Articles

Ever since school Inna had been famous for her stubbornness, and in that respect the word "impossible" did not exist for her. No, she never went looking for trouble, but once she had got something into her head there was no point arguing. By her own admission she was very modest and quiet, one of those enigmatic little grey mice about whom you never know whether they are thinking about you, about the Chinese annexation of Tibet or about the shopping list — yet when she had to, she could plant her feet in silence

Mila and Alik were a perfectly compatible couple from the point of view of the approach we use. Perfect in the sense that, for a strong union built on respect, care, support and growth, it was enough for them to stay themselves and to like each other. That is the theory. But it was not for nothing that Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize for proving human irrationality: in practice, plenty of additional factors interfere in the delicate business of relationships between people.

What is it? I decided to explain to you what mental training is. Put simply, it is training your own thoughts. Our thoughts shape our life, our success, our relationships, our well-being, our money, our work and so on. Everything starts with a thought. First we think, then we feel accordingly, and then we act that way too.

For some reason, when people talk about a life like a fairy tale, what they picture straight away are idyllic, well-fed scenes of comfort and plenty. And yet take any fairy tale you like and it is all about suffering, misfortune and hardship. The heroes endure and overcome, and all of it for the sake of some static, ephemeral happiness in the future that the tale mentions almost in passing, as a formality. Yuna, for instance, used to compare her life to the tales of “Morozko” and “Cinderella”.