Determined to be Depressed?

Posted by on Feb 9, 2011 in education, positive psychology | 6 comments

By ‘determined’ I don’t mean single-minded in your resolution to paint it black.  I mean genetically determined.  That’s the news anyway.  Scientists have found a link between your genes and your ability to produce a brain molecule called neuropeptide Y (NPY) whose function it is to restore calm after stressful events.  Can I have a shot, please? The link between a...

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Nietzsche Was Right!

Posted by on Oct 20, 2010 in coaching, emotional intelligence, positive psychology | 1 comment

Maybe you’ve heard the saying: What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.  At first flush it seems like nonsense, while sounding sort of cool.  If someone almost stabs you to death, surely that makes you weaker? The phrase is from the German philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche.  Now psychologists have discovered he was right, if you make it a matter of resilience. Resilience is the...

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Some Interesting Stories #2

Posted by on Oct 4, 2010 in news and events, personal development, series | 0 comments

This is another selection of juicy-but-overlooked news stories that I found interesting and that have some relevance – promise – to the services of Sensei. How good software makes us stupid is a quality article about a fascinating book called The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains.  The books author is Nicholas Carr, an American writer on technology, business and...

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He’s Nuts! No, He’s A Genius!

Posted by on Jun 14, 2010 in education, learning | 0 comments

The title for this blog comes from the mouth of one of my favourite stand-up comedians, Rich Hall.  (See him say those words live at the Apollo on YouTube from 6:31 to 7:40).  They came to my mind as I read an article about how creative minds ‘mimic schizophrenia’.  Apparently, high levels of creativity can be associated with mental illness and lead to it. I’ve blogged...

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