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How accepting your ‘bad’ moods can actually make you happier
The Washington Post: We all say we want to be happy. But that isn’t the right goal, argues Todd Kashdan, professor of psychology and a senior scientist at the at the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University. Kashdan is co-author with Robert Biswas-Diener of The Upside of Your Dark Side: Why being your whole self – not just your “good” self – drives success and fulfillment. He explains: Q: Just what IS the upside of our dark side? Kashdan: One of the most important things that we’ve discovered – the message that we should always feel good and try not to feel bad, ends up being a toxic message that doesn’t work well as a strategy for going through life.
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Sheryl Sandberg teams up with LeBron James to get men to #LeanIn
CNN: In the two years since "Lean In" became a best-seller and sparked countless conversations about gender equality, author Sheryl Sandberg says she has gotten one question over and over from men: What can they do? Now the Facebook chief operating officer is giving them some specific answers by aligning with one of the most popular athletes on the planet. If LeBron James is encouraging men to lean in for women, don't you think some of his 19 million Twitter followers will get the message too?
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Using Technology to Outsource Human Memory
The Atlantic: Nostalgia has made a comeback. With all the #tbts and #fbfs—also known as Throwback Thursdays and Flashback Fridays—as well as that NewsFeed-topping Year in Review feature on Facebook, social networks seem intent on making its users remember the past. Even food-ordering app Seamless got in on the action late last year, sending out emails that relayed the (grimace-inducing) data of how many times users ordered Chinese takeout, probably at too late of hours.
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Children Less Likely to Come to the Rescue When Others Are Available
Children as young as 5 are less likely to help a person in need when other children are present and available to help.
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God Is My Co-Pilot
Slate: When it comes to taming destructive impulses, God may be your best bet. Just ask those who have turned their lives around through Alcoholics Anonymous. AA’s iconic 12 steps are unabashedly spiritual, directing members to surrender their agency to a higher power in exchange for the strength to overcome their drinking-related demons. Though not everyone agrees with its focus on spirituality, AA is still the world’s most-used program for addiction recovery. The faith-based approach is no coincidence.
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The Benefits of No-Tech Note Taking
The Chronicle of Higher Education: The moment of truth for me came in the spring 2013 semester. I looked out at my visual-communication class and saw a group of six students transfixed by the blue glow of a video on one of their computers, and decided I was done allowing laptops in my large lecture class. "Done" might be putting it mildly. Although I am an engaging lecturer, I could not compete with Facebook and YouTube, and I was tired of trying. The next semester I told students they would have to take notes on paper. Period. I knew that eliminating laptops in my classroom would reduce distractions.
