Blog

Re-Defining The Mental Health Day March 17th, 2010

We’ve all heard the expression, “I need a mental health day (MHD).”  It’s a reason to justify taking some time off from work if you’re feeling exhausted, stressed out in general, or you are at the end of your tether due to some interpersonal frictions.  If you need a MHD and you are an employer or high level executive, you can simply tell your staff, “I’m not coming in today”.  As an employee, you need to come up with some acceptable reason such as taking some unused sick or vacation time, being under the weather, having a family problem that… READ MORE ›

“Taking Out the Garbage” March 12th, 2010

A young man is confronted by his father about not doing his work in World History, one of his subjects in High School.  He explains; the course “isn’t interesting to me- it’s boring.”  “I’ll never need to use any of that junk in my life,” he adds.  His father retorts, “I take out the garbage, that’s not interesting to me.”  What wisdom is the parent attempting to bestow on his son? From the father’s point of view, aside from realizing piled up garbage is unsanitary and smelly, his son’s old enough to understand that, in life, there will be many… READ MORE ›

This Year I’m Not Going to Take Daylight Savings Time Laying Down October 25th, 2009

It’s late on October 31, 2009.  Daylight Savings Time is scheduled to end at 2 AM.  I’ve decided to throw my own “Tea Party.”  For me, however, the “T” equals “Time.”  What I’m getting at is that I am refusing to go along changing time again.  It wrecks havoc with my sleep and personal time-space continuum.  More importantly, it makes me feel that my individualism is being tramped upon by collectivist bureaucratic hegemony.  I just won’t have it. So, this year, my various clocks and timepieces are staying put.  One problem is that the time shown on my iPhone adjusted… READ MORE ›

Pardon Me: But There Is A Bug In My Cyber Self August 27th, 2009

Can conceptualizing the brain in high-tech terms help relate self-understanding to social issues? Like computers, our brains have “hardware,” in the form of intricately connected organic structures.  Neural “software” includes inborn programs and learned programs (e.g. which fork to use at a fine restaurant).  However, the essence of who we are may exist in something akin to a neural cyberspace.  Let’s call this our cyber-self.  Like the Internet, this inner world cannot be touched or observed directly but nevertheless exists.  Religious perspectives aside, how this cyber-self originates and the exact nature of its connection to the physical brain are unclear. … READ MORE ›

In Praise of Doubt July 31st, 2009

Has doubt been maligned? Doubt is typically associated with problems like indecisiveness and procrastination.  Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is known as “The Doubting Illness.”  Politicians who show doubt are said to be “Waffling or Flip- Flopping.”  Would you hire a CEO or draft an athlete that is riddled with “doubts”?  A “Doubting Thomas” is someone lacking faith.  Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet doubts the value of life-“To be, or not to be.”  These are not exactly words that connote positive leadership qualities. If there are so many clinical, professional, and literary examples of how doubt is considered undesirable, then what could possibly be praiseworthy… READ MORE ›