Counseling News from the Week of May 15, 2026
Explanation: Although I scan the Internet primarily for counseling articles, in the process I run across quotes and interesting facts that I sometimes include in these first two sections. If you’re just interested in the counseling articles, you can skip these first two sections and go directly to the section called Counseling Articles. HV
Interesting Quotes
"The good ole days weren't always good, and tomorrow isn’t as bad as it seems."
Billy Joel
“Strength and beauty are the blessings of youth; temperance, however, is the flower of old age.”
Democritus
“Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.”
RUTH GORDON
"Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."
Winston Churchill
"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."
Douglas Adams
“If the lion knew his own strength, hard were it for any man to rule him.”
Thomas More
"I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse."
Florence Nightingale
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
Viktor Frankl, "Man's Search for Meaning"
"You will never feel proud of your work if you find no joy within it; your best work is always joyful work."
Stevie Wonder
"Everybody has talent and it’s just a matter of moving around until you’ve discovered what it is. A talent is a combination of something you love a great deal and something you can lose yourself in."
George Lucas
You cannot push one up a ladder unless he is willing to climb a little himself.
Andrew Carnegie
Fascinating Facts
"Monster wolf" robots in high demand to scare off bears in Japan after record number of attacks
After a record number of bear attacks in Japan, a company that makes huge wolf robots to scare off bears is recording a record number of orders for the monster robots.
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‘It’s super weird, super odd, super rare’: meet the twins who have different dads
Here is a story that is extremely rare, called “heteropaternal superfecundation. It occurs when a woman develops two ova simultaneously, has sex with two men during her fertile period, and both embryos develop successfully and are born as healthy children. To read about this unusual happening, read the story below. Both daughters have become successful businesswomen in very different fields.
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Shortest non-mobile woman Wildine celebrates graduating college and launching business
The world’s shortest model (2 foot 4 inches) just graduated from college (Liberty University) and is launching her own business.
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Counseling Articles
A Devotional Thought
This morning my wife and I read Psalm 104, and I encourage you to take a moment to read it now. It discusses how even 3,000 years ago, the Psalmist recognized that our world, and the universe, were too well-designed to have happened by chance. That design was probably what prompted the poet, Gerrad Manly Hopkins, many centuries later to pen the wonderful poem God’s Grandeur. In it he asks and answers the question “Why is it that so many human beings don’t recognize the Designer?”
Are Near-Death Experiences Evidence for Heaven?
This is an article from Christianity Today talking about three books that give accounts of near-death experiences and asking whether they give us evidence of heaven. Although probably none of us will have the time to read all three books, the article gives us some glimpses of what is in each one and may encourage you to read one of them.
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5 Questions With Family Studies: Emma Waters
Emma Waters, the author of the book Lead Like Jael, the fascinating story from Judges 4-5, has some thoughts for young women to consider as they plan their lives based five things she has learned going through life as both a professional and a wife and mother.
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Moms, Forget Work-Life Balance!
This mother, also a college professor with an earned Ph.D., discusses the fact that work-life balance, especially when you are raising young children, is probably not a realistic expectation, but that there are more important things to consider.
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Confessions of a Middle-Aged Mother
An interesting life story of a middle-aged mom, who has experienced many regrets about the things she has been limited in doing because of her children, but who recognizes that the fulfillment of raising those children and seeing them develop more than compensates for the regrets she has experienced about what she has been limited from doing.
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More Screen Time, Less Play Time For America's Kids
This article relates to an article from last week’s blog, about the fact that children of this generation are spending much less time being involved in activities like sports and scouts than children of many previous generations. This article talks about another possible reason for this: many parents do not feel comfortable having their children leave their immediate neighborhood. Therefore if we are to get children re-involved in healthy activities like sports and scouts, we must find ways to help parents feel safe having their children participate in these activities.
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Four Tips for a Happier ADHD Household from a Happy Mom
Raising children with ADHD is never easy, but this mother has developed four tips that seem to be working relatively well with her children.
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“Raising an Extreme Child Requires an Extreme Marriage”
This couple has two children, a six-year-old and a one and one-half year old. The six-year-old started exhibiting behavior problems at 4 years of age, was diagnosed with ADHD then, and now has several additional diagnoses. This mother explains how she and her husband are managing to deal with all the havoc this is causing.
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Why Do Men Die Earlier Than Women
Research has shown that on the average men die six years earlier than women. We now have a biological explanation for why this occurs. Some men apparently lose some of the X chromosome during life, and those who do are more prone to heart disease, cancer, and other age-related illnesses. Apparently smoking is a major contributor to men losing some of their X chromosome. Secondly, males are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, which may also shorten life span. Although women also have an X chromosome, loss of part of their X chromosome does not seem to have the same result on females as it does on males.
This video describes the research evidence summarized in the paragraph above.
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Dying with Dignity vs. “Death with Dignity”
Senator Ben Sasse, who probably only has a few months to live, is providing a shining example of how to approach dying with dignity.
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A Christian View of UFO’s, Aliens, and Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena
This week we’ve been treated to some views of UFOs and UAPs that the government has been keeping under wraps for decades. Some interesting comments from Breakpoint commentators on what our response should be.
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Reasons Why People Cheat
This is one of the most comprehensive discussions of the wide variety of factors that cause people to cheat that I have ever read. I recommend you read it and save it to your computer to use with clients who are struggling in their marriages, who might be tempted to cheat, or who are trying to understand why infidelity occurred. I have downloaded a copy of the article to my computer and will try to add it as an attachment to this week’s Friday News to make it easier for you to save it for yourself and your clients.
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Why A.I. Safety Controls Are Not Very Effective
This is from the New York Times so you may not be able to read it without a subscription, but the main point of the article is that while the developers of OpenAI systems have tried to develop safeguards so their systems do not give out misinformation or harmful information, it is incredibly easy to circumvent those safeguards.
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Xi Jinping's CCP is re-writing the Bible
Normally I don’t include clearly political articles in this Friday Mailing, but President Xi attempt to “sinicize” (make Chinese) the Christian faith is I think something we should be aware. President Xi is trying to develop the Chinese Christian Bible. The CCP wants to propagate Communism in all the ways it can. Some of the attempts have been to remove the first of the 10 commandments “You shall have no other gods before me,” (probably the most important single line of text for Judaism and Christianity) and then later removed the first four of the 10 commandments, and then all of the 10 commandments. All references to “The Lord” in the Bible have been removed. The entire book of Genesis has been removed. But probably one of the most blasphemous changes is in the text of The CCP of John 8:3-11, among the most famous passages in the New Testament. In the original story, when the Pharisees bring Jesus a woman accused of adultery, he replies, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.” He then forgives the woman.
A textbook published by China’s University of Electronic Science and Technology Press, a government-run school, changes the ending. After the Pharisees leave, Christ tells the woman “I too am a sinner. But if the law could only be executed by men without blemish, the law would be dead.” Jesus then personally stones her to death.
It remains to be seen whether the CCP will be successful in getting their Chinese Christian Bible to replace the one that claims to be inspired by God.
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9 Imminent Supreme Court Rulings to Watch For
Since this has been a slow week for counseling articles, I’m including this article on 9 Supreme Court rulings that will be made in the next few weeks and that could affect most of our lives in some way.
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‘You Hear the Screams’: New Report Details Hamas’ Oct. 7 Sexual Violence Strategy
One day before the report below was to be released, the New York Times released a report by Nicolas Kristof who reported that a Palestinian male prisoner was alleged raped by Jewish prison guards and impregnated by a dog. Kristof’s report has been widely discredited by various sources, and there has never been a recorded instance of a dog being trained to sexually mount a human. It is now believed the New York Times allegations were meant to blunt the horrible 300-page-report of Palestinians brutally sexually assaulting women and children recorded below.
A three-hundred-page report records incredible acts of human sexual cruelty by Palestinians against Israelis on October 7, 2023. This was not just random acts of violence, but seems like planned, orchestrated sexual violence carried out by the Palestinians which included gang rape; sexual torture, intentional burning and mutilation; executions following or committed in conjunction with sexual violence; postmortem sexual abuse, humiliation, and desecration of bodies; threats of forced marriages; public displaying and parading of naked women and children and sexual violence in the presence of or near family members. It will be interesting to see whether this report of horrible cruelties on families will have an effect on demonstrations here in the U.S., and whether the New York Times will produce a retraction, since Nicholas Kristoff’s allegation has been so thoroughly debunked.
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Article about Nicholas Kristoff’s report
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PCOS: One of Women’s Most Misunderstood Conditions
PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), a syndrome affecting one in eight women has now been renamed PMOS (Polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome) to better reflect its nature. This syndrome is frequently undiagnosed, so it you counsel with women you may want to read it so that you alert women who might have it to consult their doctors.
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Kouri Richins, author of a children’s book on grief, gets life sentence for killing her husband
A woman who became famous after writing a children’s book on grief, received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for poisoning her husband.
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Is ChatGPT refusing to read Genesis 2 because of its content?
Some have wondered in ChatGPT was refusing to read Genesis 2 (on God creating men and women) or Leviticus 18:22 (that refers to homosexuality as an abomination). Probably the controversy will remain because some people claim ChatGPT is trying to reinforce modern political correctness, but some say that the problem is with copyright restrictions on the more recent translations of the Bible, which are still covered by current copyrights. Apparently ChatGPT would read those passages from the King James Version or the American Standard Version, both of which have passed into the public domain.
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At 90, My Grandma Is Leading Worship at Her Retirement Home
As a reminder that we can continue to have ministries to others as long as we live, this author’s grandmother, who has lived at this retirement home for eight years, continues to serve as the pianist for their worship services each week, and serves multiple denominations, though she is Protestant herself. She memorizes the favorite hymns of fellow residents and plays them during the services. Since older hands and eyes have difficulty holding and reading the print in typical hymnals, the words are broadcast on a screen. Just a reminder that no matter how old we are, we can still find a way to minister to others.
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5 Truths Behind Arguing with a Teen
Some teens during their teen years seem to be always arguing with their parents (thankfully that wasn’t the case with our two boys as they were growing up). But if you’re dealing with families where arguing seems to be a constant, Mark Gregston’s article has some good insights that may be helpful to them.
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https://parentingtodaysteens.org/articles/5-truths-behind-arguing-with-a-teen/
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Henry Virkler