Posts

On Behavior

Of all the parts that create the sum of humanness, behavior is the only one observable by others.  Our thoughts are our thoughts and our emotions are our emotions, and in spite of me using the plural form for us as people (our), they are extraordinarily individualized and cannot be collectivized no matter how hard we seek to create a unified society.  I barely know my own thoughts and feelings at any given moment, and even if I chose to share those with you or anyone else, they would still be distorted because we have not yet evolved in our communicative ability to state what it is we truly (and I mean absolutely truly) think and feel from one stream of consciousness moment to the next. Behavior, however, is the great equalizer.  It provides society with an insight into you and it provides you with insight into society at both the individual and collective level.  To the rest of us, your behavior is who you are.  If you continually smile and laugh, you are warm and friendly.  If you
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On Emotion

The doctor is in!  What an unusual time we are living in and the uncertainty is affecting what we reference as emotion or feelings more than anything else.  Regardless of whether we consider ourselves to be Vulcan-like creatures of logic or the modern day hot mess at the mercy of our emotional whimsy.  Wherever you fall on the emotional spectrum (and it is helpful to get an outside opinion from a trusted friend or family member who can be objective in helping you determine this), it is comforting to know what is healthy and what is not. Many of us are likely struggling right now because of the uncertainty.  Thought-based questions about health, jobs, money, food shortages, social distancing requirements, separation from friends and family, are on our minds.  But it is not the questions themselves which bother us.  It is our emotional reaction to these questions which create havoc in our mindset and upset our overall sense of well-being.  Such feelings can break us down, particularly
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On Thought

The combination of elements making a person a person are thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.  Each one of them is extraordinarily important in the sum total of who we are both within ourselves and to the outside world.  Although it is impossible to say if one or the other carries a greater weight in our sense of being, there is a case to be made for thought. Our thoughts are impressive.  They are both very similar to the thoughts of our fellow humans, but they are ironically also completely unique.  They can be building blocks which move from a simple idea into a highly developed concept often in a matter of moments.  Yet they can also be fleeting and random and out of the blue. Of the latter, some of our passing thoughts can be well-grounded in reality and the moment at hand, like when someone is talking about her dinner from the previous evening and it causes a desire to have spaghetti tonight.  Others can be quite random such as when you are driving to the office and you recall a
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Introducing "The On and Ons"

This blog has been mine for about seven years.  When I first started it, I was posting about once a week and seeing some uptick in traffic as a result.  And then life got in the way as it tends to do and I stopped with every intention of coming back very soon.  That was around 2014.  I made a valiant effort at coming back in 2018 and wrote a whole post.  And then life happened again. So here I am in 2020.  A couple of years ago I successfully defended my dissertation in psychology and figured I would change the world.  I didn't end up doing that.  I didn't even change jobs.  SO I am a doctor without much doctoring going on. Then I remembered this blog and my plans and my changing the world.  So I decided to start what I am going to call "The On and Ons."  I am going to use my psychology and history backgrounds, as well as my long time church experience, to post some brief thoughts on various topics. During the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, famous historia
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Reading the works of other bloggers always makes me question the frame of mind the respective blogger was in when he or she put up a particular post.  There is almost always a back story as art does imitate life.  Nothing I read screams to me about platitudes and generalities even though blog authors utilize such standard form in nearly every post that deals with human emotion or real life circumstance.  It seems so a great deal of effort is put into making others understand how the blogger feels.  However, without the full disclosure of the motivating back story, it is unlikely the point will be received as well as it was hoped.  That makes me a little sad. It appears there is a great deal of irony related to the numerous avenues available to us in the digital age.  I do not necessarily mean the resultant cruelty and polarization that exist because of the instant nature of social media. What is disconcerting though is the idea that even though we have real time access to a global au
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