These days you hear and read a lot about this new year’s being the start of a new decade. And it does feel like that, doesn’t it? We tend to see decades as entities inContinue reading

“It is doubtful whether anyone really begins to live, until he has frankly confronted the terrifying fact that he could wipe out his existence but chooses not to. Since one is free to die, heContinue reading

We tend to think we are the centre of the universe, which is true only in the sense that we are the centre of our own experiences. And what happens to us is important toContinue reading

“Every act is an act of faith, because you don’t know what will happen. Nobody can know the full consequences of their actions. You just hope and employ whatever wisdom and experience seems most likelyContinue reading

A certain level of conformity to rules and social conventions is necessary to prevent things ending in chaos. I am glad most people conform to road rules for instance. Or that we conform to theContinue reading

I just finished reading ‘Man’s search for meaning’ by Viktor Frankl. Here are my 10 favorite quotes from this highly recommended book: 1. Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. A human being is notContinue reading

Yesterday, I went to the Brainwash Festival in Amsterdam, a philosophy event co-hosted by The School of Life Amsterdam. At the festival I attended a lecture by Karim Benammar, who teaches at TSOL Amsterdam, aboutContinue reading

“To live with sincerity in our culture of cynicism is a difficult dance, one that comes easily only to the very young and the very old. The rest of us are left to tussle withContinue reading

Let others worry about winning, fame and popularity. You, instead, are free to choose your own values and therefore your own standards by which you measure success.

Things are hardly ever black and white. There are always different sides to a story. Upsides and downsides to a proposition. When it comes to ideas and values there are no absolute truths and IContinue reading

“It’s your life, but only if you make it so. The standards by which you live must be your own standards, your own values, your own convictions in regard to what is right and wrong,Continue reading

How many times do we say or think: I feel powerless I feel guilty I feel disappointed I feel misunderstood I feel jealous I feel resentful I feel inferior Probably I use some of theseContinue reading

You should never regret choices you made which, based on your knowledge, experience and options available, you thought to be the best choice at that point in time. What you might regret, is when youContinue reading

“Morality should not be about truth, but about values. Danger arises as soon as the concept of ‘truth’ is introduced in a domain where it does not belong, namely the moral and existential domain. TheContinue reading

“An important reason for the feeling of loneliness arises from the fact that our society lays such great emphasis on being socially accepted. (…) We always have to prove we are a ‘social success’ byContinue reading

My favorite quote from Erich Fromm’s book ‘The Art of Loving’ is this one: “There is hardly any activity, any enterprise, which is started with such tremendous hopes and expectations, and yet which fails soContinue reading

Whether we consider our life worth living is indeed the ultimate existential question. And I am in constant doubt about the answer… Existentialism is hard, imho, because we have to give meaning to our livesContinue reading

The DSM – often referred to as “The Bible of Psychiatry” – lists over 300 (!) mental disorders. Remarkably, I learned today, happiness is not one of them. Turns out that psychologist Richard Bentall wasContinue reading

It was kind of a thing. A big and well advertised debate between two popular as well as controversial thinkers: Slavoj Zizek and Jordan Peterson. Many people were looking forward to it. Normally, if somethingContinue reading

The so-called ‘Golden Rule’ is one of the most well-known ethical standards. It states that you should treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself. I have always strongly disagreed with this. IContinue reading

Many of us are working to improve their emotional well-being by addressing past experiences and traumas, either by themselves or guided by a therapist. Let me be clear that I think paying attention to pastContinue reading

At some point in our lives, all of us have to deal with rejection (either romantically or professional or otherwise). Now, I am currently reading a book by psychologist Guy Winch, and in this bookContinue reading

Jean-Paul Sartre didn’t believe human beings have an essence, being some sort of fixed entity, rather our essence or self is something we are constantly striving for. That is why he said “existence precedes essence”,Continue reading

Yesterday at The School of Life Festival I attended a mini class on ‘expectations’. You know, those tricky imaginations that we all have about what future events are supposed to be like. It was goodContinue reading

“Still the echo, so that you don’t allow an event, however unpleasant or momentous, to claim any more time than it took for it to occur. Because what your foes do derives its significance orContinue reading

Life is an existential road trip. You are free to drive where you want. There are no ultimate reasons for taking one road over another. You may crash, and you have to take responsibility forContinue reading

“Temporality is evidently an organised structure. The three so-called “elements” of time, past, present, and future,  should not be considered as collection of “givens” for us to sum up – for example, as an infiniteContinue reading

I think the whole free will – determinism discussion is pointless, because it’s about two extremes neither of which represents reality. Free will advocates that claim our will is completeley free of whatever influence areContinue reading

This video by Kurzgesagt / In a Nutshell explains perfectly what loneliness is and how we can deal with it.

Are you a hypocrite? I think I am. Some say we all are. So here’s a question: What values do you propagate that you do not (always) live by yourself? And what effect does thatContinue reading

One of the teachers at The School of Life Amsterdam, Lammert Kamphuis, once explained what he called ‘desire management’. He said, whenever you feel a certain desire, ask yourself 2 questions: 1. If I giveContinue reading

In a recent discussion on how people might deal with suicidal thoughts, somebody stated that life has its ups and downs and that people with suicidal thoughts may not always feel the way they doContinue reading

When something goes wrong, a lot of people blame themselves. They feel they have failed, they are to blame. Does that sound familiar? In that case I would like to share an analogy I reallyContinue reading

I think humans (at least in the West) are completely schizophrenic when it comes to this mantra of ‘being unique’. On one hand we all want to be unique, on the other hand most peopleContinue reading

The terms alone and lonely are often used exchangeably and that is causing a lot of confusion, because there’s a big difference between aloneness and loneliness. And I’d like to add a third form: solitude.Continue reading

The much debated matter of euthanasia basically comes down to the question of self-determination. And I value self-determination very very high. I consider it a basic human right, paramount to almost everything I can imagine.Continue reading

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” – Seneca

I highly recommend Mark Manson’s book “The subtle art of not giving a f*ck”. It’s not a self-help book like most others, instead it’s an unscrupulous slap in the face, but very insightful and hilariouslyContinue reading