To all my readers in the United States and around the world, I'd like to wish each and every one of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! Let me start off by saying that I'm grateful for the people for whom I passionately churn out content every day: you . This two-year-old blog -- nearly 1,100 posts and 212,000 views later -- wouldn't be what it is today without your support; I'll forever be indebted to everyone who takes the time to read, comment on, and/or share my posts. I look forward to writing more content in the coming days, months, and years that will continue to stimulate the substantive conversations my readers and I have on Google+, Facebook, and within the comments section of each individual post. It's obvious that many of you share my passion for so many of the topics I cover on this blog -- from psychology and human behavior to politics and history -- which is a real treat for someone like myself who has an insatiable appetite for learning. That sa...

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November to be a national day of thanksgiving. Though President Franklin Roosevelt issued a proclamation in the 1940s establishing that Thanksgiving day would fall on the second to last Thursday of November, he would later sign a bill into law stating that Thanksgiving would be observed on the fourth Thursday of the month. It's great that, on this day, most people stop to give thanks for all they have. But being grateful for one's blessings, in my view, should be an everyday thing. Many people spend more time yearning for things they don't have than being grateful for the things and people already in their lives. We mustn't forget there are a lot of people who are less fortunate than we are, and who would kill to be in our shoes for a day. What makes the holiday season special is that it not only gives us an opportunity to give thanks, but it propels us to give to others. Everyone talks about spreadi...