We are all extraordinary, all strange — freaks, every last one of us.

“We should keep in mind the world is messy, and we’re all different to varying degrees. Nature always takes the exception to the rule, undermines the archetype, and reminds us that our ideas about what is natural and what we should do to correct nature’s ‘imperfections’ are as sound as a sandcastle battered by a rising tide,”  writes University of Iowa psychologist Mark Blumberg in his latest book, Freaks of Nature. “We are all extraordinary, all strange — freaks, every last one of us. Some of us just happen to be more notable, with a particularly interesting story to tell.”

“To me, the nature-nurture debate is a dead end,” said Blumberg. “Asking whether something is more nature or more nurture is like asking whether a hurricane is more wind or rain. It’s both — always both.”

In nature, biological systems operate within the context of their environment. According to evolutionary theory, systems either adapt to their environment or die off. Freaks of nature sometimes becomes the dominant species because they can adapt better than those we consider “normal” or not freaks.

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All twelve shooters were stressed to the max. If they failed the test, they lost their jobs. For them it had come down to this one moment.

It was 1991. Twelve shooters remained at the firing line, their scores too low to pass the Army National Guard weapons qualifications requirement. All twelve shooters were stressed to the max. If they failed the test, they lost their jobs. For them it had come down to this one moment – pass or fail.

The stress was palpable as the shooters stepped up to the firing line with their M-16 for their “last chance”. Fortunately for them, I was in charge of that firing line that day. I told the shooters to add just one simple action to their shooting process. I instructed them to simply cast their eyes several times from side to side and then up and down as far and as fast as they could move their eyes, then shut them very hard and open again three times and then make a big sigh – then shoot.

Each shooter had 60 seconds to fire 20 rounds from each of 5 positions – 100 shots in roughly 5 minutes. Each had to hit a tiny silhouette marked on a target 100 meters away. To pass, each had to hit the target at least 60 times (60%). Every shooter had previously missed that minimum requirement and this was their “last chance” to qualify.

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Organizations and businesses are wise to invest in employee personal happiness.

“The benefits of a psychologically well work force are quite consequential to employers, especially so in our highly troubled economic environment,” Kansas State University researcher Thomas Wright said in a recent article published in the Journal of Management. “Simply put, psychologically well employees are better performers. Since higher employee performance is inextricably tied to an organization’s bottom line, employee well-being can play a key role in establishing a competitive advantage.”

Methods to improve well-being include assisting workers so they fit their jobs more closely, providing social support to help reduce the negative impact of stressful jobs, and teaching optimism to emphasize positive thought patterns.

None of this is new to those NLP practitioners and coaches working with organizations. The importance of this report is as it relates to a business’ competitive edge. In today’s market of rapidly diminishing returns on investment (ROI), perhaps the best ROI is that invested in employee job satisfaction. And to do that, organizations and businesses are wise to invest in employee personal happiness.

The job is not entirely what makes people happy. People can make themselves happy with their jobs. To be happy you must either do a job you love or love the job you do. Either way, you love your job. And when you love your job, magic occurs. Oh, yes, indeed!!

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Spending time with a grandparent was found to equip adolescents with better social skills and fewer behavior problems.

“Grandparents are a positive force for all families but play a significant role in families undergoing difficulties,” said Shalhevet Attar-Schwartz, PhD, of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “They can reduce the negative influence of parents separating and be a resource for children who are going through these family changes.”

The study appears in the February Journal of Family Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA). The researchers found that children and adolescents whose parents have separated or divorced see their grandparents as confidants and sources of comfort. Spending time with a grandparent was found to equip adolescents with better social skills and fewer behavior problems, especially among those children living in single-parent or stepfamily households.

As in previous studies, this research found that grandchildren are closer to their maternal grandparents and closest to their maternal grandmothers.

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Red is the most effective at enhancing our attention to detail, while blue seems to work better at enhancing our ability to think creatively.

Which color enhances mental abilities? It depends on the context. A new University of British Columbia study finds that red is the most effective at enhancing our attention to detail, while blue seems to work better at enhancing our ability to think creatively.

Red and blue activate different unconscious motivations, says Rui (Juliet) Zhu, noting that color influences cognition and behavior through learned associations.

“Thanks to stop signs, emergency vehicles and teachers’ red pens, we associate red with danger, mistakes and caution,” says Zhu, “The avoidance motivation, or heightened state, that red activates makes us vigilant and thus helps us perform tasks where careful attention is required to produce a right or wrong answer.”

Blue, on the other hand, encourages us to think outside the box and be creative, says Zhu, noting that the majority of participants in her studies believed incorrectly that blue would enhance their performance on all cognitive tasks.

“Through associations with the sky, the ocean and water, most people associate blue with openness, peace and tranquility,” says Zhu, who conducted the research with UBC PhD candidate Ravi Mehta. “The benign cues make people feel safe about being creative and exploratory. Not surprisingly it is people’s favorite color.”

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