SYNOPSIS Hedonic Adaptation explains so many things. Hedonic Adaptation may also explain why you struggle with being pessimistic. Hedonic Adaptation, you’ll remember, is a human being’s propensity to adapt to ongoing experiences. The best example is ...
SYNOPSIS The other day as I walked into the gym I looked around and noticed the people who were there. Over the next hour as I did my exercise, I noticed many of them leaving and ...
SYNOPSIS I was recently listening to a podcast about Genghis Khan, and I learned some amazing things. Not a nice guy, ol’ Genghis, but he still offered some suggestions on how we can live and work ...
SYNOPSIS Everybody has some level of “learned helplessness.” When anything having to do with technology comes up, my wife’s mind goes blank and fails to function. For years, I hired other people to do the bookkeeping ...
SYNOPSIS For years, I suffered from severe indigestion. I was already vegan, so I also cut out gluten, sugar, fried foods, anything I could think of, but every day it felt like someone was slowly sticking ...
SYNOPSIS Would you believe that in many cases guilt and empathy are proportional? Think about it – – a person who has very little empathy for others also has very little guilt about their impact on ...
SYNOPSIS One of the more amazing things I have learned recently is how people naturally underestimate their own force and escalate to compensate for the perceived force of others. Check out this experiment: one person was ...
SYNOPSIS Many people complain about the lack of civility on social media these days. However, our penchant for attacking other people who are perceived to be somewhat removed from us is not a new thing. All ...
SYNOPSIS Here is one of the most interesting studies I have read. In an attempt to understand people‘s motives, behavioral scientists found that the crimes we as individuals commit we consider to be “justifiable and forgivable.“ ...
SYNOPSIS What the HECK was going on? It looked like kids had snuck up to my house and burned streaks onto the exterior. Not only that, the burn marks on the house were happening more frequently ...
SYNOPSIS The other day I went to see my doctor for some antibiotics to treat a worsening upper respiratory infection. “I haven’t been sick in years,” I coughed. “I’m sorry you’re sick now,” she responded. “Oh ...
SYNOPSIS When someone betrays you, disappoints you, or hurts you, you can rail against their behavior or you can, in time, surrender and move on. As you age you can be upset over your body changing ...
SYNOPSIS Like most students drawn to psychology in college, I took Psych classes as a way to try and figure out my own insane family and the craziness I picked up just being a part of ...
SYNOPSIS No, I’m not talking about small dishes of Spanish food. As the third of the Hindu Niyamas (thou SHALT do this), Tapas refers to self-discipline — to improving one’s self through deliberate mental, physical, and ...
SYNOPSIS As I’ve said many times before my favorite book of all time is Illusions by Richard Bach. The foreword for the book tells the story of a Messiah preaching to a crowd and the audience ...
SYNOPSIS As I mentioned in previous JumpStarts, unlike the 10 commandments, which are a list of “Thou Shalt Nots,” the Hindu Yamas tell one what NOT to do and the Niyamas tells us what we SHOULD ...
SYNOPSIS “She’s got that Midas touch” someone says when a coworker scratches off her second winning lottery game card of the week. “Everything she touches turns to gold.” People use King Midas as an example of ...
SYNOPSIS The fourth of the Hindu Yamas is BRAHMACAHRYA — appropriate sexuality. You might be wondering why so many religions put constraints on sexuality. For some, the primary main reason was so that priests could have ...
SYNOPSIS The third of the Hindu Yamas is ASTEYA — non-stealing. In the sense of this ancient tradition, not stealing means more than not taking people’s stuff. It means not stealing their ideas, not stealing their ...
SYNOPSIS The second of the Hindu Yamas is SATYA — truthfulness. Whenever we consider truthfulness we must remember that the idea of “brutal honesty“ is a myth. There is brutality. And, there is honesty. The two ...
SYNOPSIS Many people are familiar with the 10 Commandments. However, most Westerners are not familiar The Yamas and Niyamas, which are the Hindu guides o the ideal conduct. Unlike the 10 Commandments, which are just a ...
Audiences leave energized, hopeful, and equipped with practical tools to communicate more effectively, adapt to change, and take action on what they can control.