The English language has 112 words for deception, according to one count, each with a different shade of meaning: collusion, fakery, malingering, self-deception, confabulation, prevarication, exaggeration, denial.
The human brain has evolved the capacity to impose a narrative, complete with chronology and cause-and-effect logic, on whatever it encounters, no matter how apparently random.
Some of my happiest moments are the ones I spend with my husband, a few close relatives, and a handful of very good friends who know me well and like me anyway.
Angels, demons, spirits, wizards, gods and witches have peppered folk religions since mankind first started telling stories.
Regret is a bitter emotion, so painful that the urge to avoid it often drives decision-making strategies.
It's almost a rite of passage for the middle-aged, it seems, to invent generational stereotypes for dumping on the young.
The limbic system explodes during puberty, but the prefrontal cortex keeps maturing for another 10 years.
The chance you passed up or missed could have had any number of different outcomes, and it's easy to fantasize about how much better every one of those outcomes would have been.
Through social media, young people are constantly being pinged about a whole slew of potentially better matches or social activities.
Anxiety is not fear, exactly, because fear is focused on something right in front of you - a real and objective danger.
Friends and relatives might be surprised that I think of myself as lonely. I'm married to a man I not only love but like, and we spend a lot of time together. If I feel like socializing, I can usually find someone to meet for coffee or a drink.
Some people, no matter how robust their stock portfolios or how healthy their children, are always mentally preparing for doom. They are just born worriers, their brains forever anticipating the dropping of some dreaded other shoe.
Lies can be verbal or nonverbal, kindhearted or self-serving, devious or bald-faced; they can be lies of omission or lies of commission; they can be lies that undermine national security or lies that make a child feel better. And each type might involve a unique neural pathway.
In the womb, humans are free of microbes. Colonization begins during the journey down the birth canal, which is riddled with bacteria, some of which make their way onto the newborn's skin.
Whatever the reason for any one individual's tendency to gain weight, the only way to lose the weight is to eat less and exercise more.
Kids don't shuffle along in unison on the road to maturity. They slouch toward adulthood at an uneven, highly individual pace.
As the brain matures, one thing that happens is the pruning of the synapses. Synaptic pruning does not occur willy-nilly; it depends largely on how any one brain pathway is used.
The 20s are like the stem cell of human development: the pluripotent moment when any of several outcomes is possible. Decisions and actions during this time have lasting ramifications.
I regret not working harder to create true friendships with other couples, not seeking out people with whom to go do things and go places - people with whom to have a few crazy, memorable bonding adventures.
I'm a freelance writer, and I work alone at a big desk in the living room of my apartment. There are many days when I don't utter a single word to anyone but my husband.
