Life Saving Philosophy

How mental vigor and newfound clarity can change how we view the world and our place in it.

by Marietta McCarty

Hints for Simplicity from an Ancient Master

Let's start the Year of the Dragon with five surefire steps toward simplicity. Time to test these straightforward suggestions from Lao Tzu ... Read More

It Works: Doing One Thing at a Time

Almost all wondered if they had the discipline to cultivate good focus and stay with the effort for a lifetime. All realized that acquiring an undivided mind is work without end. Here are some tips for ways to develop a clear mind.... Read More

Seasonal Testimony to the Ties That Bind

May all your circles, formed over your lifetime, hold fast and strengthen. Keep coming back. Read More

Giving Thanks by Giving Back

How about returning generosity to one who has sent it your way? What about recycling generosity, giving it back and thereby giving thanks? Let's look to Kenya and Wangari Maathai, the hummingbird.... Read More

Sleuthing for Truth in the Information Age

Responsibility for assessing the accuracy of a news report or a candidate's track record falls to each of us. I have work to do. How about you? Read More

Batter Up! Lessons from the 2011 Baseball World Series

As I watched this year's World Series, I was struck by insights subtly delivered by leaping outfield catches and infielders' jogs to the mound to encourage their pitcher. Here's a philosophy sampler from this year's Fall Classic.... Read More

Breaking Bread and Feeding Friendship

We belong together. Such a short sentence and such a big deal. Breaking bread creates real birth days for us all. What a jolt for the spirit, food scooped on buns, arms wrapped around waists, busyness and distance melting.... Read More

An Epidemic: Absence of Response Ability

We are part of the world and there are dues to be paid for membership. Response Ability helps us rise to the stature of our full humanity. Now is the time to unwrap ourselves from self-absorption. Read More

Removing the “Jerk” from Knee-Jerk Reactions

Like the attention given to pruning a bonsai or weaving morning glories up a trellis, we are the directors of our lives, cultivating dispositions that will take us on clearly defined paths. Online and wired, we can carve out tendencies that are constructive and thoughtful, willingly owning the results. Read More

The Victory of Forgiveness

If the people most intimately scarred by September 11th can forgive and work for non-violent approaches to elevate all humanity, can't everyone learn from their steely-willed love? Here's to a call to link arms, before, on, and ever after September 11th, 2011. Read More

8 Tried and True Tips for Teachers

Be consistent and full of surprises. Reliable and spontaneous coexist nicely.... Separate the process of becoming an educated person from the goal of getting a job.... How lucky to be in a position to give away what we know and to watch as this gift improves our students' lives.... Read More

Choosing the Glass Half Full

A clink of the glass half full to teams Rwanda and Japan. Epictetus encourages us as well: "Everything has two handles, one by which it can be carried, and the other by which it cannot." We can deal with everything and choose a life-affirming attitude. Read More

The Dalai Lama: A Perfect “Life Coach”

What if each of us pondered how others would like working with me? What if we first looked in our individual mirrors for signs of difficulty? Everyone can make the effort to become a good listener, to express appreciation, and to give the benefit of the doubt. And, to develop the instinct to look within first.... My thoughts turn once again to the Dalai Lama.... Read More

Eavesdropping on Thomas Jefferson and Walt Whitman on Independence Day

What Jeffersonian "precious blessings" do we take for granted in this country? Why all the excitement about becoming a citizen on Fourth of July Naturalization Ceremonies? Read More

Outsmarting Advertising and Living Happily

"It is better for you to be free from fear lying on a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble." How "New Age" is that suggestion? It comes to us from Epicurus as he strolled his Greek garden almost 2500 years ago! Philosophy has rung the waring siren against the trap sprung by desire and greed forever. Just basic common sense.... Read More

Cohen and Taylor Defeat Schwarzenegger and Sheen: No Contest

What idle complacency numbs hearts and minds and makes the behavior of a politician and an actor front page fodder? Cohen and Taylor are suiting up against the nasty bias of homophobia. When will their names define the true meaning of "celebrity"? Read More

Bin Laden’s Death: What Would Gandhi and Dr. King Say?

I'm trying to think today of an instance in which war or violence won a true peace that stood the test of time. I can't think of one. How can we celebrate Gandhi's legacy, King's accomplishments, and also the killing of bin Laden? What if we had chosen not to play by his hideous rules? Read More

Words of Hope for Our Fragile Planet

The human capacity for empathy, the willingness to share pain and to stay there with it, makes a believer out of me. The healing power found within inclusive community is the most powerful source of hope for this fragile planet that I know. Read More

The Earth Is Our Mother

Often with April's arrival, I think of the refrain repeated by a Buddhist monk while giving a talk about what should be the root of impartial compassion: our awareness that "the Earth is our Mother." All share the same Mother. My thoughts on Earth Day 2011 lead me to a walker in space, a bartender at the beach, and a child in a third grade classroom. Read More

Philosophy Goes To the Gym

Why would anyone think it wise to elevate brawn over brain power? If our minds are in bad shape, what will become of us? The last question of the morning stays with me still. "I want to know what to do with my heart. Where should I give it?" What could be more important than knowing THAT? Read More

Can Democracy and Islam Coexist? Why Ever Not?

Revolution is risky business...everywhere. Democratic theory is hard to put into practice...everywhere. Another's weakness provides an opportunity for one's own soul-searching. In Confucian spirit, let's hold up a mirror to democracy in THIS country. Rather than focusing on the incompatibility of Islam and democracy.... Read More

A Shout Out For the Humanities

Exposure to the Humanities broadens and deepens our humanity. Who decides who is eligible to read a sonnet or qualified to listen to a symphony? How will we fare without heart and soul food? Read More

Healing Old Hurt

Hurt overwhelms... when you are powerless, small, silenced, or afraid. But for those who can summon the grit to go back and tackle the suffering at its source, life preservers await. Sores that have never healed are stripped open so that the poison can spill out at long last. Read More

A Child’s Love for the School Bully

A 12-year-old outsider, pulled in by a sensitive teacher, soon discovers while discussing friendship and community that bullying originates from a place of fear and in feelings of inadequacy. She really took the bully under her wing. Read More

Creating Your Character

I'm wondering. How much strength can we muster to welcome character creation as a task with no end? Is "just a little bit better" quite awesome some days? Read More

Basking in Human Goodness

What does your experience of the world teach you? Not the news, twittered or blogged; not movies, magazines, or music - - - what about your own, everyday, very personal experience of humanity? I hereby take a stand for the abundance of human goodness. Read More

Living 100% Concentrated

Can you make if not every moment, at least a lot of them, just like this kiss in a field? Do you want to kiss your life? Read More

Plato Casts His Ballot

And so I wondered: What would Plato think? In what campaign or during which debate was there a discussion of these powerful concepts every school child learns by heart: "with liberty and justice for all"? What is Liberty? What is Justice? Who is ALL? Read More

Water Works

I realized on this trip that the ocean does not offer me any answers; rather, its undulating repetition erases questions. How impudent that I even try to lay language on this magnificence! Read More

Refusing To Play the Victim

It can be done. "Everything considered, a determined soul will always manage," Camus encourages. It's the acceptance of defeat without effort and the consequent loss of pride that galls the French philosopher. Anyone who meets difficulty with courage may well agree with Sisyphus "that all is well." How can that be? Read More

Marietta McCarty is the author of Little Big Minds: Sharing Philosophy With Kids and How Philosophy Can Save Your Life: 10 Ideas That Matter Most.

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About Life Saving Philosophy

When asked to write blogs for Psychology Today my first thought was PERFECT! I have witnessed for twenty-five years the power of newfound clarity to heal, redirect, and bring peace to people of all ages. I choose my topics for blogs very carefully, and aim for a wide array of food for thought. All blogs share an emphasis on moving forward through difficulty and the positive embrace of our lives. As a collective I offer the reader a tapestry of philosophical reflections and wish for each of you what philosophy has given me: an inner sanctuary of calm and perspective that steadies and inspires.