Author: The School of Life

We are experts at focusing on what is missing from our lives. Our dissatisfaction often serves us well; it keeps us from complacency and boredom. B...

In order to work well together, people need more than just technical skills; they need to get to know and understand each other. We suspect this in...

A meal with friends is only ever as good as the questions we ask one another. Too often, we fall back on polite but not so inspired staples: Have y...

Typically, we stumble on fascinating conversation topics a little bit by chance. Shyness can hold us back. Too often, we revert to polite, but not ...

We too often assume that we must accept the levels of confidence we currently possess. But confidence is not a given: it is a quality we can learn ...

Emotions are like animals: No two are quite the same. Some are quiet; some are fierce; And all are hard to tame. An Emotional Menagerie is an emo...

Children are used to hearing about how important it is to protect nature, but they may not fully understand how the natural world can positively im...

We still pay homage to one of the most relevant philosophies ever devised when we call someone stoic for the way they handle the challenges in thei...

It can be hard to decide what we really want to achieve in our lives; our ambitions are often scattered, diverse and difficult to pin down. This is...

Whether were big or small, it can be hard to get away from our screens. Most children spend between five and seven hours a day looking at some form...

Life constantly requires us to give other people some hugely awkward messages: that we dont love them anymore; that we do love them (though were no...

An inspiring curated selection of 40 photographs and artworks with accompanying essays examining the skill of confidence. The difference between s...

We have so many vague feelings of hurt, envy, anxiety, and regret, but for the most part we never stop to make sense of them. Its too un-comfortabl...

Not being able to sleep is deeply frightening. We panic about our ability to cope with the demands of the next day; we panic that we are panicking;...

One of the difficulties about how our minds work is that we often cannot quite clearly see or know what is inside us. Art therapists have a longsta...

The modern world can present the body as a machine that just needs to be regularly exercised. However, it is a remarkably sensitive organ in which ...

No matter how much we celebrate individualism and praise the unique, we are, at heart, deeply collective creatures committed to the idea of being n...

It can be remarkably hard to tell other people how we really feel; it may even be tricky for us to get clear about our own moods. Mostly, if people...

Whether we should stay in or leave a relationship is one of the most consequential and painful decisions we are ever likely to confront. What make...

Whether we should stay in or leave a relationship is one of the most consequential and painful decisions we are ever likely to confront: few other ...

Talking properly is the glue that keeps every relationship alive. By regularly checking in with one another, covering how we feel, what weve learnt...

Its impossible for a child to spend too long around adults without one of them coming up and asking, as if it were the most normal thing in the wor...

Its impossible for a child to spend too long around adults without one of them coming up and asking, as if it were the most normal thing in the wor...

Going travelling can be one of lifes greatest activities but often, we fail to deepen the experience as much as we should and return home with som...

It is a daily undertaking a morning shot of coffee, an absentminded sandwich at your desk, a hastily assembled dinner with the remnants from the f...

There are about 130 million books in the world and they are being added to at a rate of 4 million a year or so. Which ones, therefore, should we r...

In this rigorous and supremely honest book Alain de Botton helps us navigate the intimate and exciting yet often confusing and difficult experien...

From the author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read and The Book You Want Everyone You Love* To Read.There is no simple set of instructions ...