Marty Nemko's Blog, page 394

How Boring Are You? A 16-item self-assessment

Bella DePaulo’s PsychologyToday.com article, What Makes People Boring? describes factors that make a person boring.
In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I adapt those into a 16-item self-assessment. HERE is the link.

A Provocative Excerpt from De Maupassant on Women, Procreation

I found provocative this excerpt from Guy de Maupassant's short story, Useless Beauty . So I thought I'd share it with you. Of course, comments welcome.
"Poor women!"
"Why do you pity them?"
"Why? Ah! my dear fellow, just consider! Eleven years in a condition of motherhood for such a woman! What a hell! All her youth, all her beauty, every hope of success, every poetical ideal of a brilliant life sacrificed to that abominable law of reproduction which turns the normal woman into a mere machine for bringing children into the world."
"What would you have? It is only Nature!"
"Yes, but I say that Nature is our enemy, that we must always fight against Nature, for she is continually bringing us back to an animal state. You may be sure that God has not put anything on this earth that is clean, pretty, elegant or accessory to our ideal; the human brain has done it. It is man who has introduced a little grace, beauty, unknown charm and mystery into creation by singing about it, interpreting it, by admiring it as a poet, idealizing it as an artist and by explaining it through science, doubtless making mistakes, but finding ingenious reasons, hidden grace and beauty, unknown charm and mystery in the various phenomena of Nature. God created only coarse beings, full of the germs of disease, who, after a few years of bestial enjoyment, grow old and infirm, with all the ugliness and all the want of power of human decrepitude. He seems to have made them only in order that they may reproduce their species in an ignoble manner and then die like ephemeral insects. I said reproduce their species in an ignoble manner and I adhere to that expression. What is there as a matter of fact more ignoble and more repugnant than that act of reproduction of living beings, against which all delicate minds always have revolted and always will revolt? Since all the organs which have been invented by this economical and malicious Creator serve two purposes, why did He not choose another method of performing that sacred mission, which is the noblest and the most exalted of all human functions? The mouth, which nourishes the body by means of material food, also diffuses abroad speech and thought. Our flesh renews itself of its own accord, while we are thinking about it. The olfactory organs, through which the vital air reaches the lungs, communicate all the perfumes of the world to the brain: the smell of flowers, of woods, of trees, of the sea. The ear, which enables us to communicate with our fellow men, has also allowed us to invent music, to create dreams, happiness, infinite and even physical pleasure by means of sound! But one might say that the cynical and cunning Creator wished to prohibit man from ever ennobling and idealizing his intercourse with women. Nevertheless man has found love, which is not a bad reply to that sly Deity, and he has adorned it with so much poetry that woman often forgets the sensual part of it. Those among us who are unable to deceive themselves have invented vice and refined debauchery, which is another way of laughing at God and paying homage, immodest homage, to beauty.
"But the normal man begets children just like an animal coupled with another by law.
"Look at that woman! Is it not abominable to think that such a jewel, such a pearl, born to be beautiful, admired, feted and adored, has spent eleven years of her life in providing heirs for the Comte de Mascaret?"
Bernard Grandin replied with a laugh: "There is a great deal of truth in all that, but very few people would understand you."

Your First Step Toward Getting Unstuck: A List of Common First Baby Steps

Some people say they’d take action if only they knew what their first step was.  


Well, my PsychologyToday.com article today offers a list of  common first baby steps. 
HERE is the link.

The Present and Future of Treatment for Depression

Almost seven percent of the U.S. population, 16 million people, had at least one major depressive episode in the last year. Many more family members, friends, and coworkers are affected.
What’s best practice for treating depression? And what’s on the horizon?
For answers, I turned to Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the mental-health component of the National Institutes of Health. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and recipient of the Outstanding Service Award from the U.S. Public Health Service. I interviewed him today for my PsychologyToday.com article. HERE is the link.

:How Tolerant Are You, Really?

Today, tolerance is among our most vaunted virtues and most people describe themselves as tolerant. But how tolerant are we really? And when would you like to be more tolerant? Less so?


In my PsychologyToday.com article, today, for 16 situations, I ask you to assess how tolerant you'd be and whether you'd like to change.

HERE is the link.

Getting Your Child Well Educated

Barbara Nemko
Even if your child or grandchild attends a "good" school, you may worry s/he's not getting as good an education as you’d like.
For ideas on what to do, in my PsychologyToday.com article, I interviewed Dr. Barbara Nemko, Napa County Superintendent of Schools, member of the State Superintendent’s cabinet, regional schools superintendent of the year and this year named one of HERE is the link. 

My Top 16 Pieces of Career Advice

With petabytes of career advice out there, how do you find what's really crucial? My PsychologyToday.com article today offers my 16 favorite pieces of career advice.

HERE in the link.

Trial Lawyer Gerry Spence on Persuasiveness

The master trial lawyer has much to teach us about persuasion. And Gerry Spence certainly is a master. He has never lost a criminal case either as a prosecutor or defense attorney. He has not lost a civil case since 1969.  Spence has more multi-million dollar verdicts without an intervening loss than any lawyer in America, including $10.5 million in the Karen Silkwood case  He is in the American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame, which includes John Adams and Clarence Darrow.  

I interviewed Gerry Spence today for my PsychologyToday.com article today. HERE is the link.

Fall

Molecules slowing,
summer's heat replaced by temperance,
portending winter's inertia,
reversible by raging against the stasis.
Or we can wait until spring, 
which may never come.

The Psychology of the Artistic Lessons on art, leadership, and rejection.

For my PsychologyToday.com article today, I interviewed symphony orchestra conductor, David Ramadanoff. He offers lessons on art, leadership, and rejection. HERE is the link.