Soapbox Daily

To rely on the generosity and goodwill of those around us, especially those we don’t know personally . – This is our topic for todays episode. Please share your views on our Twitter page @ https://twitter.com/MadSoapbox – Join us here each weekday morning (NYC time) from Monday to Friday for a quick bit of laughs and chaos. Just a little something to KICK START your day FOR FREE...

Throughout our lives we continually develop and construct an image of ourselves based on our interaction with the world around us and by reflecting on our experiences and how we feel. As we get older, the image that we have of ourselves becomes clearer and more consistent. We develop a better idea of who we are in the world and how we feel about ourselves. This becomes our stable and consistent co...

I remember the time I once explained to an 18-year-old how the teenage brain works: “So that’s why I feel like my head’s exploding!” the teen replied, with pleasure. – Parents and teachers of teens may recognize that sensation of dealing with a highly combustible mind. The teenage years can feel like a shocking transformation – a turning inside out of the mind and sou...

Do you know someone who always seems to be picking a fight for no apparent reason? Are they just argumentative, or is there something deeper going on? Today I’m teaching you the five reasons people pick fights and the three things you can do to make the craziness stop. – As you might imagine, there are many reasons people pick fights, but in my experience, they boil down to a few reasons tha...

Success is good but Failure is better. – You must not let successes get to your head but also must not let failure consume your heart. Know that, sometimes, actually most times, things don’t go as planned and that is perfectly fine. – For many young people, it’s easy to simply give up when things don’t work out. But if there is one thing you shouldn’t do it is just that: Do...

Why should you Find Your Life’s Purpose? Who are you and why are you here? Many traditions revolve around one central question: “Who am I ?” Even the business world ponders this crucial matter. According to business gurus, the first step on the road to success is asking yourself this very question: “What’s my mission? What on Earth am I doing? Am I in the right place?” – If you can’t answer...

Be free, live your life, be the master… of your destiny! Follow thy heart, follow thy dreams, live out of the convention and screw this and screw that… – I suddenly realized that I have been repeating this cool sounding phase of being the master of your destiny all these years, without pausing for one second to question the true meaning of such grand word: Mastery. – To be a master of...

Sure, “true love” sounds great, but what does it really mean? We talked with experts to better understand the concept and what it entails, and what true love looks like between romantic partners. – Love is, well, wonderful. It makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. It feels good to give it and receive it. There are many forms of love: romantic love, transformative love between a parent and a...

You don’t spend so much time fixated on the glory days of your youth because your life sucks now, your life sucks now because you spend so much time fixated on the glory days of your youth. Your youth is a ship leaving the harbor, slowly but steadily getting smaller and smaller before disappearing on the horizon, and no amount of wishful thinking can change that, but at the same time by holding on...

This has been a year of wild — and sometimes unpredictable — weather, with extreme events hitting all corners of the world. A ferocious winter storm slammed much of the United States over Christmas weekend, with parts of Western New York under blizzard conditions for several days. The “bomb cyclone” storm stretched from the Great Lakes to the Rio Grande, bringing with it snow, high win...

You think Google is always right? Have you ever noticed, people when asked a question and if they don’t know the answer, they say I’ll Google it! Are we really sure that Google pops out the right answers for you? Are you certain that the result displayed can’t be just a “version” or a “perception” of that particular author? Can you claim with certainty that the author is a professional in that par...

My grandparents were born into what has been called the “greatest generation,” when people appreciated the little things in a period full of war and hardship. – My parents are the product of that generation, the “baby boomers,” who lived through a time when people celebrated their newfound prosperity and rallied for rights and change. So, what does that make us? My Generation which is GenX g...

Does this all feel a little familiar? Called déjà vu, that sensation may be your brain correcting its own errors. Déjà vu means “already seen” in French, a term possibly coined by French philosopher Émile Boirac in a letter to the editor of Revue Philosophique de la France et de l’Étranger in 1876. Boirac speculated that perhaps residues of long-forgotten perceptions triggered the feeling. T...

Most of the time, the story our brains generate matches the real, physical world — but not always. Our brains also unconsciously bend our perception of reality to meet our desires or expectations. And they fill in gaps using our past experiences. – Perception science, for me, provokes a similar question. If the science tells us our brains are making up a “story” about reality, shouldn’t we b...

In the year since the convoy, many Ottawa residents have expressed how hard it is for them to shake a feeling of unease. During the official inquiry into the protests, locals described the lingering trauma they continue to experience. – As shared by one parent: “So in the middle of it all, in this surreal time when I felt an overwhelming responsibility for the safety and well-being of an ent...

There’s nothing worse than meeting your amazing friend’s new significant other and realizing you… do NOT like him or her. But there’s a big difference between thinking ‘Hmmm, definitely not good enough for my BFF’ versus having a legit reason to dislike the person, so before you panic, consider these points in this episode. – Your friend is so wrapped up in this new relationship...

Do you dream of being famous one day? Perhaps you’d like to be a musician who sells millions of records. Maybe you think it would be cool to be an actor in a summer blockbuster that lights up the silver screen. Or you might dream of inventing the next technological marvel that takes the Internet to the next level. – If you do dream of becoming famous one day, you’re not alone. Mi...

It’s too late for me to start my own business. I’m too old to take driving lessons or start learning a new language. Do you ever feel like time is working against you? Or do you feel like blaming the famous animated clock-eater, Big Muzzy, for eating all your precious time? As a result, you believe that activities you do in your everyday life aren’t meaningful enough. – If so, you’re dealing...

Aging is a natural process and is accompanied by various challenges. The biological process of aging is associated with the degeneration of organs, which results in different physical and mental health problems. Dependence on family members is associated with the development of different needs and expectations among older people, including the need for support and respect. – If you’ve ever k...

So what lies ahead? Well into the 2020s, COVID-19 will cast a long shadow over communities, workplaces, markets, battlefields, and negotiating rooms. But even as the centrifugal forces driving the world away from multilateralism and toward multipolarity accelerate, the future is not fixed. We humans have agency in shaping it. – By 2030, the global population will have reached 8.5 billion, an...

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence” (Helen Keller). Like Helen Keller, I also believe that optimism is the key to achieving the dreams you imagine. In this episode, I will describe my take on the definition of optimism, how being optimistic influences goals, famous people that were affected by optimism, how optimism affects our communi...

Porn’s public perception has come a long way in recent years, but it still carries negative stereotypes in the minds of many. Why get involved in an industry that many see as shady or morally degrading? – But while some people look down on and frown at women working in the porn industry, we must realize that it is their choice for choosing porn as their career path. Different stars hav...

You are terrified and running along a dark, narrow corridor. Something very evil and scary is chasing you, but you’re not sure why. Your fear is compounded by the fact that your feet won’t do what you want—it feels like they are moving through molasses. The pursuer is gaining, but when it finally catches you, the whole scene vanishes…and you wake up. – Almost by definition, a dream is...

You’ll be relieved to hear that choosing the couch is only human. Humans are inherently lazy, which may be a trait left over from our ancestors’ days of conserving energy for the next hunt. Unfortunately, a small new study published in the journal Current Biology finds that even when we do choose to move, our bodies naturally do it in the most economical way possible which is bad news for anyone t...

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, our world faced unprecedented scenarios – shortages of cleaning supplies and toilet paper, shelter-in-place orders, and limited space in hospitals. When times were hard for our frontline workers, the public responded with messages of gratitude. From local community groups to Hollywood stars, there was an outpouring of support for medical staffs’ e...