Pssst...you there...lookin' for an anger fix?

David McRaney summarizes Brad Bushman's research on anger and catharsis: "If you get into an argument, or someone cuts you off in traffic, or you get called an awful name, venting will not dissipate the negative energy. It will, however, feel great. That’s the thing. Catharsis will make you feel good, but it’s an emotional hamster wheel. The emotion which led you to catharsis will still be there afterward, and if it made you feel good, you’ll seek it out again in the future...Common sense says venting is an important way to ease tension, but common sense is wrong. Venting – catharsis – is pouring fuel into a fire."

Okay, so am I ready for an emotional cooling instead of the choice expletives during rush hour traffic? And what about those deeper social slights (or even wounds)? There seems to be so much short-term neurological payoff for venting, almost like a drug! Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...

Money ain't everything.

RSA Animate summarizes the research with an easy-to-follow dry erase board sketch: 3 factors that over and over have been shown to bring better performance and personal satisfaction. Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose. When it comes to problem-solving, relating, creating, & higher thinking processes, money doesn't cut it (and neither does praise).

So, in your own job (or better yet, in your life), how would you rate your experiences of autonomy, mastery, and purpose? Are there ways you can go after these three factors with clarity and intention? Do you ever feel like you have two lives...one in which you make your money and the other in which you get to do and be what you really want? Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...

Trauma, death, accidents, the unknown, and...creativity.

Novelist Amy Tan explores connections between trauma, death, accidents, the unknown, and creating "something out of nothing," even authoring the story of one's own life: "When you are faced with the prospect of death very soon, you begin to think very much about everything. You become very creative in a survival sense...and this, then, led to my big questions...'Why do things happen?'...'How do things happen?'...'How do I make things happen?'...we all hate moral ambiguity in some sense, and yet, it is also absolutely necessary in writing a story. It is the place where I begin...there is uncertainty in everything, and that is good..."

Do you have a sense of where your creativity comes from? Are you trying to channel more of it? Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...

Snow Patrol on hard-wired human longing...

Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...

(Good) grief.

Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...

Sibling rivalries: let's face it, they're for real (& may be a good thing!).

Hara Estroff writes, "As every adult knows, some sibling strategies remain strictly situational, not necessarily incorporated into personality or carried into the world outside the family...the staying power of sibling strategies accounts for what could be called the Thanksgiving Effect — the tendency of fully functional adults to find themselves drawn, often against their own will, into long-abandoned but still emotionally charged childhood roles at family gatherings. She goes on to propose that "in the long view, sibling conflict is necessary, inevitable, and an instrument of self-definition that has a correctable course over time."

Did you hold certain positions or roles in your family as you grew up? How did they shape who you are today? Do you find yourself falling back into "old roles" during family gatherings? Any interesting Thanksgiving stories you dare post? Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...