Monthly Archives: September 2017

Recently a few people have told me about their experience of what we called “a backhand compliment”. In my own words, it means an apparent compliment with a subtle negative connotation/meaning behind it. Take an extreme example, someone “compliments” an American saying “your English is as good as the English.” Well, my advice: 1) Take […]

Last week I watched the new movie American Assassin with high expectation. Unfortunately, I was almost “killed” by disappointment. Without disclosing too much of the plot in case some of my blog readers may see it despite my negative review. (Don’t say I did not warn you!) I will summarize in a few words: Banality […]

From the book ‘The Resilience Factor’ by Karen Reivich & Andrew Shatte (p.41-43) “Casual analysis is a term we use to refer to people’s ability to accurately identify the causes of their problems” “… the most resilient people are those who have cognitive flexibility and can identify all the significant causes of adversities they face, […]

From the book ‘The Resilience Factor’ by Karen Reivich & Andrew Shatte (p.40 & p.56) “Resilient people are optimistic. They believe that things can change for the better. They have hope for the future and believe that they control the direction of their lives.” “Realistic optimism is the ability to maintain a positive outlook without […]

A friend of mine has recently beset with some minor ailments without apparent causes even after consulting his family doctor. That reminded me of a book I read last year called “The body has a mind of its own” by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee. In a nutshell, the book suggests that our (physical) body […]