Which is better for a teen who can’t get the recommended amount of rest: just 6.5 hours of sleep at night, or 5 hours at night plus a nap in the afternoon?

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are loaded with pictures of people going to exotic places, looking like they are about to be on the cover of Vogue, and otherwise living a fairy-tale existence.

Whether you’re a morning person or love burning the midnight oil, we’re all controlled by so-called “body clocks”.

As a koan teaching tells us, “To touch the absolute is not yet enlightenment.” When these moments come, there is a tendency to think, “Aha, I’ve got it!” Yet, just as on one level this gratifying thought fills us with a sense of accomplishment and empowerment, on another level we can already feel it slipping away, as the moment passes...

I always found spirituality, the disciplines of meditation and silence, very simple. My challenge was between activity and stillness. I always got off on the adrenaline trip of being active. That's why I've traveled around so much.

Balance in all things is the correct way to live. So how do we balance our scales to get the correct perspective of life? We must weigh up each situation that comes into our lives and balance our minds to understand what feels good and what doesn't. 

People consume far less information than expected before making judgments and decisions, a new study finds.

You have probably seen the cartoon sketch that depicts stress as 'the overwhelming urge to choke the living #@*% out of someone who desperately deserves it'. While that depiction may be true, it certainly is not the only form of stress.

Decision-making is a complex process. As individuals, working through our daily lives, we often take a number of shortcuts that may not always serve us well.

Life is a challenge. Utilizing your capabilities, pushing to become all you might be, is a relentless dare. But when you are alive, that is the homework that has been assigned to you. Regardless of the variety of "wings on your heart," the issue is the same for everyone. Push to...

A mark on a page, an online meme, a fleeting sound. How can these seemingly insignificant stimuli lead to acts as momentous as participation in a racist rally or the massacre of innocent worshippers?

Humans are creatures of habit, and sometimes we get stuck in a rut. Sometimes we're overwhelmed. We face a simple daily task and spin into panic or just plain freeze. Neither opens up our hearts or minds to the real challenges or pleasures at hand. We need to snap out of it and get back into living again. But how?

Much of the advice about getting rid of clutter seems to start with the cheerfully abrupt command to “Just do it!” But when you can’t identify the underlying beliefs that are causing you to become buried in clut­ter, that’s almost impossible. So I’ve listed a few tough-love strategies to initiate change...

We're all carrying around such incredibly heavy loads of excess baggage, stuff we don't need, stuff that's weighing us down and preventing our Good from manifesting. One of the best ways to feel better is to release. When you release, you become lighter. Releasing is a good way to raise your energy.

Boredom is not a condition; it is an attitude. Anything can be boring if you bring a closed mind to it. Anything can be fascinating if you bring an open mind to it. You can make anything out of anything.

It is generally accepted that underlying neurological aspects, such as slight differences in brain structure, can change the way that dyslexic people process information, and this affects the behaviour they might display.

The story of Canadian speed skater and cyclist Clara Hughes, the first ever Olympian to win multiple medals in both the summer and winter games, is a story of triumph over adversity.

NBA players who use Twitter or other forms of social media late at night don’t perform as well on the court the next day, a new study shows. A player’s shooting percentage was 1.7 percentage points lower following a night during which he tweeted during typical sleeping hours. Late-night tweeting was also associated with approximately 1.1 fewer points scored and 0.5 fewer rebounds in the next day’s game.

I know some of you, myself included, feel that lessons must be painful to be appreciated or remembered. Contrary to popular belief, not all lessons have to be painful. Some can even be fun. It's all in the 'moral to the story'. Life gives us wonderful examples to follow ... allow me to illustrate.

We live in a world of extremes. Extreme wealth, extreme poverty. Extreme hedonism and joy, and extreme fear and pain. Extreme religious devotion, and extreme hatred. And as with everything, the microcosm and the macrocosm are reflections of each other. In each one of us there resides these extremes, or at least a presence of these realities -- though maybe not in the extreme.

It seems that to some extent, we really are as young as we feel. But how do we know which is the chicken and the egg? Are people who feel younger simply healthier to start with or are they so keen on being young that they actually take better care of themselves and therefore live longer?

The current approach today is essentially we’ve entered into a culture of freneticism—that’s a Big Think word, and that means we’re really busy. But I believe we’ve created the business on ourselves.

At this time of year, many of us delight in the extra hour of sleep that comes with turning the clocks back. However, when spring rolls around, we invariably curse the loss of sleep that accompanies setting the clocks forward.

Everyone knows what it’s like to be knocked off center, to lose their inner sense of balance and groundedness, at least temporarily, when faced with life’s unwanted curve balls. Whether it’s a troubling health diagnosis, the death of a loved one, a serious car accident, a layoff, or a natural disaster, life can intensely challenge our resilience.

Talk to high-school students preparing for their science exams, and you’ll probably hear two things: that they’re scared of physics, and relatively comfortable with biology. Strangely, this is contrary to the view of most researchers.

Being passive developed as a pattern for a really good reason -- we were avoiding feeling our emotions (especially sadness) and had to find some place to channel the sensations we were experiencing. Maybe dad was a tyrant and we felt like we had no choice but to be quiet and duck. Maybe our classmates laughed at us when we made a mistake, and we decided being shy was safer.

Whether you were born in December, January, August or September can have a significant and long-lasting impact on your life. Our new research shows your birthday month may also contribute to shaping your personality. In particular, we found people’s self-confidence can significantly differ because of their month of birth.

Roger Fisher (1922–2012) served as a reconnaissance pilot in World War II and then graduated from Harvard Law School, becoming a professor there in 1958. Witnessing maiming and death firsthand during the war and then seeing the destructive effects of costly, pro­tracted litigation as a partner in a major law firm, Fisher was pas­sionate about finding more creative alternatives to resolve conflict.

Mention hazardous drinking and most of us imagine teenagers or students getting drunk, causing havoc and filling our emergency departments on a Friday night. But what if I told you that we should be just as worried about how much our parents and grandparents are drinking?

Most people think they know what a psychopath is: someone who has no feelings. Someone who probably tortured animals for fun when they were little. But here are five things you probably didn’t know about psychopaths.

The term give-up-itis was coined by medical officers during the Korean War (1950-1953). They described it as a condition where a person develops extreme apathy, gives up hope, relinquishes the will to live and dies, despite the lack of an obvious physical cause.

Ever heard the saying "3 steps forward and two steps back"? Of course you have! Well there's more than that. All universal activity, including human endeavor, occurs in excess and must be corrected.

More and more companies, government agencies, educational institutions and philanthropic organisations are today in the grip of a new phenomenon. I’ve termed it ‘metric fixation’. The key components of metric fixation are the belief that it is possible – and desirable – to replace professional judgment (acquired through personal experience and talent) with numerical indicators of comparative performance based upon standardised data (metrics); and that the best way to motivate people within these organisations is by attaching rewards and penalties to their measured performance.

On average, men pick up on visual motion significantly faster than women do, according to a new study. Humans’ ability to notice moving objects has always been a useful skill, good for avoiding an animal predator in ancient times and crossing a busy street in the modern world.

Seeing time tick down quickly on a countdown clock may give people more patience than seeing time pass slowly would. In a series of experiments, the speed of a countdown clock affected the patience and decision-making of video game players, both during and after the game, according to David Reitter, associate professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State.

New research may explain why some people—like sports stars—anticipate and react to fast-moving objects much quicker than others. When Serena Williams returns a lightning-quick tennis serve—most of us marvel at her skill and speed. Considering what the human brain overcomes to make it happen, these kinds of feats are nothing short of miraculous.

My friend Mark has been a physician for over 40 years. Recently he told me a story that helped me understand what real healing is.

We feel good when both the rational and emotional parts of our brain interact perfectly and are in balance. Things to do with our feelings and emotions are dealt with by the right side, while the left side handles analytical thinking.

Miracles happen all the time. You probably know someone who has had a miracle happen to them, or maybe a miracle has happened to you.

How will the evolution of humanity’s consciousness be reflected in leadership practice? How will the aims of leadership evolve, and what will leadership look like in the new “global” world?

Before I met my wife I was always rushing; rushing to get to the store, rushing to reach my goals, rushing through life hoping to get there faster.

While healthy eating, regular physical exercise, stress man­agement, and getting enough sleep constitute advice that our grandparents might have provided, we all need the tools to move from knowing to doing, from thought to belief to mas­sive action.

The busy habit is just like any other habit — breaking it takes practice. You may be accustomed to rushing from place to place, saying yes when you really need and want to say no, or being the go-to person all the time, and it’s exhausting! I’m sure you know far too well what that feels like...

Many of our choices have the potential to change how we think about the world. Often the choices taken are for some kind of betterment: to teach us something, to increase understanding or to improve ways of thinking. What happens, though, when a choice...

Transport experts have warned that rising inner city populations and demand for new infrastructure could lead to more collisions, serious injuries, and possibly fatalities involving heavy vehicles, such as trucks.

Writer Michael Hobbes says there are too many stereotypes about millennials. So, there are three things that every millennial should know. The first one is that there is no evidence for any of the stereotypes about us.

Human beings have essentially two modes or mind-sets that we operate or live in, with, of course, some shades of gray in between. We have what you might call a healthy mode, and another, which you can think of as reactive. When we are in our healthiest state of mind, we 'dance' with life. We're...

Most of us are addicted to email. Some estimates say we spend nearly five and a half hours each weekday checking it.

When something is taking place and you don't feel in harmony within yourself, ask yourself one simple question: "Where is this coming from?" Keep repeating the question and take it step by step until you get to the "bottom line" -- a basic belief you hold which is instrumental in creating your reactions (and your reality).

It can seem like there’s never enough time – not enough for sleep and not enough for play, not enough for cooking and not enough for exercise.

Least effort is expended when your actions are motivated by love, because nature is held together by the energy of love. When you seek power and control over other people, you waste energy. But when your actions are motivated by love, there is no waste of energy, your energy multiplies and accumulates.

A decomposed, mummified body of a man was recently found by forensic cleaners in a Sydney apartment. The apartment’s owner is thought to have suffered from hoarding disorder, and police believe the decomposed body had been there for more than ten years.

Life is a great school, and nature is the ultimate teacher, but without awareness, or free attention, we miss life's teachings. Awareness transforms life experience into wisdom, and confusion into clarity. Awareness is the beginning of all growth.

Do we have the right to believe whatever we want to believe? This supposed right is often claimed as the last resort of the wilfully ignorant, the person who is cornered by evidence and mounting opinion

The bummer about 'shoulds' is that when we are dominated by them, we are also dominated by the fear of being rejected or abandoned in some way, because that's the core emotional fear that activates many of them. These ongoing fears leave many of us drained and exhausted...

Earlier this year, one of us visited a prominent U.S. medical school to give a lecture on the topic of burnout and how physicians can find more fulfillment in the practice of medicine.

The moment we can ask ourselves “Does this thought have anything to do with reality?” “Is this thought true?” we are starting to wake up. This understanding breaks the bondage, which is our total identification with thoughts, and empowers us to wake up from the dream state.

Your brain is a fascinating piece of machinery. It has remarkable capacity for development. Very subtle changes in how the brain develops, or in how it responds, can lead to us experiencing the world in vastly different ways.

Is self-control something you can acquire, like a new language or a taste for opera? Or is it one of those things you either have or don’t, like fashion sense or a knack for telling a good joke?

Endowing people with social power inflates the socially-toxic component of narcissism called exploitation and entitlement, according to new research.

Using the word consciousness in any discussion can be confusing because it's a word used to mean so many things. As Jung defines it, consciousness is the perception of a relationship between a subject (my ego) and something else that's either outside of me or part of my inner world. Becoming conscious, in the Jungian sense, requires a committed effort to know ourselves, but this effort rewards us with a sense of energy, assurance, and peace.

The history of this quest for quietness, which I’ve explored by digging through archives, reveals something of a paradox: The more time and money people spend trying to keep unwanted sound out, the more sensitive to it they become.

Problems with our ability to manage or maintain our pursuit of pleasure often lie at the root of many neuropsychiatric disorders such as addiction and depression.

Stocks have been on a bumpy ride lately as concerns over a trade war prompt investors to rethink their appetite for risk. But what prompts people to take risks in the first place? A desire for wealth? Fear of failure? Personality? Gender? Age? Education? Race?

A question that often arises is "How do we know what is right for us?" How do we find our 'proper' place in life, whether we are talking about employment, living location, vacation spot, etc? It seems that whatever the question, the solution is always the same...

A French waiter hit the headlines in March 2018 when he contested his dismissal from a Canadian restaurant for his “aggressive tone and nature”.

Research from cognitive psychology shows that people are naturally poor fact-checkers and it is very difficult for us to compare things we read or hear to what we already know about a topic. In what’s been called an era of “fake news,” this reality has important implications for how people consume journalism, social media and other public information.

Women have long had the self-destructive habit of discounting themselves and their natural abilities. This is a common gremlin, assuming that what comes easily to us is not valuable or unique. It's all part of our training to push others into the limelight and be a support person rather than...

Believe it or not, your tattoo, and what it represents, is cap­tured in your consciousness. It is immortally etched into your cel­lular memory and will either enhance or lower your vibration, based on the intention and emotions imbued at its creation.

Granny was satisfied with life. Despite adversity, she did not dwell on or run from the disappointments of life; she courageously faced hardship by grieving, accepting, forgiving, and moving on. She made mistakes. But instead of living with regret, she made the effort to make a better choice the next time she faced a similar situation.

Dyslexia affects up to 10% of the population and is widely accepted as a learning difficulty that can cause problems with (among other things) reading, writing and spelling. But it hasn’t always been this way.

"He's so lucky! She always wins! I'm just not lucky!" Do these statements sound familiar? Have they come out of your mouth at times? Do you believe that luck is something that happens to some and not to others? ...

Mechanical behaviors are old ways of doing things that once worked, or appeared to have worked, in situations that were stressful or in situations that were actual or perceived as potentially endangering your survival.

Many of us think of college as a wondrous time of new experiences and great freedom to explore new ideas and find one’s true self. In recent years, however, depression and anxiety have afflicted college students at alarming rates.

My first time hiking I was in physical distress just walking uphill. Resting briefly, I recovered and continued. I began imagining a string at the top of my head connected to the top of the mountain. The peak was pulling me to it. I also imagined myself standing on the summit.

Every Valentine’s Day we are reminded about the importance of showing our commitment to our lovers – whether we are married to them or not. For some people this might mean getting a tattoo of their lover’s name or initials.

Any moment in which we are unaware and out of balance and harmony, then we are in trance. When we are feeling superior and feel justified in our judgments, we are in trance. When we feel inferior or unworthy, we are in trance. Streams of past, future, or worrisome thoughts that surface...

Sad but true, we all grow out of the soil of pain....The crises that arise in our lives are here to serve us, not to hurt us. As counterintuitive as this sounds, crisis is nothing more than your own soul trying to get your attention, to show you your path. The soul uses pain, crisis, and trauma to wake us up.

Let me set you a task. For the next minute, I want you to not think about Donald Trump. You must block all thoughts of Trump from your mind.

As workplaces become increasingly difficult and damaging environments, there are plenty of articles and books on dealing with “psychopaths” among your colleagues.

The crabs and kelp and eels are all gone. The mind searches for the cause – to understand, to blame, and then to fix – but in a complex non-linear system, it is often impossible to isolate causes. This quality of complex systems collides with our culture’s general approach to problem-solving, which is first to identify the cause, the culprit, the germ, the pest, the badguy, the disease, the wrong idea, or the bad personal quality, and second to dominate, defeat, or destroy that culprit.

When you have to switch tasks at work, making a plan to return to and finish the task you’re leaving can help you better focus on the new, interrupting work, according to new research.

Disapproval of qualities people often associate with immorality such as selfishness, dishonesty, sexual infidelity, and mercilessness is conditional, rather than universal, according to a new study.

Many of us have decided that things will be different in 2018. We’ll eat better, get more exercise, save more money or finally get around to decluttering those closets.

To perform, whether surgery or dance, we must practice. We practice doing what we cannot do. By giving ourselves wholly to practicing we may transcend practicing, and find ourselves playing, with mind, body, heart and soul fully surrendered.

“I don’t know. It’s unbelievable. It’s amazing,” said Dodgers outfielder Enrique “Kiké” Hernandez after game 5 of the National League Championship Series, when he became the first Dodger in the team’s 134-year history to hit three home runs in a postseason game.

What if your Inner Compass tells you to do something that goes against the wishes of your family? What then? What do you do? Give up your dream? Don't listen to your Inner Compass? Grit your teeth and get on with your family's plan for you and your life?

Scientists achieved astonishing results when training a student with a memory training programme in a landmark experiment in 1982.

Getting a good sleep can be tough, and this can lead to feeling less than refreshed when you wake up in the morning.

Reports of a study linking different kinds of alcoholic drinks with different mood states were making the rounds recently.

Certain cognitive training via the computer may reduce the risk of dementia among older adults, researchers report. “…we found that those who received more training also gained a greater protective benefit…”

We routinely work together with other people. Often, we try to achieve shared goals in groups, whether as a team of firefighters or in a scientific collaboration.

I woke up in a pissy mood recently, committed to gloom before I had even rolled out of bed. Still grumpy that afternoon, I went to the supermarket, only to be greeted by the sweetest checkout clerk ever. I couldn’t resist her happy eyes and huge smile.

“They,” whoever they are, say that if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. What do you stand for? A handful of courageous activists like Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Gloria Steinem, and Nelson Mandela, have changed the world because of their stand. But the idea of taking a stand...

Decision making is an integral part of our everyday life. When it comes to important decisions, we generally want to work with others – assuming that groups are better than individuals.

Seek the truth and minimize harm. That’s how we instruct young journalists to prepare for the profession. Until recently, factual, objective reporting has been the mantra of modern journalism. But is objectivity a relevant concept in the era of fake news, filter bubbles and alternative facts?

Analysts tell us that the pending collision between humanity's growing energy needs and the energy depletion of our planet will lead to global economic collapse within fifty to one hundred years, unless we make drastic changes in the way we do things.

The term and even diagnosis of “depression” can have different meanings and consequences. Depression can be a normal mood state, a clinical disorder, and even a disease.

The word “nice” has an unusual history in the English language. Originally a term for “foolish”, its meaning over the centuries has morphed from “wanton” to “reserved” to “fastidious”. These days, it has become...

We all feel stressed from time to time – it’s all part of the emotional ups and downs of life. Stress has many sources, it can come from our environment, from our bodies, or our own thoughts and how we view the world around us.