Prodromal Sublimation

Sitting on Catastrophe's Knee

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 21:36:43 -0400

Penniless at the wishing well.

Sitting on catastrophe’s knee.

Airwaves full of the obvious.

Sky black above me.

I see in shades of gray.

I catch a glimpse of my silhouette.

It glares back at me with a bad attitude.

I hear voices in the shadows.

I wonder what is true.

I hear laughter.

I hear crying.

I see dancing.

I see dying.

Sometimes I know its you.

Audio

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 23:47:49 -0400

Ultimate Super Powers Chart. I want this for my office.

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:05:55 -0400

Ultimate Super Powers Chart. I want this for my office.

Tumblr as Commonplace Book. Fascinating article about the use...

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:18:52 -0400

Tumblr as Commonplace Book. Fascinating article about the use of Commonplace Books, think very old school Pinterest, Tumblr, Influence Maps, or Tapiture. I’m actually starting my own Tumblr Commonplace Book. You can find it at www.prodromalcommonplacebook.tumblr.com

Heritage USA: From God Town to Ghost Town

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:49:43 -0500

Heritage USA: From God Town to Ghost Town:

iO9 had this link earlier today. Heritage USA (founded by the infamous Jim Baker) used to be third most visited theme park in USA. It now sits abandoned. Check out these pictures that look like something out of a zombie apocalypse movie. Click the title to check it out.

3:44 AM

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:02:33 -0500

3:44 AM:

I must be doing it wrong. I’ve tracked my own awakenings for years now and I wake up most at 4:27 AM.

Anxiety: Three Messages to Avoid Giving Kids (Charles Elliott, Ph.D.)

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:49:07 -0500

Anxiety: Three Messages to Avoid Giving Kids (Charles Elliott, Ph.D.):

I couldn’t’ agree with this any more (click here to see the whole thing).

Kids don’t generally develop anxiety disorders all on their own. Oh sure, genes and biology have some influence, but these factors largely just predispose kids in the direction of acquiring problems with anxiety. The wrong messages can push both anxiously disposed kids as well as otherwise normal kids in the direction of struggling with anxiety for the rest of their lives.

If you’re a parent or someone who cares about kids, you just might want to know what type of messages instill insecurity. I’ll start by laying out three common mistakes that parents make; in other words, the kinds of messages you “don’t” want to give them:

Invalidating or Denying Your Children’s Feelings. If your kids seem worried, fearful, upset, or distraught, sometimes it’s tempting to tell them “there’s no reason that they should feel that way” or even that they “shouldn’t” be feeling what they are obviously feeling. Parents give these messages because they don’t want their kids to feel distress. So, they reason that their kids will understand, if their bad feelings have no real basis, they won’t feel the way they do. Big mistake. Children need to hear that it’s normal and OK to have a little fear or distress sometimes.

Providing Incessant Reassurance. Messages that “everything will turn out OK” sound so very much like what you should tell kids, and if you don’t say them too often, there’ll probably be no problem. However, when you frequently reassure your kids, you end up giving them the message that they need to turn to you (as an adult or parent) to help them see that things will turn out alright. They fail to learn that they can get through fear on their own. We wrote about this issue in detail in our earlier book, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder For Dummies and if you find yourself reassuring your kids a lot, we urge you to read it.

Protecting Your Kids from All Harm. No one ever wants to see a child come into harm’s way. However, growing, developing and learning require kids to face challenges and even take a few small risks along the way. Parents that try to constantly clear all dangers and risks that their kids confront teach them that the world is a scary place and that they need their parents to guide them through it. That message hardly fosters the independence and maturity they’ll need as adolescents and young adults.

So what’s a parent to do instead? One of the best ways to help prevent kids from developing anxiety disorders is to model how to cope.

I recommend that parents express when they’re feeling anxious and tell their kids how they plan to cope with it. For example, you might say, “Sometimes I feel nervous when I have to climb a ladder, but I just need to take a deep breath, be careful, and do it. If I get too nervous, I can always climb back down, but it feels good to get through difficult tasks.” Another good strategy is for parents to praise their kids when they make efforts to do things that are a little anxiety arousing for them.

The bottom line: Gently encourage your kids to confront their fears, let them know that a little anxiety is normal, and don’t try to keep them away from all challenges and risks.

Infographic of the Day: The nonprofit organization...

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 09:36:14 -0500

Infographic of the Day: The nonprofit organization Environmental Working Group reviewed 84 popular kids breakfast cereals and found that a disturbing number of them contain a disturbing amount of sugar.

In fact, Kellogg’s Honey Smacks — which, funnily enough, was once called Sugar Smacks — contains more sugar in a one-cup serving than an entire Hostess Twinkie.

Kellogg’s vice president of nutrition Lisa Sutherland told NPR that Honey Smacks are not marketed to kids and are “seldom eaten by them.”

I’m crushed. I always thought Froot Loops were good for me since they had fruit in them. I guess the fact that they spelled fruit as “Froot” should have tipped me off.

In honor (i.e. mockery) of Harold Camping (the guy who said the...

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:15:35 -0400

In honor (i.e. mockery) of Harold Camping (the guy who said the end of the world would be complete yesterday), I am reading “The Leftovers” by Tom Perrotta. Clicking the link will take you to Stephen King’s review of the book.

Now this song makes total sense.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:21:33 -0400

Now this song makes total sense.

Facebook Posts Reveal Alcoholism Risk

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 21:26:55 -0400

Facebook Posts Reveal Alcoholism Risk:

This study may actually have found a true phenomenon, but we will never know for sure because nobody can find their friends’ Facebook posts anymore.

Honest Answer About UK Football

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 23:05:49 -0400

Honest Answer About UK Football:

This pretty much sums up UK football!

How Men Vs. Women See Colors.

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:57:12 -0400

How Men Vs. Women See Colors.

Winning?

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:12:43 -0400

Relax, this isn’t an article about Charlie Sheen but his claim of “bi-winning” did probably influence me in taking a hard look at what it means to win.

So what does it mean to win? According to the dictionary, winning means “gaining, resulting in, or relating to victory in a contest or competition”. For anyone who has ever won a game, a contest, or a competition of any sort, the feeling of winning is unforgettable, capable of generating some of the most intense emotional experiences we ever feel in our lives. Don’t get me wrong, I love to win, but sometimes I think our personal definitions of what it means to win can get confused. Over the next few paragraphs, I am going to attempt to share some stories that suggest we don’t always win when we think we win and that we don’t always lose when we think we lose.

You may want to make sure that you are sitting down for this first analogy because I am going to attempt something that I don’t think has ever done before – use the movie White Men Can’t Jump to make a philosophical point. The female lead, Gloria Clemente played by Rosie Perez, makes the following statement about winning. “Sometimes when you win, you really lose. And sometimes when you lose, you really win. And sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie and sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose. Winning or losing is all one organic globule, from which one extracts what one needs.”

I hate to start with this example as I believe I’ve already lost any credibility I might have had with you by referencing this movie, but I think this quote is actually dead on. These lines would have been so much better being said by The Dude character in The Big Lebowski but we are stuck with them being spoken by Gloria Clemente. Nevertheless, the truth of this movie dialog rings so true. Sometimes when we win, we really lose, sometimes when we lose, we really win, sometimes winning or losing actually results in a tie, and sometimes when we tie, we really win or lose.

However, the part I like the most about his quote is the last part in which she says we all extract what we need from winning or losing. While I do not think that most of us actually do this, I think we would all be better served by attempting to take what we need from any win, loss, or tie. Good coaches will tell you that they often learn more about their team in a loss than a win. Sometimes you will even hear coaches privately tell you that their team needs a loss.

I think the same is true of individuals as well. I think we learn more about who we are and what type of people others are when they are faced with a loss. It is easy to be part of a winning team, it is a much harder thing to be part of a team that piles up the loses. (I originally thought I would reference Carson Palmer here to illustrate this point, but I think the Bengals had a 4-12 record with him playing last year so the only point I can really make in reference to Palmer is that your team is likely to lose with Palmer as your QB).

The other thing of beauty about extracting what you need from winning or losing is that it is actually quite sound psychologically speaking. Research shows that people who handle stress and adversity well have the adaptive ability to see positives in whatever situation they face and to learn from trying situations.

I was struck by the recent reaction of Dirk Nowitizki in the 2011 NBA Playoffs after he and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat for the NBA Championship. He walked off the court as the last few seconds clicked off of the game clock. He headed straight to the locker room giving a couple of handshakes and high fives as he left the court. He looked to be on the verge of tears and did not join his teammates in celebrating on the court as time expired. It was reported that he had to be coaxed to come back out for the Playoff MVP and championship trophy presentations.

Part of what struck me is that here is a man that some have said is one of the top ten basketball players of all time, walking off the court very humbly. This is in stark contrast to many of his peers who openly tell you how great they are and what they did to contribute to the team’s victory. The backstory here is that Nowitizki had been to the playoffs once before with the Mavericks in 2006. In 2006, the Mavs were up 2 games to 0 over the Miami Heat and leading by 13 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3. They ended up losing Game 3 and the next three to lose the title when they were 13 minutes from going up 3-0.

Nowitizki was reportedly so distraught over this that he went on a three week drinking binge. However, once he dried out he committed himself to working harder than ever to get another chance at winning the NBA Finals. He got there and he and his Mavericks dismantled a team that virtually everyone had already crowned as the champions. Nowitizki took the painful loss of the 2006 finals and used it to turn himself into a winner. Sometimes our greatest losses turn into our greatest victories.

Now for those of you who cannot relate to sports, I will share a country music analogy (for those of you who cannot relate to either sports or country music analogies, Google has failed you and you have come to the wrong blog. I apologize for wasting your time). Kenny Chesney has a song called “You Win, I Win, We Lose”.

Nothing left, no regrets                                                              You take yours, I’ll take mine
No hard feelings wish you all the best                                     We’ll leave nothing but the memories behind
No blame, no shame                                                                   Of a love, and a dream
Just time to say it’s over I guess                                                That just somehow faded with time
We both agree it’s the right thing                                             You say you’re goin’ your way
The only thing left to do                                                             I’m goin’ somewhere too
You win, I win, we lose                                                               You win, I win, we lose

This song is obviously about a couple who has decided to breakup and end their relationship. Based on the song, by each of them winning and getting their respective ways, the narrator sees the individual wins by each partner resulting in a collective loss. I fear that this is exactly the thing many of us do in the families, the relationships, and the organizations in which we happen to find ourselves. While it may be true that there is no “I” in team, it seems like most teams have at least one individual who seems to be shooting for individual wins rather than team wins.

How many families, relationships, and organizations would be better functioning and better run if we truly took a collectivistic team approach rather than an individualistic approach which says, “I’m going to do what is best for me and if it happens to help out the larger family unit/my partner/my company that is just icing on the cake.” There are many reasons why families, marriages, and organizations fail, but individual members trying to win individually (or not lose) certainly seems to be a prime contributor.

Another sports analogy.

With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done before, in high school or college. Her first homerun cleared the center field fence. But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it, and collapsed with a knee injury. She crawled back to first but could go no farther. Her first base coach told her that she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Unable to continue on her own, the umpire ruled that a pinch runner could be called in for her, but that the homer would only count as a single.

It was at this point that the originally apparent win that turned into a loss turned back into a win for Western Oregon. Members of the Central Washington University softball teamed stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases so the three-run homer would count – an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.

Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky. The umpire said there was no rule against it. So Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tuchoslky’s legs as she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the base paths, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her remaining good leg.

As the trio reached home plate the entire Western Oregon team was in tears. “In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much,” Holtman said. “It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run.”

Then there is also Garth Brooks. I know, he annoys me also but he had a song some years back that really reinforces the point I am trying to make – some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.

Just the other night a hometown football game
My wife and I ran into my old high school flame
And as I introduced them the past came back to me
And I couldn’t help but think of the way things used to be

She was the one that I’d wanted for all times
And each night I’d spend prayin’ that God would make her mine
And if he’d only grant me this wish I wished back then
I’d never ask for anything again

She wasn’t quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams
And I could tell that time had changed me
In her eyes too it seemed
We tried to talk about the old days
There wasn’t much we could recall
I guess the Lord knows what he’s doin’ after all

And as she walked away and I looked at my wife
And then and there I thanked the good Lord
For the gifts in my life

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs
That just because he may not answer doesn’t mean he don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered

Now I know some of you are thinking, didn’t Garth leave his wife (the woman he is so thankful to God for in this song) for Trisha Yearwood? Yes, he did, but I’m asking you to suspend your knowledge of this inconvenient fact for a moment.

Sometimes when we think we didn’t get what we wanted, we actually got what we needed. Sometimes when we think we lost, we actually won. Sometimes when we think we won, we actually lost. It is all one organic globule from which we extract what we need.

Comparisons of camouflage effectivenes.

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:18:50 -0400

Comparisons of camouflage effectivenes.

Art Project of the Day: From Swiss artist and comedian Ursus...

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:42:13 -0400

Art Project of the Day: From Swiss artist and comedian Ursus Wehrli’s upcoming book The Art of Clean Up, which features OCD-esque rearrangements of common, everyday things such as food, foliage, and friends.

Pew Observations - Part 1

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:06:49 -0400

In some form or another, I have had a view from a pew for much of my entire life. My biological and spiritual family trees are filled with a seemingly disproportionate number of ministers. I grew up as one of those kids who if the church doors were open for a service or gathering, we were probably going to be there. I have attended small churches and large churches; country churches, urban churches, and suburban churches; churches that were grand cathedrals and churches that were little more than shacks; I even once went to a church were they handle snakes. Regardless of the church, my view has largely been from the pew. These are my observations.

What do churches and golf courses have in common? Together they account for over 90% of the small pencil market.

Recently some friends of our children attended church with us. As the communion tray was passed around, the youngest (a six year old) asked if he had to eat the bread and the juice. When told that he did not, he replied, “Good, because the bread looks stale and I only drink Juicy Juice”.

When I was a child, I remember our church having a yearly revival in which there would be six to seven nights of preaching. Now it seems like we can make do with two to three nights of services. In fact, some churches don’t even have revivals anymore. I guess we just don’t need as much revivaling now days.

I also remember that it used to be a big deal to sign up to host the revivalist at your house for dinner. Looking back on this practice, it seems somewhat cruel to feed the revivalist a big meal and then expect him to deliver a message without burping or slipping off to sleep. That is what my dad and grandfather usually did during the message.

As a young child, when we would host the revivalist for dinner before the service, I always wondered if we would get a sneak preview of the message. The neurotic me also worried about what would happen if he didn’t like dinner. I love my mom, but I could usually count on two nights per week of not liking dinner.

The person with one of the hardest jobs at a church service now days is the poor soul who has to advance the PowerPoint slides as the congregation sings worship songs. Few places have I seen more looks that could kill than those looks that are directed to the sound booth when the right words are not on the screen.

If I were a pianist or organist at a church, I would insist on facing the congregation as I played. I would be paranoid that everyone was staring at me trying to figure out if I have a bald spot.

I’m pretty sure the last time I attended the church I grew up at, they had moved the pianist completely to another building. I never did see her. Cathie (my wife) and I kept asking each other where she was.

I am also not a fan of the glass, see-through pulpit. What if your fly is undone?

Have you ever priced a pulpit or a communion table? Talk about Jesus needing to clear the temple. Somebody is making a killing.

I know I should let it go, but I still have a great deal of guilt about hiding in the church baptistery once during a robust game of hide and seek.

I attended a conference once where people who made decisions were baptized in the backyard pool of a neighboring house. If I owned that house, I’m not sure I could ever swim in that pool again. I would have thoughts like: “I just farted in the baptistery”, “I just did a belly flop in the baptistery”, “Let’s invite the cute girl who just moved in next door over to swim in the baptistery”, and “Does the water look blue to you? Get out! I think someone peed in the baptistery”.

I think it is funny that restaurants and churches both use pager systems. At least at the Olive Garden I know it is my turn to eat. At church, it means one of my sons has done something that is not covered in the church nursery manual.

I attended a church for two years before I realized that they used a similar system. Yours child’s number would light up on a monitor above the preacher’s head. For two years, I thought this was some sort of attendance or approval rating board that gave real-time updates.

Wouldn’t it be funny/horrible/ironic if the pager number they gave your child was 666?

Novak Djokovic's Secret: Sitting in a Pressurized Egg.

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:20:17 -0400

Novak Djokovic's Secret: Sitting in a Pressurized Egg.

Tripoli psychiatric hospital overwhelmed by war fallout.

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 18:16:58 -0400

Tripoli psychiatric hospital overwhelmed by war fallout.

Theater of the Absurd - Part 2

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:16:52 -0400

Theater of the Absurd - Part 2:

Apple now has more cash on hand than the US government!