A new book explains how we can learn empathy and have better social interactions. It’s hard to watch someone who is suffering. We may feel their pain or absorb their sorrow; we may worry that we won’t know what to do or say. Those uncomfortable moments might make us turn away from their distress—to[…]
Many people mistakenly believe that grief is a single emotion, but normal grief is actually a powerful, multifaceted and often uncontrollable response that human beings experience following a personally painful or traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one. In other words, grief can affect us not only emotionally but also physically, mentally, and even spiritually. […]
Brené Brown explains how to overcome our sense of disconnection and find our common humanity. Today, our culture is in crisis. Many people have retreated to their ideological bunkers to hate from afar, dehumanizing others rather than risk having real, meaningful conversations across their differences. How will we find our way back to[…]
Learning how to apologize more effectively can strengthen bonds and help you resolve conflicts and let go of pain more easily. How To Apologize More Sincerely Relationships can be wonderful buffers against stress, but relationship conflicts can cause considerable emotional pain and stress. Knowing how to apologize–and when–can repair damage in a relationship, but[…]
When someone has hurt you, letting go of your anger might be the last thing on your mind. But forgiveness can be quite beneficial. Here are some strategies for forgiving someone so you can move on. Although forgiveness brings many benefits, particularly to the ‘forgiver,’ to forgive is not always easy. In fact, many people who[…]
Confronted with images of immigrant children in cages, how can we get past overwhelm and work toward a solution? A few days ago, a Facebook friend of mine posted a video of a Texas detention center housing apprehended migrants at the U.S. border. Inside massive enclosures made of chain-link fencing, children sat shoulder to[…]
Lessons from Mister Rogers That Can Help Americans Be Neighbors Again The host of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood taught kids critical emotional and social skills that are still relevant to adults today. Fred McFeely Rogers was a shy, somewhat awkward, and sometimes bullied child growing up in the 1930s. After going to college for what he[…]
There’s a gap between our moral values and actions, but we can reduce it by increasing our propensity for moral action. One beautiful summer day in the ocean off Panama City Beach, two boys out for a swim got caught in a rip current. When their mother heard their cries, she and several other[…]
Discover how the feeling of awe can make us humbler, kinder, and more altruistic. “Awesome” has come to describe just about anything we like these days — so much so that it falls short when we recount moments of genuine awe. Standing before a great work of art, surviving a death-defying surfboard ride on a monstrous[…]
We can turn inward and focus on ourselves when we’re online—or we can turn outward and connect with others. Some researchers speculate that mental health issues are on the rise because of technologies that heighten our self-focus. Facebook is about expressing our opinions. Pinterest is about collecting things that we like. LinkedIn is about listing our accomplishments. And the list goes on and on. Self-focus simply means you pay attention to[…]