ISTANBUL—The next James Bond movie, "Skyfall," promises the usual action, exotic locations, scheming villains and beautiful women. For fans of the original novels by Ian Fleming, there's more: a journey into the troubled psyche of the iconic spy.

After all, the director of the 23rd film in the franchise, which spans half a century, is Sam Mendes, whose cinematic studies of personalities in emotional turmoil and even meltdown include "American Beauty" and "Revolutionary Road."

Kate Fridkis is 26 years old, is happily married, lives in New York City, has a master’s degree in religion from Columbia University, is a part-time chazzan (cantor) at a synagogue (a job she’s held since age 15), and is a full-time writer. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and Salon. She’s working on getting her first novel published. She writes funny and insightful essays about body image on her popular blog, Eat the Damn Cake. And recently she has become a fellow blogger here at Psychology Today.

God came and asked me for a wish,

I told GOD “Let all my friends be healthy and happy forever!"

GOD said: But for 4 days only!

I said: Yes, let them be a Spring Day, Summer Day, Autumn Day, and Winter Day.

GOD said: 3 days...

I said: Yes, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Does your stomach have a mind of its own? With all of those nervous butterflies, stress knots, postprandial flare-ups and other gut-based feelings, it certainly seems like it.

In fact, your digestive system does contain a second brain of sorts, known as the enteric nervous system, which produces every class of neurotransmitter found in the brain in your head. It's a hotbed of activity, too: The number of messages sent by the enteric nervous system to the brain outnumbers the communications traveling in the reverse direction by nearly ninefold.

My mother’s Cuban cooking, although delicious, could have caused acid reflux in a giraffe. Common dishes included braised pork cooked in lard with mojo de ajo (a garlic and lemon sauce) and black beans and rice in portions that made supersize look wimpy. For me, heartburn was simply what happened whenever I ate.

If you are suffering from heartburn, as I note in my new book, The Acid Reflux Solution: A Cookbook and Lifestyle Guide for Healing Heartburn Naturally (Ten Speed Press), you’re not alone. In the United States, more than 50 million Americans complain of acid reflux. That’s onesixth of the entire population. Roughly 44 percent report suffering an attack at least once a week. Of those, 7.5 percent—or more than 23 million people—experience heartburn daily.

In a small chocolate box cabin, on the edge of an obscure forest, dwells a Wizard with an incredible secret power.

One day he was meandering along a winding path, deep in the forest, when he came upon a broody, unhappy boy who was sitting on a log. Resting his elbows on his knees, he held his head in his hands and appeared to be very miserable indeed.

"Why the grim look?" ... asked, the Wizard.

There was no reply... just a feeble grunt and weighty sigh!

Put down that smartphone; pick up that crayon.

Employees at a range of businesses are being encouraged by their companies to doodle their ideas and draw diagrams to explain complicated concepts to colleagues.

While whiteboards long have been staples in conference rooms, companies such as Facebook Inc. are incorporating whiteboards, chalkboards and writable glass on all sorts of surfaces to spark creativity.

Woolrich, a 182-year-old clothing company, describes its new chino pants as an elegant and sturdy fashion statement, with a clean profile and fabric that provides comfort and flexibility.

And they are great for hiding a handgun.

The company has added a second pocket behind the traditional front pocket for a weapon. Or, for those who prefer to pack their gun in a holster, it can be tucked inside the stretchable waistband. The back pockets are also designed to help hide accessories, like a knife and a flashlight.

Experts say a New Zealand woman’s 2-gallon-a-day Coca-Cola habit probably contributed to her death, a conclusion that led the soft-drink giant to note that even water can be deadly in excessive amounts.

Natasha Harris, a 30-year-old, stay-at-home mother of eight from Invercargill, died of a heart attack in February 2010. Fairfax Media reported that a pathologist, Dr. Dan Mornin, testified at an inquest Thursday that she probably suffered from hypokalemia, or low potassium, which he thinks was caused by her excessive consumption of Coke and overall poor nutrition.

Artis's rendering of The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2

The results are in from last summer’s attempt to test new technology that would provide the Pentagon with a lightning-fast vehicle, capable of delivering a military strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.

In August the Pentagon's research arm, known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, carried out a test flight of an experimental aircraft capable of traveling at 20 times the speed of sound.

One commonality that Pablo Picasso shares with other creative geniuses, according to biographical accounts, is that they all have a "childlike" way of seeing familiar things as if for the first time. Creative geniuses love what they do, and this love can be described as a childlike delight in painting, or composing, or searching for a grand new theory of nature. You can compare the experience of the kind of joy that geniuses and children have with that of visiting a foreign country. You experience everything globally because so much is unfamiliar and exciting. Even the most mundane details are new and exciting. For a child and creative geniuses, every day is like going to Paris for the first time.

Perception is an active not a passive process

People tend to think of perception as a passive process. We see, hear, smell, taste or feel stimuli that impinge upon our senses. We think that if we are at all objective, we record what is actually there. Yet perception is demonstrably an active rather than a passive process; it constructs rather than records "reality." You construct how you choose to see the world.

About Graphic Recording

Graphic recording is a process that is used to record meetings in words and pictures on large visual displays. Capturing the work of the group in both words and pictures on a large display has been shown to stimulate the creativity, productivity and understanding in work groups.

Nitya Wakhlu is not a particularly talented artist, but clients including Nike,Oregon Health & Science University and the state of Oregon are willing to pay her up to four figures for a day of drawing.

It's not the artistic expression they're after. They're more interested in Wakhlu's expertise at using cartoonish images to help their employees cooperate in group settings, and make takeaway messages stick with them long after a meeting is over.

Professional graphic recorders earn thousands per day, but you can improve your own memory retention (free of charge) by using similar strategies in your own life. Nitya Wakhlu's suggestions:

Listen actively. 
Filter information, boiling the speaker's presentation down to the key points. Look for patterns and connections. Focus on the bigger picture, rather than getting caught up in minutae.

After his resignation as special counsel to the president, 1973.

From Watergate felon to champion of prison reform, Chuck Colson—who died today at 80—found salvation in unexpected places. Eleanor Clift on his remarkable legacy. Plus, David Sessions on Colson’s second life as an evangelical minister.

The former Nixon hack had a brilliant second life as an evangelical intellectual and political activist. His ideas were so powerful, even after their peak, that the Christian right is still unable to escape them. 

Charles “Chuck” Colson, the Nixon adviser who was snared by Watergate and redeemed himself as a leader on the religious right, died Saturday at age 80.

DURING NIXON ADMINISTRATION. June 29, 1973

Chuck Colson, a former aide to Richard Nixon, evangelical leader, author and nonprofit founder, died Saturday at the age of 80.

He passed away at a hospital in Northern Virginia, three weeks after surgery to ease intercerebral hemorrhage -- a large pool of clotted blood in his brain.

There is dignity in not giving up on someone you truly love.
But there is more dignity in letting them go so they can experience better love.
That shows your true love because you then become unselfish
And through putting others first, unconditional love grows.

There is respect in fighting gallantly to win someone's heart another time
But an even greater respect comes from fighting hard and knowing when to stop.

MY CONCERN today is, what is it I can tell you which can add to your knowledge about aging and what aging societies can do.

 You know more about this subject than I do. A lot of it is out in the media, Internet and books. So I thought the best way would be to take a personal standpoint and tell you how I approach this question of aging.

Tell your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your parents, your Dr's office, the check-out girl at the market, everyone you run across. Put your car keys beside your bed at night.

If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

Turmeric and its major active ingredient curcumin are among the top most clinically studied spices and herbs today. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) lists 24 studies.

Western science is investigating via double blind placebo human test, animal testing (in vivo) and test tube petri dish culture testing (in vitro) what has been known and practiced for centuries by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurvedic Medicine of India: Turmeric is a highly effective anti-inflammatory without adverse side effects.

There's a reason why
The light appeared, and space and time was born.
There's a reason why
The planets, stars and galaxies were formed.
There's a reason why
The earth gave birth to creatures big and small.
There's a reason why
We humans stood the greatest of them all.

Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing in it to steal.

Ryokan returned and caught him. "You may have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you shoud not return emptyhanded. Please take my clothes as a gift."

In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves.

O-nami was immensly strong and knew the art of wresting. In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher, but in public was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.

"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"
They shout at me and plead.
"There's just too much against you now;
This time you can't succeed!"

And as I start to hang my head
In front of failure's face,
My downward fall is broken by
The memory of a race.

And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene;
For just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenates my being.

A time comes in your life when you finally get it... When in the midst of all your fears and insanity you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out - ENOUGH! Enough fighting and crying or struggling to hold on.

Like a child quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside, you shudder once or twice, you blink back your tears and through a mantle of wet lashes you begin to look at the world through new eyes.

Past research bodies have confirmed the health-protective effect of a natural diet rich in flavonoids to protect against a wide range of diseases including heart disease, hypertension, some cancers, and dementia. Researchers from Harvard University and the University of East Anglia have published the result of a study in the journal Neurology that demonstrates how these plant-based phytonutrients can significantly lower the risk of developing Parkinson's disease, especially in men.

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.

This made her parents very angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parents went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.

A young man, who had been raised as an atheist, was training to be an Olympic diver. The only religious influence in his life came from his outspoken Christian friend. The young diver never really paid much attention to his friend's sermons, but he heard them often.

POLICE are increasingly seizing gaming consoles from child pornography suspects, as the devices evolve from simple entertainment systems into all-purpose data hubs connected to the internet.

The Australian Federal Police told The Age that it had seized consoles containing child pornography in ''several cases'', but refused to reveal details for fear of tipping off other offenders.

His saga is the entrepreneurial creation myth writ large: Steve Jobs cofounded Apple in his parents’ garage in 1976, was ousted in 1985, returned to rescue it from near bankruptcy in 1997, and by the time he died, in October 2011, had built it into the world’s most valuable company. Along the way he helped to transform seven industries: personal computing, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, retail stores, and digital publishing. He thus belongs in the pantheon of America’s great innovators, along with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Walt Disney. None of these men was a saint, but long after their personalities are forgotten, history will remember how they applied imagination to technology and business.

Special friends are special people
Grateful joy for each we feel
Always there with hugs and smiles
Special love that spans the miles

Special friends won't let you down
They make you smile when you frown
Share your laughter and your tears
Help to calm your greatest fears

The most significant features of a friend are faithfulness and warm-heartedness. They make life so endurable. Listening to their laughter and sharing the most enjoyable times with them is the utmost feeling of all from/with friends. Everyday, I see them through thick and thin, they help me through adversity to reach my greatest accomplishment!

Someone once defined a "friend" as: "the one who remains at your side when everybody else has left you." This just shows how important it is for us to have a warm and faithful friend. It is often only after we have been deeply touched that we truly understand the value of friendship, and truly cherish our friends.

What happened to the world, as we knew it?
Stop and think before you just do it.
Take the time to understand,
To care and feel and take someone's hand.

What happened to the morals we knew?
Stop and think before you just do.
Take the time to lend a hand,
Teach our children across the land.

Tomorrow, is it a thing or a only a word
Or can it be seen and heard.
Tomorrow, is it what the future holds
Or can it be gone forever
Without being remembered or foretold.
Tomorrow, is it nearly a cold concept they can't be conceived
Or is it the goal we seek in life
To hold and receive.

Shift workers getting too little sleep at the wrong time of day may be increasing their risk of diabetes and obesity, according to researchers.

The team is calling for more measures to reduce the impact of shift working following the results of its study.

Researchers controlled the lives of 21 people, including meal and bedtimes.

The good you find in others, is in you too.
The faults you find in others,are your faults as well.

After all, to recognize something you must know it.
The possibilities you see in others,
Are possible for you as well.

The beauty you see around you, is your beauty.
The world around you is a reflection,
A mirror showing you the person you are.

All of my life, I've been searching for answers,
Without knowing which questions to ask.

All of my life, I've been looking for "The One",
But this is no simple task.

All of my life, I've been waiting for someone,
To make my small half a whole.

All of my life, I've been meeting new friends,
While trying to stay linked to the old.

James Bond fans fear not, there will be plenty of action in the much-anticipated upcoming Bond flick, "Skyfall."

For months, the rumor mill had Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes stripping away the action for the 23rd Bond movie in order to make a more dramatic movie that reflected the emotional depth of the characters.

TREES are on the front lines of our changing climate. And when the oldest trees in the world suddenly start dying, it’s time to pay attention.

North America’s ancient alpine bristlecone forests are falling victim to a voracious beetle and an Asian fungus. In Texas, a prolonged drought killed more than five million urban shade trees last year and an additional half-billion trees in parks and forests. In the Amazon, two severe droughts have killed billions more.

The common factor has been hotter, drier weather.

YOU WILL RECEIVE A BODY
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period you're around.

YOU WILL LEARN LESSONS
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, ONLY LESSONS
Growth is a process of trial and error, experimentation. The "Failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".

People are wired to size up how big and strong their opponents are, even when no physical fighting is involved.

Just seeing a hand that is holding a gun is enough to convince people that the weapon-holder is extra big and extra strong, found a new study, which suggests that humans evaluate opponents much like our early ancestors did.

It sounds like the plot to a science fiction story, but new scientific research hypothesizes that "advanced dinosaurs" may have evolved on other planets in the universe.

According to Dr. Ronald Breslow, the advanced versions of T. rex and other dinosaurs would likely be monstrous creatures with the intelligence and cunning of humans.

"We would be better off not meeting them," Breslow concludes in a study that appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The government’s decision to pursue major publishers on antitrust charges has put the Internet retailer Amazon in a powerful position: the nation’s largest bookseller may now get to decide how much an e-book will cost, and the book world is quaking over the potential consequences.

As soon as the Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it was suing five major publishers and Apple on price-fixing charges, and simultaneously settling with three of them, Amazon announced plans to push down prices on e-books. The price of some major titles could fall to $9.99 or less from $14.99, saving voracious readers a bundle.

Whatever you give away today, or think or say or do will multiply about tenfold and then return to you.

It may not come immediately, nor from the obvious source but the law applies unfailingly, through some invisible force.

Whatever you feel about another, be it love or hate or passion will surely bounce right back to you in some clear (or secret) fashion.

Berry fruits including blueberries, blackberries and strawberries are not only refreshing and tasty, but they also provide a wide variety of phytonutrients that cross the blood-brain barrier to enhance neural communications and prevent oxidation and inflammation. This has beneficial effects on the brain and may help prevent age-related memory loss and other changes that alter behavior and cause normal thought processes to run askew.

SPEAKING two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to help you figure out who you are or who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be (possibly your roommate, neighbor, worker, long-lost friend, lover, or even a complete stranger), but when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment they will affect your life in some profound way.