Without going outside, you may know the whole world.Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven.The farther you go, the less you know.” We have all heard that travel promotes personal growth. It expands our horizons, and all that good stuff. Schools, from elementary to university-level, promote student exchanges. The gap year is…
Wabi sabi is a Japanese worldview based on the first of the Buddhist Three Marks of Existence: all things are impermanent (Fallahnejad, 2025). Wabi sabi is a notoriously difficult concept to grasp, and is said to have no exact English equivalent. For that matter, a perfect definition might be antithetical to the concept itself. But we can get pretty close…
Have you ever wondered why your latest purchases fail keep you happy? It may be because you’re on the hedonic treadmill. The hedonic treadmill (also known as hedonic adaptation) refers to the tendency for our happiness to return to a baseline or ‘set point’ regardless of our circumstances, choices, or accomplishments. This makes many of our…
“Man is disturbed not by things, but by the views he takes of them.” — Epictetus, 1st Century Stoic philosopher “People don’t just get upset. They contribute to their upsetness.” — Albert Ellis, 20th Century psychologist When you make the decision to seek counseling or therapy, you are in part making the decision to consult an…
Bad habits are patterns of behavior that derail goals and cause pain or distress. They can develop any number of ways, but stress and boredom often have something to do with it. In this article we will explore how to break bad habits with classical conditioning. Stress will always be present in our lives. Sometimes…