Singapore has a law called the “The Maintenance of Parents Act.” This law provides elderly parents who can’t support themselves a legal channel to seek maintenance from their children who are capable of helping them but won’t do so. Is the mere existence of such a law a clear sign that we humans are an … Read more
In a speech in 1982, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “The battle for women’s rights has largely been won.” I guess you could call Thatcher an extreme optimist. Gender parity has been and continues to be a hot-button issue. We’ve come a long way in the last few centuries, but we still have ways … Read more
“I had a tough childhood, so I want to make sure my children have it easy” is a common refrain among many parents. Fair enough. While this philosophy is well-intentioned, it’s often poorly executed. The result: overzealous parents with overprotected children. Consequently, we raise kids who do not know how to problem solve effectively or … Read more
NY Times writer David Brooks wrote an opinion piece a few years ago about how, as a society, we focus on developing resume values instead of eulogy values. Ultimately when we pass, no one’s going to care about the degrees we accumulated, the perfect spreadsheets we built, or the $ in our bank accounts (okay, … Read more
Neuroscientists have proven that repetition improves learning. According to the multiple trace theory, finding at least one trace of an event becomes easier when there are more traces of that event in memory. With that premise in mind, this post is a consolidated summary of a few articles published earlier this year— a wellness recap … Read more
It starts as a whisper and slowly gets louder and louder. Before you know it, it crowds out all your other thoughts. Soon, you have no choice but to listen to it humbly. I’m referring to the voices in our head telling us to back off when we’re about to exert ourselves in challenging situations. … Read more
Having an open mind or getting someone else to open up their mind to a different point of view is hard work. But it can be done. The Galileo affair from the 17th century has some classic lessons and some do’s, but mostly don’ts, on how to get someone to change their perspective, especially when … Read more
When people say, “I’d rather get a root canal than look at my unpaid bills,” they are actually exhibiting a universally favorite coping mechanism in the face of fear—avoidance. (Also, they probably have never had a root canal.) Burying your head in the sand will not make you invisible. It will simply make it harder … Read more
Have you ever checked every item on your to-do list, hustled all day, only to feel a sense of disquiet when you go to bed? The feeling that you haven’t done enough or could do more and be more can be very disheartening. On the other hand, you may struggle to admit that you are … Read more
There are few things in life we universally detest. Change is one of them. As we get older, our resistance to change seems only to increase. We become stubborn and resistant, throwing toddler-like tantrums whenever life deviates in any way from how it’s “supposed” to be. Why is it such a struggle for us to … Read more
Almost every day, I find a reference to a news article or a social media post extolling the need for work-life balance. By no means a recent topic of discussion, work-life balance, or for that matter, balance in life, in general, has long been the subject of much contention. The Covid-19 pandemic has simply catapulted … Read more
See if you can relate to this scenario: Exhausted after a long day, you stumble into bed at 11 p.m. It seems just a few minutes have passed, but then you are wide awake at 3 a.m. running through a mental list of problems from the present, the past, and potential future problems as well. … Read more
Not all of us may have had opportunities to meet celebrities. But, I can say with conviction that every single one of us has had the chance to meet a person (or people, if we are lucky) we consider interesting. And equally likely, we’ve also managed to meet someone who could bore the life out … Read more
I’ve seen this saying bandied about a lot: “Don’t ask for permission. Ask for forgiveness, instead.” It seems to be a culturally lit and, dare I say, a Silicon-valley-appropriate phrase (especially when there’s VC money involved.) Half-kidding! In all seriousness, though, the saying is well-intentioned and has its heart in the right place. Without realizing … Read more
If someone told us to do nothing, most of us would jump for joy. We’d assume it as carte blanche to doomscroll on our devices or mindlessly binge-watch TV shows (even bad ones.) But, doing nothing and focusing on just one thing are two sides of the same coin. It is an art form we … Read more
The English language, or for that matter, most other cultures, have some version of the saying, “Don’t throw good money after bad.” Yet, we do it. We continue to sink in perfectly good time and resources into ventures that aren’t working for us, hoping for miracles to occur. Today’s post is about knowing when to … Read more
Before the tie-break rule was instituted, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut were engaged in the longest Tennis match ever played, a game that lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes. They had to duel it out on the courts for that long because Tennis is a zero-sum sport: one player has to lose for the other … Read more
A research study proved that when people read or hear horror stories such as school shootings, they come home earlier from work and tend to hug their kids tighter that night. But then, a few days later, it’s back to the same busy lives as before. It’s not news to any of us that life … Read more
We are culturally driven to feel grateful for and say yes to every opportunity. But taking on too much can create its own set of problems. Learning to say “no” more often is a skill that will leave us energized and prepared to say a resounding yes, when the right opportunity comes along. TV queen … Read more
The path of least resistance is what makes rivers run crooked – Elbert Hubbard When you ask Google Maps for directions, the first recommended choice is often the fastest route between two points. John Atanasoff built the first electronic digital computer because it was too much work for him to perform calculations manually. Water tends … Read more