Identity crisis: a short guide for parents of teenagers
I have two reasons for writing this article on identity crisis. First, I am the father of four children, three of whom are very different teenagers (14, 17 and 19 years old) and I think I have a vague idea of what it means to deal with teens. Second, in the studies I’ve recently taken up, I was surprised to discover that most...
When love blooms a second time | Couples who find each other after divorce
Many couples only realise after divorce the price they have paid for failing to find common ground, and a few even manage to rediscover the forgotten path to their partner's heart and to rebuild their relationship.
The self-esteem movement and the unhappiness of a generation
They say self-esteem is a vital ingredient for success in life. But what if everything we were taught about self-esteem is wrong?
Escaping from a radical family: Tara Westover’s story
When she saw her brother suffocate from the pain of a work accident and her father still insist on treating him at home with herbs, Tara Westover understood, even though she was only a child, that her parents were making a mistake with incalculable consequences.
Self-esteem and religion, a complicated relationship
Some psychologists fear that religion erodes self-esteem. Some believers fear that self-esteem endangers salvation. Who is right?
The boy who harnessed the wind
From a certain point of view, our life can be divided into moments when we have let circumstances determine our future, and moments when we have gone where we wanted to go, despite the circumstances.
How to grow together with God
We’d been married only a few weeks when we discovered that growing our spirituality as a couple was going to be much more complicated than the instructions on the packet suggested.
Movies and the fascination with good
Starting with biblical stories, moving on to myths and legends, and finally reaching the contemporary film industry, people have always been fascinated by heroes. But what makes us look for heroes? What do modern heroes look like and what do they mean to the contemporary world?
Why do we lose our friends?
“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light” (Hellen Keller).
Prayers of thanksgiving and praise
When we think of gratitude and a lack of gratitude, the biblical scene that comes to mind is the healing of the ten lepers, of whom only one, a Samaritan, returned to thank the Saviour, worshiping and praising God in a loud voice (Luke 17:15-16).
How to change a cynic’s mind
Although it is often mistaken for intelligence, especially by those who practice it, cynicism is, in fact, a mask of disappointment. It is toxic to the soul of the individual and to the soul of the community, so we should get rid of it. Here’s how we can do that.
Blood is (not always) thicker than water | Sibling estrangement, from causes to solutions
For at least one party, sibling estrangement can be more painful than loss through death, writes Fern Schumer Chapman, who was excluded from her brother's life for four decades.
Spoiling is not love
Being a parent means, among other things, engaging in agonising negotiations to keep the supermarket aisles relatively quiet and the shopping trolley from overflowing with sweets. Some are successfully concluded. Others, a real failure. Although we are very adept at recognising a spoiled child on the street, we have a much harder time spotting the signs in our own children. After all, what...
“Dear God”
Life is not just a very cool gift. It is something that a person receives on loan from God. That's the conclusion of Oscar, the child hero of "Oscar and the Lady in Pink," a novel written by Franco-Belgian playwright, short story writer, and novelist Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt.
Logotherapy and the meaning that brings healing
Happiness must come naturally – and this is true for success: you must let it happen simply by not obsessing over it.