I believe compassion to be one of the few things we can practice that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives. I’m not talking about the short-term gratification of pleasures like sex, drugs or gambling (though I’m not knocking them), but something that will bring true and lasting happiness. The kind that sticks….

Each day, approximately 2,000 marriages in the United States end in divorce. The top reasons for marital splits include constant fighting and infidelity. But these problems don’t appear out of nowhere. They often start with a breakdown in communication. Fights, affairs, and eventual divorce are frequently the results of this breakdown. Fortunately, communication problems can…

Whether you are naturally curious or easily distracted, you’ll probably agree that it can be challenging at times to focus on the normal, everyday tasks that make up life. Every time we start one task, we feel the pull of a dozen other tasks waiting on our to-do list. Or we don’t feel quite in…

We’ve all heard angry kids say “I didn’t ask for you as my parents,” but it goes the other way, too. With a little effort, you can be the child your parents hoped for. Listen and Be Patient Listening, fully and completely without distractions, shows respect, but is also a great way to learn new…

Do you ever find yourself mulling over your beliefs and opinions, thinking about why and how you came to hold a certain conviction, perhaps even questioning whether you might be wrong? Or maybe you can remember a time when you’ve learned some new information—in a conversation, in a book, or on TV—and you had an…

When we want our kids to express themselves in ways other than tantrumming or throwing peas at the dog, we say “Use your words.” But I often wonder, do adults really know how to use our words skillfully, in ways that help and don’t harm? This morning I was on a train listening to a mother…

What is this self inside us, this silent Severe and speechless critic, who can terrorize us And urge us on to futile activity And in the end, judge us still more severely For the errors into which his own reproaches drove us? – T.S. Eliot, The Elder Statesman (1959) We have a tendency toward self-criticism as a way of…

As COVID-19 ricocheted around the globe, millions of us sought shelter in retreat. Not only were we quarantining at home, we were putting up internal walls against the suffering we saw in the world. For more than a year, it’s been easy to justify an inward focus rather than an outward one. But a new…

By Tugba Yanaz It’s a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon, and I am listening to my coaching client discuss a repeating altercation she has experienced with her peer. Let’s call this individual Dan. It’s been another week of Dan critiquing her projects and team members during the staff meeting. She doesn’t think that Dan acts this…

NEW DELHI—Each of these people saw COVID-19 closely—they had either suffered as a victim or they had a friend or family member suffering during India’s first or second wave. Each of them decided to not let depression beat them and instead to cook for those in need of home-cooked, nutritious meals. Ankita Sahay, a 29-year-old…