Personal Development

These messages focus on how we have developed over time.

    • Self-Actualization

      It began as simply one part of a capstone course. Students were asked to demonstrate their ability to continue learning after college was over. Students could pick their own topic. Each week, they were asked to report on what they learned. They were also asked to...

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    • The Three Rs of Adulthood

      The three Rs of what it meant to be an educated person (Reading, wRiting, aRithmatic) had its origin in the early 19th Century. Much has changed in education since then, but the three Rs remain a focus of our public education system. What we need now is a new set of...

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    • Intelligence

      It’s one of the most familiar words in our vocabulary: Intelligence. But what does it mean? Most of us think of intelligence as how smart you are. But is that the only way to think of intelligence? In recent years, scholars have argued that there are other forms of...

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    • Decisiveness II

      Edward Thomas was born in 1878 in Surrey, England. He studied history at Oxford but believed that he would make a living by writing. He began reviewing books and became a prolific writer as well as a literacy critic. Edward had a personal challenge in making...

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    • Daydreaming

      It’s something that 96% of adults do. Some estimates are that 47% of our time is spent daydreaming. As we learn more and more about our brains, we have begun to learn more about daydreaming and its role in our being human. Not all daydreams are the same. Some can be...

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    • Memory

      Any child can give you a definition of the word memory. We think of memory as a recall of events. But with advances in neuroscience, the very concept of what constitutes memory is changing. The most important thing we are learning from neuroscience is that we have the...

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    • Neuroplasticity

      For much of our history, we believed that our brains were fully grown during childhood. But with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we now know that the brain continues to grow, adapt, and change over time. It does this by creating new neurons...

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    • Uncontrollable Talent

      Ever heard of the name Steve (Dalko) Dalkowski? Few people have. One would think the name of the pitcher whose claim to fame was that of throwing a baseball faster than any other person would be well known. While radar guns didn’t exist when he was pitching, those who...

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    • Personal and Professional Lives

      He was born in 1925 in Iowa. As a child, he was both shy and devoted to entertaining his family and friends. He became an amateur magician and performed magic acts for $3 a show. When he was 18, he joined the Navy. He was en route to combat duty when the war ended. It...

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    • Achieving at the Highest Level

      The phrase GOAT is often used today to describe someone who has achieved at the highest possible level; hence the label: Greatest of All Time. What leads to that level of achievement? For most of the history of the Earth, high achievement was thought to be inborn, or...

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