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What Your Favorite Season Reveals About Your Personality

When does your soul feel most at ease? Is it during crisp autumn walks under overcast skies, cozy winter nights by the fire with a snowstorm raging outside, warm spring afternoons at the park, or scorching summer days in your favorite beach town? Believe it or not, our favorite season can tell us a lot about our personalities and inner worlds. Here’s what your favorite season says about you. Winter If your favorite season is winter, you likely crave peace, rest, and solitude. Perhaps you’re introverted and feel overwhelmed by too many plans, or maybe you simply enjoy slow living and cozy nights spent at home with a good book. The cold doesn’t get to you. If anything, it reminds you that you’re alive and breathing, grounding you in the present moment. Plus, it’s not like you want to leave the house anyway. When it comes to your personality, you might be shy, quiet, or reflective, observing the world around you rather than actively participating in it. This isn’t a nega...
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Why Older People Are Flocking to Adult Band Camps

While I am a big believer in the concept of toxic nostalgia — the way people willingly romanticize the past into some glowing fantasy while bemoaning the present — there’s still something to be said for revisiting the communal rituals of youth when you’re older. Some childhood experiences really did offer something adult life struggles to replace. The connection, the sense of purpose, and the excuse to leave the house to hang with people who have a common passion. For instance, take this Associated Press article about the growing popularity of adult music camps across the United States. Band camps, which probably took a bit of a reputation hit in the wake of the first American Pie movie, are, contrary to the version of it described in the movie, collections of kids who spend a summer honing a musical craft. These kids eventually grow up, sell their tubas and trumpets for couches and beer money, and spend the next several years or even decades occasionally wondering if maybe ...
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Weekly Horoscope: May 17-May 23

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Gemini season arrives Tuesday, and it wastes no time. The Sun moves into Gemini on May 20th and conjuncts Uranus on Thursday, shaking loose anything that’s been sitting too still for too long — expect the unexpected and then expect it again. Mercury also comes home to Gemini on Sunday, conjuncting Uranus the same day, which means the way you think, speak, and process the world around you is getting a serious rewire. Take notes, stargazer. The ideas landing this week have staying power. Venus moves into Cancer on May 18th, pulling everyone’s attention toward what actually feels like home — who’s in it, what’s missing, what you’ve been taking for granted. Mars settles into Taurus the same day, swapping speed for intention. The Half Moon in Virgo closes the week on Saturday, asking every sign to get brutally honest about what’s working and what’s just been taking up space. How will your sign fare this week? Aries: March 21 – ...
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Scientists Discovered a Brazilian Tree With an Unexpected Superpower

A team of researchers has found a tree in Brazil that can absolutely wreck COVID-19. Like, completely beat the tar out of it from every possible angle. And unlike the endless parade of miraculous horse medicines pushed by wellness influencers who bought secondhand microphones, this one comes with actual lab data behind it. The plant is called Copaifera lucens Dwyer, a tree native to Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, a biologically dense patch of Earth packed with an enormous variety of plant life. Scientists from the University of São Paulo and research teams in Egypt isolated compounds from the tree’s leaves known as galloylquinic acids, then introduced them to SARS-CoV-2 to see what happened. So What Happened? The Tree Waxed the COVID; That’s What. According to findings published in Scientific Reports and detailed in a press release , the compounds attacked the virus across multiple stages of its life cycle. They interfered with the spike protein that allows COVID to inva...
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Jealousy Is Normal, But These 12 Thoughts Mean You’re in a Full-Blown Spiral

Jealousy is one of those emotions everyone experiences, and nobody wants to admit. It bubbles up at work parties , in Instagram comment sections, in the middle of perfectly good relationships for absolutely no reason. And once it starts, it has a way of totally hijacking your brain. A new paper by Robert Leahy of Weill-Cornell Medical College, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology and covered by Psychology Today , takes a different approach to the emotion by mapping the specific thoughts that feed it. Using Emotional Schema Therapy, Leahy identifies 12 cognitive distortions that turn a manageable feeling into a full-scale internal disaster. The framework is built around the idea that jealousy is driven by the stories people tell themselves about their emotions, including the belief that the feeling will never pass, that it’s shameful to have, and that it’s somehow unique to them. Attachment style factors in, too. Securely attached people tend to let jealo...
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Dinner Dates Are the Worst Way to Get to Know Someone. Try This Instead.

The walking date is the new dinner date, and I am here for it. I mean, what better way to get to know someone than by moving your body in a stress-free outdoor environment ? Rather than sitting uncomfortably across the table from a stranger and pretending you don’t want to dig into the massive plate of food in front of you, you can get some exercise while casually getting to know someone. That way, if you’re simply not feeling it, you can choose to end the date more easily. No harm, no foul. Looking for love this summer? Why not give the walking date a shot? Here are four benefits of this low-effort outing. 1. It’s Low Stakes Walking dates are far more casual than dinner dates, which can sometimes feel like awkward interviews. “When I first started matchmaking clients in 2014, it didn’t take long for me to realize that formal dinner dates are the surest guarantee to bring up people’s nervous dating habits, preventing them from showing their most authenti...
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6 Condom Mistakes You’re Definitely Making During Sex

For something so simple, condoms actually come with a lot of room for error . Most people don’t even know they’re making any. Body + Soul rounded up the most common mistakes according to sexual health experts, and the list covers everything from how you store them to when you put them on. The fixes are easier than the errors, at least. Here’s what to know. Putting It On Too Late This is the big one. Sexual Health Victoria medical director Dr. Sara Whitburn says the most common mistake is waiting too long. “Sperm and sexually transmitted infections can be present in pre-ejaculate, so it is important that a condom is placed on the penis before there is any penetrative contact,” she explained to Body + Soul . Queensland-based sexologist Isiah McKimmie agrees, adding that the penis needs to be fully erect before putting one on. If you lose an erection during sex, replace the condom. If it doesn’t fit properly, it doesn’t protect properly. ...
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