By Troy Headrick It’s not even close to January 1st but I’m making a resolution nonetheless.  I’m resolving to become a more patient person.  The way I want achieve this goal is by establishing a daily habit of practicing patience. Those of you who regularly read my blogs know that I’m an American who spent... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I want to start this one with a warning.  I’m not for sure what I want to say, where this is going to go, or what my real subject is.  I want to discover all of those things through the process of putting words on paper. Lately, I’ve been suffering from a... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick In “What I’ve Learned about Life while Watching My Father Age,” a blog I wrote several weeks ago, I mentioned that I’d been reading On Death and Dying, a wonderfully insightful book written by Elisabeth Kϋbler-Ross.  Throughout that tome, the author argues that doctors need to take a more “human” approach while... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I grew up in a small town and was raised by a very conventional family.  Some might even say my kinfolk were conservative, and certainly many of them were exactly that. I share this bit of autobiographical information because I think my southern upbringing was pretty standard, with the exception that my... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I’ve long been interested in the connection between self-awareness and healing.  This interest didn’t begin in some academic way with me reading something about the causal relationship implied here.  It started in a more practical way.  It began with me trying to deal with a medical condition that has long bothered me.... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I’m an American educator who spent nearly two decades living and working abroad—in Europe, Asia, and Africa.  Though this period of my life was a wonderful adventure and provided me with the opportunity to have many life-changing experiences, there was a cost.  Except for the short trips home each year, I became... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I’ll start this one off with a confession.  Lately, I’ve been feeling depressed and overwhelmed.  These feelings are a byproduct of what I see happening in America, the place I currently live, and elsewhere, especially in parts of Europe. As everyone certainly knows, America’s president is Donald Trump.  (Just having to say... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I had been thinking for several days about the possibility of writing something about automobiles and driving and the impact these things have on our mental health and happiness, and then I saw that Betul Erbasi had published this piece on slowing down.  As someone who writes regularly for Pointless Overthinking, I... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick Several days ago I needed to leave the writing center I manage and walk to the college library to pick up some reading that is relevant to some research I am doing.  So I turned the center over to my very capable tutors and began the ten-minute stroll across campus to the... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick To be human is to have limitations.  Some of our limitations are physical.  For example, in my case, I know for a fact that I cannot run a marathon, nor can I lift a barbell loaded with two hundred pounds over my head (even though I’m fairly fit).  We are also intellectually... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I want to begin this one with a story.  Years ago, back when I first started my career as an academician, I had this strange midlife crisis.  I call it “strange” because I wasn’t anywhere near the middle of my life at the time it occurred. It manifested itself in this way: ... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick About a week ago, I wrote (and published) “Freewriting:  A Great Writing Tool (Part One.”  Today, I’m ready to follow up with part two. Lots of people commented on the first installment.  For example, deelib68 asked, “Is freewriting meant to be read afterwards?  I did it once and it was very stream... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick Writing!  A topic of great interest at Pointless Overthinking.  In fact, Bogdan has written a number of blogs about writing and the psychology of putting things down on paper.  For example, there’s this one which begins by asking if the act of writing helps writers write better.  (I would answer such a... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I’m incredibly busy right now.  (That’s one of the reasons I sometimes don’t publish here as often as I’d like.)  I work full-time as the director of a writing center and I help my wife run her small business.  On top of all that, I’m a writer and an artist—one who is... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick Not long ago, I had a very interesting conversation with someone I’ll call “John.”  The two of us talked about many subjects during our meandering dialogue.  At one point, to my complete surprise, John said, “I don’t need to question things.  Why would I want to do that?  My head already feels... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick At work, as part of our professional development, I (along with several colleagues) have been reading and talking about Make It Stick, a book written by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel, on the psychology of learning. The other day, I was given the task of leading the discussion on chapter... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick I want to preface this by saying that I’m an American who spent nearly two decades living outside his home country.  I resided for two and a half years in Poland, four years in the United Arab Emirates, four years in Turkey, and seven in Egypt.  During the expat period of my... Continue Reading →

By Troy Headrick Those of us who write autobiographical pieces have one thing in common.  We are willing to open ourselves up, to expose our inner workings to the public because we understand that doing so is cathartic.  We know, deep in our bones, that this kind of sharing helps, often in the same way... Continue Reading →