How Sisterly Love Transformed a Brothel in Delhi
Fresh out of her university studies, Gitanjali Babbar embarked on a two-year fellowship that had her conducting health surveys with women in Delhi's red light district. Struck by the raw humanity she encountered in the brothel workers, Gitanjali began visiting the women in her free time, sharing meals and listening to stories from their harrowing life journeys, where they were often trafficked at ... posted on Apr 01 2024, 2,273 reads

When Melodies Unlock Memory Reservoirs
Candy Cohn often would speak with her late mother, Lillian, in English, with a few words here and there in Yiddish. Then, one day, Lillian "started singing a beautiful Yiddish love song called Sheyn Vi Di Levone. 'I'd never heard her sing it. I never heard her play it. The look on her face and the joy. I hadn't seen that in her in a long time,'" Candy Cohn described to WLRN Public Radio. ... posted on Mar 31 2024, 1,130 reads

Transforming Stress into Self-Identity
Ever noticed how your 'stress' becomes who 'you' are? This intriguing characteristic suggests that unresolved emotions get stored in our physical and emotional bodies; and, over time, these built-up residues create a 'state'. This state, if sustained, soon morphs into our identity, becoming our new 'normal'. We start identifying ourselves with these states, for instance, 'I am an anxious person', ... posted on Mar 30 2024, 2,084 reads

What Emotions Can Teach Us
Susan David and Adam Grant dialogue on pitfalls against toxic positivity, and instead give tips on how to reconnect with all emotions to stay true to ourselves while growing from them. It is a fine line between running away from emotions and fusing with them. But there is a path, accessible to anyone. Being avoidant of difficult emotions disconnects us from ourselves and from others affecting our ... posted on Mar 28 2024, 181 reads

Author Drops Everything To Visit Bronx Students
Tommy Orange, author of There There, dropped everything amidst an active book tour to visit a Bronx high school class. Their teacher, Rick Ouimet, had written an impassioned email invitation, sharing how deeply transformative the book had been for his students. "It’s not often that an author walks into a room full of readers, let alone teenagers, who talk about characters born in hi... posted on Mar 27 2024, 1,829 reads

Defining World Happiness
Each year, the World Happiness Report ranks 146 countries by their level of happiness. Scandinavian countries are usually found at the top of the ranks, while war-torn or deeply impoverished countries are generally at the bottom. In recent years, psychologists have been looking at how cultural bias affects these rankings. ... posted on Mar 26 2024, 1,057 reads

Never Too Late: Becoming a World Champion at 40
Deanna Stellato-Dudek, a retired figure skater, made history at the ripe athletic age of 40, becoming the oldest woman ever to win a World Figure Skating Championship. After a series of injuries pushed her to retire from skating at the age of 17 in 2001, Stellato-Dudek went on with her life -- becoming a successful aesthetician and getting married. The unfinished saga of her athletic journey, thou... posted on Mar 25 2024, 1,030 reads

Hug Therapy Revolution in Argentina
Welcome to the world of hug therapy, where Irma Castro and her volunteer squad are making strides in neonatal care in Córdoba, Argentina. Part of a public maternity hospital initiative, these 'huggers' offer their warmth and touch to premature and underweight babies, whose mothers may be absent due to countless circumstances. From aiding neurodevelopment to stimulating weight gain, the powe... posted on Mar 24 2024, 1,416 reads

On Persistence: Conversation with Jerry Barrish
"I'd just gotten out of the Army and when I came home, I was looking for work. My father, who was a boxer, knew Mickey Cohen. And when Cohen got out of Alcatraz, there was a big party at the Fairmont Hotel. Jerry was there with his dad and ended up sitting next to the bail bondsman who'd bailed Cohen out. You should get into the bail bonds business," he told Jerry. "I was 22 years old. I didn't ha... posted on Mar 23 2024, 1,504 reads

Richard Jefferies: On Nature as a Portal to Self-Transcendence
In his 1884 masterpiece 'The Life of the Fields,' Richard Jefferies extols the poetic prowess of nature, emphasizing that by paying attention to the beauty of nature, we can dissolve the boundaries between ourselves and the world. Such an immersive experience in nature is perceived as momentous and transformative. "These are the only hours that are not wasted - these hours that absorb the soul and... posted on Mar 22 2024, 1,401 reads