Resources

I, like most people, have struggled in my life to create lasting change.  Realizing that most, if not all, circumstances in my life resulted from a series of choices, I ultimately learned to take responsibility, and thereby acquired a measure of control.  I was in my early thirties before I woke up.  Prior to that, I was a victim, blaming my family, friends, and employers for my lack of fulfill…

Tyler is now 19 and had a great deal of trouble in school. The rhythms of the academic environment just bored this very bright young man. His last year of high school, however, he went to a military academy, the intensity of which ignited passion and focus. He became one of the leading cadets. Upon graduation, he sank into a pit of depression, mostly, as he tells it, because of the absence of this…

A few colleagues of mine and I just finished putting on a week-long camp for boys, ages 8-11.  Like most summer camps, we played our fair share of dodge ball, capture the flag, and soccer.  We went to get ice cream, took adventure bike rides, and even engaged in some arts and crafts.  We also did something quite unorthodox: scheduled video game time!  We used that time to teach some valuable l…

I am not a scientist.  The trouble with giving information to people like me, who comprise the overwhelming majority, is that we often confuse causation with correlation.  The latter term means that some relationship between two factors exists, but does not mean one causes the other.  Here is a classic example:  As ice cream sales increase, the rate of drowning deaths increases sharply.  Ther…

My experience has taught me that cyber junkies pursue online “rewards” that they lack in their lives: opportunities for achievement and challenge, social connection, discovery, exploration, stimulation, and excitement.  It is not inherently bad to get these needs met in the cyber world, but some individuals become too dependent.

The trick in empowering these usually imaginative and highly…