Pain and Prayer
Can pain be modulated by prayer? Some, perhaps many, will immediately reach for the words “placebo effect” and leave the matter at that. Others have investigated the phenomenon. Belief in something greater, something infinitely larger and more powerful––there’s more to this than can be easily explained. It has to do with tapping into a power […]
Clarity and Inconsistency
Misread signals, miscommunication, divergent interpretations––the disconnect between the speaker’s message and the listener’s response. Any number of reasons might explain this. Comprehension. The listener does not understand what’s being expressed. It could be the terminology being used is tied to a particular specialty. It could be the message itself expresses a thought foreign to the […]
Transition States
A transition state––that sinister and mysterious realm between what’s occurring and what’s about to occur––requires no small degree of scrutiny and attention. We too often ignore our transition states, taking them for granted. Sleep into wakefulness; the change of seasons; the movement from day into night, from youth into old age, from life into death––we […]
Advocacy and Accuracy
“‘Tis a forgotten maxim that ‘accuracy is essential to beauty,’” wrote Emerson in his Journals. Being accurate is not something that’s typically recognized or celebrated, but over time it comes to have great value, separating those most capable. What’s a good working definition of accuracy? Webster defines accuracy as “the quality or state of being […]
Whiplash and the Ascending Reticular Activating System
It’s probably a safe generalization to assert that whiplash injuries caused by rear-end car accidents are typically undervalued. No matter what symptoms the patient presents with the diagnosis is misleadingly termed a “soft tissue” injury that “should resolve completely in six to eight weeks.” A new and growing body of medical literature sheds light on […]
Recognizing Secondary Trauma
In recent years, a growing body of medical literature has established that severe trauma to one family member can result in a phenomenon known as “secondary traumatization”––post-traumatic symptoms exhibited by the other family members, particularly children, of those harmed. “During the past few decades, studies have shown that individuals in the trauma survivor’s close proximity […]
Snap Judgments
We meet someone for the first time. We instinctively “assess” that person, a process that can take place in a second or two. General appearance, speech patterns, verbal fluency, presence of an accent, ethnicity, age, gender, body habitus, configuration of the hands, eyes, and face––that’s it, we’ve made our split-second assessment. We have a distinct […]
Seeking Out the Absurd
The notion that “serious” results can only originate from “serious” thinking needs to be revised. Many breakthrough ideas, providing workable solutions to intractable problems, can be arrived at via distinctly unorthodox means. The Absurd. Problems that admit of no simple solution––too often they’re examined rationally, logically. But what if these problems were seen as an […]
Not to be Surprised
Changing the mind of a single person, whose views are antagonistic, presents a multidimensional puzzle, its own complex problem, one with no simple solution. You believe in the rightness of your idea. It’s common sense. Yet the other person you’re speaking to does not see things your way. This is baffling to you. You cannot […]
The Interstitium: Hiding in Plain Sight
Recently, researchers have announced the existence of what they believe to be a new organ labeled the “interstitium.” The article, published in Scientific Reports, received wide media coverage. In a press release announcing the study, it was reported: “The field has long known that more than half the fluid in the body resides within cells, […]
