Posts By Vanessa Vidal
(How to) End Violence Now
In 1967 Abba Eban, an Israeli politician and diplomat, observed that Americans will always do the right thing, but only after they have tried everything else. When it comes to reducing […]
Gun Control and Impulse Control
Every day we hear about gun violence and it’s self evident that something needs to be done. The question in the media is: are people responsible and guns merely proximate causes? (e.g., “Stop blaming the guns and start blaming the person.”) Whether or not we regulate access to guns*, a more fundamental solution is to reduce violent tendencies and deal with the growing lack of impulse control in our society that leads to violence of all kinds.
What is a Nurse Worth?
According to a February 15th 2022 article in The New York Times, “Nurses have finally learned what they’re worth.” Both as an integral asset to our health system and as […]
Hope for Victims/Survivors of Abuse in the Age of Covid19
According to the NY Times column In Her Words, in 2018, domestic abuse cases accounted for about 20 percent of all violent crimes in the U.S. In 2019, more than […]
Peaking into Spiritual Development
Spiritual is the adjective form of the word spirit, which comes from the Latin word for “breath,” which means the thing that animates life. From biology we know that even […]
Resolutions 101: Fulfilling your good intentions
Four thousand years ago, the ancient Babylonians started a tradition of the celebration of the New Year by making new year’s resolutions. Their new year began when they planted their […]
Being Woke
Woke is used as a byword for cultural or social awareness. But being woke is dependent on how naturally awake, how aware, how alert you are. Unclouded awareness allows you […]
The Art of Being Silent
Herman Melville wrote, “All profound things and emotions of things are preceded and attended by silence.” Why silence? A 2013 study on mice published in the journal Brain, Structure and […]
Stress and anxiety “Life Hacks”
Do you suffer from occasional anxiety or does anxiety rule your life? Does it feel like anxious thoughts run through your brain with no “off” switch available? Anxiety is a […]
Preventing and Correcting Misbehavior and Incarceration in Young Women
There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about the high rate of incarceration in the United States. Often enough young women, including many imprisoned for minor offences, are […]