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Brief Thoughts
The Courage of Your Lack of Conviction: Finding Wisdom and Strength in Not Knowing

The Courage of Your Lack of Conviction: Finding Wisdom and Strength in Not Knowing

Relationships bring out the very best and very worst of us. Finding ourselves in the constant spotlight of someone else’s attention can…
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Jon Waterlow
The World As We Make It: A Poem

The World As We Make It: A Poem

The whole world
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Jon Waterlow
How To Use a Coin Flip to Make Genuinely Good Decisions

How To Use a Coin Flip to Make Genuinely Good Decisions

Paralysis through analysis is a real problem for many of us. We get stuck in our heads, weighing up the pros and cons, trying to nail the…
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Jon Waterlow
Articles
The Real Story of the CIA’s Secret Treasure-Trove of Soviet Jokes

The Real Story of the CIA’s Secret Treasure-Trove of Soviet Jokes

Recently declassified CIA documents have been discovered to contain a cache of Soviet jokes collected by the agency in the 1980s; since…
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Jon Waterlow
The Scars that Divide Us: What Self-Harm Really Means and What We Can Do to Help

The Scars that Divide Us: What Self-Harm Really Means and What We Can Do to Help

1 March is Self-Injury Awareness Day (#SIAD). But what is self-harm? What does it mean, why do people do it… and how can we help?
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Jon Waterlow
I Saw This And Didn’t Think Of You: Why I’m Not Buying You Something For Your Birthday

I Saw This And Didn’t Think Of You: Why I’m Not Buying You Something For Your Birthday

The Christmas trees and tinsel have been down for a while and we can breathe again for perhaps another few months before the hype starts…
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Jon Waterlow
‘Just Joking’ Always Sounds Suspicious… But It Shouldn’t Have To

‘Just Joking’ Always Sounds Suspicious… But It Shouldn’t Have To

I wrote this piece on Donald Trump and ‘unacceptable’ humour a few months ago, but as Trump now sits in the White House furiously signing…
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Jon Waterlow
If Ego Is My Enemy, Is Depression My Friend?

If Ego Is My Enemy, Is Depression My Friend?

As you can tell from its in-your-face title, Ryan Holiday’s new book, Ego is the Enemy, has a bone to pick with you. Or at least it invites…
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Jon Waterlow
Are you in a bad mood, or are you actually in pain?

Are you in a bad mood, or are you actually in pain?

Sometimes we’re just snappy with the people around us. Some days it feels like our normal levels of optimism just aren’t available, and our…
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Jon Waterlow
Do They Know How You Feel?

Do They Know How You Feel?

Today I wrote a letter to my doctor, thanking him for all he’s done for me.
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Jon Waterlow
Is Trust Earned Or Given?

Is Trust Earned Or Given?

Everyone knows trust is earned, right? You can’t just go around trusting everyone – only a lunatic would do that.
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Jon Waterlow
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