There used to be a lot of creativity in people’s lives before the technology era. They just did not call it that way. They had no radio, so they sang. One can still notice in old movies that singing was more than normal. People would work on something and sing. They could easily alter the melody or make up their own tunes, for it was just spare time activity, not a profession. Today on the other hand, if we hear somebody sing, the first question we ask is: Is (s)he manic? Let us name other examples of creativity in the old days. In the evening there was no TV to tell stories, so people told stories...

I do not have a garden, but if I did, I am sure I would prefer perennials to annuals. I have an inexplicable reluctance to throw things away. When I buy clothes for example, I hope to be able to wear them for years. I would rather have two pieces that last than ten pieces that need replacement every year. The last car my husband and I owned was totally broken and could not be mended anymore, when we finally said goodbye to it and sold it to a mechanic that still saw some useful parts in it that could be taken out and re-used. It looks like the car we own now will see the same destiny. Needless to add...

It is true that Aristotle wrote about the golden middle or in other words about moderation in all things, but this is usually the toughest way of life. Exaggeration on the other hand is a lot easier. Why? Because one does not have to think and make decisions about how to reach the golden middle. One simply exaggerates in everything and makes oneself and others believe that one is right. Let me give you an example. A hundred years ago parents were very strict, beating their kids was a normal thing to do. Yet there were exceptions – parents that showed their offspring love and not just...

Some time ago somebody asked me about an emotional outburst and what to do about it. The person identified yearlong emotional coldness as the reason for the sudden state of being overwhelmed with sadness. I was asked for advice. Since emotional coldness is a very common problem in our Western world, I decided to share the basic outlines of my answer with you here. In my opinion there is no use dealing with emotional coldness, unless we try to find its origin first. Let me name some possibilities of what the origin could be: Due to a traumatic event, one shuts down emotionally and this is not a...

Pessimism is a very common thinking pattern nowadays. It is accompanied by a well-known reasoning: ‘I choose pessimism, because I hate to be disappointed.’ Thus pessimism seems to be the safe way through life. But is it really? What if it escalates to depression? And even if it does not – do we really want to be miserable for 70 or even 100 years, simply in order to avoid disappointment? I used to be a pessimist. The upper safety strategy was so deeply rooted in my ways of thinking that I was not even aware of it. In addition to that I had another belief: ‘If I expect the worst, I will...