Category: philosophical counseling
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Can mindfulness meditation make you happier?
Quite possibly. Recently, there’s been a spate of research on the effect of meditation on quality of life. According to this article from the NYT, it’s been found that 30 min. a day of mindfulness meditation can reduce overall stress, improve attention, and increase empathy for others.
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Is therapy a waste of time (and money)?
The answer, according to the psychiatrist Richard Friedman in his recent NYT op-ed entitled “When Self-Knowledge is Only the Beginning,” might very well be “yes.” In the article, he argues (1) that insight into one’s past may be neither necessary nor sufficient for living well and, more polemically, (2) that such insight might actually make your…
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On the category of emerging adulthood; or, how 20 somethings are wasting their lives
A Polemic There’s been a lot of talk of late about 20 somethings. Discussions have ranged from their carnivorous tastes in social media to their open attitude toward sexuality to their desire for self-esteem. By my lights, the most interesting discussion has centered on a new category of individual development: emerging adulthood. According to Jeffrey…
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Reason follows in fortune’s train
“Fortune is often found in Reason’s train.” Montaigne, Essays For years, I’ve been stuck. I haven’t been able to make much progress in my estimation of the relative merits of Stoicism and tragedy. One of the goals of Stoicism is to immunize the practicing Stoic against luck (tuche). Since external goods are beyond his…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 