Science Monday: Stress and Aggression

On Friday I was listening to a local show on public radio about stress and its relationship to aggressive driving. It got me thinking about the connections between stress and aggression in other areas of life.
What does stress do?

Ponder this: Epictetus on God’s power and our focus

Here’s a couple of tasty quotes from Epictetus. Yes, I know he was a stoic and not a Christian, but still they are tasty morsels to consider.
I am always content with that which happens; for I think what God chooses is better than what I choose. The Discourses, Book 7.
What do we admire? Externals. About what [...]

Why do we suffer? Does God hear? What is He doing?

Dumb question, right? We suffer because we live as broken people in a broken world. We suffer because of sin and its effects. Does God hear? If he does hear and answer, how will we know? Will it translate to less suffering in this life?

What to do with “ignorant” people?

Christians, especially church leaders, ought to be gentle with all (wise as serpents, harmless as doves). We know that we ought to restore fallen folk gently (Galatians 6:1f). Well, Hebrews 5:1f reminds us of this fact as well. Why should we be gentle with “ignorant people?” Because we too are subject to the same weakness. [...]

“Stupid Idiot”, Dick Vermeil, irritations, and good counsel

I was reminded of an important lesson on my trip to Atlanta this past weekend. Here it is: Its easy to get overly fixated on the various irritations of life; the interpretations we make show a lot about our outlook; good counsel comes in surprising packages. What am I talking about? Read on for my [...]

Science Monday: the state of eating disorder research

The latest American Psychologist (62:3) is a special issue all about eating disorders research. And most of it isn’t particularly encouraging. Here’s some of the concerns:

PCA Mercy Ministry Conference

I will be traveling today to the 2007 PCA Mercy Ministries Conference in Atlanta to present two seminars: (a) Distorted Sex: Providing Mercy to Sexual Strugglers, and (b) Repentance & Restoration: A Look How God Restores Broken and Sinful people. If you are interested in seeing slides, click the page at the top that says, [...]

New counseling tool discovered!

[Warning: Comic relief]. Every good counselor keeps his or her eye open for the latest/greatest counseling tool that will make them highly effective in their work. This link will take you to a video of such a technique that will allow every counselor to solve the problems that clients bring in under five minutes. Further, [...]

Why you might not want to email your complaints

Have you ever used email to complain or air your criticisms to another person? Is the sky blue? Of course we who use the medium have all done it. Some times we thoughtfully consider our words and present our concerns to the other person in a well-crafted letter and other times we fire off an email without [...]

Science Monday returns

Snow on April 16???? Now I love snow, but this is a bit much, especially following the rain that is finding all the cracks that lead to my basement. Because of this, the science end of science Monday is a bit thin today.
Today starts our new semester and my class on Emotionally Focused Therapy begins [...]