I stumbled upon an interesting concept in a book recently. Social psychologist Roy Baumeister studies “anticipated aloneness” and the effects that envisioning being alone in the future has on people. Just imagining future rejection and loneliness actually knocks people’s IQ down a few points and makes it harder for them to engage in rational thought about anything. The problem …
I really have to admit that I do not enjoy exercising. Like at all. I know they say it releases endorphins and whatnot and makes you happier but no matter what I do, I can’t seem to find an exercise routine I enjoy. I don’t even like running! (Any suggestions?) Recently, my friend shared the simplest idea for making exercise …
A few days after my younger sister got engaged, my friend’s younger sister also got engaged. Similar situation, same age difference. And I had this moment when I went, Oh! I get to pay it forward already! Because over the weeks around the engagement, I had experienced just how amazing it feels to receive empathy from others who can put …
I’ve never attempted to write fiction, but I want to try my hand at it. Dystopian fiction, to be precise. I understand that stuff sells. And I would base it on the excellent material at my fingertips. My book is set in a world where all men and women are expected to marry at exactly the ages of 23 …
My younger sister is engaged. The one who was in elementary school when I was in seminary. I didn’t think this would really happen. When I sat down to write this post, I wasn’t sure which direction to take it in. To let you know how I’m doing? To share chizuk with anyone in the same situation? To philosophize …
I just reread a journal from around Pesach time, and I found something I had written after going to Kever Shmuel HaNavi. As I sat at the kever reading Parshas Chana, two images stood out to me, something like bookends to the story of Chana and her son. The first was the image of Chana at the beginning of the …
You know what I want? To open a new business. The Focused Dating Center. Our motto is “Date without distraction.” Here are the features of this most wondrous place. (If you beat me to it, I won’t sue you. Also, if you work in an office building, maybe you can look around for some space that can moonlight as the …
When was the last time you mailed a handwritten thank you card? This summer, I read a book called A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life, by John Kralik. At the beginning of 2008, the author’s life was in shambles; his law practice was on the fritz, he was going through a …
In high school, one of my friends once asked me, “How do people go through the nisayon of being single for years?” At that time I had a sister in shidduchim for a while and had wondered the same thing. And it occurred to me: no one goes through a nisayon for years. They go through it for days. …
This summer, I bought one of those detailed coloring books for adults but I abandoned it after a few days. Maybe some people find coloring in such intricate pictures to be relaxing, but not me! But recently one of my friends told me that I had to try coloring again — any kind of coloring. She told me to try …
