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When you get big news, how do you respond? “Well that depends on if it’s good news or bad news,” you might reply. Does it really? Studies show that successful people process good and bad news the same way. People who react poorly to bad news also tend to make bad decisions in the wake of good news. For example, decisions after seemingly great news of instant wealth, such as winning the lottery, depend largely on how that person has historically handled distasteful news, such

Did you see the viral video of the dog attempting to drink from the shadow of running water on a brick wall? You can see the freeze frame from that video on this post’s title image. I chuckled along with millions of other viewers while watching what this dog kept trying to do. The real water was flowing right in front of him, but he was insistent on trying to quench his thirst from the shadow of the the real stuff. The more he licked the brick wall, the thirstier he became. B

Believe it or not, Summer is around the corner. To make the most of the warmer weather and longer days, decide now how you are going to spend the summer and plan it. Here are a couple of suggestions. Schedule vacation. Some of our fondest family memories took place on trips we took as a family in the summer. Bike the Des Plaines River Trail. We have seen deer, fox, coyote, cranes, lots of geese and ducks, and one or two mosquitos :-). If you don’t have a bike, maybe now’s the

My son and daughter-in-law had TV news on Thursday morning as they were getting ready for the day. So my oldest granddaughter, 4 year-old Madison, was sitting on the floor watching the news. The story of Iran’s missile attack on the Golan Heights and Israel’s response was being reported and Maddie was trying to digest it. Suddenly, she exclaimed, “Mom! Israel is attacking! JESUS IS BACK!" I don’t know how her little mind put that together. Thanks to Bridge Kids, she has enoug

Would you call that unlucky? 1 person being attacked and bitten by a shark, a bear, and a rattlesnake?I’ve spent a lot of time in the outdoors. I’ve slept where bears roam, hiked where rattlesnakes slither, and swam in oceans where sharks live. But I’ve never been threatened, let alone bitten. Dylan McWilliams has been attacked and bitten by all three in just the last few years! The shark and bear within a year, and the rattlesnake a couple years before. And he’s only 20 year

Did you hear about the woman in Texas who lit her house on fire? While raking and cleaning out her yard, she encountered a snake. Her response is a bit perplexing, because hitting it over the head with the rake handle would have worked just fine. But instead, she grabbed a nearby gasoline can and doused the snake, then threw a match on it. The inflamed snake slithered into a brush pile next to the house, and before she knew it, the brush pile and the house were engulfed in fl

I lifted weights pretty seriously in high school for the sake of athletics. Those of us who were into it, we were never content with whatever we were capable of at the time. My first goal was to just bench press my own weight, which wasn’t much. I kept increasing that goal by 10 lbs., and each time I’d achieve the next goal, I’d move it up again.We’d all test our “max” periodically, but the key to growing to what we were capable of, was the daily, 3 sets of 10, and increasing

A conference speaker asked a volunteer from the audience: “If I were to place an I-beam across the floor, would you walk across it for $20?” “Sure!” she replied eagerly.“What if that I-Beam were suspended between two tall buildings, forty stories in the air?” She shook her head, “No.”“Ok,” said the speaker, “Suppose the I-beam is forty stories in the air, you are on one building and I am on the other and I’m holding one of your kids, threatening to drop that child if you do

Snow in April. Freezing temperatures. Not much of a warm-up in the forecast. It looks like spring is never going to come.Some of you feel like that in your life. You see other people doing well. This friend is getting married. This person’s career is taking off. This relative just bought a dream house. When is your ship coming in?Some of you are not just weighed down by recent discouragement. It’s been a long time since there’s been any encouragement. And you are wearing down

I just had a car accident. It was my fault. I feel really stupid.I was driving in New Orleans, having dropped my son, Brock, off at his police academy so that I could have the car for the day before we drove his car back to Chicago for Easter. New Orleans is filled with parallel 1-way streets and they are confusing to me. When you turn left, you are supposed turn when your light is green, but then go through the red light of the parallel 1-way street going the other way…and t

Several years ago, one of our office assistants complained that her computer shut down and wouldn’t turn back on. At the time, I was the resident “go-to” for tech issues, so I asked, “What happened when it shut down?” “I dropped my mouse,” she said. That normally wouldn’t turn off a computer, so I assumed something else had happened. “Check all the wires behind the computer and try turning it on again.” She did, and it didn’t respond. “Where did you drop your mouse?” I asked.

A paramedic was asked on a local TV talk-show program: “What was your most unusual and challenging 911 call?” “Recently we got a call from a church,” the paramedic said. “A frantic usher was concerned that during the sermon an elderly man passed out in a pew and appeared to be dead. The usher couldn’t find a pulse and there was no noticeable breathing.” “What was so unusual about that?” the interviewer asked. “Well, we carried out four guys before we found the one who was dea