People who can construct things including art, music or writing find fulfillment and joy in their creations. However, those who can’t, or believe they can’t, tend to use the same energy, but to destroy things.
How can we help redirect people who are destructive into constructive pursuits?
Perhaps if this became a ‘thing,’ the world would be free from bullies, crooked politicians and undesirable people. Maybe helping everyone become constructive would even end warfare.
It is estimated that one in every seven people has significant narcissistic tendencies. A Narcissist is characterized by selfishness, involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration.
If a narcissist performs an act of kindness, for whatever reason, such as giving a cold person a jacket, or donating a million dollars to a food bank, is that act invalid?
We may not like the narcissist, but we can still applaud the act.
By the way, experts in such matters say the best way to deal with narcissists is to simply leave them alone.
Do not try to argue with, plead with, or try to appease narcissists. They are practiced in conniving ways since as early as they could speak. Unless you are a practiced narcissist also, you can’t win. And if you are, all you can hope for is a draw in which you both don’t get what you want.
In 2024, global military spending reached a record $2.7 trillion.
At the same time, it is estimated that world hunger could be eliminated for $325 billion. That’s approximately twelve percent of the amount spent on the business of suffering and death.
Ending world hunger would only be $108 billion, roughly 4% of military spending.
By simply advocating for peace, you could be instrumental in replacing bombs with food and comfort, with plenty left over for high-quality free health care for everyone on earth.
Then, if you still believe we need weaponry, there’s more than a trillion dollars left over for that.
The choice is yours. Do we really need to rattle our weapons at each other at all costs?
Most dog owners don’t realize the harm a dog collar can cause. Veterinarians have reported dogs with tracheal collapse in varying degrees up to death, permanent pain injuries due to spinal problems, epilepsy, and even broken teeth and legs, all from dog collars.
You might be wondering how legs can be broken. It turns out a dog scratching an itch can get a leg stuck under the collar. In their ever-more frantic attempts to get free they end up breaking their own leg.
So what can you do?
1. Replace the collar with a harness, as shown above.
2. Don’t yank your dog’s leash as a training technique or punishment. Evidently a training coach at a Petco store accidentally killed one of his students by doing this.
3. Make sure the harness fits correctly. You should be able to slip a thumb under the harness, but not your whole hand.
4. If your dog stays in at night, remove the harness for the dog’s comfort and health.
5. Tell your friends who own dogs, and even people who know people who own dogs, about this web page.
General John Burgoyne had great respect and obedience from his soldiers. His method of punishment was different. If a soldier misbehaved, he had the man wear his coat inside out.
This little procedure takes just a few minutes, and can change your situation with your worst coworker, customer, employee, or even a family member in spectacular ways. It is not necessary to do this thing exactly ‘right.’ If you mix up a step or have something out of position, it is likely to work well anyway.
1. If your most vivid memories of this undesirable person involve sitting, arrange three empty chairs approximately as shown. If it was a standing situation, chairs are not needed.
2. Sit in chair A. Try to imagine your undesirable person sitting in chair B. With the parts of you that can do it, move yourself into your co-worker in chair B, and see the world through the other person’s eyes, hear the world through this person’s ears, and so on. For the next few minutes, you are this other person.
3. As that other person, you are looking at yourself in chair A. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel about the person in chair A? What do you think about that person in chair A?
4. Whenever you are ready, get up, and do something to break your state. Spell a word backward, walk in a circle, just anything to free your mind for a moment.
5. Sit in chair C and become an independent observer. You are not yourself or the other person. As the observer, what do you see, hear, think, feel about the interaction between yourself in chair A, and the person in B?
5a. Try imagining that your chair is very far removed from chairs A and B, and see if anything changes. How about if your chair becomes very close?
6. Break your state. Sit again in chair A, be yourself, and notice if anything has changed in your thoughts about the other person.
7. As necessary, feel free to repeat the steps of this procedure.
When children throw tantrums, they are truly miserable – it’s not just an act, usually. So it is in everyone’s best interest if you can break the tantrum habit quickly. One of the best ways to prevent tantrums – especially in public places – is to distract the child when the tantrum starts. For instance, lifting the child onto your shoulders, showering the kid with sudden extra hugging, or talking about an upcoming trip to the zoo will sidetrack the attention currently being focused on a frustration.
Do your children have a hard time getting up in the morning? Get them up a half-hour earlier than they are used to. The biggest thing that keeps them in bed is that they are not looking forward to starting the day with the frantic morning rush to get ready for school in time. With this rush eliminated, it will feel nice to get up leisurely. Of course, getting them to bed early helps tremendously, also. By the way, this works well for you too – get up earlier and enjoy the morning!
In the last few decades we’ve started to realize how important it is to eat more fruits and vegetables and fewer carbs and sugary foods. Yet how do we get our children to play along?
How do you get them to eat enough vegetables? One way is to make the vegetables unavoidable. Chopped up broccoli makes a nice addition to hamburgers. A bit of kale in a fruit smoothie tastes great. You can mix lots of small bits of spinach with scrambled eggs. Sweet rice with salad bits is still sweet rice. Rice with salad bits, and other treats, like diced ham, is even better. Start with small quantities, and add more veggies as time goes on.
What if your child is strongly attached to a security blanket? Try cutting bits off the blanket from time to time until it gradually shrinks so small that the child looses interest.
