Research cited in Psychology Today suggests that how long you live is partly determined by how you think about aging. An interesting longitudinal study tracked adults for 23 years, measuring mortality and asking about their perceptions of aging. Turns out that people who had positive perceptions of aging lived longer than those who didn’t. This […]
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was a junior in college who talked my way into a graduate seminar in environmental psychology. In my 20 year old brain, this was a great way to unite two loves, art and psych. More than my previous attempts – as an art major, then in […]
This year the holidays sort of snuck up on me. Or, more accurately, I was so busy ignoring the blizzard of commercialism, that I forgot to pay attention to the calendar. After I finished avoiding Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Giving Tuesday and Cyber Whatever, it was suddenly mid-December and my holiday spirit was in […]
It seems I have a thing for old cities with quaint, human-scaled buildings. As my husband would say, “you just love arches, lampposts and umbrellas.” If we’re talking the cafe variety, not the rain variety, he’s right. And I’d add balconies. There’s something about those architectural features and streetscapes that feel inviting to me. Any […]
We tend to travel at off times. It’s not just to avoid crowds, though that’s a plus. It’s also because we enjoy being home most of the year, hating to miss spring blooms, summer sailing, autumn leaves, or snow-covered scenes. So our trips tend to be November and March, the only ugly times here, and […]
My friend Mark writes a very thoughtful, mostly data-driven blog about Hartford, regionalism, racism and more. He made this point recently, which resonated with me: “I’m okay with the outcomes being unequal. I’m not okay with the opportunities being unequal.” I couldn’t agree more. The fact is, some people have more or different abilities than […]
Most of us have heard the term Nimby – not in my back yard. And most of us would like to believe we are more open-minded and welcoming than it suggests, even though we often live in towns with restrictive zoning rules. What struck me as ironic is the realization that many of us seek […]
Albert Einstein once said “logic will get you from A to Z, imagination will get you everywhere.” This is a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree. Though he applied it to science, it applies equally well to art-making. (As it did to my consulting, for that matter, but that’s not today’s focus.) While mastering basic […]
Tom Petty’s “the waiting is the hardest part” was the intriguing lead-in to a Wall Street Journal article shared by the wonderful investment advisors at Reservoir Financial. Alison Gopnikit’s article cited a classic social psych experiment that measured the ability of toddlers to resist temptation – in the form of marshmallows. Relating it to investing, […]
You’ll be relieved to know this post isn’t about politics, current events, liars, or anything criminal. Instead, it was inspired by a quote from Albert Camus. He said “fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.” My immediate thought was that his statement applies to painting, too. Think about it. A painting is […]
