On Disclosing

Trusting: Advice to the naive

SuperBaby: A short-short story

Superman Updated: A short-short story

The Test: A short-short story

Who Can You Trust? A short-short story

5 Warnings to People Who Are Too Trusting

Going through life is easier when you trust that most people’s motives are good. Whether or not that's true, it’s unarguable that some people have paid a huge price for being too trusting. Being aware of five things should help. I describe them in my Psychology Today article today.

Should You Be More Suspicious or Less So? A 10-item self-assessment

When are we exercising due caution rather than crossing the line into over-suspiciousness?

Of course, that question can’t have a black-and-white answer. But it might help to inventory your level of trust in common situations and then reflect on whether and in what circumstances you should be more trusting or less. My Psychology Today article today offers a 10-item self-assessment.

What I Most and Least Trust

We crave people and entities we can trust but they seem harder to find. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I describe eight I trust and three I trust a lot less.

My PsychologyToday.com Articles with 2,000+ Facebook Likes

6/9/14 Update: Here's another one:
My article, Becoming a Better Listener has 6,400 Facebook Likes. And the total page views for my PsychologyToday.com articles is now 468,000.

I've been gratified by the response to my articles on PsychologyToday.com. I've only been writing for it for six weeks and the audience has built rapidly: 168,700 page views in the past week alone. 

If you haven't seen my articles, you might want to see if any interest you. These might especially be worth a look: Each has already received more than 2,000 Facebook Likes:

Can Anyone Figure Out What Makes Us Tick? (2,400 Facebook Likes)

How Would You Rate Your Life? (3,500 Facebook Likes) 

Why Following Your Passion Can Backfire (3,800 Facebook Likes)

6 Secrets to Making the Most of Your Time (5,700 Facebook Likes)

How Can You Tell Who to Trust (10,000 Facebook Likes)

What To Do When You're Being Ignored. (10,000 Facebook Likes.)

Venus, Iris, and Mayor Boggle: Another children's story (but not really)

Here is a sequel to the children's picture book, Venus and Iris, the text of which I posted previously.

I read it aloud here and provide the text below. Even as an adult, I enjoy being read to and thought you might too.

Venus, Iris, and Mayor Boggle

by Marty Nemko

 (to be illustrated)

Last we saw Venus, he had saved Iris's life by eating the beetles that were destroying her. Venus ate the beetles even though he knew that eating them would kill him. Fortunately, Iris then saved Venus's life by getting him to cough up the beetles.

So Venus and Iris were heroes to everyone in Bogville. Indeed, some Boggies painted a mural of Venus and Iris in Bogville's town square.

Venus and Iris were heroes to everyone that is, except Mayor Boggle. He was jealous that they were now more famous than he.

So he told Venus and Iris, "FarAwayBog School needs teachers. You both would be great. You're heroes. You can teach there!"

"Thank you, Mayor Boggle, that's so nice of you," said Venus.

Really, it wasn't nice of the mayor. He just wanted them far away from town so the Boggies would forget about them.

While Venus and Iris were gone, Mayor Boggle, to make himself more famous, made big promises to the Boggies he couldn't keep: "If you re-elect me, I'll get rid of all the mosquitoes in the bog."

Venus and Iris worked hard teaching--and you know that teaching is not easy. (picture of Boggie students fooling around.)

And when the school year ended, Venus and Iris returned to town and saw that the big mural of them had been replaced by an even bigger mural with Mayor Boggle's face and "End Mosquitoes. Re-Elect Boggle."

Still, many of the Boggies had not forgotten about Venus and Iris. Indeed they were glad to see their heroes. That made Mayor Boggle mad. So, using his sweetest voice, the mayor said, "You did a great job as teachers. So, as a reward, I'll give you a carrot farm: the land, the seeds, and even a Boggie to help you."

"Oh thank you, Mayor Boggle!" replied Iris.

Of course, the farm was even further from town than the school was. And the land was so hard that carrots, which even in good soil take a verrry long time to grow, would take forever. And to make sure the farm failed, the Boggie that Mayor Boggle sent was Bogwump, who no one wanted to hire because he was lazy and steals.

Venus and Iris tried and tried to grow carrots--without much help from Bogwump. After a year, only three carrots came up and Bogwump ate all three.

Venus and Iris returned to town. Now "End Mosquitoes, Re-Elect Boggle" posters were pasted all over town.

Venus and Iris went to Mayor Boggle's house and apologized  for not producing any carrots, and he replied, "Don't worry. I'll give you another chance. Go five miles east to SandyBog. There are water lilies there. Just  bring them back and give them to the Boggies. It will make them happy. I'll pay you a lot of money."

But in the next room, Mrs Boggle overheard and raced in. "Mr. Boggle, you know very well that SandyBog is filled with deadly snakes. How could you send Venus and Iris there?!"

And Venus and Iris finally realized that Mayor Boggle was not their friend.

So Venus and Iris returned to where they first met, the quiet bog just outside of town, where lots of flytraps and an occasional iris lived a simple but happy life.

Oh, and Venus and Iris had a baby: a beautiful iris that just happened to have a few traps.

Meanwhile, while admiring a poster of himself, a swarm of mosquitoes bit Mayor Boggle. He itched and he itched for a whole week! Do you feel bad for him?

Do you know a kid like Mayor Boggle who's mean to someone they're jealous of? What should you do about it?

Who and what can you trust?

Politicians are masters at hiding the truth.
Physicians, alas, are too often wrong.
Many clerics are not as wise as many secularists.
Friends and family may or may not be counted on.
Corporations too often maximize profit at the expense of the larger society.
Nonprofits and government are too often ineffectual.

What do I trust?
I find myself trusting mainly in inanimate things:
-- a touching movie
-- my zinnias
-- a hike
-- Glenn Gould's 1981 recording of Variation 32 of the Goldberg Variations.
-- watching a great play such as Brighton Beach Memoirs at a community theatre .
-- reading or writing unpopular truths. The latter is my primary purpose in writing this blog.