When I see a particular client it doesn’t take me long to find her file in my file cabinet. It’s the one with the colour-coded tabs sticking out. These tabs form part of the many background documents she wrote for me to assist in the treatment process. Meanwhile, I have another client who has yet [...]
Category Archives: Human nature
Jackie Robinson
I haven’t seen the movie ’42′ yet but the Jackie Robinson story is one I know well. The theme of segregation and “Us versus Them” thinking is one I have written about in a number of previous posts including Segregation and Desegregation, but given the movie’s recent release, and the theme of the talks I [...]
Turning in circles
Hi folks. Here is something I published last week in Metro. It is a concept I have discussed with almost all of my clients over the years. It is also a part of almost every presentation I give. I thought it was time to try and summarize the idea in my 400 word-limit column. Not an easy task [...]
The empty coffee pot and Joe’s retirement
Here is something I published two weeks ago. It discusses Agreeableness, one of the five dimensions of personality from the five-factor theory. The Empty Coffee Pot and Joe’s Retirement (Source: La cafetière vide. Journal Métro, January 29, 2013) Voir plus bas pour la version Française. There is always some guy at the office ready to [...]
This is not a garbage can!
A few years ago, as I was walking into a shopping center, I noticed a large sign on a door. The sign was a large green neon sign with an arrow thick enough to hide a loaf of rye bread. Underneath this arrow, in 100+ point font, were the words: Porte Brisé (Door broken). To [...]
Fat squirrels and fat people
It always amazes me to see how fat squirrels get in the fall. They stuff themselves in preparation for the coming harshness and deprivation of winter. But what would happen if somehow we were able to halt the advance of the seasons and prolong autumn indefinitely? Would the squirrels, that are simply acting on instinct, [...]
Gun culture
The papers and never short of heartbreaking stories but this is one that really stands out. (See story here) A few days ago, Jeffrey Giuliano shot to death an intruder believed to be breaking into his sister’s house. The intruder had on a ski mask and was holding a knife. It turned out the dead intruder [...]
Pavlov’s tree
The Helen tree (Voir plus bas pour la version Française: L’arbre d’Hélène) One weekend, while mowing my lawn and working my way around a particular tree, I thought about an argument I had with a woman named Helen. I quickly forgot about the incident and finished my lawn. The following Saturday I was back behind [...]
I can touch my ceiling…and other great Olympic feats!
In honour of the Olympic Games, here is a hybrid version of something I wrote four years ago (Citius-Altius-Fortius), a column I published in today’s Métro, and some new material: (Voir plus bas pour la version Française abrégée). The Olympics and I go way back. I was in the 1976 games in Montreal. Well…more like [...]
The house of cards and the stack of chips
I don’t normally work with kids but one day I was called by a colleague whose nephew was struggling with exam anxiety. Having watched my video on youth anxiety, he asked if he could see me. Now anxiety is anxiety, whether in adolescents or adults, but I don’t normally work with clients so young. I tend [...]
