What exactly is nostalgia? The word itself is formed of the Greek νόστος (nóstos), meaning “homecoming” and ἄλγος (álgos), meaning “pain” or “ache”. However, in contemporary use, the word doesn’t necessarily mean a painful yearning for home. Nostalgia is actually one of my favourite feelings. Although likened by many to a melancholy, I always feel it… Read More »Nostalgia and Positive Benefits
No-self as a Concept Pretty much a decade ago, I read a book called ‘What the Buddha taught’ whilst travelling in Malaysia and the impact is still with me. While I’m not a practising Buddhist now, certain ideas have had a significant impact on my thought processes. Two notions, in… Read More »No-self : Interpretation of the Buddhist Idea of No Soul
Mental Suffering Alleviating mental suffering is something we spend our entire lives working on. I have previously posted about drawing on ancient philosophies and ideas to write about good mental health practices and this post forms part of that arc. It is my contention here that the Buddhist ideas surrounding mental… Read More »Alleviating Mental Suffering (using ideas from Buddhism)