Has "Excess" Become an Addiction?
Addiction can simply be defined as making short-term choices that have long-term negative consequences. It stands to reason, then, that continuously living life immersed in overdrive could reasonably...
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What Robin Williams Can Teach Us
As the summer is closing out I am reflecting back on my own personal experiences of the last few months as well as what happened in the landscape beyond. Heart-wrenching wars, rising new waves of...
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Leaving No Brain Behind
1. The Emotional Brain is a Vicarious LearnerThe brain learns through the heart’s experiences. Experiences, both positive and negative, create an indelible imprint in the neural pathways. When students...
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Why Do People Steal?
Have you ever stolen anything? Most of us as small children or even as adults have done so. The child, of course, is usually unaware of the crime until the parent forces him/her to take back the candy...
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Instead of Feeling That I’m Never Going to Finish…
I’m writing my next book, Better Than Before, about how we make and break habits– an issue very relevant to happiness. Each week, I post a before-and-after story submitted by a reader, about how he or...
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Parenting With Authority vs Authoritarian Parenting
Authoritarian parenting, as in "my way or the highway," and its opposite, permissive parenting with lack of limit setting, may be linked with difficulty with emotional regulation in children. In...
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Diagnosing Depression In The Wake Of Robin Williams’ Suicide
The importance of diagnosing depression has been highlighted in the wake of Robin Williams’ suicide. While most discussions, articles, and media outlets focus on the value of diagnosis, there are two...
View ArticleGetting Creative in 17 Syllables
I asked a number of friends to help me with this 17-syllable exercise, using the traditional 3-line, 5-7-5 syllable haiku form to describe our feelings about beginning a new semester. Working inside a...
View ArticleTo Thine Own Self Be Who? Part II
You’ve heard “To thine own self be true.” But what happens when you don’t know your true self? This is part II in a series of free self-tests aimed at helping you discover the real you.Part I...
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20 Quotations on Generosity—a Profound Act of Kindness
The most valuable lesson in generosity came to me from Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg at a retreat many years ago. She said that we often have an initial impulse to be generous, only to talk...
View ArticleWhat is Your Psychology IQ? Take the Test
Here are some questions concerning common misconceptions. 1. Schizophrenia is:a. Possessing multiple personalitiesb. Associated with violent outbursts and huge mood swingsc. A breakdown in the relation...
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Happiness With Others 10: Leave A Trail Of Happiness
A husband-and-wife seek out a counselor after 45 years of marriage. The counselor asks them what is the problem. The wife goes into a tirade, listing every problem they have ever had and all the 45...
View ArticleWeirdest Thing Ever – at Least in My Life
Singled Out has been implicated in a marriage. I'm not bragging. That is not at all what Singled Out is about. The book is a myth-busting, consciousness-raising, totally unapologetic take on single...
View ArticleEarth Bound: How Making Art Can Save the World
Back in January, I had to come up with a name for our recent August 23-24 concert in order to secure a date on the Fort Salem Theater calendar. I was stumped. I had no idea what the show should be. I...
View ArticleDrugs as the New Parents
If you haven’t got time for your child’s pain, make the time; You can pay (attention) now, or you can pay (the consequences) later.What is the real appeal of heroin and cocaine, or their lesser evil...
View ArticleAdjuncts instructors are facing the decisions people face.
This is the third in a series of posts about adjunct professors. The first post, about reaserch professors vs. teaching-only professors, went mostly unnoticed, but the second post, where I started to...
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Failing Ethics: Psychologists, Torture, and the US Military
American psychologists designed and oversaw the brutal regime of interrogation used on detainees in U.S. military custody at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, and elsewhere during the U.S. war on terror. To...
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A Giving Spirit in Business and Love Spells Success
Many of us were raised with the charitable notion that “it is better to give than to receive.” Recently the Biblical concept was tested scientifically to look at the world of givers and takers. First...
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Art Therapy + CBT Treats Panic Disorder--Maybe
Recently, the website Anxiety.org News announced that, “Art Help Treat Anxiety in Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia.” Because I am a strong believer in the self-regulating possibilities of art-based...
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Neanderthal Rorschach Test
The designs are described by media as a tic-tac-toe grid. Others see them as a "#stoneagehashtag".Maybe those images, used to familiarize and make a little less distant newly published marks on the...
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