Quiz: What’s Your Trigger?

While it would be great to be as calm as a Buddhist monk in everyday life, we all lose it on occasion. But just like favorite flavors of ice cream, the things that set us off vary from one person to the next. For some, it’s irritating tasks; for others, it’s irritating people. And of…

Lost in the Froth

Amarilli, mia bella, Non credi, o del mio cor dolce desio D’esser tu l’amor mio? And even after my soul-lifting, world-altering technologies flopped and the kitchens in my glass offices were no longer stocked with kombuchas and microgreens and microbrews, and none of my 15 remaining yes men had the energy for micromanaging or microblogging…

Seven Stories of Rage and Regret

When forest fires made our summer air toxic in Portland, Ore., I drove to a hardware store far across town to gather materials to make a homemade air purifier. My partner, Nick, lugged a heavy AC unit up from the basement which we hoped would cool and clean the air coming into our 90-degree home.…

How Anger Affects the Body

If your chill was nowhere to be found this year, you’re not alone. Public life and personal hardships provided ample fodder for flare-ups, which, in addition to costing your cool, can also take a more serious toll: According to scientists, prolonged and extreme anger can also exacerbate existing health problems, as well as affect the…

Mistletoe: A Brief and Strange History

Mistletoe fans speculate that the reason we kiss under the plant — a hemiparasitic shrub that has been used to treat cancer — can be traced back millenniums: maybe to Celtic druids, maybe to a Norse myth. But according to Judith Flanders, a senior research fellow at the University of Buckingham and the author of…