A University of Pennsylvania-led study in which training was provided to a high-stress U.S. military group preparing for deployment to Iraq has demonstrated a positive link between mindfulness training, or MT, and improvements in mood and working memory. Mindfulness is the ability to be aware and attentive of the present moment without emotional reactivity or volatility. The study found that the more time participants spent engaging in daily mindfulness exercises the better their mood and working memory, the cognitive term for complex thought, problem solving and cognitive control of emotions.

By Matt Cardin.  We all know the old saw, usually attributed to Thomas Edison, that "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." The problem with this ubiquitous speck of folk wisdom is not just that it provides a catchall cliché for scoffing at those who dare to suggest that inspiration plays a crucial role in creative work, but that it plainly and grossly misrepresents the relationship in creative work between inspiration and effort. So let it be said once and for all: inspiration and effort are not contradictory but complementary. Their relationship is mutually enhancing.

By Allen Frances, LA Times/Opinion.  As chairman of the task force that created the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), which came out in 1994, I learned from painful experience how small changes in the definition of mental disorders can create huge, unintended consequences. Defining the elusive line between mental disorder and normality is not simply a scientific question that can be left in the hands of the experts.

By Shelley Berc.  Leonardo da Vinci claimed he saw all his paintings in the humidity stains on his walls before ever lifting his brush. Herman Melville stared at Mount Greylock every day until one day it became that devilish cetacean Moby Dick. Children look up at the clouds and see houses, alligators, and dinosaurs rather than cumulus, nimbus, and cirrus. According to biologists, man can no longer be defined as different from other animals by virtue of speech or tool making. But we are absolutely unique in our dazzling ability to make metaphors. Creativity is the art of living metaphorically. We are all born creative, curious, and hungry to explore the world around and within us.

By essayist, novelist Dani Shapiro.  Editor and founder of New American Review, Ted Solotaroff, said only a few writers had flourished. "Some, he speculated, had ended up teaching, publishing occasionally in small journals. But most had just... given up. “It doesn’t appear to be a matter of talent itself,” he wrote. “Some of the most natural writers, the ones who seemed to shake their prose or poetry out of their sleeves, are among the disappeared. As far as I can tell, the decisive factor is what I call endurability: that is, the ability to deal effectively with uncertainty, rejection, and disappointment, from within as well as from without.”

By Robert Mantell, Ph.D., C.M.Ht. I believe the brain has a positive intent for everything it does — everything — including causing a person to experience chronic and debilitating forms of anxiety such as phobias, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress, agoraphobia, social phobia, and OCD. Thus, the positive purpose for the presence of the various expressions of anxiety in a person’s life is to act as a kind of protective barrier, if you will, from the kinds of situations, circumstances, people or things the brain greatly fears will lead to pain, based on past experience.

By Andrea Runyan. College is a crucial time in life and doing well, both in classes and in general life, can have large ramifications for the rest of one's life. Yet it can be hard to succeed when overly stressed, distracted, unable to sleep well, or emotionally distraught due to issues related to being a Highly Sensitive Person.

By James LeGrand.  Procrastination, perfectionism, and denial are the enemies of action. When we know there is something major we must do, many of us all of a sudden find 10 other things that we think we need to do right now. We’d rather not act and wait until we have everything perfectly laid out than to begin making strides towards resolution. Geniuses act. They act now, they act swiftly, and they act with confidence.

By Cathy Goodwin. Gifted adults often face unique career challenges. Job environments rarely reward creativity, a hallmark of the gifted, and frequently punish anyone who threatens to color outside the lines. Corporations often resemble football games, where players are rewarded for being in position to receive the ball - everyone wins by executing the coach’s play. Gifted people function better when their game resembles playground basketball, where you can scramble and make plays as you go.

By Adrienne Carlson. One of the buzzwords we hear being bandied about regularly today is personal development. We’re all being told that we must do more to develop ourselves and become better people in the process, both professionally and personally. But the question is, are we really developing personally because of all the activities we undertake?