PsycHacks

Episode 26: The "Kill Bill" credit sequence

One of the best credit sequences in the history of cinema comes at the end of Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill, Vol. 2." Among other things, it implicitly teaches an important life lesson: the vast majority of people will be indifferent to antagonistic to you. However, if you have just a couple of allies in your fight, you can overcome hordes of adversities and legions of difficulties

Episode 25: "Enough" is a psychological quantity

"Enough" is a quantity that does not exist in reality. So applying the modifier to other things -- enough money, enough achievement, enough power -- is technically inaccurate. Rather, "enough" is a concept that exists in our minds. It's a decision -- supported by an act of the will -- that our current circumstances are sufficient. Understanding this distinction opens the possibility for greater contentment and happiness in our lives.

Episode 24: Safe, smart, brave, strong

What is the best virtue with which to approach life's difficulties? Should we always strive for safety? Or is being strong a better approach? "Safe, smart, brave, strong" is my personal mantra when I go on adventures in the wilderness. In this episode, I unpack the reasoning behind the progression of these virtues, and explain how this perspective can be generalized to other domains of life.

Episode 23: The trap of "why"

In the wake of a significant loss, it's human nature to search for meaning: "why did this happen?" And while this question can produce some useful answers, the process of questioning should always be limited and time-bounded. This is because no "why" questions have perfectly satisfying answers -- just "good enough" ones. In this episode, I'll talk about how to break out of the pattern of obsessive rumination that can occur when falling into the trap of "why."

Episode 22: Money is incentivized altruism

Some young people today harbor extremely negative beliefs about money. However, while money has been (and continues to be) used inappropriately, it is actually used constructively in the vast majority of cases. In this episode, I'll discuss how money is effectively utilized to incentivize altruism. It's a subtle trick of the mind by which we collectively transcend self-interest by appealing to self-interest.

Episode 21: The value of values

As I've mentioned in previous episodes, values can be expensive. So are they worth it? In today's episode, I discuss the value of values, namely: their unrivaled capacity to serve as decision-making heuristics. By looking through the "lens" of a given value, incongruent pathways at the Crossroads of life are filtered out -- making it much easier to answer the eternal question: "what should I do?"

Episode 20: Navigating no-win conversations

Have you ever been in a situation where you just can't seem to do anything right by another person? It's possible that you fell into a rather unpleasant relational trap: the no-win conversation. In this episode, I'll help you identify the signs that you've fallen into such a conversation, and discuss the communication skill that you'll need to get yourself out of the predicament: emotional reflection.

Episode 19: How to forgive

The ability to forgive is an absolutely essential life skill, and one that no one really teaches us how to do. Forgiveness is an intrapersonal -- not interpersonal -- behavior that prevents our hearts from becoming embittered after we suffer at the hands of others. In this episode, I'll walk you through a step-by-step process by which -- over time -- you can transform anger and hatred into pity and compassion.

Episode 18: The tale of Bluebeard

The tale of Bluebeard is an old fairy tale from Western Europe, but its lessons are still applicable today. We all have skeletons in our closet. The question is how these secrets in our hearts ought to impact our relationships. Keep in mind that if you want perfect transparency, then you can't expect perfect goodness. Some doors should just remain closed.

Episode 17: Overcoming emotional manipulation

Overcoming emotional manipulation is an important life skill. From a guilt-tripping mother to a fearmongering politician, there are those in the world who would use our emotions to further their own agendas. Breaking the pattern requires us to (a) accept responsibility for our own emotional reactions, and (b) tolerate our distressing emotions without taking action. I'll walk through how to do this in today's episode.