Being Polite May Not Be A Universal Concept

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. 

So many of our problems arise from a fundamental disconnection with our own awareness, our own wisdom, and the natural world. Once we disconnect ourselves from what we know, and what is real, we are free to careen headlong into...

I am an educator of educators. I teach others how to be the best teachers. But, I’m also different. I have learning challenges.

How many lions does it take to kill a lamb? The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think. Not, at least, according to game theory

Grit describes the ability to persevere with long-term goals, sustaining interest and energy over months or years.

I’ve noticed that a number of recent self-improvement books use the phrase becoming a better you. The problem with trying to be a “better you” is the implication that you are not okay now. It also presumes that there’s an objective standard of okayness. Often we want to be “better” so that...

Feeling chronically overwhelmed, beset by obstacles, and short on time can really get in the way of living a Well Life. Obstacles are una­voidable, but these issues can often be effectively managed by sim­ply improving your efficiency. Here are some of the best approaches we’ve found for becoming more efficient and reclaiming your time.

I’d like to share a very useful tool for bringing your mind back to the present moment when it is trying to cling to something that hasn’t happened yet. It realigns your perspective of whatever is pulling you into the fu­ture and reengages you with the now.

When you need to remember a phone number, a shopping list or a set of instructions, you rely on what psychologists and neuroscientists refer to as working memory.

Our study of ethnically Chinese people in Malaysia shows some of the assumptions about what leads to their business success might be wrong.

We are mortal, and a certain amount of deterioration is inevitable with age. Even so, the following Practices will improve your mental processes, while the lack of them contributes to mental deterioration...

Are you ready to come out from under the influence of others and learn how to listen to your inner wisdom? You can discover your truth and find the confidence to express it through your creativity, relationships – wherever the adventure of life takes you.

Our modern working lives are ruled by the concept of competence. Competence based interviews are used to decide if we should get a job. If we do get the job, we are then trained to achieve competency in the workplace.

Anyone can be a champion, whether they are Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, the janitor of your child’s elementary school, a grocery store clerk, a local park ranger, or the second-string quarterback on your peewee football team. It happens when one becomes...

A few years ago my good friend Mark Foulks occupied the rear seat of a tandem on a sponsored long distance cycle ride from Berkshire to Barcelona.

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...

When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was asked to give this year’s commencement address at Harvard, he asked for advice from Bill Gates.

At some point in our lives we all come face to face with feelings of rejection. These feelings can be brought about by many situations. Let’s examine the circumstances related to feeling rejected. First...

Dramas are the unconscious, personal, and emotional conflicts that we create with others, or with life situations. Many human beings spend much time or even their entire lives engaging in drama, for in their disempowered alienation from...

There are four forces that are working in our lives; the physical body, the brain, the mind and language. The physical body is the biological robot. This biological robot is under the control of the Computer Brain.

Chimpanzees are the closest living relatives to humans. Because of this they can offer invaluable insights into understanding the evolutionary roots of how humans developed their cognitive and technological abilities.

The better a student does at math, the more strongly anxiety will drag his or her performance down, new research shows.

Q: You talk about guilt as a great human weakness. I was brought up in a family where I was made to feel guilty for everything, and find it difficult to transcend this deep-seated emotion. How would you suggest I banish guilt from my life...

Our current political climate is volatile, scary, and uncertain. But maybe the not knowing and the confusion will finally allow us to arrive at a true beginning.

Look, I know you think fantasies are fun, sexy, and cool, whether you dream of being Cinderella or Prince Charming, or that your love will be passionate, available, rich, gorgeous, and lovable.

Raging waterfall love is the kind that makes you lose your head, your focus, your center, and pretty much all your roots at the same time. It is the kind of love that gives you such an adrenaline kick each time that you cannot think about anything else...

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.

Our attention is affected by the ultradian rhythm that alters our attention span every 90 to 120 minutes throughout the day. Mind Wandering naturally occurs at the end of this cycle, as well as after any intense cognitive task. Mind Wandering is our mind’s way of forcing us to give it a rest.

We would all like to boost our cognitive ability beyond the limits set by Mother Nature. So it’s no wonder that brain-training programmes

Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made much of his business experience, claiming he’s been “creating jobs and rebuilding neighborhoods my entire adult life.”

We all know that practice makes us better at things, but scientists are still trying to understand what kinds of practice work best. Data from online video games could hold the answer.

There's a fun thing you could do that would teach you a lot about yourself — a perspective to adopt for an entire day. Fun is the operative word. Take on this project with a lightness of heart, with the bemused eye of the curious scientist bent on discovery.

A typical school day in the UK starts around 8.30am. This is often even earlier elsewhere in the world, with students sitting down to their first lesson at 7.30am in the US.

Spiritual writers and leaders agree that in order to live a happy free life, we must dominate our egos and not let our egos dominate us.

If you have ever been nervous about something that is about to happen, then you may have felt the sensations of nausea and “fluttering” – the recognisable and odd sensation deep in your gut known as having “butterflies in the stomach”.

Imagine that you are searching for your house keys, and you know they could be on either of two desks.

Since the invention of photography itself, people have used photograph-themed metaphors when thinking and talking about memories and remembering.

Naps play an important role in helping babies hang onto what they learn. Now, a new study suggests naptime could have a similar effect on language learning in preschoolers.

Sleep recalibrates the brain’s memory cells, allowing us to solidify what we’ve learned and use it when next awake, new evidence from mice indicates.

Why do so many of us forget where we put our car keys, eyeglasses, or cellphones? How does memory actually work? How and why do we remember some things and forget others? Are they forgotten or just “misplaced”?

Feeling stressed? The nine emotional-wellness methods that follow will assist you in maintaining your energy, your activities, and your general interest in life.

To learn something fast and make the skill stick, train for 20 minutes past the point of mastery.

Tenacity, also labeled perseverance, persistence, and stamina, is a useful component of the power of strength. Drawing forth tenacity during unsteady circumstances means not giving up prematurely and remaining committed in our stand-ability, persistently acting with confidence.

The Leader, unlike Dominants who sometimes stir up trouble to gain influ­ence, radiates a compelling, pulling energy, drawing others forward, motivating the herd through inspira­tion and optimism.

Here are a few tricks that have worked for me and may help you, as well. Using these tips can make a potentially uncomfortable evening a pleasant one for those of us who are introverted. This stuff is easy and it works, so give it a try.

Women are less affected by interference when carrying out certain tasks than men, and hormones may play a part in this discrepancy.

We often need to make decisions about sequences of things or people rather than just a single item in isolation. For instance, in an everyday setting, we might choose which smartphone to buy after trying out several.

Fast and slow talkers end up conveying information at about the same rate, research shows, because faster speech packs less information into each utterance.

For women, especially women who abide in their wild nature, this intuition is a direct link to the soul. Its voice is sure and true. Maybe this very strength, this “right-on-ness,” is what has made it the butt of jokes and the object of sarcasm.

Imagine you are visiting a new city and get lost on your way to that famous must-see museum. In times of yore – actually just about 10 years ago – you might have had to consult a friendly local to direct you.

The internet may be the most comprehensive source of information ever created but it’s also the biggest distraction.

How you experience this moment is very much like looking through a camera lens. You can look at the world in panorama or zoom in for a close-up. The lens can be focused, showing sharp lines, or unfocused, so that shapes are foggy and blurry.

Emotional experiences can induce physiological and internal brain states that persist for long periods of time—an emotional “hangover.”

The butterfly begins its journey as a caterpillar, and it may or may not be aware of what it is destined to become. But the caterpillar lives on, faithfully following the inner prompts arising within its being. It feels its way through life, naturally following the inner direction with which it was born.

Ants are simple creatures. They live by simple rules: if you see a scrap of food, pick it up; if you see a pile of food, drop the food you are carrying. Out of such simple behaviour, an ant colony emerges.

We can learn a lot about people through how they use social media. For example, Twitter language can be used to predict the risk of dying from heart disease.

When you have a strong emotional reaction to something—a song, a speech, a beautiful scene—and get goose bumps, experts say it’s simply a biological reaction to adrenaline.

Since the industrial revolution, humans have been driving towards ever greater efficiency. In fact, efficiency – making the best possible use of the resources at hand – has become the core concept of how we run the world.

When we are authentic, we are living from our essential self; whenever we deny a truth, we are living from the social self—in other words, inauthentically. As Freya Madeline Starke phrased it, "There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."

Is a wandering mind an unhappy mind? A new review of studies on spontaneous versus controlled thinking challenges that adage.

During a lab meeting, one of our PhD researchers recalls how her father would forbid her from using paper to help solve maths homework problems by writing them down.

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.

A lack of flexibility in high-stress jobs may literally be a matter of life and death, experts warn.

We’ll never have enough time. Paradoxically, understanding that concept allows us the potential to enjoy the time we have. Treat time as a resource – don’t waste it feeling sorry for yourself.

A recent explosion of neuroscience techniques is driving substantial advances in our understanding of the brain. Combined with developments in engineering, machine learning and computing this flowering has helped us enhance our cognitive abilities and potential.

We can all think of someone in our lives we view as being “resilient”. They are the people we know who impress us with their seemingly endless ability to carry on – no matter what.