First of all, a little disclaimer: originally, this little guide was inspired by a podcast (sadly, only in Russian) that delves deep into the philosophy of Syrian Christian mystics trying to find answers to highly relevant questions of today – like how to avoid burnout, or how to manage anger. If you’re up for a challenge of practicing your Russian in this rather radical way, and learning something about yourself in the world through the lens of several hundred years, I’d highly recommend checking this one out. And if that doesn’t sound like a pleasant enough activity for these hot summer days, there are a few alternatives.
Now, bear with me, I know you might have seen videos from this channel in your YouTube recommendations once – and aren’t we usually skeptical about those? However, this might be a good introduction into your everyday psychology, broadening your perspective and shifting your attention to the facial expressions and body language in yourself and others that can help you broadcast your emotions into the world in a more understandable way.
Naturally, this little intro is just a warm-up, as a quick browse through Coursera can harvest a number of more in-depth courses on personal development. Below are some that intrigued us the most.
Credit: Avel Chuklanov (@chuklanov) on Unsplash.com
Intellectual Humility: Science
The course brings together cognitive psychology, philosophy and education to present you with a scientific view on arrogance and humility, ways to become more open-minded and manage your emotions in situations when you meet opposing opinions. The course includes reading materials and practical exercises that can be transferred to your daily life. And a bonus – it only takes around 17 hours to complete.
Actually a part of a whole Conflict Management Specialization, this six-hour course focuses on how to recognize conflict, ways to approach it, and how to safely resolve conflict through collaboration.
Improving Communication Skills
A comprehensive course, mainly focused on developing effective relationships at work that can nevertheless offer useful insights into fostering trusting relationships, cooperation and communication in any sphere of life. It also delves into the topic of deception, which we old-time Lie To Me stans (or is it just me?) are always keen to learn more about.
