If we were all a little more mindful...

I sometimes wonder how life would change, if we all took the time to be a little more mindful in our everyday lives.  Here is one author's quest for mindfulness, and what he noticed about more mindful living.    mindful living

What are YOUR challenges to mindfulness?  What do you notice, when you slow down?

It's been awhile since I've posted.  Teaching kept me busy, in the Fall of 2014.  I ran across this, however, and thought that I should share it.  The only thing I don't like about it is that it gives a little too much weight to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, in my opinion.  Other than that, I thought it had some useful tips.

How to choose a therapist and type of therapy

Mental illness and stigma

I love it when famous people "come out" and tell of their struggles with mental illness.  It makes it easier for all of us to talk about.

Hemingway and mental illness

How Psychology can help Ferguson Heal

As I've mentioned in a previous post, racism is incidious and exceedingly psychological. The president of the American Psychological Association has these words to say, about how we can combat racism.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/columns/how-psychology-can-help-ferguson-heal/article_f6d6e76e-92c7-59a8-b7da-6321c3be882f.html#.VAmjsvjeemg.facebook

More about vacations...

The summer is winding down.  Most, if not all of the European population has returned from vacation.

I ran across another article, the other day, highlighting an important difference between European and American vacation-time.  I want to share it here, because it fits with my experience of things.

My first summer in Denmark was magical.  The weather was amazing (we still talk about it) and I learned how to press that "off" button for two whole weeks in a row.  However, another important part of the magic was that everything in Copenhagen seemed to slow down for about a month.  I took my dog to the vet, for example.  The vet was working alone, with no assistant and no receptionist.  Everyone was on vacation.  Banks were slow.  Some retail shops shut down.  

I wrote emails to colleagues that weren't returned.  After some attempts to work, after I returned from vacation, I simply gave up.  No one else was working, so why should I? I couldn't really accomplish anything, anyway.  And such is life in Europe during the month of July.

Read this article about the effects of synchronized vacations on their perceived benefits.

Until next time...

http://m.theweek.com/article/index/266998/why-we-should-all-vacation-at-the-exact-same-time

The APA's Statement about the Shooting of Michael Brown

It's important to realize that prejudice these days, is often not even a conscious process.  While blacks, and other minorities enjoy equality in a number of areas, worldwide, what lingers, are semi-conscious judgments about worth,and presumed innocence or guilt. The APA released this statement about combating stereotypes.  

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/08/michael-brown.aspx

Definition of perversion

Some of you know that I teach Psychology of Human Sexuality to American University students.  I was preparing for my class, which begins next week, when I came across this interesting video about paraphilias. Beware-- the people in this video are very heady and academic, but they have interesting points about our definitions around sexuality, and the medicalization of sexuality in the late 19th century.  Have a look and see what you think.  How do we establish, in our society, what exactly "Normal" is?
Academic Paraphilia Discussion