May 2021 Roundup: What I am Reading, Watching and Listening To
What I Am Reading
How Happy Marriages Stay Happy: 7 Signs of a Rock-Solid Relationship
“So how do happy marriages stay happy? What qualities help a marriage endure? Researchers like DeFrain have spent decades publishing studies dissecting marriages to figure out what works to keep couples happy for the long haul. Here’s what DeFrain and couples therapists say is truly essential for happy, long-term marriages.”
'Psychological Reactance’ Helps You Understand Yourself -- And Your Kids
When someone tells us what to do, our brains freak out and demand that we do something about the threat to our personal safety. We become cornered prey; we need to fight. We need to find a way out! Reactance is like an overprotective friend who is always on the lookout for danger. Our brains plan an exit strategy and our behavior becomes defiant, rude, self-sabotaging, and/or violent because we need to regain the sense of control we think we lost.
How People Learn to Become Resilient
It’s for this reason, Bonanno told me, that “stressful” or “traumatic” events in and of themselves don’t have much predictive power when it comes to life outcomes. “The prospective epidemiological data shows that exposure to potentially traumatic events does not predict later functioning,” he said. “It’s only predictive if there’s a negative response.” In other words, living through adversity, be it endemic to your environment or an acute negative event, doesn’t guarantee that you’ll suffer going forward. What matters is whether that adversity becomes traumatizing.
What I am Watching:
Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers
Forty years ago, renowned scholar Joseph Campbell sat down with veteran journalist Bill Moyers for a series of interviews that became one of the most enduringly popular programs ever on PBS. In dialogues that adroitly span millennia of history and far-flung geography, the two men discuss myths as metaphors for human experience and the path to transcendence.
Dr. Denise Herzing has dedicated her career to studying the wild Atlantic spotted dolphins that live in the shallow waters of the Bahamas. Through non-invasive observation, she researches the animals’ social structure, behaviors and communication. Now modern technology is making it possible to correlate the dolphins’ sounds and behavior, bringing experts closer to decoding dolphin communication.
What I am Listening To:
Joshua Glasgow — The Solace: Finding Value in Death Through Gratitude for Life
Shermer and Glasgow discuss:
What does an atheist say to a dying person?
Ricky Gervais’ The Invention of Lying,
Epicurus’ Dilemma: death is nothing to us since so long as we exist, death is not with us; but when death comes then we do not exist.
being dead vs. dying,
When is the “natural” time to die?
Is death worse for the young because they are losing more?
What would it really mean to live forever?
Suicide
Does a terminus to life increase it’s meaning and value?
Gratitude vs. solace, history:
If you could go back in time and kill Hitler, no Holocaust, no WWII, and very likely no me or you. S
Since suffering is real, is it better to never be born?
Be a Schedule Builder, Not a To-Do List Maker
Nir And Far: Business, Behaviour and the Brain