It’s not how old you are, it’s how you are old. Jules Renard Fluid Intelligence is raw intelligence- the ability to solve novel, abstract problems. It increases through our 30s then begins a precipitous decline in our 40s. This explains why younger people are more innovative and populate startups and new music genres. Most readers...Read More
Well-being is realized by small steps but is truly no small thing. – Zeno Founder of Stoic Philosophy (334 BC-262 BC) I’ve been taking Robert Sapolsky’s biology course on YouTube on how stress impacts health. Here is a fun fact to help us frame the holidays during a pandemic: Naked Mole Rats live in...Read More
….what else matters besides being kind to ourselves and kind to others? As we mourn the violent murder of George Floyd and so many other innocent people of color, amidst a pandemic that is hitting black and brown communities hardest, we descend into an economic depression. Rage naturally erupts from these wretched injustices and lack...Read More
Our Life is What our Thoughts Make It Marcus Aurelius, 121AD- 180AD I recently began practicing stoicism—not to become an emotionless person, but to minimize negative emotions. Its antifragile or toughness-training. Even though the Stoics wrote their philosophy over 2,000 years ago–their wisdom is so relevant to our modern life. Who among us does...Read More
One day you finally knew what you had to do… and began. -Mary Oliver The metaphor of a frog* dropped in boiling water will jump out, but if heated very gradually will be boiled to death, applies to our health too. The gradual degradation hardly gets noticed until one day, we are confronted with the...Read More
When my sister was in the throes of addiction, I did everything I could to try to fix her, make her different. No matter what I did, the outcome was the same: chaos and heartbreak. A client spent hours leading a search for a new director. A well-qualified candidate was selected, but the boss said...Read More
He who sows hurry reaps indigestion. Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish philosopher 1850-1894 An interesting study at the Princeton Theological Seminary tells a troubling story about how well-intentioned humans can behave when we are in a rush. The students were given a lecture on the parable of The Good Samaritan, and then were told they had...Read More
When I was growing up, I was one of six kids and my father owned a toy store in Hackensack, New Jersey. What I learned as a teenager, was that his leftover inventory became our Christmas presents. While I slept, the delivery truck from his store would back up the driveway late Christmas Eve. What...Read More
One Person’s Experience with Integrity Comfortable shoes and the freedom to leave are the two most important things in life. –Shell Silverstein A colleague of mine accepted a senior clinical position at a large research hospital She quickly saw that the culture was focused on conducting research, with attention to patients as a secondary priority....Read More
Our habits of mind can play incredible tricks on us. One of the first things I learned to do as a nurse was to accurately name things… once we have the accurate assessment, then the right remedy can follow. This simple principle can help us self-regulate, get unstuck and acknowledge and remedy unspecified stress or...Read More
