We can spend our days trying to meet ever mounting “to do” lists, unmeetable schedules, wearying routines, the ceaseless demands and responsibilities of adult life. After all, those bills don’t go away on their own. And so it’s easy to forget that along with us on this dizzying ride there’s a child, often bewildered, overwhelmed, still healing from old wounds.…
In the past two centuries, human health and wealth have advanced as never before. While inequalities still bedevil us, on the whole, the current generation of human beings are living longer, more abundant, and more prosperous lives than any in our history. The product (and propulsion) of this prosperity has been an explosion in human knowledge and capability, unrivaled since…
I’ve always been miffed when I hear the casual confession, “I have such an addictive personality.” In my understanding—and in my own experience—it seems there’s no way to be human without getting addicted to certain behaviors or habits of mind. When I go to my psychiatrist each week complaining about my latest compulsive behavior, she reassures me that addictions—of all…
Imagine if you identified yourself as an oxygen atom. All your life you’ve somehow known oxygen is your identity. Even when you combine with another oxygen atom to form O2, you have no confusion because you and your kin are the oxygen that animals breathe to live. But there’s another kid on the block that is even more abundant than…
As a literate society, the idea that reading fiction makes us better people is ingrained in us. However, even if reading fiction makes us more empathetic people, the relationship between empathy and action has been the subject of debate in the academic community.
When the truth of what had happened on Election Day 2016 sank in, our meditation community—like many churches, temples, and centers of worship and healing—organized spaces and gatherings to help people open to and share what they were feeling and be supported in community. We began with a guided meditation. Participants were invited to step out of the mental narratives…
Given the current state of the world, many of us feel an inner tug to do something to help others in our own individual way. Maybe we want to be social workers. Maybe we have toyed with running for office. Maybe we just know we have some gift to give but are not sure what it is yet. Perhaps we…
Late one night, my friend Brett called me on his way to the airport. He works for the U.S. State Department and, as a result, is often assigned to diplomatic posts around the world for a few years at a time. I have known Brett for over a decade and we are quite close. I had just gotten attached to…