Viktor Frankl, the famous Holocaust survivor and the author of A Man’s Search for Meaning, suggests that meaning can be found in each and every condition in life, however difficult. But we need to take up the responsibility to create meaning for ourselves, and this is perhaps why so many…

How can we live a good life? Last Friday night I attended psychology professor Laurie Santos’ public talk in Taipei, where she gave an one-hour version of her popular class at Yale, Psychology and the Good Life. She initially designed this class because she saw the growing number of highly…

This afternoon I watched the first part of the debate between Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris in Vancouver (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jey_CzIOfYE), in which both sides had lengthy propositions on the relevance of religion (Jordan Peterson) and science (Sam Harris) to ethics and morality, specifically for making sense of good and evil. In…

I am always intrigued by what precisely motivates people. I often hear people, including myself, say they want to change the world and reach for the star, so they worked extremely hard towards their goals. But why do they do it? What drives them? What makes them still believe in…

“Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health.” — Carl Jung, psychologist. In Yuval Noah Harari’s book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century and Ray Dalio’s Principles, both authors reference suffering and pain as a recurring theme in human life. Throughout history, we embrace suffering and pain as we grow…

Last week, I finished the book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. I learned so much from this book, in particular about nationalism, religion, free will, meaning, and meditation. Yuval Noah Harari is by far the most thoughtful and mindful person I know on the topics relating to the future…

Whenever someone asks, “How are you doing?” or “How have you been?” I find it very difficult to answer, because life is so complex that there is not a simple answer. Life is historical, personal, interpersonal, institutional, societal, political, and many other dimensions that I definitely have forgotten here. …

My follow-up blog post after reading the book is online: https://medium.com/@chijuiwu/coming-to-know-thyself-on-21-lessons-for-the-21st-century-by-yuval-noah-harari-68b87761b692 Before reading the book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, I watched a recent conversation between Fei-Fei Li (computer scientist) and Yuval Noah Harari (historian) on Youtube @ https://youtu.be/d4rBh6DBHyw. …

We are two graduates who have just entered adult life. We hope to become better versions of ourselves, and thus begins the Well-Being for Life project which documents our journey of personal growth. We value meaning, gratitude, and kindness in life. …