The School Of Life

It isn't easy to get into a good conversation. Many of our best ones seem to have happened by chance. Far from it - we believe a great conversation always...

Emotions are like animals: No two are quite the same. Some are quiet; some are fierce; And all are hard to tame. An Emotional Menagerie is an emotional glossary for...

We are constantly at risk of losing perspective around the challenges we face. We mistake what is manageable for a catastrophe; we despair of ourselves too soon; we alienate others...

The effectiveness of any organisation or business comes down to how skilled everyone is at collaborating: how well we're able to explain ourselves, listen to others and approach challenges in...

Typically, we stumble on fascinating conversation topics a little bit by chance. Shyness can hold us back. Too often, we revert to polite, but not especially inspired, staples. Arranged to...

One of the difficulties about how our minds work is that we often cannot quite clearly see or know what is inside us. Art therapists have a longstanding tradition of...

Talking properly is the glue that keeps every relationship alive. By regularly checking in with one another, covering how we feel, what we've learnt, and how we see the world,...

Most questionnaires are just a bit of fun, but this one sets out to be both entertaining and useful. It offers us nothing less than a guide to the comforting...

When trying to deal with our current troubles and anxieties, it can be deeply irritating to be asked to consider our childhoods. They happened so long ago; we can probably...

Whatever our job title, our work will always benefit from new ideas and fresh ways of thinking. We're used to regarding inspiration as something that arrives more or less at...

Journaling is one of the most effective ways to regain direction and calm: but what we should ideally be journaling about isn't always clear. This set of prompt cards directs...

In theory, we are all interested in being kind. In practice, a lot gets in the way: tiredness, anger, bitterness. But a lack of kindness lies at the heart of...

Families are a mystery. Is everyone's as complicated as ours? Is there such a thing as a 'normal' one? We generally only get to see the polished exteriors and are...

Not many teenagers want to talk to their parents that much. Their reasons are numerous and often sensible; yet for parents, the silence can feel painful and mysterious. What happened...

We often overestimate how fragile we are. In our nightmares, we assume that life would become impossible for us far earlier than it actually would. In reality, we could manage...

In an overcomplicated world, what many of us crave deep down is greater simplicity: less clutter, fewer commitments, less static and chaos. This ingenious set of cards asks us a...

A lot of what makes life worth living isn't to do with great, heroic or costly things, but with modest pleasures that are all around us, largely unnoticed, available for...

Whether we should stay in or leave a relationship is one of the most consequential and painful decisions we are ever likely to confront. What makes the issue so hard...

In order to work well together, people need more than just technical skills; they need to get to know and understand each other. We suspect this intuitively; which is why...

The Compatibility Game is designed to help two people in a relationship (romantic or otherwise) assess their level of compatibility. It helps to a) identify areas of alignment and divergence...

An in-depth exploration of what really lies behind our problematic behavioural patterns in the workplace, and a blueprint for the emotional skills we need to overcome them.Modern businesses place huge...

The idea of family lies close to the meaning of life, but in practice, families do not always come together, or chat about what matters, or laugh as much or...

Raising a child to be an authentic and mentally robust adult is one of life's great challenges. It is also, fortunately, not a matter of luck. There are many things...

A 15th anniversary collection of The School of Life's most popular and essential essays on self-knowledge, relationships, work and culture. The School of Life is an organisation with a focused...

An outline for a new kind of wedding ceremony free from theology, with new rituals designed to prepare us for modern marriage. Many of us are attracted to the idea...

When we end up in a really good conversation with a friend, we sometimes pay them a slightly unusual but sincere compliment: we say that chatting to them feels like...

It's impossible for a child to spend too long around adults without one of themcoming up and asking, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, 'What...

An honest and accessible guide to finding light in the darkest of times.In a world that isn't short of darkness, there could be few more urgent priorities than to spend...