The only person who can fill that empty feeling you have is none other than you . Don't look to your friends or family, for their company works only as a temporary band-aid. Friends come and go. While many of them may genuinely care and worry about you, they'll only go so far to help you out. They have their own problems to tend to. You're the only one you can count on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to keep your spirits up. Your friends and family can't be there for you each and every time you feel a little blue. Many of us have been led astray into thinking that others make our life complete, but this couldn't be farther from the truth. You complete your life all on your own; others merely enhance it. If you're feeling empty or depressed, take a deep breath and look inward -- not outward for solace. The key to your happiness lies within you. Perhaps you worry too much about others and not enough about yourself. Maybe taking up a new hobby -- w...

Many of us feel pressured to be the best at everything we do, whether in our personal or professional lives.  At work, you may feel as though you have to be a jack of all trades and master of them all, from creating complex spreadsheets to possessing the leadership skills to guide your subordinates. In your aerobics or karate class, you might be hard on yourself because you're not progressing as quickly as your peers. And at home, perhaps you're disappointed that you're not as great at cooking or handiwork as you thought. I'm here to tell you one thing: No one is perfect. It takes time to become very good at something, and given the fact that we're so strapped for time, we may never become as good at everything as we'd like. Unfortunately, far too many of us are reluctant to ask for help. We try to figure everything out on our own, only to get frustrated when we're not getting the results we want.  Even experts at their craft had to start som...

To all my readers in the United States and around the world, I'd like to wish each and every one of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! Let me start off by saying that I'm grateful for the people for whom I passionately churn out content every day: you . This two-year-old blog -- nearly 1,100 posts and 212,000 views later -- wouldn't be what it is today without your support; I'll forever be indebted to everyone who takes the time to read, comment on, and/or share my posts. I look forward to writing more content in the coming days, months, and years that will continue to stimulate the substantive conversations my readers and I have on Google+, Facebook, and within the comments section of each individual post. It's obvious that many of you share my passion for so many of the topics I cover on this blog -- from psychology and human behavior to politics and history -- which is a real treat for someone like myself who has an insatiable appetite for learning. That sa...