A Psychologist on the Loose
The Self Designed Life
The Banquet of Consequences, Stress. Get a Grip, Part 1
The Banquet of Consequences, Stress.One
Dateline: Threadgill’s International Branch Office. Chatting with Eddie Wilson, the man who set up Willie Nelson’s First Fourth of July Picnic. At a later time, I’ll address the mental and physical reminders of that spectacular event. We could start with a study of the effects of second-hand pot smoke. But, it was Willie’s party.
Set-up: “Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.” Robert Louis Stevenson
Well, here I am at the banquet of consequences and I write about it, because, alas, I am not alone. (Here’s where you take a look in the mirror, or at More >
If You Can’t Find the Nutjob, You Are the Nutjob! Stress.
Dateline: Center Stage, HEB Grocery Store, There’s a woman over there. I think has escaped from somewhere.
Set-up: After buying supplies (Must read Nutjob, Part 1, to know exactly the list.) I stop at the end of the checkers counter and prepare to re-bag my groceries. You do that, right?
Because, you know how willy-nilly these baggers can be with their youth and devil-may-care attitude. Kids today.
That’s okay though. I don’t mind re-doing the job at the end of the counter next to the real bagger guy who isn’t, at this point, exactly my friend. (I think it had something to do More >
Five Things You Can Overhear in a Restaurant and Know You Are ‘Out of Your League’
Dateline: Cabo San Lucas Hilton International Branch Headquarters. Best value for obsessively collected Hilton points. Note: the real resort people wear something called “resort wear.” I took that to mean cargo shorts and flip-flops, so half right.
Set-up: Each of us has a basic self that rests deep inside. Our ethics, values, and beliefs. This is the part of us that we’ve formed based on “best thinking.” Makes us humans sound pretty great, right? Well, hang on. Each of us also has a pseudo self, that is the part of us that is formed by “emotional pressure from within ourselves, or More >
Stress. The Woman Who Couldn’t Stop Giving Her Opinion, Part 2
Dateline: San Antonio RiverWalk Hilton International Branch Office.
The Woman Who Couldn’t Stop Giving Her Opinion. Stress.
In order to appreciate this difficult lady, please read The Woman Who Couldn’t Stop Giving Her Opinion, Pt. 1
Anxiety is: The response the body to danger or perceived danger. Two things to notice: 1) this response is not “in the mind” but in the brain and the body, and includes a cascade of chemical changes. 2) the danger can be “real” (lion in the room), but most of the anxiety we experience is a reaction to “perceived” or “what if” threats.
What if I’m late, if I lose More >
The Anxiety of Others, “The Woman Who Wasn’t Really Out of Toothpaste Incident”
The Anxiety of Others, “The Woman Who Wasn’t Out of Toothpaste Incident”
Dateline: Las Vegas Wynn Race and Sports Book Branch Office. The Wynn is the prestige place to stay and with prices to keep out riff-raff like me. All the Sports Book requires is that I have a drink ticket which is only possible if I make one five dollar bet. This is a good deal. For five dollars you can sip coffee for hours. And, who knows, you might win your bet.
Set-up: Janie is married with three young children. She wants her children to have a happier childhood than she More >
Stress. Why You Shouldn’t Snore on Airplanes
Stress Management, Why You Shouldn’t Snore on Airplanes
Dateline: Thirty-Two Thousand Feet Over Death Valley, California. All sorts of prospectors met their fate in the desert below.
STRESS. STRESS MANAGEMENT. ANXIETY. ON LINE PSYCHOLOGIST. Set up: The plane wasn’t even loaded when the guy in the seat behind me flopped his head back, dropped open his jaw, and launched a snoring jag that had wild life enthusiasts in the group knocking people out of the aisles to retrieve cameras from overhead bins.
Good grief. Almost four hours of this farm behavior? I huff. I point out how unhappy I am to my husband who More >
Money, the “Seven Days in Florence Incident”
Money, the “Seven Days in Florence Incident”
A friend of mine passed away two years ago today. She was eighty-four and a millionaire many times over. Those are two important numbers. 84 years. 12,000,000 dollars.
T was my wealthy friend and because of her, I enjoyed many a treat beyond my economic reach—the use of a condominium, including endless room service, atop the classiest hotel in Dallas, charity balls to hear celebrity bands, and postcards and tales of her world travels. T knew about every culture and every religion in the world. She read extensively and had a curious mind.
But when it More >
