Articles from the Week of July 12, 2024

Introductory Note: A lot of the Internet has been taken up by writers discussing the President’s mental fitness to complete his term and to run for a new term. However, even though this Friday News is shorter than some, there have been some interesting articles, so I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read the ones that interest you.

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

Three quotes from C. S. Lewis

Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, “sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.”

The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.”

Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.

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We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.

Rabindranath Tagore

With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings.

Ezra Taft Benson

A great man is always willing to be little.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

If it’s the Psychic Network, why do they need a phone number?

Robin Williams

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Thomas Edison

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.

Louis Pasteur, chemist

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.

Albert Einstein

Fascinating Facts

Airborne hippos? Giant water dwellers fly briefly at full speed: Study

This is such a surprising study that I thought I would include it for anyone else who might be interested.

https://interestingengineering.com/science/hippos-can-briefly-fly-when-at-full-speed?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter

Fun Facts about Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the tallest President on record (six foot four inches) and had the largest feet of any President (wearing size 14 shoes). He was known to respond to criticisms with humor. “Lincoln’s political opponents frequently took absurd shots at his appearance. In 1860, The Houston Telegraph wrote that he had “the leanest, lankiest, most ungainly mass of legs, arms, and hatchet face ever strung upon a single frame.” The Southern Confederacy similarly published a poem stating that “his nose was as long and as ugly and big / as the snout of a half-starved Illinois pig.” And when Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas called him “two-faced” in a debate, Lincoln famously replied, “If I had another face, do you think I’d wear this one?”

Lincoln was the only President to receive a patent, but his invention didn’t work. In his earlier life, among other things he was a riverboat captain, and twice the boats he was commanding got stranded by things under the water’s surface. His invention was to have inflatable pontoons under the boat and pump them up to lift the boat over the obstruction. The invention never worked even though the patent was approved.

Abraham Lincoln had an earlier assassination attempt before the one by John Wilkes Booth. An attempted assassin tried to shoot Abraham Lincoln but instead hit his stovetop hat. Lincoln allegedly thought the shot was from an incompetent hunter rather than an assassin, and asked his men to keep the incident quiet, which is apparently why little of this incident is mentioned in the history books. (HistoryFacts.com)

Counseling Articles

All About Boundary Setting: Why Do It and How to Get Better at It

Here is an excellent article that can help clients who have difficulty setting boundaries to understand the importance of boundaries in all areas of life. If you have a client who is having difficulties setting boundaries or has misconceptions about boundaries (e.g., that boundaries are about keeping people at a distance) this article would probably be a good way to get some therapy discussions started.

Click here to read the full article

ADHD Symptoms in Teens: Your Guide to Warning Signs & Treatments for Adolescents

The adolescent years are challenging ones for many parents and teens, and those challenges are often increased for teens with ADHD. Here’s a fairly in-depth article about that process and includes some suggestions for how to deal with those challenges.

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The 'Useless' Appendix Is More Fascinating Than We Thought

For many decades we’ve been told that the appendix is an unnecessary organ and it was commonly removed (and still is frequently today) but scientists are gradually discovering new insights about what it does, and in the years ahead we may find doctors quicker to provide treatment to keep the appendix intact rather than remove it.

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New Evidence Shows that Two-Thirds of Sex Change Patients Regret Their Decisions

This study comes from Germany, where insurance records show that approximately 2/3 of children and teens who begin “gender-affirming” treatment regret their decision to try to change their gender and attempt to change back.

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“How I Managed (and Mismanaged) My ADHD Without Medication”

Before individuals recognized they had ADHD, they often used a variety of coping strategies to control their symptoms. Here is a very fascinating compilation of ways that people from all over the world used to deal with their symptoms before they realized they had ADHD.

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What to Know About Managing Bipolar Brain Fog

A certain percentage of those with bipolar disorder, even if their mood patterns are relatively well-controlled by medication, continue to experience brain fog  that interferes with them completing some of their daily tasks. Here is an article about some methods that some have found helpful.

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Planned Parenthood Accused of Pushing Minors into Hasty Transitions

Evangelicals have often been frustrated with Planned Parenthood’s role in pushing abortion, but now they are being criticized for another reason—pushing minors into hasty decisions about transitioning to  a different gender.

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Large-Scale Study Finds Narcissism Has an Expiration Date, Psychologists Explain Why

This large study found that many people who are quite narcissistic during their early years become somewhat less narcissistic as they get older. Authors of the study posit various reasons for why this may occur. However, these changes are often moderate—people who are very narcissistic when young are often still more narcissistic than the average person. The authors do recognize that a small number of those who are narcissists when in their early year remain quite narcissistic throughout life.

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I Cried Out to the Name Demons Fear Most

Here is the amazing true story of a woman from Long Island who from a young age found she had psychic gifts and was involved in the psychic world for many years. However, she began to experience frightening experiences and gradually was introduced to Christianity and has become a strong Christian. She relates her story in Christianity Today. If you have questions about whether the demonic world is real, this is a good introduction.

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What Happens to Love?

Here is an article by a marriage coach who has been teaching a marriage preparation course at his church for twenty years. Although some of the insights are fairly basic ones, they are good reminders of some of the things we can encourage couples to do in order to keep love alive in our marriages.

Click here to read the full article

Have a wonderful week or weekend!

Henry Virkler