Womankind November 2018

What do humans and fruit flies have in common? Apparently, quite a lot. Our genetic makeup, scientists say, is unusually similar. But is there a common link between every human on the planet and every flower? Or every human on the planet and every mineral? Of course, we’re householders, you could say. We share a home, which is our planet, Earth. Cultural critic Neil Postman once wrote: “Have you not noticed that you are on the same ship?” Postman liked to think of Earth as a spaceship; one that has been bobbing about in space for billions of years. And housed on this spaceship are millions of species, from sunflowers to fruit flies to people. “The story of Spaceship Earth has the power to bind people,” writes Postman in his…

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Antonia Case:  Antonia Case is Editor-in-Chief of Womankind, Editorial Director of New Philosopher, and co-convener of the discussion series Bright Thinking. In 2016 she was awarded the AAP Media Professionals’ Award for excellence in the presentation of philosophy in the media, and was shortlisted for Editor of the Year in the Stack Awards in 2016 and 2017. Jacqueline Winspear: Jacqueline Winspear is the author of The New York Times bestselling Maisie Dobbs series, which includes To Die But Once, In This Grave Hour, Journey to Munich, and ten other novels. Her standalone novel, The Care and Management of Lies, was also a New York Times bestseller and a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Loretta Breuning: Loretta Breuning is founder of the Inner Mammal Institute, which helps people manage the ups and downs of their mammal…

“Courage is like a muscle. We strengthen it by use.” — Ruth Gordon “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” — Mae West Psychoanalysts know the immense power of asking questions: “Tell me about your childhood?” Questions, it seems, are good for solving problems, or getting to the root of problems, but rarely do we ask ourselves questions. Clinical psychologist Robert Maurer regularly uses the therapy of ‘questioning’ at his clinic at the UCLA Medical Center. But rather than blasting questions at his patients, instead, Maurer makes his patients come up with their own. Maurer argues that the mere act of asking yourself the same question on a regular basis mobilises the decision-making cortex. “A question is not demanding, not scary. It’s fun,” he notes. Plus,…

We all know that repetition is the key to success. Just look at sportspeople, musicians, or anyone skilled at learning multiple languages. Typically, these folk spend at least an hour a day perfecting their skills. A survey of 2,000 women between the ages of 16 and 25 discovered that, on average, today’s young women, too, spend 48 minutes a day on a single activity. They dedicate some of this time to preparing themselves physically, styling clothes and hair, assessing light conditions, and perfecting the angle. Time is also spent on applying make-up before the shoot. The activity monopolising today’s young women is ‘selfies’ - the art of taking photographs of oneself to publish online. The survey, conducted by a skincare company, found that over half of these women take selfies…

We’ve all been told that thinking positive thoughts is good for us. And studies on the beneficial effects of positive thinking continue to roll in; it’s found that being positive makes us happier, healthier, wealthier, more resilient; the list goes on. Positive thinking, it’s touted, can even increase our lifespan. But for many, setting out to be deliberately more positive feels fake, inauthentic, and somewhat crazed. How can you suddenly start thinking positive thoughts when automatic negative thoughts keep popping up in your mind? Quelling the tide of negativity can feel as insurmountable as stopping rain falling from the sky. As much as you try, the negative thoughts keep rolling in. A psychological technique that’s certainly worth a try for anyone wishing to be more optimistic is ‘labelling’. Go back…