Although the name Elijah McCoy may be unknown to most people, the enormity of his ingenuity and the quality of his inventions have created a level of distinction which bears his name.

Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester, Ontario, Canada on May 2, 1844. His parents were George and Emillia McCoy, former slaves from Kentucky who escaped through the Underground Railroad. George joined the Canadian Army, fighting in the Rebel War and then raised his family as free Canadian citizens on a 160 acre homestead.

At an early age, Elijah showed a mechanical interest, often taking items apart and putting them back together again. Recognizing his keen abilities, George and Emillia saved enough money to send Elijah to Edinburgh, Scotland, where he could study mechanical engineering. After finishing his studies as a “master mechanic and engineer” he returned to the United States which had just seen the end of the Civil War – and the emergence of the “Emancipation Proclamation.”

There are 1 billion search results for the phrase, "How to be positive" on Google.

It makes me wonder: Does it help to be optimistic in times of change and uncertainty? And if so, how do we stay optimistic during tough turbulent times?

Does it help to be optimistic?
I believe the answer is YES.

​Here's why: Being optimistic allows us to get up and try again.
Like most of us, I've been on both sides of the fence. Sometimes pessimistic, other times optimistic. And even the middle path of a realist who often struggles with trying to be hopeful in the face of brutal facts.

Frederick Douglass, who has been called the greatest American of the nineteenth century, grew up as a slave named Frederick Bailey, and the story of how he named himself in freedom shows how complicated his life, and his world, always was. Frederick’s father, as David W. Blight shows in his extraordinary new biography, “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom” (Simon & Schuster), was almost certainly white, as Douglass knew early on, and there is something almost cruelly parodic in the grand name the child slave was given: Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey. Escaping to freedom in 1838, at the age of twenty, and needing a new name—in part as a declaration of a reinvented self, in part for the practical necessity of eluding the slave-catchers—he chose to become Frederick Douglass, in honor of a character in a Walter Scott poem. (He added an extra “s” for distinction.)

From natural disasters to overly demanding bosses, our world is filled with stressors. While some research has shown that short bursts of stress can be good for you, a new study out of Ohio State University and published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that dealing with persistent, long-term stress (like that from a toxic boss or from caring for an elderly parent) can actually change your genes, leading to an increase in inflammation that can bring on a variety of health issues.

Learning how to cope properly can go a long way for your everyday health. Here, the best and worst ways to de-stress right now.

To be honest, coping with toxic people has never been my specialty. I have dealt with enough toxicity in my life to know when it’s best to cut ties. (Snip, snip, suckas!)

But we all have toxic people in our lives who can’t be avoided, whether it be a parent or parent-in-law, a sibling or a sibling’s spouse, a friend of a friend, or a co-worker whom you just can’t stand.

​So how do you deal with people you’d rather avoid at all costs?

It's never easy to be around negativism. But beyond that, it can be quite toxic and detrimental, fostering a mindset of cynicism, fatalism, and even defeatism.

​If you are surrounded by negative energy that's coming from a coworker, partner,
friend, or family member, you must how to protect yourself without engaging.

Here are six powerful strategies you can use to protect yourself against

Human Interaction With Society: A Conversation With You is an auditory experience geared towards helping you find clarity within yourself. This will be a very personal and intimate series.