I find that I can forgive the people who have hurt me. It is much more difficult to forgive the people who have put me in a position to hurt them.

I am fascinated by the brain ~ both its biology and the mind that arises from it. As science understands it currently, consciousness is an effect of our 200 billion neurons and the myriad of synaptic connections.
*One synapse, by itself, is more like a microprocessor -- with both memory-storage and information-processing elements -- than a mere on/ ( Read more... )

"Be true to yourself."   This mantra proved to be very profound when I was a young adult still struggling to build my underlying sense of reality; determine the practical application of high level concepts like, justice, fairness, and forgiveness; and define who I was. The statement gave me the tool I needed to merge my personal feelings and ( Read more... )

As I was wandering the bra aisle at Wal-mart hoping to find a sale, I came across this:


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Last night a friend and I were discussing the whole nature versus nurture question ~ how these two basic parameters affect self-identity.  The seemingly obvious answer is that it is both ~ a person's nature interacting with his/her environment.  Yet this answer does not explain the outliers.  There are those who were raised in relatively normal ( Read more... )

The title invokes curiosity, doesn't it?

A comment made by codekitten has been bouncing around in my head for a couple of weeks. In a discussion over goals, she said, "i can almost always figure out how to get from A to B. i just have to figure out what the heck B is in the first place!"  Boy can I relate.  So much truth in that observation.  You see, it's in ( Read more... )

Hope.  It's an emotion that I loathe.  I can hear the clamor of "why?" and, "without hope what would be the point of living?"  Yes, yes.  I am well aware that the concept of hope sits upon a pedestal.  I've never understood why anyone considers hope (not to be confused with optimism) desirable.

Let's consider the definition of hope:  A feeling of ( Read more... )

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My great aunt recently passed away at the ripe old age of 93.  While it was the vagaries of her advanced age that finally got her, after the age of 40, she was never very well.  She suffered from depression and the scars of an impoverished childhood.  When her depression first developed, there really were not any treatments for it and most people ( Read more... )