Every year, come Rosh Hashanah time, when we have our simanim and dip the apple in the honey, we utter the phrase “shana tovah u’mitukah” a blessing to have a year that is good and sweet. Of course, it begs the question of why the redundancy? Aren’t we basically wishing upon ourselves the same thing twice? The common answer to this question is that, there are things in life that are good for us, that might not be sweet and might not be enjoyable. This category can include things like medicine...

Our brains are great at feeding us information. They tell us what things are going on in our environment, what changes have occurred, what to look out for, etc. In a world so entirely full of information and stimuli, our brains basically act as a filter, processing information in a way that doesn’t get us overwhelmed, but still offers us enough context to stay safe and aware in our environments. Our brains even make interpretations about the world around us, giving names and descriptions to a...

Grief is something that virtually every person will, at some point in their life, experience. Grief can occur after any loss that a person experiences. This can include the loss of a loved one, after the loss of a relationship, the loss of a job, the loss of one’s previous environment. Grief is not bound to one specific type of loss and therefore can be experienced in many different ways. Because it is so commonplace, there is a common misconception that grief is simple, that is simply a set...