Gavril Nikolaev 
“Observe both the things which come first and the things that follow; and then begin the act,” Epictetus wrote in his meditation on making wise decisions. This seems simple enough, yet many of us fail to heed the advice. Again and again, we repeat the same mistakes, oblivious to our tendency to stand in our … Read more
“Our new dog, named for the beloved poet, / Ate a book which unfortunately we had / Left unguarded. / Fortunately it was the Bhagavad Gita,” Mary Oliver wrote in a poem about her dog Percy. If Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (September 29, 1934–October 20, 2021) wrote this poem, the book would be “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.” … Read more
In his Moral Letters to Lucilius, the great Roman philosopher Seneca wrote that study of philosophy can separate you from the crowd and help you rise to the highest human happiness — no matter who you are and where you are. A noble mind, he insisted, is free to all men and women who can … Read more
I love Nick Cave not for his music but for his writing. While loyal fans go to his concerts to listen to his songs, I go to his blog to read his sentences — beautiful and tender yet powerful and uncompromising sentences. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s called The Red Hand Files. It … Read more