The impossibility of not having expectations and just striving to curb them

Ronald Alexander, Ph.D. in his article, “The Art of Mindfully Letting Go With Buddha’s Four Noble Truths,” points out how expectations are detrimental to our happiness and wellbeing. This is all well and fine, but as much as I like to read and slowly adapt those teachings to real life, the “No expectations” rule is […]

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Wabi-sabi: flawed beauty

Wabi-sabi (侘寂) in Japanese, is the view of the world centered on the acceptance that everything is fleeting and imperfect. “Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.” adds Richard Powell. Art books define it as “flawed beauty.” I came upon this word recently and since then […]

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Why and how we should forgive

Most of us have trouble letting go of the grudges we hold when we’re wronged in life. The fact is, we all get hurt from time to time, even by people we love. For everyone, in order to move and live a happy, healthy life, forgiveness is crucial. Here’s why and how we should forgive.

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Happiness

Modern mental health science has focused all its energy and attention on the whys, hows, and cures for depression. However, far less time has been spent studying happiness. It’s as if happiness were taken for granted as our “normal” state, and depression is not a natural state as well. And while it’s true that negative […]

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Understanding fear

Fear is often considered a negative reaction, but in fact, fear works for us. In the face of danger, real danger, fear which is embedded in the brain’s amygdala, gets us to react in an instant to a dangerous situation. It’s an automatic response to our survival. The amygdala monitors the sensory information in search […]

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Words of wisdom from my tax lady

As I sat there in shock at how much I had to pay in taxes when I had been living on a string for almost three years now, and tears started rolling down my cheeks like an overflowing river, my tax lady held my hand tight and said: “You will get over this. Life is […]

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Brief encounters

Allowing someone into your life, no matter how briefly, can touch your soul and teach you something new about yourself. Every day we have a chance to become the person we wish we were thanks to those chance encounters. So, take advantage of every single one of them. Some may be painful but, as we learn to […]

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How did you get through it?

I had no choice. And this will probably be everyone’s life story at some point. We just somehow make it through because we have no other choice. We always manage to see the light as long as we fight our battles and see them through. No, it’s not easy. But who said life was easy? […]

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