A Country Without a Military? You bet!
On December 1, 1948 – 65 years ago – Jose Figueres, then president of Costa Rica, made a fiery and eloquent speech, after which he took a sledge-hammer and bashed a hole in a huge stone wall. The site...
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An Open Letter to All Hospital Emergency Ward Staff
Dear Hospital Emergency Ward Staff,When you see me in a manic high, wrestled in here by my father; or as you watch my mother, sitting with me in the waiting area, holding my hand while I ramble...
View ArticleThe Santa Question
After my last Santa blog, I was surprised by one of the reader's comments that Santa is "a lie" that endangers children's ability to reason. That comment and my subsequent dialogue with this...
View ArticleFacebook is Like High School
A few months ago, I wrote a piece, here, on Psychology Today, entitled, Facebook Depression. It actually was one of the more popular posts I have written in a while. Yet, I received a couple of...
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Five Proven Keys to Improve Your Well-Being
The key to happiness may be elusive, but taking advantage of a few simple strategies can do a great deal to improve your everyday feelings of well-being. The New Economics Foundation (NEF), a British...
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The Psychology of Writing: Skill #2
When we develop habits, we store memories and create specific neural pathways by increasing the number of synapses in the brain. I researched this for Snap!, a self-help book about maximizing aha!...
View ArticleHolidays Are Great. Had Enough Stress Yet?
You have three, maybe five things to do and time to do two of them. You're supposed to have family or friends for dinner, arrange the logistics of your family and maybe work in an outside job as well....
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She Simply Said "No"
You utter the words with respect and parental authority: “Please stop texting and do your homework; please make your bed; Let me look over your homework.” When your tween offers a simple “No,” you are...
View ArticleBig Data, Bigger Data . . . Too Big
While we most of us were busy unwrapping presents on Christmas, The Wall Street Journal published an article on the NSA’s data collection. The point was not that it violated privacy – which is true –...
View ArticleKaty Perry Disables Her Google Alerts
Katy Perry has disabled the Google alerts that formerly notified her when anything was written about her."I am the captain of my career. But ... my image is just something superficial. I also try not...
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The Lies We Love To Hate
What makes one story so compelling amid the thousands of events that occur each year? Is it the rise and fall from power? The huge, narcissistic egos? Nope, it’s the pathological lying that the...
View ArticleShort Men Aren't Lepers: Why Women Scorn Them in Dating
It's true that some women are sexually attracted and open to dating a short man, but a quick poll of your friends—or any group of adults, for that matter—will quickly confirm just how stigmatized short...
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Never Be Ordinary: A Better Women's Murder Club
Finally, I’ve watched a unique TV series with a serial killer theme. These shows generally suffer from repetition of the same old motivations, investigative formulas, and world-weary investigators. If...
View ArticleSome-Niscience: Why It’s Smart To Be Ignorant
“You’re ignorant; an ignoramus. If you don’t know what that means look it up. It means you ignore things.” “And what do you ignore? You wouldn’t know, would you? I know what you ignore. You ignore...
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Hanging Tough
Eva was having meltdowns during class and spent most of her time in the guidance counselor's office in tears. Her mother had schizophrenia and had recently decompensated, so Eva was beyond worried. I...
View ArticleThe Need to Identify Sensible Marijuana Use
The Holiday Season this year brought us the normal rush of mixed messages around substance use. On the one hand, we watched the viral video delivered on Christmas by the 19-year-old daughter of the...
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Testosterone, Trust, and Social Status
Over the past several years, much has been made of the psychological influences of the hormone Oxytocin on behavior. It has been called the love hormone and the trust hormone. And there are some...
View ArticleEmotional Alchemy
In ’93, Spy magazine put out a parody of The New Yorker, which included a brief review of the live-action Flintstones movie, credited to British literary demi-god Martin Amis. The genius of that...
View ArticleComing Out of Grief's Closet: Can You Heal Unconsciously?
Deep, complicated grief, as they call it, is deep and complicated. It's not a phase or a stage, but an existential crisis. There has been a loss so profound, so unspeakable, you are forever no longer...
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