All of My Thoughts and Articles
Action and Acceptance
Sometimes I struggle with the paradox of action and acceptance. I know action is important. When I’m struggling with something, or want something to be different in my life, it’s important to DO SOMETHING. Taking ...
Eric Trump, Kathy Griffin, and the Dehumanization of Politics
Eric Trump appeared on Sean Hannity last night and sharply criticized Democrats who opposed his father, saying “they’re not even people.” Oh politics, how far we have fallen. Instead of pushing forward substantive policies and ...
Commitment and the Inevitability of Loss
Throughout my life, I’ve had a pretty big fear of commitment. This fear of commitment permeated all areas of my life. It showed up in the little things, like not wanting to commit to hanging out ...
Humble vs. Self-Righteous Religion
Religion can be healthy or unhealthy. One key factor differentiating the two is the extent to which religion promotes humility or self-righteousness. In other words, does religion help me focus on myself, and how great ...
The Rules of Improv and Difficult Dialogues
We live in a society that has a lot of different kinds of people. These differences enrich our lives and make them more interesting, but differences can also make things challenging. Take a minute and think ...
Sex, Maddi Runkles, and Throwing the First Stone
Maddi Runkles is an 18-year-old senior at Heritage Academy, which is a private Christian school in Hagerstown, Maryland. In January, she found out she was pregnant. The school requires all students to sign a pledge saying ...
Don’t Protest Too Much
I picked up my mail the other day, and I had an envelope that looked like it was an emergency. Right on the front of the envelope, in bold, ALL-CAPS letters, it said: IMPORTANT RENEWAL ...
Jesus, Rules, and the Heart of the Matter
Rules are an important part of any well-functioning society. We follow rules every day. For example, when driving, we follow the rules of the road. We can’t steal things that aren’t ours, or punch someone ...
Just Do Something
During graduate school, I worked for a couple of years at the college counseling center at Virginia Commonwealth University. There used to be a well-known psychologist who worked there named Jack Corazzini. I never met him, ...
