AlexShalman.comPractical Personal Development

Meaning, and ‘most meaningful’, are all very subjective terms. Pretty much everything we see, hear, and feel is open for interpretation, and skewed by our past experiences. I believe it’s the meaning that we choose to place on things, whether deliberately, or without thought, that is the driving force to why we make all of [...]

“Charity is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.”
~Jane Panitch
Last night I decided to watch a little bit of Hulu. The movie Homeless for the Holidays, starring Matt Moore as Jack Baker (who IMHO resembles Adam Sandler), was up on the popular list, so I went for it.
Spoiler alert:
The Baker family was in trouble financially, [...]

Since NYU Dental School is part of the larger New York University, we get a lot more opportunities trickling down to us by association. One such opportunity is the Reynold’s Social Entrepreneur program that features great speakers and also has a scholarship to help students get started on this path.
Just as all the ideas of [...]

Self-esteem is NOT what you think. It’s not really the ‘I feel good about myself’ emotion. If you would have asked me a year ago, I wouldn’t have guessed that such interesting topics would be taught in dental school, but here I am learning about them.
My favorite class in school right now is Dentist-Patient-Relationship. Here [...]

Long story short, I slept in my trunk so I wouldn’t have to drive under the influence of alcohol. What follows is the full story, details, and reason behind this “strangeness.”
I drove to a BBQ on Friday evening, where I met up with Marina and some of our friends. There was a bit of beer [...]

Editor’s Note: This article is written by the brilliant, amazing, and selfless Marina Tsipenyuk.
Those who have ever valued liberty for its own sake believed that to be free to choose, and not to be chosen for, is an unalienable ingredient in what makes human beings human. ~Isaiah Berlin
Though I generally procrastinate when it comes to reading long [...]

This article is part of The Virtuous Human Series.
This is a guest post by Sid Savara.
“With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.”  ~Thomas Foxwell Buxton
Perseverance – to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement
As has been written previously here in Failure plus Persistence equals [...]

Editor’s Note: This article is written by the brilliant, amazing, and true Marina Tsipenyuk.
It seems that we are always searching for what is sensible, logical, and politically correct. The older we become, the more such formalities encompass our thoughts and, surely, become us—our identities and traits are unshakable, arguably as they were, have been, and [...]

This article is part of The Virtuous Human Series.
Obedience — Willingness to obey, to be controlled when necessary, to carry out orders.
“There is no shame in taking orders from those who themselves have learned to obey.”
~William Edward Forster
There exists a special dynamic between a master-servant, leader-follower, and dominant-submissive. In order to be effective at wielding [...]

This article is part of The Virtuous Human Series.
Love (noun) – A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.
Love (verb) – To give of oneself, and ones time, energy, and resources fully to another person [...]