By Melissa
How would you help someone who is struggling in school?
Imagine you meet a high school student. The person doesn’t seem particularly enthused about school or learning in general. They struggle with understanding concepts in their classes, and their friends also don’t care much for school.
The sad truth is that a student’s fate is set in stone as early as first grade.
By Melissa
Why do some people accomplish so much, while others do hardly anything at all?
How is one person able to exercise, hold meetings, and finish numerous tasks before lunch, while someone else hasn’t gotten out of bed yet? How does someone work on their craft, day after day for years, while someone else can only daydream about getting started?
We all know what we should be doing. We should be learning. We should be staying healthy. We should be working on things that will pay dividends in the future.
But we don’t. You see, those things aren’t easy. In fact, they can be incredibly hard.
By Melissa
Imagine that it’s close to bedtime.
You’ve finished a long day of work, ate dinner, and watched TV. You get into bed and relax by doing some reading.
After a while, you realize it’s getting late and decide to call it a night. You reach over and turn off the light. It’s pitch dark now.
You know you should be falling asleep. And yet there you are, staring at the ceiling. Your mind is racing with all sorts of thoughts.
You think back to something you said and wonder if things came out wrong. You reflect on a past action that resulted in negative consequences. Then, you start to worry about all the things that could possibly go wrong.
With each passing thought, you feel yourself sinking into a low mood.
If this sounds like you, you may be suffering from overthinking.
By Melissa
Music is the final touch to a setting.
Take any situation, put in music, and the ambience gets taken to another level. You notice this all the time in films. Music is used as a signal of impending danger, hope, or blissful tranquility.
Music alone can evoke powerful emotions. The reaction upon hearing a tune is almost instant. You might think back to a memorable time in your life or imagine a picturesque scenario.
It comes as little surprise that we turn to music as a quick way to boost our spirits. But what is it about upbeat music that makes us feel better? Do our minds and bodies change as a result from hearing certain songs?
By Melissa
There is a well-known fable from Aesop concerning an ant and a grasshopper. You may have heard of it:
One fine summer day, a grasshopper was hopping about, happily chirping along without a care in the world. An ant passed by, bearing a large ear of corn to its nest.
As the grasshopper continued singing and dancing, it watched the ant scurry back and forth, carrying large burdens on its back. The grasshopper couldn’t understand why the ant would toil on such a beautiful day.
The grasshopper teasingly asked the ant, “Why not come and sing with me, instead of working so hard?”
By Melissa
In 1918, a 15-year-old named Violet Harris decided to keep a diary. To prevent the spread of Spanish Flu, all schools, churches, and public venues in Seattle were closed until further notice. Her response to not having to go to school was that of pure joy: “Good idea? I’ll say it is!”
Despite the lockdown, the disease spread. Vi, as her family called her, heard news of her friend Rena when she went to return her umbrella. Rena’s father met Vi and informed her that both Rena’s mother and Rena were sick with the flu.
Eventually, they both recovered. Sometime later, Rena called Vi on the phone. When Vi asked her what it felt like to have the flu, Rena said, “Don’t get it.”
By Melissa
We are incredibly picky about where we spend our time and money.
When someone wants to meet, we evaluate the usefulness of the meeting before agreeing to their request. If a store sells items that aren’t of interest to us, we leave and take our money elsewhere. We naturally veer towards activities that give us the highest returns.
Every day, we make mental calculations on what we’re doing, what we’re getting out of it, and alternative options out there. Then, we make incremental adjustments to optimize our lives.
In short, we are smart when it comes to deciding how to use our finite resources.
So why is it that once we’ve started something and realized it’s a bad opportunity – knowing full well that it’s draining our time, money, and energy – do we find it hard to stop?
By Melissa
Ending conversations is a tricky business, no matter which side you’re on.
As the listener, you find yourself daydreaming while the other person drones on. You want nothing more than to run far, far away. Unfortunately, you’re trapped within the jaws of social propriety, afraid to cut the discussion and come off as rude.
As the speaker, you’re not sure if the other person is fully engaged in what you’re saying, or whether you should cut your losses and go elsewhere. After all, you don’t want to socially embarrass yourself by talking long after the person has lost interest.
There’s a tricky balance between time and courtesy. You want to give enough time so that both of you feel good about the social interaction, but not so much that you feel like you wasted it.
By Melissa
In January 2002, a lone man predicted a natural disaster that would impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Local expert Dieudonne Wafulah had been studying Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano in Congo, for 15 years without pay. He tracked the activity of Nyiragongo and another nearby, smaller volcano for signs of change. Although his equipment had been stolen and vandalized over the years, he persisted in his work.
Then, he saw it. Based on the patterns Wafulah witnessed, Mount Nyiragongo was about to blow. There had been a series of tremors in the earth some months before. Black smoke rose from the mountain. The lava pool inside the crater had shifted and was getting higher.
By Melissa
We normally think perfection is the final stage in a process. But it’s not. There’s another step that comes after: speed.
When you first learn a skill or create something, you struggle. You go through trial and error, trying to figure out what went wrong. The going is slow.
Then, you start seeing small glimmers of success. You receive positive feedback. You begin to feel more confident as you get closer to where you want to be.
Finally, you have it. The ideal prototype. Your technique nailed down. A system in place. Now that the structure is in order, the next step is to go faster, and faster… and faster.