Gene Carmichael’s morning routine includes a cup of coffee, the Pioneer Press and a phone call. For 15 years, Carmichael has been calling the Ideas for Positive Living phone line at 11 a.m. daily to listen to its free recorded message. On a recent Friday, Carmichael heard volunteer Candice Johnson recite a four-minute message on “cheerfulness,” which she called “a blessing that comes from deep within us.” Johnson, 78, of Lake Elmo, thinks of the messages as a gift to the community. “When we’re happy and positive, we become almost magnetic. We can draw others to us. More and more people become cheerful,” she said. “Happiness and positivity are much more than politeness. It’s a way, in this anxious world, to show all people that we can aspire to create a hopeful, loving world.” Ideas for Positive Living, which is run by Johnson and four other volunteers, offers new messages Monday through Friday, accessible 24/7, with Friday’s message repeated Saturday and Sunday. The phone line (651-602-2176) is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The volunteers, who call themselves “Messengers,” often share inspirational stories, poems and positive affirmations. “It’s like having a bunch of nice friends. They’re all different, and they talk about different things. Gil on Thursday is my favorite,” said Carmichael, referring to Gil Kinnunen of Woodbury. Carmichael, a retired sheet-metal worker, learned about Ideas for Positive Living from a relative in 2010. He said he recommends the phone line to everyone he meets. “I always look on the bright side of life. Always,” he said. “I’m sure other people would enjoy it, too.” Something you need to hear Ideas for Positive Living was launched in 1995 by White Bear Lake resident Kathy Young, who died in 2000 at the age of 63. Young was a social worker, a motivational speaker and an adviser on topics ranging from parenting and anger management to balancing work and home. “She brought sunshine into the life of every person she met and made them feel worthwhile,” friend Carol Pesola, a longtime Ideas for Positive Living volunteer who died last year, told the Pioneer Press at the time. Young got the idea for the phone line while working as coordinator of the “Parent Warm Line,” a noncrisis phone line for parents, said Barb Frederick, 74, of White Bear Lake, an Ideas for Positive Living volunteer who was recruited by Pesola in 2000. “My son was leaving for college, and I was an empty-nester, and he encouraged me to do this,” Frederick said. “Carol said, ‘You often write something that you need to hear,’ and I’ve always remembered that, and that’s probably true. Through the years, I would write things that maybe I wanted to hear.” Frederick’s messages are know as the “Monday Meanderings.” “It’s whatever I can find that is interesting,” the retired elementary-school teacher said. “I try to focus a little bit on nature, and then I try to find interesting snippets that people might want to listen to. It might be weather-related. It might be the latest environmental news. Sometimes I’ll find something in a book.” One of Frederick’s favorite parts of volunteering is listening to the messages that are left for her and the other Messengers. Related Articles No survivors on plane that crashed into Brooklyn Park neighborhood home Saturday St. Paul City Council convenes but doesn’t appoint new Ward 4 member St. Paul downtown: Lunds, Alliance Bank retailers close up shop St. Paul-to-Chicago Amtrak Borealis sidelined by corrosion 15-year-old chess master from North Oaks wins American Cup, again “People get to know our personalities,” she said. “You never know when something that we might say might encourage them in their lives. I wish that lots of people, especially right now, would be able to listen to this and go, ‘Oh, this is something positive that I can listen to, and it will be different from the news, and nobody’s going to know that I am calling. Nobody knows.’” Volunteers for Ideas for Positive Living have remained mostly anonymous since it started. That’s why the volunteers haven’t moved to a social-media format such as Facebook or Instagram, Frederick said. “It’s just easier to do it this way,” she said. “Most of our callers are elderly. I think this is just a safe way.” ‘Quack-quack lady’ The phone line receives about 1,100 calls a month, said volunteer Charlene Danielson Nelson of Minneapolis. Volunteers pay Arvig Answering Solutions in Perham, Minn., a monthly fee for the phone service, but occasionally receive donations to help cover the costs, she said. Nelson, 72, listened to Ideas for Positive Living for a year before joining as a Messenger in December 2002, she said. Johnson, of Lake Elmo, is her sister. “I do it on Wednesdays,” she said. “I’m the ‘quack-quack’ lady. I tell a joke every Wednesday. Humor is a wonderful way to connect.” Charlene Danielson Nelson, of Minneapolis, holds a card advertising the phone line Ideas for Positive Living on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Courtesy of Charlene Danielson Nelson) Here’s part of Nelson’s March 19 message: “I’m Charlene, and I’m really glad you are taking these moments to plug in to this circle of love and support. Hey, do you know that tomorrow it’s officially spring on the 20th, and spring is coming? We can see the signs of it. Yesterday I saw my first robin. Oh, that was exciting. ‘When nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.’ That was Harriet Jacobs. So hold on, spring is coming for sure. And aren’t we glad? Well, it’s Wednesday, and I always like to lighten up with a silly little quack-quack joke. Here goes. When is an Irish potato not an Irish potato? When it’s a french fry.” Nelson said the phone line has endured through the decades because people long for connection. “I just think that people hunger for the sound of a human voice — a kind, human voice, and to know that there is somebody out there who cares,” she said. “It’s a real gift to the world — and to us as well.” Nelson ended her March 19 recording by letting listeners know they were welcome to leave a message or a prayer request. Occasional mishaps Lakeland resident Mary Miller began volunteering with Ideas for Positive Living as a substitute Messenger in 2007. She came on permanently in 2013. She fills the Tuesday slot. Mary Miller began volunteering with Ideas for Positive Living as a substitute in 2007. (Courtesy of Jean Larson) “To me, it’s somewhere between a ministry and a community service” she said. “I have found that I need the connection as much as some of the callers.” Miller and Nelson became friends while working at 3M during the 1970s, and Miller said she learned about the phone line from her. “I had called into the line many times, and she thought I might be interested in doing messages,” she said. The Messengers must record their message by 7 a.m. on their allotted day. There have been some slip-ups over the years, even with the low-tech format, Miller said. “One time, when Charlene was leaving on a trip to Mexico, I got up one morning and accidentally erased her message that was going to play that day,” she said. “She was already at the airport, and I was frantic. I thought, ‘Oh, she’s going to kill me.’ So I had to sit down and quickly write a message to replace hers.” Another time, Kinnunen overslept, and “Charlene got a call saying ‘Gil didn’t put his message on today,’ so she got up and she did it,” Miller said. “Of course, we worried something had happened, but he had just overslept.” ‘Sounds just like you’ Johnson, whose messages fill the Friday, Saturday and Sunday slots, learned about Ideas for Positive Living from Frederick, her daughter’s second-grade teacher at Lake Elmo Elementary School. Candice Johnson began leaving messages on the line and then was asked to be one of the Messengers over 20 years ago. (Courtesy of Roger Nelson) “Barb gave me a number to call, and she said, ‘Call this number sometime,’ so I did, and I called it a few times, and I thought, ‘Gosh, you know, that one speaker sounds a lot like Barb, but she didn’t identify herself by name. She just, you know, gave the talk and so she asked me one time I went in and she said, ‘Have you called that number?’ And I said, ‘Yes, and, you know, in fact, what’s kind of neat is that the one speaker sounds just like you.’ She looked at me, and she said, ‘That is me.’” Johnson began leaving messages on the line and then was asked to be one of the Messengers, she said. “That’s over 20 years ago,” she said. “Then my sister (Nelson) got involved too because of me, so it’s been a fun, fun thing and people continue to call.” Johnson said the service fills a vital role. “There are a lot of people out there who don’t have anyone that they ever talk to,” she said. “We have one fellow who calls and leaves a message, and he just talks and talks, and he’s just so fun and wonderful. I’ll think, ‘Oh, I wish I knew where he was.’” Johnson said she often talks about kindness and nature. “Life’s a miracle,” Johnson said. “I like to reference the wisdom keepers. So I talk, you know, a lot about that and I’ll read things, you know, from Emerson and John Muir because I’m into all of that and nature.” On speed dial Caller Sharon Hochstein, 71, of St. Paul, called in on March 21 to listen to Johnson’s message. She rarely misses a day, she said. Related Articles Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and Children’s Home to merge Downtown St. Paul: Nonprofit law firm given just days to move up to 50 offices St. Paul: Hope Dental Clinic officially calls it quits, files for bankruptcy, auctions equipment U of M, Essentia, Fairview to continue talks with facilitator Lions Clubs plan Community Day of Service “I know who has each day,” she said. “They are all very, very friendly and pleasant to listen to. I have it on my phone, on speed dial, so I just have to go under ‘Positive Living.’” Hochstein said she puts the recorded message on speakerphone so her husband, Tom, also can listen in. “If you’re ever feeling down, all you have to do is call in and listen to the person who has that day’s message,” she said. “They’re so pleasant. They just kind of uplift you.” Hochstein, who calls from her landline, said she is glad Ideas for Positive Living hasn’t made the switch to social media. “It wouldn’t be the same on Facebook,” she said. “I kind of like the one-on-one, and you can leave a message there. If you have somebody that you need them to pray for there, they’re all there for you, and they just comfort you. I just sit in my glider and listen to what they have to say. I’m always sitting when I’m listening to them. It’s soothing. It’s very soothing.” Ideas for Positive Living The Ideas for Positive Living phone line can be reached at 651-602-2176. ...read more read less