Wise Words for You

Don’t give negative people a room in your head. Keep it occupied so there’s no space to rent. Remaining full with the treasures of good thoughts is the best hospitality I can give.

Anger is a normal, healthy emotion. But it’s unhealthy when it flares up all the time or spirals out of control. Chronic, explosive anger has serious consequences for your relationships, your health, and your state of mind. The good news is that getting anger under control is easier than you think. With insight about the real reasons for your anger and these anger management tools, you can learn to keep your temper from hijacking your life. Why is anger something you need to control but not crush?  The emotion of anger is neither good nor bad. Like any emotion, it’s conveying a message, telling you that a situation is upsetting, or unjust, or threatening. If your kneejerk reaction to anger is to explode, however, that message never has a chance to be conveyed. So, while it’s perfectly normal to feel angry when you’ve been mistreated or wronged, anger becomes a problem when you express it in a way that harms yourself or others. If you have a hot temper, you may feel like it...

Mental health problems affect 1 in 4 people every year and no one should feel ashamed. By sharing life experiences, together we can end the stigma. This is written by a real person and used with their consent. Dear colleagues, I am sorry. I realise that my behaviour has impacted those around me, both in the past, and also more recently. I don’t make excuses for the hurt that I’ve caused. And so, I’m writing you this letter because I want you to understand. Because you deserve an explanation and I think this is the best way to give you that explanation. You are honest with me and it is only fair that I do the same. Having to pretend that I don’t ever feel sad, anxious, overwhelmed, or even panicked is not healthy. It is also incredibly exhausting, in all honesty. Up until now, I haven't admitted what has been going on because I thought I could carry on and cope. For the best part I do manage. However, like recently, every so often I hit a rough patch and as hard as I...

Maintain a still mind and wisdom will be your friend and guide all your decisions

Actor Robin Williams appears onstage during MTV's Total Request Live at the MTV Times Square Studios on April 27, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Peter Kramer/Getty Images) From the way you move and sleep, to how you interact with people around you, depression changes just about everything. It is even noticeable in the way you speak and express yourself in writing. Sometimes this “language of depression” can have a powerful effect on others. Just consider the impact of the poetry and song lyrics of Sylvia Plath and Kurt Cobain, who both killed themselves after suffering from depression. Scientists have long tried to pin down the exact relationship between depression and language, and technology is helping us get closer to a full picture. Our new study,  published in Clinical Psychological Science , has now unveiled a class of words that can help accurately predict whether someone is suffering from depression. Traditionally, linguistic analyses in this field have b...

If I want more roses in my garden, I start planting them. If I want more love in my life, I start spreading it. Surround yourself with what you like by continuously generating it!

M any Harry Potter fans have been waiting for their acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for almost two decades. Finally, it’s arrived, although it’s not carried by a mail owl. Instead, new students will enroll by downloading a mobile game from their phone’s app store.  Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery  looks to be a fun, well-polished game. But, how good it is almost doesn’t matter when you consider that it is, somehow, the first Harry Potter game where you make your own character and go to Hogwarts, rather than retrace Harry’s steps. That’s enough of a reason to download the game right there. This is a spoiler-free review of  Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. Hogwarts Mystery , which is available via the App Store and Google Play as of April 25, is a collaboration between Jam City and Warner Bros., which explains why it so closely resembles the look, feel, and sound of the films. However, although the aesth...

Thought experiments are among the most important tools in the intellectual toolbox. Widely used in many disciplines, thought experiments allow for complex situations to be explored, questions to be raised, and complex ideas to be placed in an understandable context. Here we have seven thought experiments in philosophy you might not have heard of. With explanations of what they mean and what questions they raise.  The Veil of Ignorance Justice is blind, should we be? ( Mural of Lady Justice by Alex Proimos. (Wikimedia Commons)) This experiment was devised by John Rawls in 1971 to explore notions of justice in his book  A Theory of Justice. Suppose that you and a group of people had to decide on the principles that would establish a new society. However, none of you know anything about who you will be in that society. Elements such as your race, income level, sex, gender, religion, and personal preferences are all unknown to you. After you decide on those prin...

A life of turbulence and noise may seem desirable to one who leads it, but wisdom is a pearl found only in still waters.

Mental health problems affect 1 in 4 people every year and no one should feel ashamed. By sharing life experiences, together we can end the stigma. This is written by a real person and used with their consent. I’ve never really talked about my mental health; maybe I’m embarrassed by it or what people will think of me. It often becomes awkward and some people even stop talking to me altogether. Some don’t get it. That’s ok. There’s a lot of illnesses I don’t understand either. Some get annoyed: ‘How can you be sad, what do you have to be sad about, you have a great life. You have me, isn’t that enough for you?’ If I had a ‘good reason’, like someone had died, you would understand why I was sad. You wouldn’t question it, just accept it and try to help. But because a lot of us don’t have a particular reason,  people choose to believe we are somehow making it up. Being ungrateful. Selfish . I can tell you it’s none of that.  I don’t choose how I am or how I feel. I can...