Once upon a time, a novice farmer indulged himself in motivational videos. He became familiar with ideas like the importance of ‘effort,’ the ‘hustle culture,’ and ‘work hard, play hard.’ After binge-watching for days, he walked onto his farm, fired up, and determined to make it a great success. He started pulling one of the […]
Read MoreReasons Not to Have Sex
In most modern-day societies, the idea of not having sex may sound preposterous. After all, isn’t physical intimacy one of the key ingredients of a healthy and fulfilling life? Well, if that’s the case, then we stumble upon a problem, as the visibility of sexuality and eroticism only increases in this era, the frequency of […]
Read MoreForgiving Someone Who Wronged You
Feelings of bitterness and revenge are like heavy stones we carry around on our backs. And if we’re unable or unwilling to throw these stones onto the ground and walk away from them, we’ll not only exhaust ourselves; the load also increases because of new hurtful life experiences. Eventually, we’ll carry even more stones until […]
Read MoreWhen Life Disappoints You, Don’t Disappoint Life
For many, the disappointments of life justify destructive behaviors towards oneself and others. Entitlement to what they feel they deserve, or what others have and they have not, leads to disappointment if reality doesn’t provide them with what they expect. And thus, they feel wronged. It’s no surprise that many people feel this way. We […]
Read MoreWabi-Sabi | A Japanese Philosophy of Perfect Imperfection
The pursuit of perfection has become the norm in today’s world, where chronic dissatisfaction, burnout, depression, and anxiety reign supreme. We’ve subjected ourselves to unrealistic standards and rigorously chase an ideal that’s impossible to reach. Advertisements show us snapshots of handsome people enjoying their favorite drink dancing among a crowd of fashion models with ever-smiling […]
Read MoreThe Fear of Missing Out
Desire can be a significant hindrance to living a purposeful and tranquil life. As soon as we want something, we fall into a state of lack, and we feel restless. And the obvious way out is to fulfill that desire so that we can feel content and happy again. A much-discussed phenomenon in the current […]
Read MoreWhy Pain is Inevitable, but Suffering is Optional
When we think of pain and suffering, we usually think about more or less the same thing. When there’s pain, there’s suffering. And we can only be free from suffering if we eliminate pain, right? Well, even though these two experiences are interconnected, pain and suffering are two fundamentally different things, as far as the […]
Read MoreTaoism for Heartbreak
The philosophy of Taoism revolves around letting go, accepting, yielding, and going with the flow. All Taoist sages seem to agree that it’s better to be detached and indifferent, allow change to happen, and move along with life’s constant transformations than to resist change and cling to what’s already in the past. When we are […]
Read MoreThe Philosophy of Viktor Frankl
The meaning of life is to give life meaning. Viktor Frankl What keeps a human being going? The purest answer to this question is perhaps to be found in the worst of places. Austrian psychiatrist, philosopher, and author Viktor Frankl spent three years in four different concentration camps. He was at the mercy of sadistic […]
Read MoreReasons Not to Worry What Others Think
You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It’s their mistake, not my failing. Richard Phillips Feynman It’s generally a good idea to care about other people’s opinions to some degree, as they could contain […]
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