Articles from the Week of September 15, 2023
Interesting Quotes
“Everything is habit-forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing."
WILT CHAMBERLAIN
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.
Helen Keller
Failure is OK. That’s how you learn, no matter what age.
Sheila Johnson
People who are hurting … [need] patient, loving witnesses. People to sit quietly and hold space for us. People to stand in helpful vigil to our pain.
Glennon Doyle
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase."
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.
Rumi (13th century Persian poet and spiritual teacher)
Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller
Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.
Dolly Parton
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.
Michael Altshuler
Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.”
Benjamin Franklin
Fascinating Facts (from InterestingFacts.com unless otherwise noted)
“Information from your central nervous system travels at up to 268 mph.”
Quoted material from InterestingFacts.com: “From the automatic tasks of regulating breathing and blood pressure to the voluntary efforts needed for muscle movement, the central nervous system puts in a lot of work to maintain the complex mechanisms of the human body. Pace is crucial to keep this system running smoothly — which is why some signals from our body’s command centers can reach a speed of 268 miles per hour.
“In a nutshell, nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord send information through branching nerve fibers known as axons, which release chemicals across microscopic gaps to be picked up by other cells and synthesized by the appropriate areas of the body. The speed of this process varies according to the size and properties of the nerve fiber; bulky A-alpha axons, which can be 20 micrometers in diameter, have the bandwidth to generate the fastest impulses. Additionally, gaps along axons that are covered by a sheath of fats and protein, known as myelin, contain positive sodium ions that keep signals charged for rapid transmission.”
People breathe primarily out of one nostril at a time.
Quoted material from InterestingFacts.com: “The human nose is a biological wonder. It can smell up to 1 trillion odors, trap harmful debris in the air before it enters your lungs and affect your sex life. But arguably its most important job is to condition the air you breathe before that air enters your respiratory tract. This means warming and humidifying the air before it passes to your throat and beyond. To do this, the nose undergoes a nasal cycle in which one nostril sucks in the majority of the air while the other nostril takes in the remaining portion. A few hours later (on average), the nostrils switch roles. This cycle is regulated by the body’s autonomic nervous system, which swells or deflates erectile tissue found in the nose. Although we don’t notice this switch throughout the day, if you cover your nostrils with your thumb one at a time, you’ll likely observe that air flow through one is significantly higher than in the other. This is also why one nostril tends to be more congested than the other when you have a cold (the nondominant one gets more filled with mucus).”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart became intrigued by the harpsichord at age 3 and started lessons at that time. He composed his first musical composition at age 5 and wrote his first symphony at age eight. He composed his first operas not long after. Mozart went on to become one of the greatest composers of the classical period and created more than 600 works before his death at age 35.
Thirty-two pigeons were awarded medals for valor during World War II.
Although radio communication was improved by the time of WWII, there were some situations where the only way to get a message through to troops was by carrier pigeons, who were credited with saving 100s of lives.
Humans Actually Glow
This feature, called bioluminescence, is a feature of all people, does occur, but at a level about 1,000 times less than the human eye can detect. Some ultrasensitive cameras can detect it, though.
“There are vents on the seafloor hot enough to melt lead.”
Normally the deeper one goes in the ocean, the colder the water becomes. One exception to this are hydrothermal vents, where tectonic shifts allow water to seep down and mix with magma. The superheated water (with temperatures up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit) then spurts up from the fissure.
That’s a long sentence!
The director of a failed cryptocurrency exchange in Turkey was just sentenced to a prison term of 11,196 years.
Counseling Articles
If your time is limited and you can’t read all these articles please at least read the last one. SFACC needs someone to serve on our board as our treasurer.
14 TV Shows Featuring Characters with Bipolar Disorder
Although TV shows don’t always portray mental health diagnoses correctly, here are 14 shows that apparently did it well in portraying bipolar disorder.
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Study reveals reason why exercise reduces risk of Alzheimer’s
As people get older, one of their primary fears is of developing dementia. Several studies have confirmed that exercise reduces that risk by about 30%. This is one of the first to identify how exercise does this.
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Thoughtful Toddler Empties All Items Out of Every Drawer in The House So Mom Doesn’t Have To
Fun headline from the Babylon Bee
After years interviewing serial killers, here’s my advice: never meet one
Piers Morgan has interviewed some of the most notorious serial killers still alive in our prisons today. The actual interviews will be available in an eight-part television series, but this article gives you some idea of what that experience was like. Probably for many of you, reading the article will be creepy enough that you’ll decide to forego watching the actual interviews.
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California State Assembly Passes Controversial Transgender Youth Bill
The California legislature recently passed a bill that could result in parents losing custody of their children if they refuse to affirm the gender identity of their offspring, asserting that such refusal is a form of child abuse similar to alcohol or drug addiction.
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Judge Blocks Transgender Notification Policy in California School District
In another development in California, a superior court judge temporarily blocked a school district from notifying parents that their child was attempting to change their gender identity. This ruling is surprising because another school district was successfully sued by a mother when her daughter’s school failed to notify her of her daughter’s gender identity transition. You won’t be able to read this article unless you have a subscription to the New York Times.
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APA President Traces How Understanding of Addiction Evolved
Although this summary is brief (about a page long), this historical summary by the president of the American Psychiatric Association of how thinking about addiction and addiction treatment has evolved is a helpful overview.
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‘De-conversions’ and the knowledge of the truth
“Deconversion” is used by this author to refer to those who once embraced evangelical theology but have now abandoned it, and the reasons they abandoned it. Some say that if God were more inclusive they would not have made the choice they did. This author explains why God could not remain the God whom He is if he changed in the ways these people wanted.
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Three main defenses against child abuse
Parents are becoming more cautious about allowing their children to become involved in various organizations, and to some degree there is legitimate reasons for this concern—it is estimated that 60,000 children are sexually abused each year, and sometimes in activities and organizations that we used to trust. This article gives parents several questions to ask before letting their children become involved. While the questions might seem excessive to some, if you have a parent who is the cautious type this list might help them feel that they have done due diligence before allowing their child(ren) to become involved.
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Parents Should Not Post Children's Photos Online, Warn Safety Experts
Safety experts are warning that, because of the advent of generative AI, predators can use the image of a fully-clothed children to create sexually explicit images, so therefore it is best not to post any images of children online. This caution will probably cause a conflict for some parents, for whom posting pictures on Facebook is an efficient way to show family members and friends the activities they and their children have been enjoying.
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New California Law Dictates If Your Kid Says He's Optimus Prime You Must Install Tires on Him and Let Him Run Down The 405 Freeway
Another fun headline from the Babylon Bee.
Why We Can’t Trust the Science Journals — A Climate Scientist Explains
I think most of us agree that we should base our counseling on what has been empirically shown to work, but unfortunately many of the journals that we once trusted to give us objective information must be viewed with caution because, in some cases, ideology has trumped scientific objectivity (note the 1,600 scientists who recently signed a statement saying that we do not have a climate emergency that requires us to upend our economy). Although the title of the article suggests this just has to do with climate science, unfortunately the same phenomenon has infiltrated some of our psychology journals.
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Cannabis Induced Psychosis: Recent Trends in Cannabis Use
If you didn’t attend this webinar, I highly recommend it to you. This two-hour CE event will give you excellent information that you can use no matter what age group you work with. Valentino should have it posted by next week for you to download from the SFACC website.
SFACC needs a new board member to serve as treasurer
These first two paragraphs describe the responsibilities and benefits of serving on the board, and the third paragraph describes the specific responsibilities of the treasurer. Please read and pray about serving in this position. If you would like to apply, send an email to our President, Leah Carmo, (LeahCarmo@aol.com) with your phone number and she will discuss this with you further.
Description of SFACC Board member responsibilities and benefits
1. The goals of SFACC are to provide a vehicle for pastors to be able to have a list of qualified (licensed) Christian counselors to whom they could refer parishioners.
2. A second goal is for SFACC to provide a website where Christians who are looking for licensed counselors who view the Christian faith as an important mental health resource and do not view religious faith as the product of an unhealthy personality.
3. Board members provide input so that our SFACC website accomplishes these goals to the best degree possible. Board members provide input and we have a Media Manager who then implements those suggestions.
4. Board members are asked to attend a 1½ hour zoom call to evaluate the past and plan for the future usually once every two months.
5. Board members help identify possible speakers for our workshops and webinars who can help SFACC members learn helpful clinical skills and stay current on their CEU requirements.
6. Board members can volunteer to be involved in other tasks that become available.
Benefits of Board membership
1. Free attendance at all SFACC workshops and webinars.
2. If licensed, free clinical membership in SFACC and advertising for your practice on the SFACC website
3. Knowing that they are contributing to helping Christian counselors in South Florida provide the best counseling services of which they are capable.
Duties of the SFACC Treasurer
1. Produce an income and expense report on a monthly basis. This is done on a Google Sheets spreadsheet program including Microsoft Excel.
• Income sources include: membership and seminar fees. These fees are automatically processed through our membership management and payment processing program, Wild Apricot.
• Monthly expenses include: Zoom, Wild Apricot fees and administrator salary.
• Annual subscriptions include: Wild Apricot, 1 &1 domain fee (website name)
2. Keep SFACC debit card for any miscellaneous purchases (rarely used)
3. Submit two tax forms: 1096 and 1099-NEC (both are short forms for non-employee compensation filing.) SFACC president files the Florida Sunbiz renewal and 1099N filing with the IRS.
End of Summary for SFACC treasurer
Have a wonderful week!
Henry Virkler