By Melissa
One fateful day, Diderot’s world turned upside down.
No, he wasn’t laid off from his job. No, he wasn’t moving into a new apartment. And no, he wasn’t getting a divorce. In fact, he didn’t even realize at the time what was happening.
But before we get into all that, we need to answer the question: Who was Diderot?
By Melissa
“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.” — Lao Tzu
Each and every one of us has two lives.
Throughout our existence, we experience both simultaneously. Sometimes, both lives are aligned. Other times, they are worlds apart.
They are our outer lives and our inner lives.
By Melissa
You are the product of your environment.
The environment we live in influences, and in some ways, reflects who we are. Similar to how our bodies reflect the foods we eat, the places we visit and the people we meet reflect the way we think and believe.
Being raised in an inner-city neighborhood means you’ll likely live in the same neighborhood as an adult, while growing up in a middle-class area is a strong predictor of your future lifestyle. It’s difficult to escape the chains in which we are bound.
So how do you thrive in an environment that doesn’t support your goals?
In Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, the protagonist Edmond Dantès is set up for a promising future. He’s soon to become captain of a ship, newly engaged, and popular amongst his peers. However, his perfect life is about to take a turn for the worse.
By Melissa
When it comes to the Olympics, the rankings are clear: the gold medalist is the top athlete, followed by silver, and finally, bronze.
The top athletes go for gold. If not gold, then silver is better than the bronze medal. But if that’s the case, why do medalists holding the bronze have a wider grin on their faces than the silver medalists?
In a study comparing the reactions of medal winners, researchers took video recordings of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The first recording showed the athletes as they learned their placement and the second recording showed the medal winners standing on the podium.
By Melissa
Sometimes, it feels like situations compound upon themselves.
Those who experience good fortune continue to have more of it. Others just can’t stay away from bad circumstances. It’s as if we’re stuck in an endless cycle, where our actions and their consequences further perpetuate the situation that we’re in.
One of the most alarming examples of this concerns social mobility, or the lack of it.
What’s in a name?
By Melissa
October evokes images of colorful leaves, dropping temperatures, and pumpkin spice lattes. But it’s also the perfect time to catch up on books that might have been too heavy for the summer.
Since Halloween is the biggest event of October, the question that comes to mind is: What does the word “scary” mean to you?
While we quickly think of ghouls, zombies, and vampires, scary can reach far beyond characters found in horror films. Maybe scary means being taken away from everything you know, or continuing on a path you don’t want to go down. Maybe scary is getting a visit from your landlady.
By Melissa
“There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they’ll take you.” – Beatrix Potter
Since the publication of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, the Peter Rabbit series has sold over 150 million copies in dozens of languages. Countless children have grown up reading the charming adventures of Peter and his friends.
What many aren’t familiar with is the story behind the series.
Beatrix Potter was born in 1866 in London. She and her younger brother grew up under the influence of their artistic parents, who enjoyed nature and spent their summers in the countryside. The two siblings were surrounded by many pets, such as rabbits, mice, frogs, and lizards.
By Melissa
“You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”
― John Green, Looking for Alaska
Once in a while, we sit down and try to figure out what we need to start doing. We ponder our past actions and their results, where we are right now, and what we should do next.
While these are logical steps to take, we neglect the fact that putting more things into our lives means we have to take out other components. After all, we only have so much time and energy in the day. And in order to make space for what we want to do, we need to discard our bad habits first.
By Melissa
Have you ever received criticism that you felt was unfair or downright spiteful? If so, here is an interesting Aesop’s fable:
A man and his son were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by his side a countryman passed them and said, “You fools, what is a donkey for but to ride upon?” So the man put the boy on the donkey, and they went on their way.
But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said, “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.”
So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other, “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”
By Melissa
Reading is dead.
The nature of books has evolved. Society and technology have changed. Forcibly, our approach to reading has taken on new forms to accommodate a different way of life.
The question is: For better or worse?
Previously, I talked about the science behind reading books versus watching television, and how each medium affects our brains in various ways. Although books give us new ideas, spark discussions, and explore topics in detail, the same information can be delivered in a variety of formats. When it comes to exactly how we should absorbing books, the debate rages on.
Let’s take a look.