In this bicentennial year of Karl Marx’s birth, there has been a great deal of celebration of his work and ideas. Many essays that appeared in the global media during the first week of this month –Marx was born on May 5, 1818 – emphasized the relevance of his critique of capitalism even today.

“To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” —Henry David Thoreau, poet, author 

Our internet search results play a crucial role in how we form opinions, says Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble, assistant professor at the USC Annenberg School of Communication.

Current brain science shows that a lack of consistent emotional nurturance in infancy and childhood, when the brain is being formed, can result in difficulties with self-regulation, causing us to seek comfort and nurturance outside ourselves, often in substances, like food, and behaviors such as overeating. The good news is that our history is not our destiny and the brain can be rewired.

Is self-control something you can acquire, like a new language or a taste for opera? Or is it one of those things you either have or don’t, like fashion sense or a knack for telling a good joke?

Unless you live in a year-round warm climate, winter is pretty rough for most of us. From snowstorms impacting our commutes and shutting down power to the constant painfully cold weather, it is a pretty stressful time for many.

Several years ago, my life collided with what I call “Barrie’s crossroad.” It’s a crossroad that I think we all come to at some point. You may have been there before. Or may be there right now. It’s when you find yourself doing everything you can to endure adulthood, while wondering whether you’re actually enjoying it. My life was blurring into a frazzled mosaic of busyness, perfectionism, and exhaustion. And what I came to realize was that the playful parts of my personality were slowly being overtaken by the intensity and seriousness of adulthood. This was not exciting news!

Scott Peck, in his famous book, The Road Less Traveled, started the book with, “Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

Sometimes it doesn't have anything to do with you.