Category: Generosity & Kindness

“There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.” ― Dalai Lama During this global pandemic, it’s easy to lose our hope when we see the number of people infected by the coronavirus, and sadly those who’ve lost their lives, dramatically increase from one day to the next. For many of us, we’ve never experienced such a wide-spread outbreak in our lifetimes – affecting all walks and ages of life. While it’s easy to lose our hope against an enemy we can’t see and complications which cannot be predicted from one medical case to the next, I’ve lost my hope in something else. Humanity. I was…

Throughout our personal and professional lives, we continually encounter individuals who believe they’re better than we are. One would think such a competition would cease once we all graduated from high school. But the game continues – though the rules adjust accordingly – known in the psychological community as the “better-than-average-effect” or BTAE. In short, the better-than-average-effect is the tendency for individuals to perceive that their abilities, behaviors, physical attributes and personality traits are far superior when compared to those who are deemed simply “average” among them. I think it’s important to define what it means to be average, though that in and of itself is challenging. Why? Because the internet has labeled “average” people as something bad. According to several misguided posts, average people are lazy, unaccomplished, irresponsible time…

The long-standing tradition of sending out Christmas cards during the holiday season can be credited to Henry Cole of Victorian England. It was often customary in those days to send out letters to family and friends around Christmas and New Year’s, and the newly created British postal system meant people were sending their holiday tidings in mass. Henry Cole, traveling in very elite social circles, found himself with an over abundance of letters he simply couldn’t respond to with handwritten replies, as was expected. Ace Collins, author of Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas, writes, “In Victorian England, it was considered impolite not to answer mail. He had to figure out a way to respond to all of these people.” His solution became the Christmas card, first sent back in…