Perhaps we need to pick our heroes more carefully?
November 11, 2014 Comments Off on Perhaps we need to pick our heroes more carefully?

Salon

Calling all cops and troops heroes insult those who actually are heroic – the soldier who runs into the line of fire to protect his division, the police officer who works tirelessly to find a missing child – by placing them alongside the cops who shoot unarmed teenagers who have their hands in the air, or the soldier who rapes his subordinate.

It also degrades the collective understanding of heroism to the fantasies of high-budget, cheap-story action movies.
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The gift of compassion
November 2, 2014 Comments Off on The gift of compassion

Brain Pickings

Everybody asks during and after our wars, and the continuing terrorist attacks all over the globe, “What’s gone wrong?” What has gone wrong is that too many people, including high school kids and heads of state, are obeying the Code of Hammurabi, a King of Babylonia who lived nearly four thousand years ago. And you can find his code echoed in the Old Testament, too. Are you ready for this?

“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

A categorical imperative for all who live in obedience to the Code of Hammurabi, which includes heroes of every cowboy show and gangster show you ever saw, is this: Every injury, real or imagined, shall be avenged.
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Does your brain really need a gym?
October 23, 2014 Comments Off on Does your brain really need a gym?

Futurity

“We object to the claim that brain games offer consumers a scientifically grounded avenue to reduce or reverse cognitive decline when there is no compelling scientific evidence to date that they do. . . . The promise of a magic bullet detracts from the best evidence to date, which is that cognitive health in old age reflects the long-term effects of healthy, engaged lifestyles.”

“When researchers follow people across their lives, they find that those who live cognitively active, socially connected lives and maintain healthy lifestyles are less likely to suffer debilitating illness and early cognitive decline,” as the statement describes it.
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Do you know what to do when your child gets angry?
October 15, 2014 Comments Off on Do you know what to do when your child gets angry?

Aha Parenting

“Sending children away to get control of their anger perpetuates the feeling of ‘badness” inside them…Chances are they were already feeling not very good about themselves before the outburst and the isolation just serves to confirm in their own minds that they were right.” — Otto Weininger, Ph.D. Time-In Parenting

When our kids get angry, it pushes buttons for most of us. We’re not perfect, but we try to be loving parents. Why is our child lashing out like this?
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How far will we go to control others?
September 8, 2014 Comments Off on How far will we go to control others?

Mysterious Universe

Perhaps the greatest mystery of the tunnels was to be found deep in the lower levels, where temperatures reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit and the air was so choked with noxious, sulphurous fumes as to be nearly un-breathable. It was here in these hellish conditions that Paget and company found a sharp bend at the end of a particularly steep passage that seemed somehow designed to prevent anyone who approached from seeing what was to be found at the end until they turned the corner. When Paget and Jones rounded that sharp bend, they were confronted with an underground stream of boiling water that they would later call The River Styx.
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Why do we trust those who use us?
September 1, 2014 Comments Off on Why do we trust those who use us?

PsyBlog

People who are overconfident in their own abilities are considered more talented by others than they really are, a new study finds.

These overconfident individuals are probably more likely to get promoted, to become the leaders of organizations and even nations.

On the other hand, people who are not so confident in their abilities are judged as less competent than they actually are.
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Are emotional issues really a disease?
August 8, 2014 Comments Off on Are emotional issues really a disease?

KevinMD

The primary treatment for diabetes is a drug. This analogy works if we accept that the primary treatment for mental illness is drugs. The pharmaceutical industry would be pleased with this approach.

But, in fact, the primary treatment for problems of emotional well-being is time. What is needed is time and space for listening, where individuals can have the opportunity to have their feelings recognized and understood.
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What if we stopped paying people to destroy society?
August 7, 2014 Comments Off on What if we stopped paying people to destroy society?

Alternet

I don’t mean to sound unduly harsh, but I’ve never heard of a hedge-fund manager whose job entails attending to basic human needs (unless you consider having more money as basic human need) or enriching our culture (except through the myriad novels, exposés, and movies made about greedy hedge-fund managers and investment bankers).

They don’t even build the economy.
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Fear not?
August 6, 2014 Comments Off on Fear not?

Alternet

Research suggests that conservatives are, on average, more susceptible to fear than those who identify themselves as liberals. Looking at MRIs of a large sample of young adults last year, researchers at University College London discovered that “greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala”. The amygdala is an ancient brain structure that’s activated during states of fear and anxiety.
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The difference between depression and sadness/despair.
August 4, 2014 Comments Off on The difference between depression and sadness/despair.

ZenArchery

All the genuinely smart, talented, funny people I know seem to be miserable these days. You feel it on Twitter more than Facebook, because Facebook is where you go to do your performance art where you pretend to be a hip, urbane person with the most awesomest friends and the best relationships and the very best lunches ever. Facebook is surface; Twitter is subtext, and judging by what I’ve seen, the subtext is aching sadness.

I’m not immune to this. I don’t remember ever feeling this miserable and depressed in my life, this sense of futility that makes you wish you’d simply go numb and not care anymore.
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Session Notes

Perhaps we need to pick our heroes more carefully?

The gift of compassion

Does your brain really need a gym?

Do you know what to do when your child gets angry?

How far will we go to control others?

Why do we trust those who use us?

Are emotional issues really a disease?

What if we stopped paying people to destroy society?

Fear not?

The difference between depression and sadness/despair.

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