What to do When Willpower Abandons You

One of the most significant discoveries of the early 20th century was of a part of the mind we now refer to as ‘the unconscious.’ It came to be properly appreciated that what we know of ourselves in ordinary consciousness comprises only a fraction of what is actually at play within us; and that a lot of what we really want, feel and are is not at our mental fingertips, lying instead in a penumbra of ignorance, fantasy and denial which we can only hope to dispel with patient and compassionate efforts, probably with the assistance of an analyst.

There’s a lot constantly going in the fantasy part of our minds that sounds pretty strange and at times, frankly, shocking. But coming to terms with our fantasies – and realising they are not our reality – belongs to the art of knowing how to live more easily with ourselves. Uploaded 07-04-17Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/4bvm7Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/zMkYnFURTHER READING“Every day, each one of us entertains, in the caverns of our minds, a host of secretly very enjoyable but deeply taboo ideas and scenarios. We fantasise about the downfall of rivals, sudden wealth and fame, reversing and accelerating time, eliminating colleagues, anticipating the stock market, the death of various people (even a few we’re meant to love) – and of course, of having sex with a huge variety of entirely inappropriate people in a plethora of highly forbidden or just pretty non-standard ways…”You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://goo.gl/8gl7fbMORE SCHOOL OF LIFEWatch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLselfSOCIAL MEDIAFeel free to follow us at the links below:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITSProduced in collaboration with:Emma Ehrlinghttp://www.emmaehrling.co.uk/ #TheSchoolOfLife Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A good life will always have to involve complaining about how some people behave around us. But the act of complaining can go better or worse, depending on our our approach. Knowing how to complain properly is one of life’s key skills. Uploaded 03-04-17Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/7WuD-Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/bKolbFURTHER READING“Almost every day, with slightly dispiriting inevitability, someone in our vicinity will hurt us in some way: it could be a friend, a colleague, a child or, most likely, a partner. They’ll be neglectful about something that matters immensely to us, they’ll be – to a greater or lesser extent – unkind, thoughtless, offensive or brusque...”You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://goo.gl/o02121MORE SCHOOL OF LIFEWatch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLself SOCIAL MEDIAFeel free to follow us at the links below:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITSProduced in collaboration with:Peter Caireshttp://www.twitter.com/peterlikesthishttp://www.petercaires.com #TheSchoolOfLife Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new series of films by The School of Life about work around the world - a guide to helping us to think about what makes work purposeful and worthwhile.

At the heart of Japanese philosophy and wisdom lies a concept called ‘wabi-sabi’; a term which denotes a commitment to the everyday, the melancholic, the somewhat broken and the imperfect. It’s a term we need a lot more of in our lives. Uploaded 04-12-15Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/vT4JBBe more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/gf2vFSOCIAL MEDIAFeel free to follow us at the links below:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITSBrought to you by http://www.theschooloflife.comProduced in collaboration with Mike Boothhttp://www.youtube.com/somegreybloke #TheSchoolOfLife ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices