The School of Life
Master your emotional intelligence with The School of Life podcast. We apply classic philosophy, modern psychology, and culture to the everyday issues that matter most: work, love, anxiety, and the search for meaning. In each episode, we explore the deepest questions of the human condition through calm, insightful audio essays designed to help you understand yourself and the world around you. Whether you are navigating a difficult relationship, seeking career fulfillment, or simply looking for a moment of calm in a chaotic world, our content offers the wisdom and perspective you need to live a more resilient life. Join millions of l...
Self Impediment
Even though we believe we’re interested in happiness, many of us go in for a particular kind of destructive behaviour: self-sabotage. Why, and what might we do to stop ourselves? Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/v-8iT Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/powJk The School of Life runs a global online psychotherapy service that assists clients fr...
Our Secret Fantasies
There’s a lot constantly going in the fantasy part of our minds that sounds pretty strange and at times, frankly, shocking. But coming to terms with our fantasies – and realising they are not our reality – belongs to the art of knowing how to live more easily with ourselves. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/4bvm7 Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https...
What's One Idea That Could Help Someone Lonely Feel Less Self-Conscious of Requiring Connection?
Emotional Intelligence, Daily. Start now: https://www.theschooloflife.com/subscription/ Get weekly insights for better relationships, deeper self-knowledge, and inner calm straight to your inbox: https://www.theschooloflife.com/signup/
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Two Minute Stillness
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Economic Want
Economists and politicians always want there to be more ‘demand’ in the economy. But they ignore whether there might be better or worse kinds of demand. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/nzEto Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/NY8CT SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: http...
Why You Shouldn't Overthink Your Decisions
Questioning past decisions? This film explores the psychology of regret and the power of conviction. Learn to overcome self-doubt and make confident choices in a world of constant change. #Regret #DecisionMaking #SelfDoubt #Psychology #PersonalGrowth Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://www.theschooloflife.com/the-school-of-life-youtube/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=Trust%20what%20you%20knew%20then,%20not%20what%20you%20feel%20now Learn, heal and grow. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to...
A Working Day – Brain Surgeon, San Antonio
A new series of films by The School of Life about work around the world - a guide to helping us to think about what makes work purposeful and worthwhile. CREDITS Produced in collaboration with Stephen Henderson http://www.thehabitofseeing.com Music by Drake Dowsett http://soundcloud.com/drakedowsett #TheSchoolOfLife
<...LITERATURE - Goethe
Goethe is one of the great minds of European civilisation, though his work is largely unknown outside of the German speaking countries. He deserves our renewed attention. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/1dLx_ Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/KgySl SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X...
The Sexual Dreams of Others
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Navigating Mental Illness for the Long Haul
We would - of course - want to get rid of this thing forever and heaven knows we will have tried. But the more time passes, the more we have to take on board a bleaker, unavoidable reality: this thing is here for the long term. How can we survive this ostensibly extremely dispiriting realisation? Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://www.theschooloflife.com/the-school-of-life-youtube/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=Living%20Long%20Term%20with%20...
Don't Watch the News Until You've Learned This...
News organisations claim to be informing us with their bulletins. In fact, more and often than not, they are driving us crazy with needless anxiety and puzzling us with random bits of information we can’t make use of. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/0I20w Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/eYOpG SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to fo...
HISTORY OF IDEAS - Wabi-sabi
At the heart of Japanese philosophy and wisdom lies a concept called ‘wabi-sabi’; a term which denotes a commitment to the everyday, the melancholic, the somewhat broken and the imperfect. It’s a term we need a lot more of in our lives. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/vT4JB Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/gf2vF SOCIAL...
Our Unspoken Wish to Never Encounter Love
Emotional Intelligence, Daily. Start now: https://www.theschooloflife.com/subscription/ Get weekly insights for better relationships, deeper self-knowledge, and inner calm straight to your inbox: https://www.theschooloflife.com/signup/
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If Philosophers Followed the News
Plato said that the world wouldn’t be right until philosophers were kings and kings philosophers. We’d add to this that it won’t be right until philosophers become news journalists and vice versa. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/h2v1m Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/ucChE SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the li...
The Importance of Communicating Our Needs
Emotional Intelligence, Daily. Start now: https://www.theschooloflife.com/subscription/ It is a quiet tragedy that many relationships fail not due to a lack of love, but due to a failure in a basic yet vital skill: the art of emotional communication. This film explores why we struggle to speak our needs until we are at a breaking point, and how we can learn to express our most intimate truths with gentleness and self-possession before our affections are irreparably damaged. Unlock all the content of The School of Life with a subscription to our podcast, articles, videos, and exercises, specially...
Carl Jung's Word Linking Test
One of the most significant discoveries of the early 20th century was of a part of the mind we now refer to as ‘the unconscious.’ It came to be properly appreciated that what we know of ourselves in ordinary consciousness comprises only a fraction of what is actually at play within us; and that a lot of what we really want, feel and are is not at our mental fingertips, lying instead in a penumbra of ignorance, fantasy and denial which we can only hope to dispel with patient and compassionate efforts, probably with the assistance of an analyst. Carl Jung...
How To Be Selfish
We are used to thinking very badly of selfishness. But knowing how – at points – to put ourselves first can be the precondition for our later generosity and true helpfulness to others. Being selfish has a role to play in later selflessness. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/59t5i Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/ILarW FURTHER READING “We’re highl...
How to Change Your Partner Through Humour
We all want to change our partners in one way or another – but the best way to do this isn’t generally through long and serious speeches. It’s through well-targeted, warmly delivered jokes. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/KGj_B Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/Yv625 FURTHER READING You can read more on this and other subjec...
Panic Spells
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Why We Derail Our Own Happiness
For some of us, happiness and excitement never seem to last for very long. Every time we finally take pride in ourselves and develop a confidence about the future, something adverse seems to happen within a relatively short order. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://www.theschooloflife.com/the-school-of-life-youtube/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign= Learn, heal and grow. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://www.theschooloflife...
Why We Continue Loving Those Who Hurt Us
Some of us appear to have an above average talent for finding ourselves in unfulfilling relationships. Our unions might begin with a lot of hope - but in time, problems set in: a lack of affection, an absence of intimacy, an emotional chill, affairs. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://www.theschooloflife.com/the-school-of-life-youtube/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDjlHY5Z2xI&t=7s Learn, heal and grow...
What to do When Willpower Abandons You
One of the most instructive stories in Greek mythology is to be found in Book 12 of Homer’s Odyssey, where the central figure, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, is described as having to sail past an island inhabited by some compelling female figures known as the Sirens, famous for luring sailors to their deaths on their island’s rocky shoreline by the sound of their song. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://www.theschooloflife.com/the-school-of-life-youtube/?utm_source=yout...
Transference
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What is emotional acuity #animation #theschooloflife #emotionalintelligence
Many of humanity’s greatest problems stem not from a shortfall of technical or financial intelligence, but what we term emotional intelligence. It is through the acquisition of Emotional Intelligence that we stand to become better lovers, workers, friends and citizens. We are rarely systematically taught Emotional Intelligence and pay a heavy price for this gap in learning. Enjoying our YouTube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/YvWZH Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of Th...
Seven Questions to Restart Love
Often love can disappear between two people not because the relationship is doomed, but because the right sort of conversations haven’t been happening. Here are seven topics of conversation that can be guaranteed to rekindle emotion. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/-YLn2 Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/bHdFE FURTHER READING “Occasionally, our relationships need to get re-s...
Can Exes Be Friends?
Partners who break up frequently think that the nicest thing to do is to try to remain good friends. But this nice-sounding gesture frequently brings with it unexpected consequences. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/G7Uq6 Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/KaXvd FURTHER READING “There are some very strong and socially-endorsed reasons why partners breaking up generally tr...
The Remedy For a "Monotonous Life" - Sei Shonagon - The Pillow Book
It feels natural, at times, to lament how boring our lives are. We do the same things each week, nothing special or exciting ever seems to happen. We enviously compare our dull routines to the adventures of others. An antidote to our sense of tedium can be found a thousand years ago in the work of Sei Shonagon, a lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Place in Kyoto. FURTHER READING You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://bit.ly/3Jp2kh7 “It feels natural, at times, to lament how boring our lives are. We do the same sorts of...
HISTORY OF IDEAS - Ancient Hellas
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Van Gogh As a Guide to Self-Trust
In 1888, a penniless Dutchman, who would in a few months be committed to an asylum and be dead within two years, sat down in the eastern corner of the Place du Forum in Arles and set to work on one of the most astonishing and beloved paintings ever made. The story is so familiar that we are apt to lose sight of its ongoing relevance and universal import… Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/8vsZk Be...
On Feeling Depressed
There remains a huge amount of stigma around depression, but if we look at what an average human is up against, feelings of depression are entirely normal, indeed, to be expected. We don’t need to compound our misery through a sense that it’s either unusual or unwarranted. I Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/L8tl7 Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your...
How to Complain
A good life will always have to involve complaining about how some people behave around us. But the act of complaining can go better or worse, depending on our our approach. Knowing how to complain properly is one of life’s key skills. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/7WuD- Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/bKolb FURTHER READING “Almo...
Why Advertising is So Exasperating
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How to Reduce the Hold of Addiction
The triggers for addictive behaviours are always rooted in painful, self-critical emotions. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/0vGhl Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/M0QxW FURTHER READING “Many of us are prey to addictive behaviours which we know run contrary to our deeper interests but which we find ourselves entirely unable to desist from at key moments. Le...
How Emotionally Healthy Are You?
Emotional health is defined by four markers: our degree of self-love, of openness, of communication and of trust. Watch our film to interrogate your level of emotional health. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/meaBM Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/Aqygs FURTHER READING “One way to start assessing how badly we have been knocked by our early years – and...
HISTORY OF IDEAS - Collapse
People have failed throughout history but the way the failure has been interpreted has changed throughout the ages in fascinating ways. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/_O4Iw Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/lgCJY SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram...
Why Relationships Depend on Self-Love
No animal, perhaps, can hate itself except - of course - a human being: it’s one of the strangest, and most regrettable, flaws in our condition. This tendency to self-hatred is not only destructive of our spirit, it constantly undermines our efforts to establish workable relationships. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/l5ch7 Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t...
The Damaged Walnut
Our minds are made up of some of the most impressive matter in the universe. But they are also profoundly flawed machines, whose weaknesses we should be well aware of. We like to call them 'faulty walnuts.' SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with Mad Adam http://madadamfilms.co.uk #TheSchoolOfLife
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Why Love Involves Teaching
We often equate true love with being accepted 'for who we really are'. But given how many flaws we all have, true love has to include a process of mutual education we would be wise to accept with good grace. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/zLI6L Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/4U_ez FURTHER READING “One of...
There is no Guarantee
So much of our lives is spent trying to establish a place of safety: we seek safety through money, status, home insurance, health supplements… But wisdom comes from realising that there is in fact no way to be properly safe – and that we therefore need to learn the wisdom of insecurity. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/wnnGr Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your...
The Terror of a 'No'
We miss out on the finest opportunities of our lives because of an underlying terror of a very short word. We should overcome the fear. Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/lzYU3 Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/9vYut FURTHER READING “There are many things we want to ask of other people. We want to ask for a job, fo...
