Articles from the Week of January 10, 2025
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
Good Quotes Compiled by Richard Simmons, Winter, 2025
“Reliability is essential for progress in life.”
CHARLIE MUNGER
“Humility and thankfulness sleep in the same bed…”
ALISTAIR BEGG
“No one ever became poor by giving.”
ANNE FRANK
“Courage is the management of and the triumph over fear.”
RYAN HOLIDAY
“Heaven is my home. I am just here recruiting.”
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
“We get old too soon and wise too late.”
BEN FRANKLIN
“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
E.B. WHITE
“The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life.”
ESTHER PEREL
“Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become, and the same is true of fame.”
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
“Drive carefully on this road called “Life,” because people will switch lanes on you without a signal.”
DENZEL WASHINGTON
Fascinating Facts
Illiterate Graduate Sues School Board, Highlights National Problem
This article begins with the story of a Connecticut student who cannot read or write, who graduated from her high school and was accepted at the University of Connecticut.
It discusses the low rate of literacy achieved at some of our high schools. Most noticeable is Oregon, that has suspended literacy requirements for graduation until 2028. Thank God if you are in a good school district!
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New Jersey Teachers No Longer Required to Pass Basic Reading, Writing, Math Test
Along similar lines, starting this year New Jersey teachers will no longer be required to pass a basic reading, writing and math test to teach in that state.
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Spiders ‘smell’ with their legs – new research
Mammals have noses to smell, and insects have antennae, but how do spiders smell? The answer was recently discovered—they have olfactory cells along their legs.
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How do you kiss if you’re a whale shark? Try a love bite
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Counseling Articles
Never Let Your Brain Retain Any Waste; Try These Simple Tricks to Speed Up Cerebral Detoxification
Our brains are marvelous instruments, and the blood-brain barrier does not let chemicals that would impair brain function come in, while allowing those nutrients necessary for healthy functioning to do so. This article, by a medical doctor, explains how to help the brain clean out toxic waste each day and keep it healthy.
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A New Year, A New Habit
Every year some people make resolutions, and many find they stop doing whatever they resolved to do partway through January. One study found that 84% of resolutions don’t survive January. Rob Pacienza, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, talks about us developing new spiritual habits, and suggests a four-step method for starting a new habit in your life, such as regular Bible study.
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How Neuralink Will Change The World
You may have seen this article before, but if you haven’t it’s a good introduction to Neuralink and some of its possibilities for improving human life in the future.
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Fast-growing fetish can cause serious issues in the bedroom later On, sex experts warn
The latest fast-growing fetish is gooning. In case you didn’t know what gooning is, it refers to a person holding off climaxing for long periods of time while watching porn. Although the article doesn’t mention it, it seems to be mainly a male fetish. The two negative consequences are that individuals are no longer able to be aroused by actual partners and sexual addiction.
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We Who Wrestle with God: On the Border of Things
Last week I included an article on Jordan Peterson, a psychologist who packs stadiums to hear him speak about Christian things, who believes Christianity contains many helpful insights, but has not embraced it himself. He responded to a question about whether his wife’s conversion has been good for their marriage. He responded, not good, but great!
The article is written by a person who was an agnostic, but after reading Peterson, became a believer himself. Let’s pray that this gifted man, Peterson, unlike Moses, may not just view the Promised Land from a distance, but can become a believer himself!
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5 Things We Know and Still Don't Know About COVID, 5 Years After It Appeared
Although this is not specifically a counseling article, almost all of us are still being affected by COVID, which continues to mutate. So this is a good summary of what we know and don’t know at this point.
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Gratitude: How and Why to Practice This Key to a Happy Life
This article contains some ideas that could probably benefit each of our lives and many of our clients as well.
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20 Inspiring Quotes to Lift Your Spirits When Living With Bipolar
Here are 20 inspiring quotes collected by Tanya Hvilivitzky, who lives with bipolar disorder herself, but I think 18 of these quotes could be helpful to anyone who is going through a period of depression in their lives.
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New study reveals that sleep prevents unwanted memories from intruding
A new study found that inadequate sleep weakens the brain’s ability to suppress unwanted memories from intruding during the daytime. Conversely, adequate sleep strengthens the part of the brain responsible for controlling such thoughts. So encourage your clients who are experiencing troubling thoughts to get adequate sleep if possible.
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Parents, It’s OK To Do Less
Some parents are too disengaged from their children. But some parents, especially some mothers, may be overinvolved with their children, to the point that they’re perpetually exhausted with the demands they put on themselves. For such parents, some of the ideas and books suggested in this article might be helpful.
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Brain Changes in Youth Who Use Substances: Cause or Effect?
Youth who use alcohol or drugs have brain differences from those who don’t. But new research questions whether these subtle brain differences are the result of substance usage or may predispose young people to experiment with drugs and alcohol.
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Undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder Stole Years from Me — Here’s How I Took Them Back
Here is the story of how a person suffered for years with bipolar disorder and was never correctly diagnosed. When he finally met someone who correctly diagnosed him and started him on a good treatment plan, his life experienced a tremendous turnaround.
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What’s the difference between education and propaganda?
Certainly a topic that should be of interest to every counselor, Christian, and parent. This article discusses this issue and identifies seven differences between education and propaganda.
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How Doomscrolling Plunders Your Health
Doomscrolling has been defined as “the compulsive activity of consuming negative news online.” We all know the negative consequences that can come from it. However, there are benefits to keeping informed of the world around us in a balanced way. This article gives a good summary of the negative effects of doomscrolling and may be of help to some of your clients who may be prone to this practice. While many of us can develop a healthy balance of attention to the news, for those who have developed an unhealthy addiction to doomscrolling, this article includes some methods they could possibly use.
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Federal judge strikes down Biden admin's Title IX rewrite
I mentioned in a previous Friday News that the Biden administration had withdrawn four proposals, one of which was the proposal to rewrite Title IX to include those based on their chosen gender identity, ruling that the Education Department had overstepped and violated teachers’ rights by requiring them to use students’ preferred pronouns. A federal judge has just concluded that such a change would also have been unconstitutional. In a 15-page opinion, Chief Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky wrote that the Education Department could not lawfully expand the definition of Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, as it had proposed last year. “The entire point of Title IX is to prevent discrimination based on sex,” he wrote. “Throwing gender identity into the mix eviscerates the statute and renders it largely meaningless.” Although this court ruling means that teachers no longer must use students’ preferred pronouns, the more significant impact is on transgender students’ ability to compete in sporting events and, in many cases, take away scholarships and awards from biological females.
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Common Phobias and How They Impact Lives
One of the things counselors commonly deal with is helping clients deal with fears. One extreme example of fears are phobias. Here is a brief discussion of seven of the most common phobias that people have that clients might bring to your office.
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The link between pornography addiction and ADHD
Although this article is based on a single person’s experience, I think he may be making some important points about what kinds of experiences we put into our minds and ADHD, and his point may have implications even for those who aren’t using pornography.
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Violations By Doctors in Implementing Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying Law
I didn’t include the actual title of this article, because I think my title is clearer. It was recently reported that there have been hundreds of violations of Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying law. Please read this article, because proponents of this process will be attempting to get it passed here, and we need to learn from what is happening in our neighbor country to the north.
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Strategies For Getting Anger Under Control
If you have a client or friend who has difficulty with anger control, this article could be a good starting place for discussion.
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When Kids Work the Neighborhood, Everyone Benefits
There have been several articles in recent weeks that recognize that children benefit from having tasks that give them a sense of purpose and accomplishment. This article discusses a thought that might be worthwhile for parents and communities to consider implementing.
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A Proposed Model for State Policy Initiatives to Strengthen Marriage
Much of the research that has been done has been conducted by proponents of one or another marriage theory. This author proposes that we have wider programs of research that focus on what helps marriages to work rather than studies that focus on only one theory. See what you think.
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I hope you enjoyed these articles!
Henry Virkler