A good relationship is a simple thing to have, but often difficult to maintain. It requires a return to simplicity, honesty, and appreciation. Most importantly, a great relationship is also a continuous return to ourselves.

Lying is a curious thing. We learn to lie as children as an important skill of distinguishing fiction from reality. However, many of us grow up without fully understanding what tricks and techniques we used to use as children and how much better off we will be instead if we switch to being increasingly more respectful, appreciative, and honest.

It's good practice to be more mindful and in control of your life. But even when things are planned in the best way possible, something can happen that can change our course unexpectedly and dramatically. Fortunately, things are rarely what they seem, and a seeming adversity is often really an opportunity to do something new and better.

Most of the time, as adults, we live in our thoughts. We do it when we get up, go to work, or when we try to distract ourselves from our feelings with all the modern inventions at our disposal. Most of us barely even remember what it was like to feel and to use our senses. We learned to abstract from reality and construct our lives in our heads. But there is a way out. In fact, there are many ways to return to where we once were as more mature adults who can choose to live better lives.

There's one quality we all have when we are children that most lose over time. And it's not hard work or intelligence alone. At the end of the day, those who can keep their openness and curiosity (or learn to get it back) will always be the ones to succeed.

It is true that the real test of a man is not simply how physically strong or dominant he is. It is how comfortable we are with our emotions, especially as it relates to helping other people and becoming our best, most mature selves. And the peace this affords us has to be earned in the crucible of a fight that is much more important and dire than facing physical conflict alone.

There are several components to what we call self-esteem. There is the influence of our genes, there's our place in our social order (and how well we stick to it), and perhaps most importantly, how we progress in things that matter to us (that is, how we set and achieve goals for ourselves). All of these will reward us with positive feelings through chemicals in the brain. While some things are more easily influenced than others, there's a lot we can do to live better, fuller lives than we...

We are conditioned to do what other people want us to do, which we take for the right thing to do. Yet, each individual life is unique and requires our own unique and sometimes out-of-the-box decisions to be made. Because a life half-conscious is a life half-lived. It all boils down to two questions: What do you want, and why?

So often, in our day-to-day lives, we become stuck in our own heads, not really feeling our bodies or connecting to the people around us. Great things happen when we reconnect with ourselves, knowing we can only benefit by becoming more of who we truly want to be.

Too often, we focus on what we want to achieve without considering why we want it or how we can create the best results. We put our focus outside of where our power lies. Taking that focus and putting it back where it belongs - on doing our best in the situation and learning from the experience, rather than just on "what's in it for me" is the key to any real and meaningful success and to becoming a force of positive influence for others.

Many of us continue to hold beliefs that hold us back, that were untrue even when we picked them up when we were much younger. We still see these beliefs as accurate without questioning them simply because they have become familiar. But that doesn't make them true. By adopting a growth mindset, you can achieve your dreams, as well as what you don't yet know will benefit your life the most.

We like to be active, go out and achieve. This is all great most of the time, but sometimes we get so caught up in achieving our goals we no longer realize what the real purpose of the goal was, why we wanted to achieve it or what has happened in the meantime. Sometimes taking a break is an art of reconnecting with ourselves on a deeper level, which will lead to making a change that will ultimately benefit us more than always trying to achieve.

We are living in a time when more people are gaining power over public discourse than ever before. There are many positives to it - from giving more power to individuals to giving voice to the voiceless. A lot of good has been done that couldn't be done before. Unfortunately, even well-meant ideas don't always lead to public good, particularly when they are used irresponsibly or when they are downright abused.

We are each the most important person in the world. Most of us have known this since childhood and never relinquished this idea. There are good psychological and biological reasons for this as a default outlook on life. At the same time, we benefit greatly from a more balanced perspective. The mature person can understand and live with the notion that they are insignificant in the bigger scheme of things and, at the same time, the most important, because that is how we make important changes...

Responsibility is the spice of life. It creates meaning out of nothing. It builds strength of character. It makes pain go away. And it's the one thing that creates true happiness in life. There are caveats about what to feel or not to feel responsible for, but taking more responsibility for our lives is almost always the best and most empowering thing we can do.

Many of us grew up believing there was something wrong with us if we were quiet or kept to ourselves while doing our things or read a lot of books instead of socializing. Yet, as a society, we are beginning to realize that introverts have the power and focus to make things happen that will change our world.

Genuine authenticity is not an easy thing to understand, let alone maintain in day-to-day life. But the more we understand the principles and live by them, the more our lives and those around us become positively transformed.

We spend much of our lives trying to get what we think we want and what we think other people want us to do and want. Only when we realize that we are enough and that other people are enough, we can create space for all that is real and special in life.

Dieting, in all its different forms, is now a huge business - and most often, it has other agenda than improving your health or keeping you fit (which would generally be contrary to its business model). While you can seek comprehensive advice from a good trainer or nutritionist, the change in your lifestyle that will make the most difference doesn't need to be big or complicated. And it can be the best thing you've ever done almost from the get-go.

Healthy self-esteem is the foundation for self-respect and confidence, each of which will build a better, happier life. There are several qualities that make for strong self-esteem, not least of which, paradoxically, is humility.

This is one of the "heavier" episodes. Drawing from CBT (or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) it focuses on the relationship between cognition (mainly thinking, feeling, and beliefs) and taking action. It explores how these influence and strengthen each other and how understanding why we think and do things the way we do can help us positively transform our lives.

The fear of success is one of the greatest limitations we put on ourselves so we don't achieve what we have every right to get, even though this fear is something very different from what we commonly think. Understanding how this fear works will skyrocket our success, especially for those who deserve success the most - the most caring of us, who prefer not to ruffle any feathers, or who tend to put other people first.

Learning new skills and becoming better versions of ourselves is one of the biggest (and most addictive) pleasures life has to offer. One which will work amazingly well for us...as long as we put it in service of a greater good.

Sometimes we feel we're not measuring up, and that everyone else can see that. We might even feel helpless and isolated. When that happens, we often miss that the feeling can in fact be a blessing in disguise that can skyrocket our self-development to new heights.