For years I have subscribed to a select number of magazines that I choose to read for a mix of entertainment, knowledge, and self improvement. Every month I peruse the various articles looking for those that most interest me, and the ones I think can have the greatest impact on my life.
The most recent addition to my repertoire of knowledge-dropping glossies is Men’s Health. Each year, I think back about which magazines I liked best and which ones I can shed, and then determine what new publication I should try. I chose Men’s Health this year primarily for its advice on, well, health tips for men. It also offers a variety of other tips for men, and is a well-rounded publication.
After reading only one issue, however, I finally had a light bulb that had been dim for many years go on. I love reading my magazines, but they always leave me feeling a bit lacking. After reading about 100 different ways I can strengthen my core, “shred” my abs, etc… I realized why it is I always get that feeling. It’s simple, change really is hard.
It’s easy to read about ways to improve your life, but so very hard to actually do it. Heck, there are literally millions of self-help books out there about how to make money, forge good relationships, be a better person, get in shape, and the list goes on. If you analyzed how much money is spent on them every year, I’m sure the figure would be astounding.
So, why aren't we all pulling down six or seven figure salaries in our dream jobs that allow us to vacation to our beachfront properties often, while not thinking twice about what we look like in our bathing suits with our flawless mates?
Well, part of it is we are human, and, as a result, we are not perfect. But, part of it is also finding the strength, courage and, most importantly, time to change is not easy. Once we get into a pattern, rhythm, groove, habit, whatever you want to call it, it takes that much more effort to change – even if we know it’s for the better. An object in motion tends to stay in motion, right?
All of this, of course, is just conjecture on my part. I don’t hold a degree that would help me speak intelligently on this topic, but I've been speaking my mind for 9 blog posts so why change now?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
25, going on irrelevant?
I was sitting at a recent Butler Basketball game and I happened to look over at the young girl sitting next to me. She was texting on her slide-out keyboard cell phone, and my friend also took notice of this and made a comment about youth. It was then that I realized something… I think I might be falling out of touch with today’s youth.
I’m not saying I don’t text, I do quite often, but it was just the catalyst that spurred this thought. When I was young, I just assumed I would always be young, or at least in touch with the young crowd. I still remember how cool I felt when I set up my first e-mail account on Hotmail! Now, I’m not so sure I’m 100% in touch. Instead of moving with the times, I sometimes feel like I'm just trying to keep up.
I’m on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, I write comments about news stories, post to online discussions, I obviously have a blog, etc… but these are supplements to my every day life, bonuses if you will. For today’s youth, it’s a necessity. It’s an extension of their everyday interactions and it flows seamlessly into their day-to-day life.
As many thoughts do, this got me thinking down another path. Isn’t it amazing what the internet has done to our society? When the first computers – the ones that filled an entire room – were invented they were going to change the world as we knew it, and they did! They kept getting smaller, and smaller, and soon every home and office had one. I remember our first Compaq Presario, it was the bomb! Pre-Pentium, it rocked a 486 processor, blazed through Doom with 16 mb of RAM, and had endless hard drive space with a whole 500 mbs!
But, the true impact of computers – albeit big at the time – was nothing until one single phone line cable was plugged into the back. The internet has changed the way we think, the way we interact, our knowledge base, heck, it’s changed everything. The world is truly a different place than it was pre-internet.
Whether it’s for the good or for the bad will be determined in time, but anything that can bring me a hilarious video of a little girl screaming obscenities at Will Ferrell can’t be all that bad, right??
I’m not saying I don’t text, I do quite often, but it was just the catalyst that spurred this thought. When I was young, I just assumed I would always be young, or at least in touch with the young crowd. I still remember how cool I felt when I set up my first e-mail account on Hotmail! Now, I’m not so sure I’m 100% in touch. Instead of moving with the times, I sometimes feel like I'm just trying to keep up.
I’m on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, I write comments about news stories, post to online discussions, I obviously have a blog, etc… but these are supplements to my every day life, bonuses if you will. For today’s youth, it’s a necessity. It’s an extension of their everyday interactions and it flows seamlessly into their day-to-day life.
As many thoughts do, this got me thinking down another path. Isn’t it amazing what the internet has done to our society? When the first computers – the ones that filled an entire room – were invented they were going to change the world as we knew it, and they did! They kept getting smaller, and smaller, and soon every home and office had one. I remember our first Compaq Presario, it was the bomb! Pre-Pentium, it rocked a 486 processor, blazed through Doom with 16 mb of RAM, and had endless hard drive space with a whole 500 mbs!
But, the true impact of computers – albeit big at the time – was nothing until one single phone line cable was plugged into the back. The internet has changed the way we think, the way we interact, our knowledge base, heck, it’s changed everything. The world is truly a different place than it was pre-internet.
Whether it’s for the good or for the bad will be determined in time, but anything that can bring me a hilarious video of a little girl screaming obscenities at Will Ferrell can’t be all that bad, right??
Monday, January 5, 2009
Rorschach, Smorschcach: A much-needed update to psychological evaluation.
Every year, my mom makes somewhere in the ballpark of 20 different kinds of cookies and candies at Christmas. So, what does this have to do with psychological evaluation you ask? Great question! You see, each cookie and/or candy varies greatly from the other. And, as you might expect, each person has his or her favorite kind. It’s my theory that you can learn a lot about a person, simply based on their favorite Connie Christmas Cookie, or CCC.
For anyone who didn’t recognize the name Rorschach in the title, it refers to Hermann Rorschach, the Swiss Freudian psychiatrist best known for developing the Rorschach inkblot test. By looking at the inkblots and describing what they see and why, patients supposedly reveal characteristics about themselves.
By analyzing people’s choices in CCCs, I’ve been able to extrapolate my own data with which to asses my unsuspecting patients, muhahaha. We’ll start with me – my favorites are my mom’s spritz cookies, and her gingerbread people (this is a PC blog)! One has a very strong almond extract flavor to it, the other has overriding notes of ginger and cinnamon. As such, I’m a person who likes bold things and to take chances. The typical is very boring for me and I often seek new adventures or take risks.
My grandfather, on the other hand, specifically avoids the spritz cookies because they are colored green with food dye. This is the same man who, at 86 years old, had never eaten an M&M until recently because he thought they were flavored to match the colors, like Skittles. My grandfather is a skeptical man, who does not take an uncalculated step. For example, he’s a very good handyman but before he undertakes a project he has thought every aspect of it through. I, on the other hand, love to attack projects head on. Thus, the difference in cookies!
My fiance loves the seven-layer bars. They have a wide array of ingredients and a diverse flavor. She loves to have a lot of different things going on, and to take on a ton of responsibility such as working two jobs, planning a wedding, going to the gym on a regular basis, taking up knitting, relearning Spanish, making time for me etc… Just thinking of all the things she does makes me tired.
One of my coworkers just commented to me that the sugar cookies are her favorite. As you might expect, she is a very even-keel type person. You typically won’t find her doing something outrageous or risky. She likes to be on the safe side of things.
As you can see from my study of humans and their favorite CCCs, it’s really quite easy to develop a better understanding of those around you based on cookie preferance. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a gingerbread person that has been taunting me all day long and I have to go threaten to take its gumdrop buttons.
For anyone who didn’t recognize the name Rorschach in the title, it refers to Hermann Rorschach, the Swiss Freudian psychiatrist best known for developing the Rorschach inkblot test. By looking at the inkblots and describing what they see and why, patients supposedly reveal characteristics about themselves.
By analyzing people’s choices in CCCs, I’ve been able to extrapolate my own data with which to asses my unsuspecting patients, muhahaha. We’ll start with me – my favorites are my mom’s spritz cookies, and her gingerbread people (this is a PC blog)! One has a very strong almond extract flavor to it, the other has overriding notes of ginger and cinnamon. As such, I’m a person who likes bold things and to take chances. The typical is very boring for me and I often seek new adventures or take risks.
My grandfather, on the other hand, specifically avoids the spritz cookies because they are colored green with food dye. This is the same man who, at 86 years old, had never eaten an M&M until recently because he thought they were flavored to match the colors, like Skittles. My grandfather is a skeptical man, who does not take an uncalculated step. For example, he’s a very good handyman but before he undertakes a project he has thought every aspect of it through. I, on the other hand, love to attack projects head on. Thus, the difference in cookies!
My fiance loves the seven-layer bars. They have a wide array of ingredients and a diverse flavor. She loves to have a lot of different things going on, and to take on a ton of responsibility such as working two jobs, planning a wedding, going to the gym on a regular basis, taking up knitting, relearning Spanish, making time for me etc… Just thinking of all the things she does makes me tired.
One of my coworkers just commented to me that the sugar cookies are her favorite. As you might expect, she is a very even-keel type person. You typically won’t find her doing something outrageous or risky. She likes to be on the safe side of things.
As you can see from my study of humans and their favorite CCCs, it’s really quite easy to develop a better understanding of those around you based on cookie preferance. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a gingerbread person that has been taunting me all day long and I have to go threaten to take its gumdrop buttons.
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