The image of attempting to climb two trees with one foot braces against each trunk is painfully awkward.  It obviously would be much more efficient to climb one tree at a time.  Yet I often find myself doing something similar to my mind by reading, watching TV and listening to a family member all at the same time.  My brain is able to take in all of the different inputs into short term memory, but only a few of them get thoroughly processed and retained long term.  Much of my brain...

When someone mistreats me, I get mad, naturally.  The important decision comes later.  I can choose to relive that wrong in my mind, and until I forgive the other person, that’s what I tend to do whenever I have to deal with him again.  My anger comes back and I am likely to say or do something that makes the situation worse.  Anger and hate get us stuck in the past.  When I forgive the other person, I free my mind of the anger and that frees my mind to find ways to make things better for...

The standard sports movie includes a scene where the coach makes a big pep talk to spark a come from behind win.  These scenes are good drama, but bad models.  They remind me of a cartoon where the recipient of a Safety Award thanks his boss by saying, “Without trophies like this, I would have no motivation to avoid injuries.”