Emotional Health and Well-Being

To Be Like Mrs. Haslam

Dr. Ben Kim — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

As a young child of immigrant parents in Canada, I didn't speak much English when I began kindergarten. I was the only East Asian child in my class, and my Mom tells me that I had terrible separation anxiety over the first few weeks of school. Read more

Priceless

Dr. Ben Kim — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

When our Mom graduated from a Seoul area high school in 1963, her family didn't have the money to send her to university. Thankfully, she had a friend whose father hired our Mom to do secretarial work for a local hospital. She saved what she could from that job and ultimately put herself through a 2-year college program to earn her diploma. Read more

On A Subway In Tokyo

Dr. Ben Kim — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:08:48 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

While traveling by subway one afternoon in Tokyo, a young student caught my eye. He couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years old, and was wearing a school uniform with matching cap and shoes. A large backpack covered most of his tiny back, and a separate book bag draped his front side. After sitting across from me, another boy wearing almost the exact same uniform and gear appeared and sat next to him. Read more

What Is Love?

Dr. Ben Kim — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

The more intimately we get to know someone, the more clearly we see their shortcomings.

This is why some relationships fail. It's why family members can be abandoned, and why some friendships don't last. Read more

The Hardest Thing

Dr. Ben Kim — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 13:58:33 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

My view has long been that a primary determinant of our health is the quality of our relationships.

Conventional education doesn't teach how to share from the heart or how to listen with pure intent to understand. Read more

How We Measure Success

Dr. Ben Kim — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 05:00:00 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

Inspiration

A while back, I stumbled upon the following priceless commercial that aired in Malaysia over the Chinese New Year holiday several years back. Most of it is painfully familiar to Asians of my generation and I'm guessing to many from other cultures as well. The closing scene never fails to leave me with a heavy lump in my chest.

I hope you have a chance to enjoy this lovely look at some of the different types of success that we can experience in this world: Read more

The Last Time You Were Astounded?

Dr. Ben Kim — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 05:00:00 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

The other day, a close friend asked me to recall a time when I was astounded by an unexpected event. Read more

Same Sky, Different World

Dr. Ben Kim — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 05:00:00 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

One of the joys of spending time in Korea this past year was getting to know people like the barber I visited monthly. In sharing life stories, I was genuinely surprised by her fascination with my mindset as a dad. Read more

Pleasure In Another's Misfortune

Dr. Ben Kim — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 15:37:38 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

Schadenfreude is a German word that refers to the human capacity to experience pleasure in another person's suffering. It's an unhealthy form of envy that is highly damaging to the person who feels it. Read more

A Simple Quiz That Reveals Your Natural Strengths

Dr. Ben Kim — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 15:34:08 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

In caring for our health and relationships, I find value in understanding our innate level of happiness and natural strengths.

Dr. Albert Brooks uses a simple 20-question quiz to determine one's natural level of happiness, and what types of personalities mesh well. Read more

Meaning

Dr. Ben Kim — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 13:57:30 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

Most of us know what we need to do to be healthier. And yet many of us don't follow through on what we know. Why the struggle?

In most cases, our level of dedication to taking care of ourselves is strongly related to the meaning we assign to our existence. Read more

Life Expectancy Calculator

Dr. Ben Kim — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 05:00:00 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

I've long held the view that it is good to be mindful of the finiteness of our days. In fact, I find value in having in mind the year that I will pass on according to life expectancy calculators - by having an exact year in mind, I'm naturally inclined to make the most of my days. Read more

Rear View Mirror

Dr. Ben Kim — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 17:35:00 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

Asking For Help

Dr. Ben Kim — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 09:57:28 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

Back in 2001, while eating dinner with a friend in Seoul, an elderly woman silently walked in and placed a chocolate bar on every table. My friend, in seeing that I was unsure of what was happening, explained that she was a poor grandmother who was looking for income selling chocolate, and that she would come by again in a few minutes to collect money. Read more

Beautiful Connections

Dr. Ben Kim — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 06:30:01 +0000

Emotional Health and Well-Being

The other day, hearing some of our older son's thoughts on making good friends led me to reflect on what I've learned over the years about making beautiful connections with others. Read more