Is Emotional Openness the Key to Healthy Relationships?
Have you ever been at a social event, whether a hosted dinner, picnic, party, what-have-you, and you meet someone who is obviously intelligent, well educated, and successful? You fully expect an interesting conversation, yet it stumbles from the start. The conversation stays at a superficial level and, within a short time, you are actually struggling […]
Read MoreAre Young People Losing Their Ability to Read Emotions?
An interesting new study was just published that suggests that children who have little or no screen time are able to read the emotions of others better than those who spend considerable time in front of a screen. Though the sample for the study was small, its implications are disturbing, namely, that the decline in […]
Read MoreFrom Disabled to Super-Abled: Redefining Being Physically Challenged and Human
I recently was invited by the Huffington Post (for whom I blog weekly) to write a post about a TED talk by Aimee Mullins, a double-amputee who has received world-wide acclaim as an athlete, actress, model, inspirational speaker, and an innovator for the physically challenged. How we look at so-called disabled people is certainly changing […]
Read MoreRaising Generation Tech Workshop and Q & A Now on YouTube
Not long ago, I gave a keynote address and participated in a Q & A based on my latest parenting book, Raising Generation Tech: Prepare Your Children for a Media-fueled World. Both are now available on my YouTube channel.
Read MoreAre Youth Sports Controlling Your Family Life?
This article is a must-read for any parent struggling to maintain control over the runaway train known as youth sports in their family’s lives. This is a topic that is near and dear to me because it is something that my wife and I are facing with our two daughters who are now 9 and 7. Like […]
Read MoreWhy Isn’t Mental Training Treated the Same as Physical and Technical Training?
Not long ago, I completed what has turned out to be a three-week international tour of sport psychology. During my trips, I have worked with athletes and coaches from the U.S., Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Russia in Argentina, California, Oregon, and Switzerland. One question that has emerged during my travels involves the role of mental preparation in athletic development. But before I get to that question, let me provide some back story. Whenever I speak to athletes and coaches, I ask them how important the mind is to sport success. With few exceptions, the response is that the mind is as or more important than the physical and technical side of sports. I am obviously biased given my work in sport psychology, so I won’t take a position on which I believe is more important. But I will say that the mind is an essential piece of the sport performance puzzle. Consider the top-10 athletes, male or female, in any sport. Are they all gifted? Yes. Are they all in exceptional physical condition? Yes. Are they all technically sound? Yes. Do they all have the best equipment? Yes. So, on game day, what separates the best from those who are close, but can’t quite get to the top? All of these other factors being equal, it must be what goes on in their minds.
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