The placebo effect is one of the most fascinating phenomena in medicine. People often feel better after taking a treatment with no active ingredients, like a sugar pill or saline injection, simply because they believe it might help. For years, it was assumed that belief...
The other day, Emma looked at me and asked, “Are you wearing smaller earrings, or are your ears getting bigger?” I laughed and hurried to the mirror. I was sure it wasn’t the earrings, since they were my usual pair, but I still found myself...
Toad baked some cookies. “These cookies smell very good,” said Toad. He ate one. “And they taste even better,” he said. So begins one of Arnold Lobel’s most memorable Frog and Toad stories. Toad runs to Frog’s house with his freshly baked treats, and before long, the two of them...
The purple gymnastics mat in our playroom has seen a lot of determination lately. Every afternoon, Emma unfolds it to practice a new tumbling skill she’s set on mastering. At first, you could see her progress with every attempt. Every day she got closer, steadier, more...
On a quiet street in a small French town, we found one of our favorite experiences of our summer vacation: a perfume-making workshop. It was a chance to learn how fragrances are crafted and to leave with a bottle of our own perfume creation. Each of...
We were getting ready for our family’s summer vacation, and I was sitting cross-legged in front of my open suitcase. Clothes, toiletries, and electronics surrounded me in bright, neat little piles. My first step had been to grab everything I might want: a few dresses...
When Ella was little, she received a sweet little doll as a gift. In the first few days, I watched her carry it gently, getting to know her new friend. She’d sit the doll on her lap and ask, “Do you want me to read...
The hotel breakfast room was packed. Business travelers scrolled through their phones with plates of fruit pushed aside. Vacationers corralled sticky-handed kids, waiting for the waffle maker to beep. A few people hunched over laptops, already deep into their mornings. I found a spot in the corner,...
In most conversations, we trust that we’re being understood by the person we are talking with. We put our words into the world and assume they land more or less the way we intended. If something feels clear in our mind, we expect it will feel...
Sea otters have a small fold of skin under their arms where they store their favorite rock. They use it to crack open clams and mussels, but they also carry it as they swim, roll it between their paws, and even sleep with it tucked...