One of the most negative and counterproductive questions that exists is the question of “what difference will it make?” It is often posed not as a question but rather as a statement to justify inactivity. Aside from the fact that the very nature of the question pre-supposes a negative outcome, as well as a certain…
This blog is being written shortly after Pope Francis concluded his visit to Philadelphia. During his two days in our city, everything else ground to a halt. Center City has been closed to vehicular traffic. My office and all other outpatient offices at the medical school and hospital where I work have been closed as…
Hopefully most of our habits are good ones – but probably all of us are carrying around some habits that we would like to change. The problem is that most people choose the wrong time to get started on changing habits. It is common to try to make changes in response to external factors –…
Occasionally I meet somebody who says that s/he has enough money. I almost never meet anybody who says that s/he has enough time. We all have the same 24 hours in the day. Some of us take on more responsibilities than others, and some of us waste more time than others. But virtually everybody who…
In July, for the first time since I started posting blogs – with the goal of posting three a month, I didn’t post a single blog. There have been months when I only posted two, but this is my first blog in over a month. I hope that some of you noticed and maybe even…
Arnold Palmer, the legendary golfer, is author of some of my favorite quotes, and one of my favorites among them is that, “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting it is”. While the quote was designed to apply specifically to golf, and it can easily be generalized to all other sports, the concept is really meaningful in…
In recent days, our country and our world has been faced with another unspeakable tragedy as a gunman killed nine people whose activities that evening brought them to the seemingly safe haven of a church in South Carolina. While the media and the general public have been focused upon the mental state and possible motives…
It’s easier to have good intentions than persistence. Most of us have learned that the hard way. Maybe you got to the gym religiously on schedule for several months – and then you missed a few days because of illness or work responsibilities or travel. Did it get any easier to get back or did…
In relation to his theory of the “Survival of the Fittest,” Charles Darwin indicated that – over time – it’s not the strongest or the most intelligent species who survive, but those who are most adaptable to change. If one assumes that the concept is reasonably valid, logic would suggest that emotionally healthy individuals should…
One of the most overused and abused words that exists is the word, problem. A problem is a difficulty or dilemma in search of a solution. In its purest sense, therefore, a problem is an active exercise where the focus of behavior should be on the process of solving rather than wallowing. Unfortunately, many people…
Most of us first learned the term, congruence, when we learned about geometric shapes that are similar. While some people continue to use the term in the same way professionally, most of us are in careers that don’t regularly involve geometric shapes. The term should still be considered meaningful for all of us in our…