of the world.

At the time of writing, this group ranks among the top 1% of all subreddits by size. The team of moderators running the community describes it as a place to “find and share things which are amazing in a positive way.”

#25 This Is Truly Amazing

Almost 5,000 people waited for hours in the rain at a swabbing event in worcester. To get tested to see if they were a match to help save the life of a five-year-old boy fighting a rare cancer, after his parents asked for help.

#26

In 1980s, “Weird Al” Yankovic turned down a $5 million beer endorsement deal, which would be worth around $14.5 million today, because he felt it was unethical given his young, impressionable fanbase.

#27 In 1952, A Group Of Farmers “Arrested” The Town’s Sheriff While He Was Attempting To Evict A Widow From Her Farm At The Behest Of A Local Insurance Company

The mods explain that the content that the members are encouraged to share ought to be positive as well. And, of course, amazing, too. To that end, everyone’s encouraged to avoid more serious topics like politics or war, unless the main focus is something else. Furthermore, everyone’s expected to be on their best behavior and treat all the other community members with kindness.

#28 Northern Cardinal Aka Red Bird From Angry Birds Flying Directly Towards Camera

#29 John Cena Being A Great Guy

#30 Baby Elephant Tries To Hide Behind A Light Pole After Being Caught Committing Serious Crime Of Eating Sugarcane In A Field

Which of the images that we’ve featured today from ‘Be Amazed’ caught your attention, dear Pandas? Which ones inspired you the most? What do you do to keep your spirits up whenever things get particularly tough? What’s the last kind thing that you did for someone? We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you think and what you’ve done in the comments below.

#31 This Man Spoke With Every Parent In Uvalde, Texas To Build Personalized Caskets For All 19 Children Who Were Killed. His Name Is Trey Ganem

#32 Snow Leopard In Ladakh ,india

#33 Moon Rising Behind A Tree

#34 Mongolian Girl Has A Laugh With Her Camel

#35 One Of The Two Remaining Northern White Rhinos In The World, Guarded 24 Hours A Day

#36 Indeed He Actually Make Her Young

#37 A Mom’s Strength

#38 This Is Jonathan He Was Born In 1832 & Is 192 Years Old

#39 Nikolai The Walrus Received A Fish Cake For His Birthday From A Zookeeper. This Was His Reaction

#40 Fingal’s Cave Is A Geological Formation Located On The Uninhabited Island Of Staffa, In The Inner Hebrides Of Scotland

#41

Babe Ruth posing with fans 1925. He was a popular figure in the African American community because of his willingness to treat them as he would white fans, along with rumors of him being biracial.

#42

This man was a teacher for 40 years. In 1974, Dale Irby, a gym teacher in Dallas, realized he had worn the same outfit as the previous year on picture day, and decided to simply go with it, after Cathy – his wife – dared him to.

#43 Strong Winds Create Unusual Shapes In The Frozen Sand Alongside Lake Michigan

#44 275 Years Apart, A 4,500-Year-Old Cypress Tree

You Might Also Like: 47 Interesting Historical Pictures That Might Teach You Something New About Our World

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