Care and Belief
There’s no work-life rule book, no single text that holds all the answers. Certainty is provisional; knowledge is interim; conventional wisdom can be uprooted in a day. Perfectionists are those who use a laser, not string, to align their garden rows. They ignore the well-worn path. They seek out the ultimate as if the ordinary––the […]
Traumatic Nerve Injury and Wallerian Degeneration
Those who handle car and trucking accidents should possess a sensitivity to a phenomenon known as Wallerian degeneration. With a complex patient, this class of injury can be easily missed. Often the symptoms are vague, gradual. Following a head injury, the patient can begin to experience nothing more than a headache or a generalized feeling […]
The Power Law of Practice
Scientists have studied for quite some time the dynamics of learning. We use the term “learning curve” to refer to the amount of time required to learn new information. Small libraries have been written on various learning techniques and theories. One such theory is known as the “power law of practice.” October. There’s something in […]
Searching for Patterns
We seek out patterns since they’re shortcuts to understanding. They provide an abbreviated means of making sense of things. When they work, they can save time and effort. But we sometimes find patterns in instances where none exist. Over time, we come to learn that searching for patterns can be a more complex task than […]
The Way of Healing
That which restores health, promotes well-being, cures, alleviates––healing returns us to an earlier state free of hurt or harm. It’s almost as if healing reverses time. We turn back the clock to return to a place we once enjoyed of strength, vitality, and wellness. To promote healing, one would think traditional remedies will be cast […]
Sleeping in the Street
Back to law school. Final exam. Torts. The year is 1909. Professor Smith sets out for your consideration the following exam question: Father, with his sleeping child in his arms, negligently lies down in the street and goes to sleep. The driver of a wagon sees them there asleep. He intends to avoid them, but […]
Contemplating the Obvious
We’ve all experienced instances where an obvious sign has been missed. Notwithstanding our most careful scrutiny, something obvious gets neglected or ignored. It’s present, it’s visible, but we cannot recognize it. Psychologists have a name for this––inattentional blindness. “Inattentional blindness, also known as perceptual blindness, is a psychological lack of attention that is not associated with […]
Parsing Persistence
Lawsuits do require a fair degree of “persistence.” But what does this word mean? Webster defines persist as “to go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of opposition, importunity, or warning.” There’s even a noun form for one who persists––persister. The word persist derives from the latin persistere, literally,“per”—through, steadfastly––and “sistere”––to stand; that is, to […]
A New Way of Seeing
Science has yet to explain chronic pain. While it has long been known that many injured in car accidents never recover, the precise explanation for this remains unclear. A growing body of medical literature demonstrates that PTSD may play a role. “Our results showed that high level of catastrophizing and PTSD are predictors of chronic […]
Show the Way
The spoken word (unlike the written which can be reread) must be completely understood as it’s being heard. There’s no room for even a single gap. If the listener does not understand––even momentarily––the listener will stop listening. Unlike the written word, the spoken word is heard, not seen. That means visualization of what’s being described […]
