In the 1930’s Napoleon Hill, author of the all time bestseller, “Think and Grow Rich” wrote, “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” It had a catchy ring to it when I first read it but I always thought there were limits to the veracity of this statement. Could we really achieve anything we thought of if we believed we could? Maybe we can. Today I got an e-mail from my sister with a link to a YouTube video about a copy machine that copies objects in 3-D. That means that after it scans a 3-D object, it quickly produces...

Last week my friend, Dave, and I took a three day bicycle trip along the C & O canal next to the Potomac River.  He and I usually take week-long motorcycle trips each summer.  Bicycling was different. We were surprised at our being able to talk to each other while we rode side by side on the tow path, unconcerned about noise, exhaust fumes, directions, and cars cutting us off. (For some reason, motorcycles are often invisible to cars.) It was very relaxing. Unfortunately, by the end of the second day, my right hand had gone numb presumably caused by...

In 1991, at the end of George Bush Sr.’s first term, I remember him being criticized for not having a vision or a purpose for being president.  The story being written was that he just wanted to be president, not necessarily take the country anywhere once he achieved that position.  Whether or not this was true about him, I think that perception hurt him as a leader and probably influenced the election results that year (he lost to Bill Clinton). As it turns out, people expect their leaders not just to listen but to lead. More often than not, that means...

After I got my Ph.D., I started teaching psychology at a small college on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I liked teaching but was not well suited to long, contentious faculty meetings, inter-departmental politics and gossip that are part of a small campus.  I wanted to do something else. My father, knowing that I was good at one-on-one conversations with most people, urged me to open a private therapy practice.  I resisted his suggestion vigorously.  I had my reasons at the time but looking back, I think I just didn’t want him telling me what I should...

The natural tendency of life is to increase and expand. Whatever there is becomes more and more over time.  Everything we observe seems to grow and move in the direction of increase.  That impulse is in us as well.  It is what sparks our desire, what makes us want to express ourselves as fully as we can. As Wallace Wattles, an early writer about the law of attraction, wrote in 1910, “The desire for increase is inherent in all nature; it is the fundamental impulse of the universe. All human activities are based on the desire for increase; people...

Last week I gave you a few tips on how to keep your New Years Resolutions.  The trick is to avoid using willpower to achieve your goals.  Remember, will power creates won’t power. Before you know it your initial enthusiasm to change your ways will be replaced by resistance and a lack of motivation.  How can you bring a new graceful habit into your life and avoid the will power/won’t power struggle?  Here are a few final tips: Podcast: Play in new window | Download 1. Just do it.  If we asked ourselves every morning, Do I really want...