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Our mission: To provide a living resource that bridges ancient wisdom and modern psychology, empowering you to cultivate a more balanced, purposeful, and fulfilling life.

26/02/2026

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been drawing on short verses from the Dhammapada.

For many people, this text will be unfamiliar.

The Dhammapada is a collection of the teachings of the Buddha.

Most people are broadly familiar with the figure of the Buddha, but for those who aren’t, it’s worth stating plainly: he was a human being — a historical figure who lived in northern India around the 5th century BCE.

He was born Siddhartha Gautama and lived an ordinary human life marked by privilege, loss, illness, ageing, and death. Born into wealth, he later renounced it for a life of austerity, and at the age of 35 attained enlightenment.

From that time until his death at the age of 80, he taught publicly.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬.

It is not a biography.

It is not a religious treatise.

It is a record of observations about the human mind.

For centuries, these teachings were passed down orally — first by those who lived with and knew the Buddha, and later by their followers.

They were memorised, recited, refined, and preserved long before they were written down. When they were eventually recorded, they were organised as short verses — not arguments to be proved, but recognitions meant to be noticed.

This matters.

The Dhammapada does not ask for belief.

It does not ask for faith.

It does not ask us to accept authority.

𝐈𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.

Again and again, the verses return to the same human patterns:

how the mind reacts under strain,
how suffering arises,
and how it is often prolonged — not by events themselves, but by how we relate to them.

Resentment.
Reactivity.
Fixation.
Attention.
Relief.

These are not ancient concerns.

They are human ones.

What makes the Dhammapada remarkable is its timeless assessment of the human mind and the human condition. The language is simple. The observations are sharp. And more than two thousand years later, they continue to describe the same inner processes modern psychology is still working to name and understand.

The Dhammapada is an invaluable source of insight into human psychology.

Not as doctrine.

Not as something to be believed.

But as a companion text — one that maps, with unusual clarity, the conditions that increase or reduce human suffering.

You don’t need to agree with it.
You don’t need to adopt a worldview.

You only need to notice whether it recognises something you already know from your own life.

For those who would like to explore the text directly, I’ll include a couple of accessible translations in the description.

This book changed my life.

Thomas Byrom translation (my personal favourite)
https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-5xsS5pSi8sQDrKnc/The%20Dhammapada_djvu.txt

Max Müller translation
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2017

23/02/2026

Over the past few weeks, verses from the Dhammapada have been used to explore common patterns of human suffering.
This week is a step back — to introduce the text itself. 💭

The Dhammapada is a collection of teachings attributed to the Buddha, a historical figure who lived in northern India around the 5th century BCE.
These teachings were spoken, memorised, and passed down orally for centuries before being written down.

They are not doctrines to adopt or beliefs to accept.
They are observations — concise descriptions of how the human mind reacts, how suffering arises, and how it is often sustained by the way we relate to our own experience.

What makes the Dhammapada enduring isn’t its age.
It’s the fact that the human mind has not changed. 🌱

19/02/2026

In the Dhammapada, the Buddha writes:

“𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘮𝘦,
𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦.”

𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦.
𝘈𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦.

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥,
𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦.
𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘸,
𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.

Read carefully. This passage is not a moral appeal.
It is an observation about human suffering.

The suffering described here begins with real harm.

Injury caused by others.
Loss, violation, injustice.

Nothing in this verse denies that pain.
Nothing suggests it should be minimised or explained away.

But the Buddha is pointing to something that follows the initial wound.

When harm occurs, the mind returns to it.
It replays what happened.
It keeps the story close.

Sometimes this is protective.
Sometimes it is fuelled by resentment.
Often, it is both.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐨𝐨, 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧.

The opening line — “𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦…” — is not just memory.
It is a position.

The mind begins to organise itself around having been wronged.

When that happens, resentment settles in — not always loudly, not always dramatically — but persistently.

It becomes the tone the mind returns to when the memory is touched.

And this is where suffering quietly deepens.

The original harm caused pain.
But living inside resentment keeps that pain close.

The mind stays watchful.
Certain people or situations are filtered through suspicion.
The past remains active in the present.

Here, the Buddha makes a precise distinction.

The injury itself causes suffering.
But returning to it again and again in anger or hate extends it.

“𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦.”

This isn’t offered as a theory.
It’s offered as a recognition.

Anyone who has carried resentment for long enough knows this.

It doesn’t undo what happened.
It doesn’t bring peace.
It keeps the injury heavy, active, and present.

“𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦” does not mean approving of harm.
It does not mean forgetting.
It does not mean pretending the injury didn’t matter.

It means no longer returning to that moment with hostility.

And when that happens, something changes.

Not the past.
But the weight we carry because of it.

And from this, suffering is lessened.

“𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.”

Not a moral law.
A human one.

Suffering begins with harm.
But much of it continues through how the mind holds that harm over time.

The easing of suffering comes from no longer reliving it in anger.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙙𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨 𝘽𝙮𝙧𝙤𝙢
https://archive.org/details/dhammapadasaying00byro

16/02/2026

“Look how he abused me and hurt me, how he threw me down and robbed me.”

These words from the Dhammapada are not a moral warning. They are an observation about suffering. 💭

Pain begins with real harm — injury caused by others, loss, injustice, violation.
Nothing here denies that reality.

But after the injury, the mind often returns to what happened.
Sometimes to protect.
Sometimes out of resentment.
Often both.

Over time, suffering deepens — not because the injury wasn’t real,
but because it is continually relived in anger.

Resentment does not undo what happened.
It does not bring peace.
It keeps the pain present.

“Hate never yet dispelled hate” is not a moral claim.
It is a recognition many people arrive at through experience.
And sometimes, the easing of suffering comes from no longer reliving the injury in hate. 🌱

12/02/2026

In the 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐚, the Buddha offered this teaching:

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭,
𝘥𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴,
𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭.

What stands out in this verse isn’t judgement.
It’s precision.

Much of what weighs on us day to day doesn’t come from what is actually important in our lives.
It comes from what the mind locks onto in the moment.

A throwaway comment keeps replaying.
A look is taken personally.
A simple message starts to eat away at us.
A thought keeps repeating, something’s wrong.

The mind treats these as urgent.
As significant.
As if they need to be resolved immediately.

And the consequences are familiar.

Irritation.
Tension.
Second-guessing.
A low hum of anxiety that colours the entire day.

Nothing major has happened.

But perspective is lost.
What is essential slips out of view.
And the experience of the day unnecessarily changes.

The Buddha wasn’t offering a moral warning here.
He was describing a human pattern.

When the unessential is treated as essential,
experience narrows.
Not occasionally, but habitually.

Again and again, the Dhammapada returns to this simple truth:
𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰
𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯.

Not all at once.
Not dramatically.

But reliably—
moment by moment.

The Dhammapada translation by Thomas Byrom
https://archive.org/details/dhammapadasaying00byro

09/02/2026

“Those who mistake the unessential for the essential,
and the essential for the unessential,
never arrive at the essential.”

These words from the Dhammapada aren’t about right or wrong. They’re a precise description of how the mind operates. 💭

Much of what unsettles us each day doesn’t come from what truly matters, but from what the mind latches onto in the moment.
A throwaway comment.
A look we take personally.
A simple message that keeps replaying.

The mind treats these as urgent and significant.
What follows is familiar: tension, irritation, second-guessing, a quiet hum of anxiety.
Nothing major has happened — but perspective is lost.
What is essential slips out of view. 🌱

This work is about noticing where importance has been misplaced — and gently restoring balance.

05/02/2026

The 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐝𝐚, a collection of the teachings of the Buddha, opens with these verses:
𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬.
𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴.
𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥.

𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥,
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶,
𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘹 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘵.

𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥,
𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶,
𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸—𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.

Read psychologically, this isn’t a moral warning.
It’s a description of how experience unfolds.

The idea of a “pure” or “impure” mind here is not about goodness or failure.
It points to the quality of perception we bring into each moment.

An impure mind, in this sense, is tense, brooding, and suspicious.
It anticipates difficulty.
It scans for threat, disappointment, and failure.

A pure mind isn’t naïve or unrealistic.
It simply isn’t burdened by the same distortions.

This is where familiar ideas like optimism and pessimism quietly live.

Two people can experience the same events—
the same uncomfortable conversation,
the same daily frustrations—
and yet walk away having lived entirely different inner experiences.

Not because the circumstances were different,
but because the mind meeting the circumstances was.

The Dhammapada doesn’t tell us to “think positively.”
It doesn’t ask us to deny difficulty or manufacture happiness.

It points to something more subtle:
that the mind’s habitual stance toward life
creates consequences as reliably
as a wheel follows the ox that pulls the cart.

Modern psychology would later describe this
in terms of interpretation, bias, and expectation.

The Buddha simply observed it.

Moment by moment,
the mind is already shaping what life feels like to live.

Not dramatically.
Not all at once.

But steadily.
Reliably.

As a shadow follows the body.

—
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘥𝘢, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘴 𝘉𝘺𝘳𝘰𝘮
https://archive.org/details/dhammapadasaying00byro

02/02/2026

“We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.”

These words come from the Dhammapada, written more than two thousand years ago. And they aren’t about morality — they’re about how experience is shaped. 💭

Two people can live the exact same day and walk away with entirely different inner worlds.
Not because events differed, but because the mind meeting those events did.

A mind coloured by suspicion and doubt anticipates difficulty.
A mind marked by balance and openness meets the same moments differently.

The Buddha observed this clearly:
the quality of mind we bring to life determines the life we experience — moment by moment, day by day. 🌱

29/01/2026

𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠

Over the past weeks, it may have felt like you were learning a series of ideas —
noticing thoughts, pausing reactions, questioning meanings.

But something else has been happening underneath.

You weren’t being taught how to control your mind.
You were learning how to relate to it.

You noticed the first meaning instead of immediately believing it.
You learned to pause when uncertainty appeared.
You discovered that more than one meaning is usually available — and that you get to choose which one guides your response.
You learned to respect the fact that emotions don’t always settle on the same timeline as insight.
And you kept returning to awareness, even when it wasn’t easy.

That is agency in practice.

Not dramatic.
Not forceful.
Not perfect.

Agency doesn’t live in stopping thoughts or fixing emotions.
It lives in authorship — in deciding how you meet what arises.

Over time, this changes something fundamental.

You’re no longer automatically carried by the mind’s fastest conclusion.
You begin to participate in your inner life rather than react from inside it.

Nothing here requires mastery.
Nothing requires certainty.
Only the willingness to return — again and again — to the space where choice is possible.

That’s the thread running through everything so far.

And it’s a thread people have been noticing for a very long time.

Next, we’ll begin looking at how ancient philosophers described this same practice — long before modern psychology had language for it.

Different words.
Same human problem.
Same quiet solution.

26/01/2026

Over the past few weeks, it may have seemed like you were learning a series of ideas:
Notice this.
Pause there.
Question that meaning. 💭

But that wasn’t the deeper work.
You weren’t learning how to control your mind.
You were learning how to relate to it.

Each time you noticed the first meaning instead of immediately believing it — that was agency.
Each time you paused before reacting — that was agency.
Each time you chose which meaning would guide what you did next — that was agency.

Not dramatic.
Not forceful.
Just practiced.

Agency doesn’t live in stopping thoughts or fixing emotions.
It lives in authorship — in how you meet what arises. 🌱
So the question is simple: will you be the author of your experience?
The agency is yours to take.

22/01/2026

𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐈𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 — 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐨

One of the most common misunderstandings about awareness is the idea that it’s a trait —
something some people naturally have and others don’t.

In reality, awareness is a skill.

It’s something you practice each time you notice a thought instead of immediately believing it.
Each time you pause before reacting.
Each time you choose a more deliberate meaning.

Awareness doesn’t strengthen through effort or force.
It strengthens through repetition.

Some days it feels accessible.
Other days it doesn’t.

That isn’t failure — it’s simply the rhythm of practice.

Over time, something subtle changes.
Awareness begins to show up on its own.
The pause arrives more easily.
The space you’ve been practicing becomes familiar.

This is how emotional patterns slowly reshape themselves —
not through control,
but through consistency.

If you’ve been following along over the past few weeks, this is the thread running through all of it:
noticing the first meaning,
choosing the second,
respecting emotional timing,
and returning, again and again, to awareness as a practice.

Nothing here requires perfection.
Only patience and continuity.

That’s how a healthier relationship to Self is built.

It’s all about practice.

19/01/2026

There’s a common misunderstanding in personal growth:
the idea that awareness is something you either have or don’t have. 💭

In reality, awareness is a skill.
You practice it each time you notice a thought, pause before reacting, or choose a more deliberate meaning.

Awareness doesn’t become stronger through force or trying harder.
It becomes stronger through repetition.
Some days the practice feels natural. Other days it feels difficult.
That doesn’t mean you’re regressing — it means you’re practicing.

Over time, awareness begins to show up more automatically.
Not because you’re pushing, but because what you’ve practiced has become familiar. 🌱

This work isn’t about perfection.
It’s about showing up, again and again.

Address

Köleri 4-2a
Tallinn
10150

Opening Hours

Monday	09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	09:00 - 17:00
Thursday	10:00 - 17:00
Friday	10:00 - 17:00

Telephone

+3725020793

Website

https://counselling.ee/

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The way to a better life

No one sets out with a plan to become an alcohol abuser or alcohol addict. Addiction comes about as a result of repeated patterns of abusive behaviour over time, which in turn create changes in our brain chemistry and emotional responses. Compulsion takes over and subdues our normal, healthy thinking and emotional processing. Out of all this alcohol addiction arises. If you are seeking help, then you have probably reached the stage where it is clear that alcohol has begun to cause problems in your life. This is a fundamental starting point. The next step is to reach out for help. Perhaps, working together, we can find a solution that changes your life for the better.