Time Out

Understanding from the inside out.

by Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D.

Where Are the Monuments To Peace?

Here in Washington, we honor the powerful by erecting monuments to them. You can’t miss the memorials on even a casual stroll around town, monuments to leaders, conquerors, warriors and visionaries: Washington, Lincoln, Simon Bolivar, and FDR. Read More

Boredom: The Devil and Divine Discontent

Most of us know what it feels like to be bedeviled by boredom. Read More

On Laughter and Improbability

This is the season of masquerade holidays for both Christians and Jews. While Purim and Carnival or Mardi Gras differ dramatically in their history—and in their meaning, message and customs—the holidays resonate with some of the deepest chords of the human condition. Read More

Military Service Changes Soldiers’ Personalities

People who choose to serve in the military are different from those who don't. The experience of military service then exaggerates the personality differences in small but significant ways, which remain that way when soldiers return to civilian life. These personality differences may play a role in the veterans' high divorce rate, and their other social and occupational problems.</p Read More

The Power of Absence

What do deadbeat dads, estranged or dead relatives, and birth parents in closed adoptions have in common? What they have in common is the power of absence. That's when what isn't there is what captures attention, and traps it in an emotional embrace. The power of absence; let's look at how it works. Read More

TREASON!

America's Dysfunctional-Family Foreign Policy

The Easy Way to Peace

The gentle man who rose to give his presentation at the Middle East TED X conference is no huckster, PR hack or snake oil salesman. Nevertheless, his title, "The Easy Way to Peace in the Holy Land", seems over-the-top, even for this part of the world, long the birthplace of prophets and dreamers. Read More

Judging the News

This is the age of information. We are surrounded by its endless flow. The odd thing is, the more information we get, the harder it is to find knowledge. Are you getting news, or views? Read More

Airport Security Theater

I used to love flying. I was in love with the mystique of travel with its promise of places and people unknown and exotic. Airports meant the anticipation of adventure. I used to love flying, but not anymore. Read More

Coming Home With Fresh Eyes

The great blessing of travel is to return home with grace and greater clarity of vision. Having been away from routines, even from happy routines, having seen different sights, walked different terrain, having listened to different conversations and heard different concerns, can, if you're lucky, lead you back home, which you now suddenly SEE! Read More

More Hats of Jerusalem

Here in Israel the sacred is everywhere. The obvious shrines and traditional holy places are only the beginning. With discerning eyes one can see the sacred reflected in the ordinary Israeli person's life: in her reverence for the land, her passion for justice, and her unselfconscious references to and use of biblical language. Read More

Hats of Jerusalem

According to a report released last week by the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion and Public Life, nearly a third of the world's population live in countries where it is becoming more difficult to freely practice religion. In some countries, such as China, Nigeria, Thailand and Britain, public hostility to religion is the problem. Read More

Crime After Crime

Once in a rare while, a movie is made that rocks you to the very core of your soul with a theme as old as civilization and a message as deep as a myth. "Crime After Crime" is that movie, and what's more...it's a documentary. Read More

Will Baby Boomers Change The World Again?

The baby boomer generation, that demographic bulge born into an optimistic, prosperous nation fresh from its victory in World War II, impacted American society as it passed through every life stage. New schools were required to accommodate their huge numbers, which led to open classrooms, and other educational experiments. Read More

Your Chance Not To Be A Bystander

You've probably heard some awful reports about the prevalence of rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Stories have appeared in the press and Internet for years. Reports from the Congo describe how rape is used as a weapon of war, as a method of torture, they describe brutal gang rape assaults on women, and even on children as young as 3 (both boys and girls). Read More

Who Can You Trust?

When journalist Eric Weiner traveled the world to discover what made some countries happier places than others, he found one primary common denominator among the happiest. The essential ingredient was trust. Read More

The Gaza Syndrome

Cultural pathology is a mighty force. Last weekend it slaughtered a three-month-old infant along with her parents and brothers while they were asleep in their beds. Read More

The Gaza Syndrome

Cultural pathology is a mighty force. Last weekend it slaughtered a three-month-old infant along with her parents and brothers while they were asleep in their beds. Read More

Attention Excess Disorder

Modern life is degrading our attention. At least that's what we've been told. ADHD is epidemic. Tweets and text messages may be messing up our collective mind, fragmenting it, relentlessly distracting us with pop-up ads, Facebook updates and search engine byways. Read More

What’s Our Problem With Stuff?

The best - and by far the funniest - analysis of our society's complex relationship with materialism is George Carlin's comedy classic, "Stuff," which you can still find on YouTube. I guarantee it will make you laugh. Turn from there to your T.V. listings and what you'll see is a glimpse of our collective psyche: we've still got some pretty serious issues about stuff. Read More

Arizona Shooter Didn’t Fall Through the Cracks

Jared Loughner, the alleged mass murderer and shooter of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was a troubled young man often described in the media as having "fallen through the cracks" of the system. But that's not true. Loughner didn't fall through the cracks of any system. Read More

One Of Our Favorite Bad Ideas

I love cartoons. The best cartoons are elegant works of art that instantly communicate a truth. This one, from the December 6, 2010 issue of The New Yorker, communicates an emotional truth wrapped in one of our favorite psychological myths: The myth of "bottled-up" anger.

Don't Believe Everything You Think

The fervent anti-Communist, Republican President Nixon opened up the Western world to China. Mahatma Gandhi never won the Nobel Peace Prize. Time and time again, we have to admit, reality bumps up against what we think we know for sure. Read More

What's Your Flirting Style?

Are you frustrated with the dating scene? Would you like to be dating more? Or perhaps you're yearning for a long-term relationship that eludes you over and over again?

Your flirting style might be part of the problem. Read More

Prediction is difficult, especially about the future

Today is Election Day, and soon the professional prognosticators - those pundits and pollsters, social scientists and former politicians who opine and explain on 24/7 T.V., in newspapers and online - soon they will quiet down. Read More

Sex, Power and Generosity

The more powerful people feel, the stingier they become, according to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research. Read More

"Thank You For Your Service"

In the therapist's office, as in life, an individual's true beliefs are more accurately judged by what he (or she) does than by what he says. The same holds true for a society's beliefs. We say we love family, we say we revere education. But a glance at our actions reveals something quite different. Read More

Will This Be The Most Intelligent Supreme Court Ever?

Today, the first Monday in October, is the first day of the new Supreme Court term.

If the exciting new research findings from MIT and Carnegie Mellon hold true outside the lab, it might turn out to be the most intelligent and effective Supreme Court in U.S. history. Read More

Is That The Whisper of Wisdom I Hear?

People in Washington, DC call themselves political and news "junkies," because they just can't get enough of either, and the supply is always available. Read More