Author’s Bio: Ron Smith is a Critical Thinker. He holds a Ph.D. in physics and is a retired engineer, manager, and senior executive from the high-tech industry. He serves as a Trustee of Gettysburg College and is a philanthropist to multiple institutions of higher education, including within the University of California system.
A famous idiom dates back to the first Democracy in ancient Greece: “Actions speak louder than words”. For U.S. presidential candidates, this idiom applies when candidates’ past actions are vetted against their campaign promises and positions. But unlike the other candidates -- and despite a 44 year career in politics! -- Bernie Sanders has received very little vetting of his actions against his campaign promises.
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I recently wrote that one great goal for creative types (and aren’t we all creative types?) is to follow the 80-20 rule: consume 80% of the time, and create the other 20%.
This is important for two reasons:
Are you really expressing yourself -- or are you just dressing a certain way? Are you really showing the world your true self -- or are you just putting on a performance for an audience?
Thanks to Helicopter Parents and The Self-Esteem Movement, Schools Have Banned Musical Chairs.5/12/2016
Psychologists have been studying play behavior in children for a hundred years. The importance of play -- including rough-and-tumble play -- is undeniable.
Yet misguided educators have decided that musical chairs isn't appropriate for kids, anymore, and you won't believe why.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "It is a happy talent to know how to play."
Intuitively, it makes sense. But was he actually, empirically right? The answer is yes. I know, because I checked. The whole point of my master's thesis was to answer this (and a few other) questions. But here's the thing: because playfulness is a talent, that means it's something we have to learn -- not something we're born with. And it appears as though many millennials missed the memo.
Any given bookstore in the world is bound to have a self-help section. Along with books about weight loss and parenting, you're bound to see at least a dozen books about how to improve your self-esteem.
Although I previously wrote that there is no benefit to having high self-esteem, the fact remains that people still want to feel good about themselves. Psychologists have discovered four main ways that people manage to do that.
In 2016, there are more parenting books on the market than ever -- some of which are super awesome (see also: Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs and How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success).
And yet! Half of what we think we know about kids... is a total major marketing gimmick. And, alarmingly, it turns out that our inability to recognize these gimmicks can have harmful effects on our children in the long run.
A professor is having second thoughts about a letter of recommendation she agreed to write months ago... because she overheard that the student in question is on birth control.
Read any good books lately? I have: Peggy Ornstein's New York Times bestselling Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches From the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture.
After finishing a chapter about Mattel and the American Girl Dolls, I was particularly struck by one of Ornstein's observations:
Have you ever had an experience that was so wonderful that it was the last thing you thought about before you fell asleep every single night for five years?
I have. |
About the Author
Eva is a content specialist with a passion for play, travel... and a little bit of girl power. Read more >
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