That Th!nk You Do Chapter X+1 – Taking Back Your Life, part 2

Following up on last week’s That Think You Do Chapter X – Taking Back Your Life, part 1, we now offer part 2.

Enjoy!


The whole key to taking back control of your life is allowing yourself to feel good about yourself. I’m surprised at how few people have this ability any more. Being pulled in many different directions often only serves to pull us off balance, to cause us to forget who we are and why we’re doing what we do.

Personal Philosophy Alert: We’re here for each other.

For what it’s worth and (hopefully) for your pleasure and enlightenment, here are six more simple ways neuroscience and psychology tell us we can take back control of our lives.

Decide If It’s Worth the Effort
Is something upsetting you? Take a moment to decide if what’s upsetting you is worth the energy and effort you’re devoting to it. Chances are what’s upsetting you is out of your control, isn’t what you think it is, is a miscommunication, and so on. You can laugh or rage at what happens in your life and either one can leave you in tears and gasping for breath. Given the options, putting the energy into laughter makes your heart and mind stronger.

Take Time to Play Continue readingThat Th!nk You Do Chapter X+1 – Taking Back Your Life, part 2″

The Change Zone Test Chat Snippet #2 – Bliss, the Arctic, and Scotland

My blessings continue.

The Change Zone‘s Susan Sneath and Gail McDonald invited me to take part in their 28 Nov 2022 show.

We spent about an hour and a half chatting to get to know each other and I suggested snippets from the chat would make good promo fodder for the full show.

Kind people that they are, they agreed.

Previous segments include:

In the meantime, please enjoy Bliss, the Arctic, and Scotland.

Enjoy!

 
You can see the real conversation (this snippet was from a preliminary gathering) on YouTube.

The Change Zone Test Chat Snippet #1 – Wolf and Spider

My blessings continue.

The Change Zone‘s Susan Sneath and Gail McDonald invited me to take part in their 28 Nov 2022 show.

We spent about an hour and a half chatting to get to know each other and I suggested snippets from the chat would make good promo fodder for the full show.

Kind people that they are, they agreed.

Below is the first of several, this one about Wolf and Spider.

Enjoy!

 
You can see the real conversation (this snippet was from a preliminary gathering) on YouTube.

That Th!nk You Do Chapter X – Taking Back Your Life, part 1

People often share with me that they feel overwhelmed, that their life is out of control, that there are too many demands and not enough time. These feelings aren’t unique and are increasingly common in our information-rich world. Let me share some simple things neuroscience tells us can help us get our lives back under control. In this section I’ll share some things I do personally, and later I’ll share things I’ve found helpful when necessary.

Be Average, Be Simple
I make lists. Gosh, do I make lists. Some stay in my head and most of them get down on paper. A few go onto the computer and even then they might stay on paper. Anyway, perhaps, like me, lists are helpful to you. I learned to make lists by starting with simple ones. I wrote down only two things, made them easy to do and rewarded myself for doing them. The rewards were also simple. One reward I still use is simply stopping what I’m doing, taking a deep breath, closing my eyes and letting myself relax into my chair for about a minute. If you’re thinking this doesn’t sound like much, you’re absolutely correct — it’s nothing at all. That means there’s no reason for you to not do it and every reason to go ahead and do it.

Stay on Track Continue readingThat Th!nk You Do Chapter X – Taking Back Your Life, part 1″

That Th!nk You Do Chapter 6 – Guys Can’t Help Themselves

For those who didn’t know, I’ve signed with a new publisher and my first book out with them, The Think You Do, should be available late Nov-Dec ’22.

Read:

As always, let me know what you think.


Guys Can’t Help Themselves

 
I have never accepted “Boys will be boys” as an excuse for socially unacceptable behavior. But have you noticed that the vast number of “acting out” news items involve males? Consider DUIs, fights, shouting matches, anything you care to recognize as “bad behavior” and the involvement of males greatly over shadows the involvement of females.

Why is that?

Well, to a certain degree it’s because guys can’t help themselves.

No, this is not an apologetic for bad behavior and I’m definitely not providing men a carte blanche. What I’m recognizing is that the wiring of the male brain makes it easier for them to behave badly. Women don’t have the same wiring.

And no, I’m not kidding. Research performed at John Hopkins and elsewhere is verifying yet another difference between males and females, another evolutionary difference in addition to the obvious sexual traits.

It works like this: cause humans to do something pleasurable and their brains release dopamine (the “pleasure molecule”). Well, duh!, right? But male brains release up to three times as much pleasure for a given stimulus as female brains do.

Three times as much? Well, heck. Sign me up right now, please.
Continue readingThat Th!nk You Do Chapter 6 – Guys Can’t Help Themselves”