The School of Life

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 acces...

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,...

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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,...

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....

One of the stranger but more useful suggestions of psychotherapy - and in particular, a branch of it known as Transactional Analysis - is that all of us contain within ourselves three essential personalities… 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: h...

In the privacy of our own minds, we sometimes imagine the strangest, ghastliest things happening to those we love. We’re not insane, simply up against the complexity of all close human 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....

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 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm...

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 Sc...

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 Th...

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 though...

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...

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 Sch...

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 Schoo...

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...

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 o...

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...

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...

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: ht...

One of the most apparently trivial but in truth crucial ingredients behind success is the thing we call Confidence. What is it, where does it come from, and how might we have a little more of it please? 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:/...

The clothes we choose to wear constitute some of our most crucial and carefully chosen lines of autobiography. 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/MlSNr Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delive...

We continue our series about working lives around the world - a chance to reflect on our own attitudes to work from within a broader context. Here we meet an architect from the capital of Mongolia, Ulan Bator. 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:...

This film dissects the psychology of attraction and the 9 critical errors people make when choosing a partner. Learn to avoid relationship pitfalls and find lasting love. #Dating #Relationships #Psychology #Love #Marriage #ModernDating 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 Sch...

Emotional Intelligence, Daily. Start now: https://www.theschooloflife.com/subscription/ What is the most romantic thing you can ever say to a partner? It isn't "I will never leave you" or "You are my everything." Instead, the most vital phrase for the survival of love is a firm boundary: "If you ever stop being nice to me, I will leave you in short order." This film explores the "paradox of limits...

Earning little money is a sure route to being neglected and patronised in modern societies. But why is this, and what can we realistically do to counteract the psychological humiliation this causes? 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.l...