How to heal trauma with meaning: A case study in emotional evolution

As tempting as it may be to run away from emotionally-difficult situations, it's important we confront them head-on.

  • Impossible-sounding things are possible in hospitals — however, there are times when we hit dead ends. In these moments, it's important to not run away, but to confront what's happening head-on.
  • For a lot of us, one of the ways to give meaning to terrible moments is to see what you can learn from them.
  • Sometimes certain information can "flood" us in ways that aren't helpful, and it's important to figure out what types of data you are able to take in — process — at certain times.
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How to suffer like a total pro: Pete Holmes on ego, judgment, and feeling special

Suffering can buffer us, and make us more polished versions of ourselves — if we have the right attitude.

  • When you're going through a moment that tests your patience, even causes you to psychologically suffer, sometimes you have to step back and say, "Yes, thank you."
  • Suffering is like sandpaper, and, if we choose, it can buffer us and make us better versions of ourselves.
  • Also, it's critical to find a quiet place within where just the fundamental fact that you are participating in reality imbues you with enough value and dignity to draw upon at any moment. Regardless of exterior sentiments about you.
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We've heard of self-actualization, but what is secondary integration?

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a well-known model of human development, but Maslow's friend and colleague Kazimierz Dąbrowski believed humans developed in a different way.

Photo credit: Trust "Tru" Katsande on Unsplash
  • Kazimierz Dąbrowski was a friend of Abraham Maslow who presented a competing model to the hierarchy of needs called the theory of positive disintegration.
  • While Maslow focuses on motivation as a means of developing, Dąbrowski's model focuses on how crises can transform us.
  • What are the differences between the two models, and is positive disintegration a more accurate way to characterize human growth?
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Grief isn’t a pathology. It’s an altered state of mind.

Grief is real. Give it time.

  • When it comes to moving forward, the slightly harder path — but in the long run, the way easier path — would be for us to develop the skill of grieving.
  • Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's theories about the five stages may be off, but she gave us a lens from which to come to understand the process of grieving.
  • The fact that you grieve is a testimony to your love.
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The Great American Opioid Crisis: How the 2020 presidential candidates plan to solve it

What are the plans, and are they enough?

Photo credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images
  • The opioid crisis in this country has drawn the attention of several presidential candidates.
  • A few of the largest, most well thought out plans are examined here.
  • Experts agree a huge investment in treatment is needed over a long period of time.
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