“Eleanor & Park” is a romance novel about two misfits who become friends, fall in love and endure the cruelties of the world: abusive parents, poverty and bullying.

Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter that acts on the limbic system, the brain's emotional centre, promoting feelings of contentment, reducing anxiety and stress. It has been dubbed the “love hormone” for its role promoting social bonding, altruism and more.

Parents and teachers might often wonder how to teach children caring toward others – more so when the world feels full of disagreement, conflict, and aggression.

As a young student hungry for truth and spiritual knowledge, I learned about the connection between the natural elements and life. Fire corresponds to the animating life force, earth to the physical body, air to the mental processes and water to emotions.

Being on a transformational path is empowering. Whether you meditate, study with a teacher, or are involved in a personal growth process, you transcend old patterns and get to know yourself as more than who you thought you were.

Take a breath. Feel the air passing through your nose, the chest rises and falls, the belly relaxes. What are you thinking while breathing?Maybe you aren’t thinking, because when you focus on the breath, the body and the mind calms.

Vibrational catalyst Panache Desai has helped thousands of people around the world to access soul connection, inner peace, and oneness.

“Life is not for chickens” one of my friends said to me, shaking his head, as he listened to the litany of my recent 18 months. “You are the most resilient person I have ever known.” These words gave me a moment to pause and reflect.

We have been led to believe that others are responsible and that they know better. We have been taken off the job as the one who knows what is best for us.

Like our founding fathers, Steven Dinan has high ideals for America. Fortunately, his perfect union also includes all races, genders, religions, fellow global inhabitants and planet Earth.

If you believe that you are what you feel, then life truly stems from your thoughts and emotions. Affirmations or the process of repeating positive words can boost your spirit to new levels.

When we live connected to a community, we are more likely to become champions for one another, not just for ourselves.

Why have self-reported measures of happiness stayed stagnant for over 40 years? Part of the problem is that happiness isn’t just one thing.

When I stepped into the cavernous hall where the Democratic Party held its national convention last week in Philadelphia, I hadn’t expected to step into a spiritual revival.

It's hard to imagine good news emerging from environmental chaos in Brazil and warfare around the globe, but a team of refugees competing at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this month stood in the spotlight on Tuesday, and took the opportunity to urge compassion for displaced people worldwide.

Human beings have a tendency to compare themselves to others and it is as automatic as any other human emotion. But the negative effects of comparisons keep us from our growth and embracing our greatest abilities to share with others.

Recent events highlight the injustice and violence of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and gross economic inequity, which cause tremendous suffering in our world, and even within many social justice movements, including the vegan movement. How can we get to the roots of these issues, and what role does the accepted materialism of our society play in this?

What if gender were viewed the same way sex researcher Alfred Kinsey famously depicted sexuality – as something along a sliding scale? In fact, there’s an ethnic group in South Sulawesi, Indonesia – the Bugis – that views gender this way.

Whether you're Van Gogh or a stick-figure sketcher, a new Drexel University study found that making art can significantly reduce stress-related hormones in your body.

On June 9, a law allowing patients with terminal illnesses to end their lives with help from a physician came into effect in California, opening conversations about whether human life should be prolonged against the desire to die peacefully and with dignity.

Being alone has many benefits. It grants freedom in thought and action. It boosts creativity. It offers a terrain for the imagination to roam. Solitude also enriches our connections with others by providing perspective, which enhances intimacy and fosters empathy.