How to Read People

Really? Is this what the world's come to? Sources say that TIME Magazine is asking readers whether Kim Kardashian or Caitlyn Jenner should be chosen as the publication's person of the year. Among the other names being floated around are Republican presidential candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump, technology gurus Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg, and actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Viola Davis. That a respected magazine like TIME would even consider Kardashian and Jenner for the coveted issue is beyond comprehension. What have these people done to be deemed worthy of the honor? All Kim is known for is stirring up family drama and getting naked. In Jenner's case, the former Olympic champion revealed to the world her sex change, which garnered extensive media coverage earlier in the year. Why doesn't TIME feature those who are truly deserving, like one of our brave men or women in uniform, someone who devotes his life to helping charities, and so on? Instead, we'...

Shoppers spent $10.4 billion at stores on Friday. While that may seem like a large number in and of itself, it's a rather tepid showing when you compare it to sales generated a year earlier. In 2014, consumers forked over a more impressive $11.6 billion. Moreover, store sales on Thanksgiving this year fell from just over $2 billion to $1.8 billion. So what's to blame for the drops, exactly? As you can probably predict, consumer behaviorists point to online sales, which jumped 14 percent on Black Friday from 2014. All told, consumers who took to the web for their purchases spent $2.72 billion. Not too shabby, right? And we haven't even gotten to Cyber Monday (Nov. 30), which is hands down the busiest e-commerce day of the year. Perhaps this suggests that people are getting tired of braving the crowds (and the elements) to snag a good sale in person. Reports of people camping out in stores and trampling over others to grab everything from TVs to denim jeans has like...

During which months of the year do you think suicides are most prevalent? Contrary to popular belief, suicide attempts actually drop during the holidays. The lower suicide rates are thought to be linked to increased family time and support during this time of year. According to Psychology Today , there were over 38,000 suicides in the U.S. in 2010, making it the 12th leading cause of death. To put this in perspective, more people died from suicide than automobile accidents. While ephemeral thoughts of suicide are common in many people, suicide threats often go ignored. Suicide is often associated with depression, which is, of course, treatable. I've read one too many stories of people whose suicide threats fell on deaf ears. In other cases, people stop short of making actual threats, but they show various signs of depression -- from loss of appetite to incessant crying -- that propel them to do the unthinkable. It's imperative that anyone with thoughts of suicide be tak...

Ironic that I would create a post about this on Thanksgiving of all days, isn't it? But I find it a germane topic in light of the fact that many of us won't be happy when we step on the scale tomorrow morning. In fact, studies show that many people decide to go on diets the day after Thanksgiving as a way of mitigating the damage. Whether they keep the diet when Christmas and New Year's come rolling around is a different story. Here's my trick to losing weight: The best way to exercise self-control is to ask yourself how many calories eating that scrumptious slice of pizza would set you back. The key is to mull this over before you even put the food on your plate. If you do it the other way around, you'll feel as though you've committed to eating it ("it's on my plate already -- might as well eat it) and will feel bad putting the slice back in the box. Now, that doesn't mean you can never "cheat" once in a while. After all, experts...

The Thanksgiving tradition stretches all the way back to the early days of the republic, when George Washington was at the helm of the fledgling nation. Following a resolution of Congress, President Washington proclaimed Thursday the 26th of November 1789 a day of “public thanksgiving and prayer” devoted to “the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.” Reflecting American religious practice, Presidents and Congresses regularly designated days of fasting and thanksgiving through the the mid-1800s. But the Thanksgiving holiday we celebrate every November was formally established by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and made into law by Congress in 1941, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was in office. I think everyone should be thankful for their blessings each day of the year, not just on the fourth Thursday of November. We often get so caught up in work and other responsibilities that we neglect to focus ...