A long time ago I worked in a photo lab. One of the secretaries used to remark to me about a particular customer: “I don’t like her, she’s dour, she never smiles, she’s antisocial”. Sure enough, this person didn’t smile, didn’t chat, was very perfunctory. So I said, “I’m gonna do an experiment. Every time… Continue reading People Live In to Your Expectations of Them
Author: Dan Pouliot
A New Hampshire native, Dan received his BFA in Oil Painting from UNH; his digital works are in multiple permanent collections. Dan’s been a positive psychology student/practitioner, a blogger, an amateur Remote Viewer, and now a novelist. His dual passions for anomalous cognition and positive thinking set the stage for his debut young adult novel, Super Human, published by PortalStar Publishing. Dan describes Super Human as The Karate Kid meets Escape to Witch Mountain.
Motives Matter
Recently a friend was discussing the topic of timeouts for children and she described them as “abandonment”. Are timeouts really abandonment? Our lives are filled with things that can be used “for good or evil”. Are knives violent? Are cars murderous? Clearly, the answer in both cases is no— intent separates a useful knife from… Continue reading Motives Matter
A Scientific Basis for New Age Bullshit
If you’ve spent any time around New Agers, you’ve probably heard something like: You get more of whatever you think about. Bullshit, right?We have no problem taking credit for all the good in our lives (my job, my house… my hard work!); we are less inclined to consider any causal relationship between our thoughts and our… Continue reading A Scientific Basis for New Age Bullshit
Difficult Times
Yes, things are difficult. Relationship, job, economy, planet… even hair is difficult. But look what can come from difficult times. When our founding fathers left England, surely times were difficult for them. What did they do? They created The Declaration of Independence. (Thanks, Nancy McMoneagle) Plants grow better in the presence of shit. When shit… Continue reading Difficult Times
An Example of Shifting “Can’t” Thinking
In New England in the 90’s I did a considerable amount of training/coursework around shifting mindset to achieve success. My wife and I were both trained as teachers, and I got some of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned. Here’s one: On one particular March morning, we were preparing for a new course and… Continue reading An Example of Shifting “Can’t” Thinking
Dangerous Words
Here are two: impossible and can’t. Imagine if I could travel back a brief 200 years ago and tell an average person, “what if I told you that with special boxes you could speak in such a way that millions of people— even on the other side of the planet— can hear you and see… Continue reading Dangerous Words