by jmalouff | Aug 1, 2021 | Reading
If we read books, we get to live a thousand lives. In living those other lives, we acquire new perspectives — we grow as a person. I thought about the power of books after reading The Overstory, a masterpiece by Richard Powers. This fictional story weaves...
by jmalouff | Aug 1, 2021 | Bereavement and Grief, Emotions, Human Thinking and Behavior
I recently listened to a new song: Roger Ebert. I learned about the song from a Facebook post by the son of a man with a recently diagnosed deadly disease. The song is about the last words of Roger Ebert, famous movie critic, who died in 2013. Just before...
by jmalouff | Jul 11, 2021 | Human Thinking and Behavior, Language
When I teach students how to help eliminate some behavior, like nail biting, I preach that clients need to develop an alternative behavior that serves the same functions as the one they want to eliminate. For instance, if a bloke wants to stop ruinous drinking, he may...
by jmalouff | Jul 11, 2021 | Human Thinking and Behavior, Positive psychology
If you think of yourself as the author of your life story, what will you title the next chapter? This question asks for a goal. It is good for a person to have goals, whether of achievements, experiences, or whatever. Goals motivate us, they help us plan, and they...
by jmalouff | Jul 10, 2021 | Human Thinking and Behavior, Language
I recently did a few radio interviews about the effects of empathy training, which was a media topic due to the PM ordering a member of Parliament to get the training. I said in the interviews that empathy training can be effective in a person who wants to learn. I...