January Nelson

Some people seem too good to be human. Any experience with them, even a fleeting moment of eye contact as you pass them in the street, feels like a divine encounter. Such people make for the best friends—if you’re lucky enough for them to fly down from heaven and into your life. You know that…

Some say that life is an IQ test. Others say it’s a test of character. Actually, it’s a test of both. Like it or not, life has a way of testing both your intelligence and your wisdom. Sometimes it feels overwhelming, and you feel tempted to look up to the sky and say, “Really? Really?…

It may surprise you to learn that according to some sources, Alaskans eat more ice cream per person than people in any other US state. “But how can this be?” you ask, overlooking the fact that most spicy cuisines—i.e., foods that taste “hot”—originate in hot climates because they stimulate sweating and cool down the body.…

Some people, well, they’re just lazy. They seem to be born shiftless and indifferent. The only time they expend any kind of effort is when they’re avoiding work. They take advantage of everyone else’s generosity and frequently leave horrible messes that they expect you to clean up. In the interest of kindness and civility, I…

In a world that is often thoughtless, unmindful, and savagely indifferent, it seems odd that some people can still manage to overthink things. Maybe you’ve met an overthinker—someone who doesn’t have time to stop and smell the flowers because they’re too busy worrying about whether they’re allergic to the flowers. Someone who twists themselves in…

If you’re drinking merely to get drunk, there’s very little difference between wine and other forms of booze. A five-ounce glass of wine has roughly as much alcohol as a 1.5-ounce shot of vodka or a 12-ounce can of beer. With wine, the alcohol enters your bloodstream more quickly than with beer but more slowly…

Aries You exude confidence and strength because you know your worth and aren’t going to let anyone mistreat you.   Taurus Even from first glance, you are unapologetically yourself and couldn’t care less what others think of you because you would rather be real than play pretend. Gemini You are charming and sociable, so everyone…

Upon his first sip, Dom Pérignon—who was actually a French monk said to have accidentally invented champagne while experimenting with wine in 1693—reportedly said, “Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!” Later on, Dom the Monk had a famous brand of champagne named after him. Described by English writer Aldous Huxley as having “the taste…

If you’ve ever watched a litter of puppies playing, crawling over one another, and spinning in circles trying to catch their tails, you know there’s a deep poetry in that. Loving puppies shows you can be moved by sweet, innocent, vulnerable living things; loving poetry shows you can be moved by abstractions such as words…

Gemini They’re like a human version of a really good HBO TV show, challenging and always stimulating. And you just can’t get enough of them. Yes, they are binge-worthy but also don’t leave you feeling like you wasted your time, but instead actually learned something while being entertained. Cancer Hanging out with Cancer people feels…

Pressure makes diamonds. George S. Patton, Jr. Losing your head in a crisis is a good way to become the crisis. C. J. Redwine Everyone has faced stressful, challenging, and seemingly impossible situations. It’s part of the human condition. But not everyone reacts the same way. Some people can be completely derailed by the slightest…

Whenever the human eye focuses intently on something, it tends to blur out everything around it. This is natural and applies to both the human eye and every camera that humans have ever invented. In strictly visual terms, “tunnel vision” refers to physical malady where one’s peripheral vision is lost and one can only see…

Like a billion glimmering stars, the future shines a light on us, casting shadows that stretch beyond us toward our dark and distant past. At this moment, you are the culmination of all you have been in the past. The past built you. And what you are today is a prediction of everything you will…

Some people are just born oozing natural charm. They are sociable, extroverted, and they may be a little self-centered in the sense that they love basking in others’ attention and approval of others. They may even push it until people get tired of their insatiable egos as time goes by. Leo and Aries are two…

We are all flawed creatures, but there are psychological risks in admitting this to ourselves. God gave us just so we can protect ourselves from the knowledge that sometimes we are far less than we pretend to be. It’s our way of using an Instagram filter on our egos. It’s like putting makeup on our…

When you’re filled with the energy and exhilaration and euphoria of youth, the prospect of turning 30 might fill you with dread. Even thinking about the first gray hair, the first wrinkle, or the first mischievous little bulge of flab suddenly sprouting around your midsection is enough to send chills down your spine.