From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
The most important versions of love and compassion are the ones we show to ourselves. We have to start there. It's not selfish or ignorant. If you don't make space for yourself to feel loved by you, the rest is impossible… you'll always end up burned-out or in a state of resentment.
Thanks to the incredible concept of neuroplasticity, we can reshape our thought patterns. Techniques like affirmations, altering our language, or refining our thought processes are invaluable.
The stress response is designed for '3 minutes of screaming terror across the Savannah.' If you're not experiencing such an intense moment, it's likely that your stress response isn't calibrated right. In our digital age, it might lead to an inadvertent 'reply all' or perhaps a hastily written email.
Even just 20 years ago we used to ask the question, 'why do we sleep?' It was one of the last great scientific mysteries; and the crass answer (at that point) was that we slept, to cure sleepiness. Much like saying we eat to cure hunger, however, this tells us nothing of the physiological functions that food and nutrition provide.
My Mom never recovered psychologically from being in the concentration camp; so, my aunt and uncle inherited me. They received this 'animal' with no social upbringing and turned me into a human being.
While people may have more connections than ever, these connections often lack depth; they are rarely reciprocal and seldom provide emotional sustenance. The pain of loneliness is something else entirely—stemming from being deliberately excluded, ostracized, or bullied.
An uneducated unconscious is a perilous entity. The intuition of a seasoned doctor with 30 years spent diagnosing ailments is immensely beneficial. Conversely, the intuition of a teenager is not only unfruitful, but potentially hazardous.
Our suffering arises from the unseen, unfelt, and unprocessed parts of our psyche, or the 'issues in our tissues.' We often frame emotions as negative, but it's important to recognize the intelligence within every emotion, even depression, fear, and hurt.
I want every mother in the world, from Baghdad to New York to be able to guarantee the same strength and health to her child; to give that child the tools to control their happiness and health, and to have the power to live well.
Current statistics indicate that 1 in 3 managers grapple with exhaustion, stress, and mental health challenges. If leaders themselves are struggling, how can they effectively support their teams? It's crucial for leaders to prioritize self-care.
I think social media is a great example of this. It feels a little bit like social connection, but I often joke that it's the 'NutraSweet' version—it seems good but doesn't deliver the psychological benefit we expect.
If one aspires to make a positive impact on the world, shouldn't we strive for innovative solutions, perhaps even for a disease as formidable as cancer?