On How to Overcome Fear

Winter of 1939. Finland is invaded by the Red Army. The Finns are far inferior in numbers and artillery. But they have “sisu” in greater quantities as the story goes. Using their cross-country skiing skills, they manage to surprise and disperse the Russian troops. The Finns describe “sisu” as the guts, the courage of the lesser. A mixture of audacity and perseverance which leads to never giving up, even when all seems lost. It is an inner strength that transforms one’s supposed inferiority to advantage by thinking out of the box. Joanna Nylund, author of “Sisu, the Finnish Art of

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Power of the Human Spirit

Mastering others is power, mastering oneself is true willpower. –Lao Tzu   At the time the universe was created, it was debated to whom willpower should be given. None undertook the responsibility. When humankind – the highest of all creatures  was created, willpower was granted to it. Thus, the heavy burden that mighty mountains and  sturdy animals could not lift was placed on the shoulders of humankind. Ever since then we roam the day with the devil of temptation on one shoulder and the angel of restraint on the other. We might have a sudden craving on the spot, or

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Goethe’s Theory of Colors

Goethe’s theory of colors and how the eye sees and simultaneously creates its own color   The great poet and savant Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  (1749-1832) passionately explored the phenomenology of light and colors witnessed by the human eye, and collected his findings in Farbenlehre (Theory of Colors). His innovative doctrine of physiological colors, though dismissed by some due to lack of empirical data in his epoch, would later lead to wide repercussions in the centuries to come in art, physics and philosophy. He proclaimed  that the colors referred to as physiological pertain to the subject, the organ of sight,

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The Farther Reaches of Human Nature

The moments of awe, peak experiences and accomplishing the best version of oneself   It is in human nature to aspire higher and “ human life will never be understood unless its highest aspirations are taken into account, ”   said Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), renown with his triangle of hierarchical needs. At the peak of this triangle “ transient states of  absolute being ” are experienced. It is “ where the farther reaches of human nature are secluded. ” He declared that a thorough understanding of the human being includes both security and belongingness needs as well as growth and transcendence

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Meaning of Dreams and Accessing the Unconscious Knowledge

  “ The earth is heavy and opaque without dreams,”  wrote Anaïs Nin ( 1903-1977) in her diary. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) described dreams as the “ royal road to the knowledge of our unconscious activities,”  in which our primitive self meets the civilized one, and where all memories are collected. The unconscious is the great guide to get to know oneself in entirety. Carl Jung (1875-1961) defined it as an invaluable resource : The unconscious communicating through dreams is at least half of one’s being. It offers advice and guidance that could be obtained from no other source. Thus the

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How to Build Lasting, Loving Relationships

  In his international best-seller book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, John Gray writes about the united life of Martians and Venusians who happen to find each other on earth. One day long ago the Martians, looking through their telescopes, discovered the Venusians. Just glimpsing the Venusians awakened feelings they had never known…quickly they invented space travel and flew to Venus. The Venusians welcomed the Martians with open arms. They had intuitively known that this day would come. The love between the Martians and Venusians was magical. Delighted in being together, learning and discovering each other, they

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Keeping the Heart Pleasant

How psychology unravels happiness and Rumi’s timeless insight to keeping the heart pleasant How to be happy? Where are we happier  ? With whom are we happy ? When do we feel happy? We crave for happiness until we die.  We make projections and measurements of our happiness on the continuum of time.  We occasionally reach a generalized conclusion on the states of our happiness : somewhat happy, sometimes happy, more or less happy, happier in the past or present, or anticipate to be happy in the future… We remember the times we were happy, or  fantasize a possible future

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The Where and When of Tolerance

The highest result of education is tolerance. – Hellen Keller Tolerance (tolerantia in latin) means to bear a burden, put up with, endure, forebear, allow to exist. It is considered a virtue, a moral obligation which involves respect and consideration for the other person. “ Free from bigotry, allowing different races, religions, practices, and opinions to co-exist, it is a pragmatic formula for the functioning of society, ” writes Hans Oberdiek in his wholesome book Tolerance: Forbearance and Acceptance A century ago, Einstein, in foresight said : “ Laws alone cannot secure freedom of expression; in order that every man

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Dismissing Jealousy in Exchange for Joy and Self-Mastery

  “Possession is nine tenths of the law” used to say my honorable teacher at university. Years later, I came across this exceptional book, Overcoming Jealousy, the best one I have read on the prominent urge to possess and the displays of jealousy in us humans. Thoroughly illuminating this hidden emotion, it renders it both accessible and palpable while showing efficient ways to deal with it through examples drawn from real life. An intricate emotion which we do not want to attribute to ourselves, and prefer to not talk about to avoid kindling the feelings of shame, distress, and sorrow.

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What Happens After We Die?

  “When you die, you actually know you are dead because your consciousness continues to exist …” says Sam Parnia, director of the first critical care and resuscitation research lab in the world at New York’s NYU Langone Medical Center. Known with his AWARE research, his lab has been studying hundreds of people who had Near-Death Experience (NDE) – who were clinically dead but were brought back to life by resuscitation after a cardiac arrest. The time lapse in-between actual death and coming back to life varied in each case from a few seconds to more than 20 minutes .

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