Having trust in yourself and other people is one of the most important pillars of a happy and fulfilling life. Yet, trust is not a right, it’s an incredible privilege that you earn with time and patience. When you gain someone’s trust, it helps your relationships grow deeper. But at the same time, trust is … Read more

Berthold Auerbach once wrote that music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. This is what happens when you listen to “The Hidden Valley,” a masterpiece by a Norwegian composer Peder B. Helland. His YouTube channel, counting more than nine million followers at the time of this writing, started with a simple … Read more

“Your life is now,” Eckhart Tolle wrote while contemplating the art of living in the present moment. When you live in the moment, you’re free of psychological time – past and future. You no longer regret what happened in the past and not afraid of what might happen in the future. All your attention is … Read more

One of the most influential Japanese poets of all time, Matsuo Basho (1644–1694) elevated haiku from a mere literary pastime into an exquisite poetic craft. Leaving his hometown of Ueno behind, he moved to Kyoto, where he studied poetry and Zen as a young man and later became a Buddhist monk. This, perhaps, is why … Read more