The Scientific Benefits of Boredom
AdultsCreativitySciencePsychologySelfBoredom makes you more creative, altruistic, introspective, and helps with autobiographical planning.
I Got Popular...And It Changed Me
AdultsSelfSocietyMental HealthRelationshipsLifeIsaiah had never been cool or popular. He was known as strange, the weird kid - the weirdo - and he stuck to himself. The mean girls and popular kids didn't help his shyness, really hurt his self-esteem, and so, after middle school, he was determined to make high school different.
The Dangers of Thinking Too Much; And Thinking Too Little
AdultsHumanPsychologySelfMental HealthThere are dangers associated both with thinking too much - and thinking too little. The trick is to use our minds to access our most sincere, authentic and original thoughts.
How To Be Confident
AdultsSelfSocietyMental HealthThe fastest route to confidence is to stop being so attached to one's dignity and seriousness; and plainly admit that one is - of course - an idiot. We all are.
How Not to be Boring
AdultsCreativityHumanSocietySelfMental HealthNo one is ever boring: we just seem boring when we haven't learnt the surprisingly easy art of being honest about our vulnerabilities.
Why We Don't Really Want to be Nice
AdultsCultureSocietyPsychologySelfBeing 'nice' sounds a bit eerie and strange. It shouldn't really.
How We Lie to Ourselves
AdultsHumanPsychologySocietySelfWe are masters at knowing how to lie to ourselves. We pay a heavy price for this self-deception.
The Importance of Vulnerability
AdultsPsychologyRelationshipsSelfMental HealthWe often imagine that what will win us friends and esteem is strength. But surprisingly, it's vulnerability that's at the core of friendship and likeability. This is an invitation to make friends with one's own weaknesses.
Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a body? - Maryam Alimardani
AdultsPsychologySciencePhilosophySelfNeuroscienceOur bodies - the physical, biological parts of us - and our minds - the thinking, conscious aspects - have a complicated, tangled relationship. Which one primarily defines you or your self? Are you a body with a mind or a mind with a body? Maryam Alimardani investigates.
The Problem With Our Phones
AdultsAddictionTechnologyMental HealthSelfThey are hugely useful of course but in many ways, we buy the advantages our phones give us at a subtly high price we don't entirely recognise. Some reflections on how to live well around phones.
How to Process Your Emotions
AdultsHumanPsychologyMental HealthSelfIn order to be calm and at ease with ourselves, we need regular periods where we do something rather strange-sounding: process our emotions. Here is a guide to this essential psychological move.
You Are Not What You Earn
AdultsPersonal FinanceSocietyWorkEconomySelfThe modern world firmly equates how much we earn with how good, noble, wise and worthy of honour we are. This is a brutal misunderstanding of how salaries are determined. We need to operate with a far more nuanced view of what the money we earn says about us.
How to Remain Calm With People
AdultsPsychologyRelationshipsMental HealthSelf"One of the most fundamental paths to calm is the power to hold on, even in very challenging situations, to a distinction between what someone does - and what they meant to do....."
What is Emotional Intelligence?
AdultsHumanPsychologyRelationshipsSelfEducationMany of humanity's greatest problems stem not from a shortfall of technical or financial intelligence, but what we term emotional intelligence. It is through the acquisition of Emotional Intelligence that we stand to become better lovers, workers, friends and citizens. We are rarely systematically taught Emotional Intelligence and pay a heavy price for this gap in learning. The School of Life is dedicated to fostering Emotional Intelligence.
How To Forgive
AdultsRelationshipsSocietyPsychologySelf"It can be so hard to forgive because - so often - we simply are in the right and the scale of the folly, thoughtlessness and meanness of others seems utterly beyond our own measure. But there are two inviolable ideas which should nevertheless, in the face of the grossest behaviour, be kept in mind to increase our chances of cutting others a little slack..."
How to practice effectively...for just about anything - Annie Bosler and Don Greene
AdultsNeuroscienceProductivityWorkEducationPsychologySelfMastering any physical skill takes practice. Practice is the repetition of an action with the goal of improvement, and it helps us perform with more ease, speed, and confidence. But what does practice actually do to make us better at things? Annie Bosler and Don Greene explain how practice affects the inner workings of our brains.
Why Only the Happily Single Find True Love
AdultsFamilyRelationshipsSelfOne of the key requirements for having a good chance of finding the right partner is not to mind too much being single.