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Posted on: September 23rd, 2009At the turn and beginning of the 20th century, life was changing rapidly for Americans. People were moving from the farm to the city and taking jobs in the new industrial economy. Consumerism as we know it today really began to take root in society. Where most people had [...]
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 Tags: Anxiety, Anxiousness, canned food, changing seasons, Cure, food cars, george miller, hubbub, indoor plumbing, industrial economy, life, mail order catalogs, Mental Disorder, mind, Neurasthenia, psychology, quack doctors, stress |  Category: Self Improvement |  Comments are closed These questions have no right or wrong answers. Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Which is worse, failing or never trying? If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t [...] Tags: asking the right questions, average human life span, Brain, elevator button, Free Mind, Freedom, good friend, human life span, insanity, life, living, losing touch, mind, national currency, newborn child, piece of advice, Questions, simpleton | Category: Values | Comments are closed Our minds set up many traps for us. Unless we’re aware of them, these traps can seriously hinder our ability to think rationally, leading us to bad reasoning and making stupid decisions. Features of our minds that are meant to help us may, eventually, get us into trouble. Here are the first 5 of the most harmful of these traps and how to avoid each one of them. 1. The Anchoring Trap: Over-Relying on First Thoughts“Is the population of Turkey greater than 35 million? What’s your best estimate?” Researchers asked this question to a group of people, and the estimates were seldom too far off 35 million. The same question was posed to a second group, but this time using 100 million as the starting point. Although both figures were arbitrary, the estimates from the ‘100 million’ group were, without fail, concomitantly higher than those in the ‘35 million’ group. (for the curious, here’s the answer.) Lesson: Your starting point can heavily bias your thinking: initial impressions, ideas, estimates or data “anchor” subsequent thoughts. This trap is particularly dangerous as it’s deliberately used in many occasions, such as by experienced salesmen, who will show you a higher-priced item first, “anchoring” that price in your mind, for example. Tags: best estimate, Brain, different perspectives, Fool-proof, frame of reference, initial impressions, mind, negative thinking, population of turkey, psychology, salesmen, second group, solution path, stupid decisions, swiss chocolate, Think, Thinking traps, two gifts | Category: Self Improvement | One comment - (Comments are closed) Earlier in my career as a research scientist and medical school professor, I actively supported the perspective that the human body was a "biochemical machine ‘programmed’ by its genes. We scientists believed that our strengths, such as artistic or intellectual abilities, and our weaknesses, such as cardiovascular disease, [...] Tags: biochemical machine, biology courses, breakthrough in biology, current biology, environment controls, gene activity, genes, human biology, mind, research scientist, science, self actualizing, spontaneous remissions | Category: Common Cause, Social, Values | Comments are closed By Dr. Jodi Prinzivalli There is an ancient and well-kept secret to happiness which the Great Ones have known for centuries. They rarely talk about it, but they use it all the time, and it is fundamental to good mental health. This secret is called The Fine Art of Not Being Offended. In order [...] Tags: ancient, art, chess pieces, experience, fear, good mental health, great, ins, intimacy, life experience, life experiences, mind, misunderstanding, psychology, spiritual person, true embodiment, word psychology, zen | Category: Social, Values | One comment - (Comments are closed) |
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