I got spanked by science this morning… Laura Carstensen, a “lifespan researcher”, says she knows why the elderly are happier than the young. Though their bodies and minds are weaker and less reliable than ever before, and though they experience loss much more frequently, many elderly are happier than ever… Read More
I’ve been waiting “forever” for my meal. “This waiter is terrible.” She cuts in from of me in traffic. “Idiot!” I’m trying to be friendly but he’s giving me nothing but nods and the shortest answers. “Stuck up.” Fundamental attribution error: the tendency in Western cultures to… Read More
We’ve all heard of the five stages of grief and many of us have even moved through them ourselves. Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance The typical responses to extreme poverty are very similar, in my experience. Many of us even seem to move through them sequentially. What’s your response right… Read More
The college student smart enough to succeed at several majors. The retiree who could do a hundred things with the next thirty years of his life. The businessman with a zillion 401K options. Me standing before fifty varieties of spaghetti sauce at the grocery store. The woman at a conference hearing appeals from a dozen non-profits and just causes. Choice paralysis. View Post
Mrs. Roosth was tall and gaunt, uncomfortably quiet, with small eyes and angry hands.
I leaned back too far in my chair and landed with a thump on the classroom floor. She wrapped her bony fingers around my arm, yanked me up to my feet and just about threw me into the nearest corner to stand for the rest of the day. A few hours. I was in the first grade. View Post
I’ve been speaking and singing on behalf of Compassion International in 80 to 100 cities every year for seven years. And being the nerd I am I’ve studied the results and found that as crowds get larger they also become less compassionate. View Post
Shaun Groves