<![CDATA[EL PAÍS]]>

<![CDATA[EL PAÍS]]>https://english.elpais.comSat, 16 May 2026 21:42:43 +0000en1hourly1<![CDATA[Six guidelines for keeping your brain young (and aging better)]]>https://english.elpais.com/health/2025-12-18/six-guidelines-for-keeping-your-brain-young-and-aging-better.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/health/2025-12-18/six-guidelines-for-keeping-your-brain-young-and-aging-better.htmlThu, 18 Dec 2025 16:42:16 +0000When it comes to longevity, many people prioritize quality over quantity. Rather than simply wanting to live to the age of 100, we’re concerned about our well-being in our later years. Almost everyone would gladly accept a shorter life, but one lived in full possession of their faculties, especially regarding their ability to think, remember, and interact with others. For decades, pharmacies and natural health stores have offered all sorts of supplements for our mental health. However, the effectiveness of many of these products has not been scientifically proven.

]]>Juárez Casanova<![CDATA[You’ll never convince anyone and four other reasons not to get angry]]>https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2025-04-17/youll-never-convince-anyone-and-four-other-reasons-not-to-get-angry.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2025-04-17/youll-never-convince-anyone-and-four-other-reasons-not-to-get-angry.htmlThu, 17 Apr 2025 14:54:12 +0000An email or text whose tone seems out of place. A friend who forgets to wish us a happy birthday or ask how we are, even though he knows we’re struggling. Someone who asks for too much, doesn’t keep their promises, or who, in our opinion, makes a serious mistake in making a decision. We’ll never be short of reasons to get irritated and despair at the world and the people in it. How can we contain our anger and frustration in the face of everything that hurts us? To achieve this, it may help to understand that, in almost all cases, anger is useless and can actually complicate things even further. Let’s look at five reasons why.

]]>Juárez Casanova<![CDATA[Everything happens for a reason: Why we are fascinated by coincidences]]>https://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2024-09-26/everything-happens-for-a-reason-why-we-are-fascinated-by-coincidences.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2024-09-26/everything-happens-for-a-reason-why-we-are-fascinated-by-coincidences.htmlThu, 26 Sep 2024 17:03:41 +0000This fall will mark six months since the death of Paul Auster, who had a fixation on games of chance. In fact, he said that a wrong telephone number inspired his famous novel City of Glass. Apparently, he received a call at night in which he was urgently asked about the Pinkerton detective agency. After clarifying that they had made a mistake, there was another call the following night. The American writer and screenwriter gave the same answer, but began to entertain an idea: if the same mistake occurred on the third night, he would say that he was a detective and begin the investigation. That call did not happen, but in the field of fiction it did, giving rise to the first novel of The New York Trilogy.

]]>Marta Sevilla<![CDATA[Hope, the secret weapon of philosopher Byung-Chul Han]]>https://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2024-08-28/hope-the-secret-weapon-of-philosopher-byung-chul-han.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2024-08-28/hope-the-secret-weapon-of-philosopher-byung-chul-han.htmlWed, 28 Aug 2024 12:34:15 +0000It has been somewhat of a surprise that the famous South Korean thinker Byung-Chul Han chose hope as the theme of his latest book, set to be published on September 26. Based in Berlin, this philosopher — who writes his short works in German — is known for his criticism of capitalism and neoliberalism thanks to books such as The Burnout Society and Non-things: Upheaval in the Lifeworld. Choosing hope is a way of finding the light at the end of the tunnel, it is a feeling or vision that seems to go against the current, but one we need in order to feel alive.

]]>Sr. García<![CDATA[The benefits of shutting up]]>https://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2024-03-28/the-benefits-of-shutting-up.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2024-03-28/the-benefits-of-shutting-up.htmlThu, 28 Mar 2024 14:52:24 +0000In today’s world, we are surrounded by relentless noise, unlike any other time in history. The proliferation of social media has inundated our daily lives with a constant deluge of information. Our mobile phones bombard us with breaking news alerts, Twitter posts, Instagram notifications, and the relentless buzz of WhatsApp groups sharing words and memes non-stop. Some commuters play their favorite podcasts on tinny phone speakers, until two wannabe rappers hop on your subway car, blast their music and start freestyling about fellow passengers. At work, the constant hum of conversation serves as the day’s soundtrack. Noise, noise and more noise. It feels like silence has been relegated to mountaintop monasteries. It’s now seen as dangerous void that must be filled so it doesn’t swallow us whole.

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]]>Cinta Arribas<![CDATA[How to find your purpose in life]]>https://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2024-03-21/how-to-find-your-purpose-in-life.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2024-03-21/how-to-find-your-purpose-in-life.htmlThu, 21 Mar 2024 14:36:46 +0000For a few years now, everyone seems to be looking for their purpose in life, what the Japanese would call ikigai. For our existence to have meaning, we need to have a reason to get out of bed, something that drives us and gives us direction, especially in times of uncertainty.

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]]>Puño<![CDATA[How trauma can reveal personal strength]]>https://english.elpais.com/health/2024-02-05/how-trauma-can-reveal-personal-strength.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/health/2024-02-05/how-trauma-can-reveal-personal-strength.htmlMon, 05 Feb 2024 06:00:00 +0000A couple of years ago, Eddie Jaku — who became known at the end of his life for his memoir The Happiest Man on Earth — died in Sydney at the age of 101. While reading the book by this German-Jewish engineer, who was arrested by the Nazis in 1938 and interned in various concentration camps, happiness is made conspicuous by its absence. However, his narration serves to illustrate the decision he made that miraculously saved his life. After managing to escape from the concentration camp in the last days of the war, he survived in a cave, living on snails, slugs, and dirty water.

]]>MARÍA HERGUETA<![CDATA[The art of living, according to Miyazaki ]]>https://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2023-12-24/the-art-of-living-according-to-miyazaki.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/lifestyle/2023-12-24/the-art-of-living-according-to-miyazaki.htmlSun, 24 Dec 2023 16:23:38 +0000After a long wait that began in 2016, when it became known that Hayao Miyazaki was preparing his farewell film, this fall viewers were finally able to see The Boy and the Heron. Its original title in Japan, How Do You Live?, is that of a 1937 novel that greatly influenced the creator of such crucial animated films as My Neighbor Totoro and the Oscar-winning Spirited Away. But Genzaburō's book bears little relation to this latest Miyazaki film, even though Miyazaki’s boy protagonist finds the novel in his room in the house he moves into after his mother’s death. The classic book, read by all Japanese children in the mid-20th century, tells the story of a boy’s crucial lessons about the true meaning of courage, the injustices of the world and the essence of his own existence. These are also recurring themes in the Studio Ghibli universe that Miyazaki founded. Here are some of the lessons from his filmography that can help us in the difficult art of living.

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]]>Gorka Olmo<![CDATA[Love is a drug that only works for 15 months ]]>https://english.elpais.com/health/2023-10-15/love-is-a-drug-that-only-works-for-15-months.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/health/2023-10-15/love-is-a-drug-that-only-works-for-15-months.htmlSun, 15 Oct 2023 17:19:35 +0000In 1997, the French writer Frédéric Beigbeder said that “love lasts three years” in an autobiographically inspired novel of the same title. The author explained that, during the first year after falling in love, the newness of the relationship makes it exciting, and the adrenaline of love makes us overlook the other’s possible defects. In the second year, the passion declines. There tends to be less sex and less communication, as if the topics of conversation were running out. In the third, the differences become noticeable, which is why many people break up or settle into conformism. All this according to Beigbeder, who does not exactly have an optimistic outlook on the world and human relationships. But what does science have to say about this matter?

]]>María Hergueta<![CDATA[Psychopaths in power: Why toxic people easily reach the top spots]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-09-14/psychopaths-in-power-why-toxic-people-easily-reach-top-command.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-09-14/psychopaths-in-power-why-toxic-people-easily-reach-top-command.htmlThu, 14 Sep 2023 14:32:04 +0000In DisConnected, Steve Taylor talks about how narcissists and psychopaths are often found in positions of power — be it political, business or otherwise. Taylor, who is professor of Psychology at Leeds Beckett University, uses the term “pathocracy” to describe countries or organizations that are controlled by these kinds of people, who have little or no empathy for the suffering caused by their decisions.

]]>Ricardo Tomás<![CDATA[Are work and happiness compatible?]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-08-31/are-work-and-happiness-compatible.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-08-31/are-work-and-happiness-compatible.htmlThu, 31 Aug 2023 13:34:06 +0000Two and a half millennia ago, Confucius said: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” It was probably already a utopian idea even then to enjoy something that, in the vast majority of cases, is done out of necessity and obligation. If we look at today’s statistics, however, the situation is broadly more positive than one might imagine. In the United States, it is estimated that two-thirds of the working population are satisfied with their jobs. This contrasts with Spain, where a recent survey by the National Institute of Statistics found that six out of 10 workers said they were unhappy in their working day.

]]>Del Hambre<![CDATA[Seven keys to being more human in the times of AI: The art of living according to Asimov ]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-08-17/seven-keys-to-being-more-human-in-the-times-of-ai-the-art-of-living-according-to-asimov.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-08-17/seven-keys-to-being-more-human-in-the-times-of-ai-the-art-of-living-according-to-asimov.htmlThu, 17 Aug 2023 16:46:31 +0000In his novels and stories, Isaac Asimov anticipated many of the situations we are experiencing today. However, beyond his achievements in science fiction and dissemination, from this visionary’s work we can obtain very human lessons for our daily lives, in a world that increasingly resembles that of his books.

]]>PUÑO<![CDATA[In the face of pain, we need to become aware that we are not alone ]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-07-23/in-the-face-of-pain-we-need-to-become-aware-that-we-are-not-alone.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-07-23/in-the-face-of-pain-we-need-to-become-aware-that-we-are-not-alone.htmlSun, 23 Jul 2023 22:08:00 +0000A famous Indian proverb says that one only possesses what one cannot lose in a shipwreck. The question is: what remains of oneself when everything has collapsed?

]]>María Hergueta<![CDATA[The Stutz method: A simple approach to deal with the victimizing thoughts that hold us back ]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-07-08/the-stutz-method-a-simple-approach-to-deal-with-the-victimizing-thoughts-that-hold-us-back.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-07-08/the-stutz-method-a-simple-approach-to-deal-with-the-victimizing-thoughts-that-hold-us-back.htmlSat, 08 Jul 2023 17:40:41 +0000A little over a decade ago, a book called The Tools was published, written by Phil Stutz in collaboration with Barry Michels. However, this manual of practical psychology went unnoticed by many until last year, when the documentary Stutz was released on Netflix, directed by actor Jonah Hill, who also plays the role of an interviewer for his therapist: Stutz himself, a New York psychiatrist based in Los Angeles, where he treats numerous Hollywood stars. In the documentary, the psychiatrist appears as a skinny man with a penetrating gaze. We can see a slight tremor in his arm due to Parkinson’s, a disease he has suffered for a long time. The conversation takes place informally; Stutz takes issue with the therapists who make their patients talk and return nothing but silence.

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]]>Ricardo Tomás<![CDATA[Three steps and 90 seconds to de-escalate rage ]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-06-18/three-steps-and-90-seconds-to-de-escalate-rage.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-06-18/three-steps-and-90-seconds-to-de-escalate-rage.htmlSun, 18 Jun 2023 19:06:26 +0000We all witness other people fly off the handle from time to time. It could be someone lashing out at another driver from behind the wheel, or perhaps a neighbor complaining about the noise in the next apartment. However, it can also be people closer to us that we cannot ignore. The outburst can come from a boss, our partner, or even our children. If we react similarly, we will only escalate the conflict, which usually results in emotional wounds that are difficult to heal. But what can you do, then, when someone is losing it? Lawyer and mediator Douglas E. Noll, who has worked in high-security prisons, provides an answer in his book De-Escalate, where he states that the tension can be lowered in 90 seconds or less through the following three steps:

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]]>Diego Mir<![CDATA[Three lessons from Romanticism to navigate modern life]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-04-27/three-lessons-from-romanticism-to-navigate-modern-life.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-04-27/three-lessons-from-romanticism-to-navigate-modern-life.htmlThu, 27 Apr 2023 14:22:04 +0000Following the success of The Invention of Nature, in which the German-British historian Andrea Wulf examined the life and work of the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self (2022) explores the romantic spirit.

]]><![CDATA[Why are we time poor?]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-04-03/why-are-we-time-poor.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-04-03/why-are-we-time-poor.htmlMon, 03 Apr 2023 19:59:49 +0000As we get older, time management becomes a more pressing matter. Perhaps scarcity does create value, as they say in marketing. Why, then, are so many unhappy with how they use their days, hours and minutes? In the podcast How to Build a Happy Life, Arthur C. Brooks refers to our tendency to constantly increase the amount of work that we take into our free time; he argues that there is an alarming contrast between how we spend our time and what we really want to do with it.

]]><![CDATA[What makes us happy? Spoiler alert: it’s not money ]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-03-23/what-makes-us-happy-spoiler-alert-its-not-money.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-03-23/what-makes-us-happy-spoiler-alert-its-not-money.htmlThu, 23 Mar 2023 13:31:48 +0000The book The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness compiles the findings of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the most comprehensive investigation ever done on happiness. Started in 1938 by Harvard University and continuing to this day, the study attempts to answer the question: what makes us happy?

]]><![CDATA[Prince Harry sits down with Gabor Maté, the world’s leading trauma specialist ]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-03-09/prince-harry-sits-down-with-gabor-mate-the-worlds-leading-trauma-specialist.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-03-09/prince-harry-sits-down-with-gabor-mate-the-worlds-leading-trauma-specialist.htmlThu, 09 Mar 2023 15:17:25 +0000On March 4, one of the most unusual encounters in the history of the internet took place between Prince Harry and the Hungarian-Canadian physician and author, Gabor Maté, the world’s leading specialist in trauma. To be admitted, you first had to buy the Duke of Sussex’s book, Spare, which could be complemented by The Myth of Normal, Maté's latest work. I myself was skeptical about the encounter, which was widely criticized before it even took place.

]]><![CDATA[Five keys to dealing with difficult people]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2022-11-24/five-keys-to-dealing-with-difficult-people.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2022-11-24/five-keys-to-dealing-with-difficult-people.htmlThu, 24 Nov 2022 18:36:31 +0000One time, chatting with a monk who lived in the city, he told me that there is no reason to admire the mystics who retreat to the mountains or the meditators who are capable of spending long periods in isolation.

]]>María Hergueta<![CDATA[When it comes to tough choices, even a bad decision is better than no decision ]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2022-10-27/when-it-comes-to-tough-choices-even-a-bad-decision-is-better-than-no-decision.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2022-10-27/when-it-comes-to-tough-choices-even-a-bad-decision-is-better-than-no-decision.htmlThu, 27 Oct 2022 02:22:13 +0000When faced with critical decisions, many of us tend to freeze up, for fear of making the wrong choice. But making choices is an essential part of life. What some call “destiny” or “karma” is made up of endless small and big decisions that have consequences.

]]><![CDATA[Banishing melancholy and other keys to moving on through life’s stages]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2022-09-14/banishing-melancholy-and-other-keys-to-moving-on-through-lifes-stages.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2022-09-14/banishing-melancholy-and-other-keys-to-moving-on-through-lifes-stages.htmlWed, 14 Sep 2022 15:15:24 +0000Everyone has a hard time accepting the end of a stage in life, due to the difficulty of “letting go.” It can be the end of a relationship, a job status, or even our very existence.

]]><![CDATA[How to learn to live without a face mask (and fear)]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2022-04-08/how-to-learn-to-live-without-a-face-mask-and-fear.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2022-04-08/how-to-learn-to-live-without-a-face-mask-and-fear.htmlFri, 08 Apr 2022 12:14:33 +0000After two years of smiling with our eyes, greeting each other with our elbows and maintaining social distancing, when the masks finally come off – in Spain this is due to happen in most interior settings on April 20 – we may feel insecure or even in danger. For a long time now, the fear of contagion has been very present within society. If we accept that a habit can become established after three weeks of daily practice, as some authors claim, what we have lived through since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in March 2020 is going to make the return to normality with no masks very complicated. Some may feel that they are putting their health at risk if they are speaking at a close distance and without a face covering, or they may feel more uncomfortable if they receive two kisses, a hug or even a handshake.

]]><![CDATA[From cutting back on doomscrolling to avoiding fake news: How to protect your mental health in times of war]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2022-03-10/from-cutting-back-on-doomscrolling-to-avoiding-fake-news-how-to-protect-your-mental-health-in-times-of-war.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2022-03-10/from-cutting-back-on-doomscrolling-to-avoiding-fake-news-how-to-protect-your-mental-health-in-times-of-war.htmlThu, 10 Mar 2022 12:30:12 +0000After a poor night’s sleep, which saw him have a few nightmares and wake several times, Ramón starts the day by looking at the headlines on his cellphone. Two years ago, he would seek out the latest data on the coronavirus pandemic, but now he is consumed by the war in Ukraine. He surfs another two or three media outlets, to see if he has missed any details about the catastrophe.

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