The Art and Science of Reminiscing

Why is it so challenging for adults to find joy in the everyday, yet so easy for children? We enter the world with a sense of wonder and curiosity. Because we are constantly in the present moment, our eyes see only what is right in front of us, making us little masters of mindfulness. We engage freely and smile easily. As we move from infancy through toddlerhood, we play ceaselessly and ask endless questions.

Not everyone realizes how powerful words can be. One negative statement can negate thousands of kind and thoughtful words we have said to someone. It's important to consider how our words—both negative and positive—will affect others and ourselves before we use them. I think everyone agrees that words...

Borderline personality disorder is typically regarded as a disorder making its first appearance before the age of 30, if not earlier. New research challenges this conventional wisdom, showing that cases can arise for the first time well into the years of adulthood. Early attachment issues reawakened by key events, especially...

Messages that are brief, direct, and relevant are most likely to be read and remembered by students. A student process that requires a lot of explanation is a hint that the process needs to be simplified. Messages targeted to specific student groups are more helpful and reinforce to students that...

I've learned that when my autistic son has an outburst or meltdown, we must summon our empathy. Our focus must not be on making him stop. When he is upset, we must listen wisely to find the key to calming him. Our response must be "can do," not "we can't."...

The smartest, most human-like AI-powered chatbot to date, ChatGPT, is coming for the creative class. And yet, ChatGPT will serve to make us more aware of our unique and irreplaceable human qualities. Thinking is hard, critical thinking even harder, and ChatGPT isn’t good at either. ChatGPT is incapable of...

The health benefits of meditation are innumerable including potentially increasing one's lifespan. Eliminating what the Buddhists call monkey mind is a surefire way to become more present to your life. Higher social standing, once measured by leisure, is now measured by busyness. I have a confession: I once was a...

Awe is an emotional experience felt when individuals encounter powerful experiences, such as works of art, giving birth, or nature. The feeling of awe evokes a sense of wonder and can transform the way we see the world. The experience of awe can make us feel diminished and insignificant. Encountering...

By scanning a person’s brain, scientists may be able to decode people's thoughts, their dreams and even their intentions. Thought-reading techniques can help patients with locked-in syndrome communicate and feel human. We all must ensure that scientific progress serves the best interests of humankind and is not used unethically.

A person’s stress is connected to the stress of the people in their social circle. The link is stronger when the people in a social circle have comparable levels of stress to each other. This may happen because people base conclusions on others’ reactions and because they try to...

You are responsible for the decisions you make but that doesn't stop you taking advice and reflecting on other people's perspectives first. People will have their own agenda when they offer advice. It's important to be objective and weight up different views on their merits. Challenge the assumptions made in...

Values represent a direction and associated behaviors that have the potential to bring joy and fulfillment. There is no finish line. The focus on values is at the core of a therapeutic intervention called acceptance and commitment therapy. A classic ACT exercise for accessing values is to think about your...

People often co-opt mental health terminology to describe everyday behavior. These terms are used loosely, although the mental health community is specific about how they define these conditions. This can trivialize complex conditions and perpetuate harmful and misleading stereotypes and myths. People often borrow terminology from the language of mental...

Patients with facial paralysis have an impaired ability to communicate and express their emotions. Depression and anxiety have been found to be much more prevalent in this patient population. Prompt diagnosis and treatment can help mitigate the impact of long-standing disease. Bell’s palsy, or idiopathic facial paralysis, can have a...

There is unavoidable emotional pain when those we care about are threatened or suffer. Most of our stresses and upsets come from needless suffering that we cause ourselves, which is the opposite of being at peace. Strengthen neural networks in the brain that support spacious mindfulness, staying in the present,...

Parents can learn from marketing tactics by influencing their children with short teaching moments. Reactive parenting with frustration may be emotionally disruptive to the child impairing their ability to learn new behaviors. Short frequent guidance can build a strong bond and allow parents to model empathy and calmness and provide...

Emotional individuals tend to make poorer decisions. It’s normal to want what others have, but this can become deceptively destructive. Measuring one's present self against one's past self, instead of against others, is a good way to combat envy. Envy has long been a destructive force in human relationships...

Despite anecdotal evidence across cultures, mainstream psychology knows very little about spontaneous spiritual awakenings. They are often pathologized by the medical community due to overlap with symptoms found in mental disorders like schizophrenia. Spontaneous spiritual awakenings can result in a number of positive long-term outcomes. A recent study published in...

The way we perceive gender has evolved since the Middle Ages and varies across societies. Part of greater equality for women can be explained by changes in norms around marriage. Research suggests that plough usage in agricultural societies is linked with men-as-breadwinners gender stereotypes. This post was written by Anirudh...

Behavioral economists have long spoken about mental labor in terms of economics—people usually think of effort in terms of costs and payoffs. According to the "law of least effort," people find exerting either physical or cognitive effort aversive or costly. Some people—such as mountaineers and Rubik's cubers—choose to exert...