Watching yourself do everything you ever disapproved of

The emotional and psychological burden of having to think about certain things can be very high. Which doesn’t mean those things are not worth thinking about at all, but we do our nervous system a disservice when we psychologically tie ourselves to more things than are necessary. Isn’t life already burdensome enough? Why not free ourselves from these albatrosses that keep flying after us everywhere we go? Here, let me tell you about one of my favorite practices of leverage....

Blood simple is when criminals lose control of full rationality at the moment of committing the crime and inevitably leave incriminating clues behind. As a result, the consequences of their acts quickly swirl out of control, and everything goes to hell. Coens made their debut movie about this phenomenon in the eighties. It makes for a compelling plot line. But what’s interesting about the film is, you don’t have to be a criminal to appreciate it. Any of us can...

People pleasing is a learned behavior. Most of us were trained from a very young age, by parents, teachers, coaches and other authority figures, to either meet people's expectations, or follow our own essential desires and suffer the consequences. This behavior served us well when we were children. It kept us safe and helped us grow. However, as adults, the disease to please can have the opposite effect. Think about the last time you went on family vacation or a...

Here is a short quiz to gauge what your relationship with temptation is. *Do you have trouble stopping something once you’ve started? *Is it easier for you to give something up altogether than to indulge moderately? *Do you feel peace and gratitude at the thought of never having to get or do something? *Do you loathe spending your precious energy justifying why you should go ahead and indulge? If you answered yes to more than one of those questions, then...

Siri, the virtual assistant that answers questions, makes recommendations, and performs internet enabled actions, knows how to read your mind. If you tell her you have a headache, she’ll respond by saying that she’s found three drugstores not far from you, where you can buy aspirin. Actually, my favorite conspiracy theory claims the assistant will intentionally select drug stores that are a few miles down the road, knowing that driving will clear your head. Siri's plan is to get you...