Is rushing out to buy a closet full of face masks really the best way to confront your fear of catching the deadly COVID-19? We think not. For one thing, masks are really intended for those doing the spreading of disease, not those who are trying to avoid it. They offer little guarantee of preventing […]
Democrats, take heart. Sure, you’ve had a lousy week (to go with a lousy three years), with the Senate acquittal of your most hated foe coupled with the Iowa caucus debacle making you look like the political equivalent of the New York Knicks. One might argue that this week we hit extreme Republicanism, with the […]
There’s a groundswell of opinion out there that unfettered positivity is the key to a happy, successful life. It’s been posited that those people who complain about their situations are digging a hole for themselves, a hole that leads to failure, social isolation, and death! But what if these cheerful idiots are wrong? As with […]
Are you amenable to letting gods, extraterrestrials, and mythical beings into your space?Are you prepared for energy shifts? For dissociation from what people consider “reality?” For images, color, words and light language to enter your consciousness? The practice of channeling — a person’s body being taken over by a spirit for the purpose of communication […]
Did you know that Academy Award losers die 4 years earlier than Academy Award winners?* That’s 1,460 days of life snuffed out due to a subjective judgment passed by others on a single performance. The reason for this startling fact: The losers unconsciously spend the rest of their lives comparing upwards, instead of down. In […]
If you can only muster one mind-body activity today, make it a genuine gut-busting, milk-out-the-nose-spraying, wake-up-the-neighbors braying spell of laughter. It’s not just a temporary reprieve from the madness that we call “reality.” A blasting, snorting, teeth-baring laugh has definitive health benefits. Among them are the following: Reduce anxiety. You don’t need a clinical psychologist to […]
In America, we’ve been socialized to believe that a “hearty breakfast” consists of eggs, flapjacks, cereal, juice, and the like. Yet according to food historians, the concept of breakfast food didn’t exist in the U.S. until the mid-1800s. Before that, breakfast was a meal of leftovers, like cheese and bread. If you had a few […]
Whatever kind of day you’re having, here’s a reason to feel fortunate: At least you’re not a Hippocampus borboniensis. Despite living in salt water, far from the stresses of human existence, only five in a thousand seahorses survive to adulthood. While there are many reasons for their short life span, if you had to spend […]
One SuperOptimist practice we never get tired of? Adding the phrase “And isn’t that great!” to any thoughts we may be having. A recent example can be illustrated by the following: “Goddamn, I’ve just broken a tooth on a macadamia nut. Now I’ll have to see a dentist.” Simply add our four magic words, and […]
Lemons have suffered from an image problem since they first came to fruition. Perhaps this is due to their stinging acidity and tough skins (although both are considered positive traits in news columnists and football coaches). Not only does a “lemon” refer to a substandard product — most typically a used car — but it’s […]