Nothing can pervade your thoughts or inspire sleepless nights like the feeling of regret.
That good-for-you bad feeling
Regrets make you feel terrible, but initially, they help you learn from mistakes.
“Those who express regret over a decision they have made tend to make a better decision next time,” says Aidan Feeney, psychology senior lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast.
The harm of overthinking
Regrets that dominate your thoughts long-term may cause health problems.
“Regrets are a stronger predictive for depression in older than younger people,” says Carsten Wrosch, psychology professor at Concordia University in Montréal. “[Heart disease may] be observed.”
Rising above regrets
Try these tactics:
* Stop judging the past. People may mistakenly believe that they made the wrong choice, which can worsen regretful feelings.
“Say, ‘Given what I knew at the time, would I have done anything different?’” says Wändi Bruine de Bruin, professor of behavioral decision-making at Leeds University Business School.
* Embrace inaction. As you age, you’ll have less power to fix regrets. Accepting this may help you cope.
“If you can disengage from undoing the regret, you don’t experience the consequences,” says Wrosch.
* Seek inner wisdom. Unresolved regrets become more common with age. Fortunately, many older adults are equipped to handle their emotions.
“They have the wisdom that comes with life experience,” says Pär Bjälkebring, psychology senior lecturer at Gothenburg University in Sweden.
* Appreciate your situation. People who regret missed opportunities imagine best-case scenarios about what might have been.
Instead, focus on the good in your life, Bruine de Bruin says.
* Employ optimistic thinking. Diminish regret’s power by finding something positive that materialized.
“Identify the silver linings,” says Tom Gilovich, psychology professor at Cornell University in New York.
* Lead an active life. People regret inaction, so be more proactive.
“There is some great satisfaction to taking command of a regret,” Gilovich says. “Go for it.”
Veteran Profile: Norman Salive
Born in Walkerville, Ont., on August 14, 1924, Norman joined the Royal Canadian Army in 1942 with the Calgary Highlanders. While fighting against German forces near the flooded dykes of Holland in 1944, he was wounded by shrapnel.
“Mortars and shells were going off all around us. A piece of shrapnel went through my hand and into the butt of my gun. My friend (John St. Louis) got hit in the leg…he couldn’t walk. I had to put him on my shoulder and carry him back to our guys in the rear.”
Norm lived in Sylvan Lake, Alta., and passed away on February 4, 2014.
For more profiles by Veterans Voices of Canada, click here.
We hope you’ve finally made your peace with Pluto being downgraded from a planet to an ice dwarf, because we have some more jarring news for you: It seems your teachers may have been wrong about the number of continents on Earth, too. (Get out your Google Maps for the 30 common errors that leave geography teachers in tears.)
Earlier in 2017, scientists published a report in the journal of the Geological Society of America detailing an eighth continent called Zealandia, roughly the size of India and almost completely submerged under the Pacific Ocean east of Australia. Encompassing all of New Zealand as well as several nearby islands, Zealandia likely spent the best of its above-water days as part of the supercontinent Gondwana before fragmenting off of Australia and Antarctica some 80 million years ago. This lost, underwater continent is just beginning to reveal its secrets. (Here are nine heart-shaped islands and lakes around the world.)
While researchers have been aware of the 1.9 million-square-mile mass for two decades, Zealandia has only recently become the object of serious study since the Geological Society paper argued that it fits all the criteria for a proper continent, including a continental crust that’s distinctly separate from the seabed in terms of elevation, thickness, and geology. A team of 32 scientists from 12 countries completed their first visit to six dig sites around Zealandia, where they drilled up more than 8,000 feet of sediment cores that will help explain the lost continent’s 80-million-year history.
Because there is no official body that formally recognizes continents, whether or not Zealandia ends up in future geography textbooks will come down to its acceptance by the scientific community at large, possibly with a little help from travellers like you. Want to give some cred to the new eighth continent? It’s 94 per cent underwater, but you can still set foot on it by booking passage to New Zealand, New Caledonia (an archipelago that technically belongs to France), and Australia’s Norfolk and Lord Howe islands. Remember, northern hemisphere winter is southern hemisphere summer, so book with haste (last-minute booking is one of the very worst air travel mistakes), pack a swimsuit and a snorkel, and be the first of your friends to touch the lost eighth continent.
Plus: Welcome to the Magical Town Where the Streets Are Made of Water
Forget the theory of relativity. When it comes to decoding the universe, nothing is more mysterious than human beings. Thankfully, German-born physicist and world-famous genius Albert Einstein has left behind his own theory to achieving happiness and fulfillment—and no, it has nothing to do with physics. (Some of the greatest thinkers in the world had this productivity trick in common.)
After 95 years, an anonymous seller has put two notes from the Nobel Prize-winning prodigy up for auction. And you’ll never guess what he wrote. (Check out these four fascinating medical discoveries from around the world.)
As the story goes, Einstein was on a 1922 speaking tour in Tokyo when a Japanese courier delivered a message to him at the Imperial Hotel. Upon realizing that he didn’t have enough change to tip to messenger, he whipped out a pen and scribbled down some life tips, instead. (Successful people have these five life skills in common.)
Those two pieces of advice? First, “A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest,” he wrote in German on Imperial Hotel Tokyo stationary. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” reads the second, written on a blank piece of paper. (The key to happiness might be right under your nose.)
As Einstein handed over the advice, he added a small quip: “Maybe if you’re lucky those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip,” the seller, who is a relative of the courier, claims. (Check out these three ways to maximize your brain power.)
There’s definitely some genius behind that simple wisdom. But if you really want to test your brains, check out these quirky habits that prove you’re smarter than everyone else!
Plus: How to Be a Good Person, According to Science
Want your flight attendant to like you? It’s easy!
You can probably imagine that there are plenty of things your flight attendant won’t tell you. One of the little-known secrets of the skies? Behind their warm smiles and greetings, your flight attendants started judging you the minute you boarded the plane. But don’t worry! When it comes to getting on their good side, all it takes is one simple word.
“You would be surprised at the number of passengers who are so focused on getting to their seat that they completely ignore the flight attendant who speaks to them,” Abbie Unger, a former attendant for United, Continental, and US Airways Express and author of a book on career advice for flight attendants, told HuffPost.
Giving a smile and a simple “hello” to your flight attendants as you board the aircraft can make a huge difference, according to flight attendant Kara Mulder. Not only will it improve their day—not to mention their mood!—but it could also land you some extra perks. Flight attendants “have some of the most interesting stories [to tell], if you just take a second to listen,” Mulder said. And they might be more likely to slip you an extra mini bottle of wine, too.
So the next time you board a plane, just remember: “It starts with the basics,” Unger said. “Use the good manners that your mama taught you.”
[Source: HuffPost]
Check out the 16 Airport Mistakes to Stop Making Before Your Next Flight!
“I’m really out on a limb here…”
Here’s a new twist on Caption Corner—you supply the funny photo, we supply the one-liner!
Thanks to Megan Lorenz of Etobicoke, Ontario, for sharing this great photo with us. Send your pics here!
Share your own funny or sweet one-liners for this photo in the comments section below!
Check out more Caption Corner challenges.
Don’t miss out-sign up for the Our Canada e-newsletter!
“I can’t feel my feet…”
Here’s a new twist on Caption Corner—you supply the funny photo, we supply the one-liner!
Thanks to May Cunnington of Ayer’s Cliff, Quebec, for sharing this great photo with us. Send your pics here!
Share your own funny or sweet one-liners for this photo in the comments section below!
Check out more Caption Corner challenges.
Don’t miss out-sign up for the Our Canada e-newsletter!
Do You Have This Hair and Eye Colour Combo?
Your parents are liars. When they told you as a kid that you were entirely unique and also had the rarest possible hair and eye colour combination in humans, they were misleading you. Green eyes are uncommon, sure, but your deep ash blonde hair doesn’t quite make the cut in terms of rare genetics. (Here are six foods that improve your eyesight.)
The title of rarest hair colour/eye colour combination belongs to red haired folks with blue eyes. According to Medical Daily, both the blue eye trait and the red hair trait are recessive, so their likelihood of simultaneous appearance is pretty slim. Just ask anyone who’s pieced together a Punnett Square. (Discover 13 home remedies for dry and damaged hair.)
Red hair alone occurs with a frequency of one to two per cent of the human population, while blue eyes occur in approximately 17 per cent of the human population. Technically, that would mean 0.17 per cent (or about 13 million people) of the world’s population have red hair and blue eyes. But since several factors play into the likelihood of that combination, that math is difficult to confirm. Either way, the combo is the rarest on the planet, and if you happen to have a red-hair, blue-eyed pal, don’t forget to share the fun fact.
Interested in some more facts about redheads? Look no further!
Why Taking Photos of the Eiffel Tower at Night Is Illegal
Ah, an evening in Paris. Your stomach is full of good bread, good cheese, and good wine. Now you’re staring up at the Eiffel Tower as its lights twinkle and dance in the night sky. But if you’re thinking about snapping a photo of the view, you might want to think again. Snopes, the online fact checking site, just confirmed that sharing photographs of the Eiffel Tower at night is actually illegal. (Check out even more mind-blowing facts about the Eiffel Tower.)
Under current French law, it’s totally fine to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower’s evening light display. However, distributing that photograph via Facebook or Instagram might land you in hot water.
But snap-happy tourists, you can breathe a bit easier. You can legally take all the photos you want during the day, because the tower is a public space. It’s only the tower’s evening light display, installed in 1985 by Pierre Bideau, that is technically owned by the artist and protected by copyright.
The FAQ section of Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, the company that owns and operates the tower, confirms it: “Permission and rights must be obtained from the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel for the publication of photographs of the illuminated Eiffel Tower.” Translation? Sharing a photo of the illuminated Eiffel Tower without permission from France could make you a potential target for copyright lawyers. (Bet you didn’t know these surprising international laws were real, either.)
Your Facebook photos are probably safe, though—especially if you only use them for personal purposes. And considering exactly how much it costs to light the tower every day, it’s practically a waste if a few tourists can’t snap a photo, right?
Here are the 15 Most Instagrammed Destinations in the World!
Hot Peppers Could Help You Live Longer
Hot peppers are the unofficial superfood we all need. They help you lose weight, jumpstart metabolism, and stimulate endorphins as a proven aphrodisiac. And based on a new study, they harness one more superpower: immortality.
Okay, it’s not that drastic, but hot peppers may be able to increase your lifespan. Researchers from the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont found that the consumption of hot red chili peppers (not to be confused with the Red Hot Chili Peppers) is associated with a 13 per cent lower risk of death, especially concerning deaths caused by heart disease or stroke.
These findings are based on 23 years’ worth of data collected from more than 16,000 Americans. Those who ate any amount of hot red chili peppers, excluding ground chili peppers, were considered chili pepper consumers. After 23 years, the death rate of pepper-eaters (21.6 per cent) was lower than the death rate of participants who did not eat the peppers at all (33.6 per cent).
The authors behind this study aren’t sure why chili peppers could delay death, but it could have something do to with capsaicin (the primary component of chili peppers) and its receptors in the body called TRP channels. Capsaicin improves digestion, has antioxidant properties that fight infections, and may fight cardiovascular disease. Certain types of TRP channels may protect against obesity.
So the next time you’re debating what kind of salsa to buy, opt for the hottest flavour. It could give you some extra time on this lovely planet of ours.
This is what an appetite for spicy foods says about your personality.
