May 20th, 2010
Imagine, like Dr Doolittle, we could talk to the animals. We would no longer have to try and figure out what they were thinking or feeling; we’d be able to get the information first-hand. But then do animals really feel emotion, or is it pure anthropomorphism on our part – a wish to see human behavior and characteristics where they don’t necessarily exist?
Yet, when you see the helplessness in abused animals, the intense sadness of a mother gorilla that has recently lost her baby or the abandoned joy of a dog simply running after a stick – how can we say animals don’t feel? It would be arrogant to believe that humans are the only species capable of emotion. These images below show that we’re not so different really, them and us.
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Tags: animals, emotions
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May 19th, 2010
Remember being a teenager and desperately wanting to date and find that special someone? One of the most universal things about being a teenager is that we all can’t wait to have a boyfriend or girlfriend. We spend countless hours discovering ways to flatter our appearances (despite puberty’s deterrents), and scheming about how to land ourselves the holy grail of adolescence: a relationship. We wonder and fantasize about what it will be like to be elevated to the status of someone’s “girlfriend” or “boyfriend,” gossiping with our friends about who is going out with who, who we have a crush on, etc., completely unaware of what it really means to be in a relationship. The irony of our teenage years is that we spend all our energy agonizing and wondering, “who? how? …and when?” as if the end goal is to have our first boyfriend or girlfriend, but once we actually get what we wish for, we lament that relationships are not nearly as simple and carefree as they seem on the outside. Suddenly we find ourselves in a tangle of emotions—not just ours, but our partners’ too. Teenage dating is like putting a pair of baby deer on a trampoline together—before we even have a chance to find our own legs and confidence, we suddenly have another person thrown into the mix, creating a haphazard jumble of confusion.
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May 4th, 2010
I used to look back on my childhood and long for the days of having no responsibility, of playing carelessly and not worrying about adult things. But when I think about it, being a kid wasn’t as carefree as my sense of nostalgia would have me believe. When I was a kid I was full of worries about the future: I was always terrified of what came next, whether it was increasing difficulty at school or increasing responsibility at home. My outlook on life was grounded in the belief that hardships lurked everywhere on the horizon, and that I should never trust happiness and good experiences because I needed to be ready for the potential bad experiences.
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April 23rd, 2010
One of the most frustrating things about living in a big city is the feeling that I can’t walk outside without being harassed on the street at least once a day. When I first started experiencing this I found it annoying, but as the years pass I become increasingly furious. Not a day goes by that I don’t experience one or more of the following: cat-calling, whistling, kissing noises, intensely seductive stares, or pointed glances up and down my body. Contrary to what many men think, this attention is not appreciated and not flattering, and I’m sure most women agree with me. This kind of attention is not like being given a complement …it’s not like being told, “you are beautiful.” It actually feels horrible; it makes me feel degraded and violated, but most of all, it makes me feel utterly powerless. I feel as if my body doesn’t belong to me, and this infuriates me more than anything I’ve ever experienced.
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April 20th, 2010
Before I left for college, I took home for granted. No matter how far I traveled, it was always there when I needed it, and no matter how long I was away, my bedroom stayed the same and gave me that familiar feeling of comfort and safety. When I left for college, I began to realize how important having a home was to understanding my identity. Throughout most of school, I still relied on my childhood home to sustain me—I would emotionally hold my breath until the next time I went home, when I would let out a sigh of relief and reset myself. But gradually, my home seemed to slip away from me…now that I am a college graduate, I no longer feel the familiar safety that it used to provide, and as a result I feel uncertain of my identity.
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April 16th, 2010
Something that I find extremely tragic is that almost every one of us feels ashamed or unhappy about our bodies in some way. I have never known a girl who doesn’t have something about her body she’d like to change, and I’m sure most men feel the same way. At some point in our lives, if not for all of our lives, we are haunted by the parts of our bodies that we don’t like, whether it’s our legs, hips, ears, acne, hair, or even the way we smile or the way our face gets pink after exercising.
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April 2nd, 2010
Creativity is often a slippery, fickle friend. It seems to come and go as it pleases, and the harder I work to catch it and hold it, the more elusive it becomes. At times it’s shy and is scared away easily, and at other times it’s strong-willed and monopolizes my attention whenever it pleases, regardless of the time, and whether or not I have something to write on and must fervently start taking notes on napkins. Here is my list of advice on how to deal with working creatively:
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April 1st, 2010
Something I’ve noticed recently is that we are very good at hiding our feelings from ourselves. Whenever we feel intense or troublesome feelings like fear, anxiety, or sadness, our minds often revert to using disguises and barriers against feeling those emotions. These self-defense mechanisms deflect attention from our feelings and turn our focus towards the external environment.
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April 1st, 2010
When in a relationship, we are challenged with the task of maintaining our individuality while also opening up to our partner to establish a strong union. Building a foundation of trust, love, and support takes work, because both people must negotiate the boundaries between independence and togetherness. Figuring out these boundaries is a lot like dancing. Couples have to figure out the appropriate distances between each other through a trial-and-error process of stepping on each other’s feet and getting too far away until they find the correct balance. And the “correct balance” is never 100% static because couples need to be flexible in order to adapt to changing emotional climates, unexpected variations, and big life changes.
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March 22nd, 2010
In one of my other articles, “The Most Important Separation,” I talked about the concept of separating from our parents’ limiting beliefs and fears. This is also about separating from parents, but in a subtler, emotional way. This is about separating from the emotional burdens of our parents that we take on during childhood.
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