Paul Nervy Notes
“Jokes, poems, stories, and a lot of philosophy, psychology, and sociology.”


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Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  .This section is about strength and weakness.  ---  1/24/2006


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) How much do we sense other things?  (2) How (better or worse) and how much are we affected by other things?  (3) How differently two people are affected by same thing.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) How to get tough, not fragile, and thus healthy.  (2) How to get sensitive, not callous, and thus wise.  (3) How to do both at the same time?  ---  10/21/1998


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) Mental power: strength of knowledge x IQ.  (2) Mental stamina: endurance.  (3) Mental strength: of character.  (4) Of all elements.  You are as strong as weakest link.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) Mental stability (as good or bad) in general, in x situation, or for x activity.  How develop it?  (2) Mental instability.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) Psychological strength or weakness of memory, drives, emotions, and thought.  (2) Physical strength or weakness of body.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) Strength as character.  (2) Strength as self control.  (3) Strength as endurance in face of opposition.  (4) Strength as social power.  (5) Strength as single mindedness, intolerance(?), inflexible(?).  (6) Strength as clarity of vision.  (7) Strength as insuceptibility to pathological psychology.  (8) Strength as moral virtue.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) Strength: greater than average power, endurance, robust, hardy.  (2) Weakness, fragility: less than average.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) Strength: sticking to ideals.  (2) Flexibility: improving ideals under pressure, over time.  (3) Weakness: cave in to self, others, or nature.  (4) Inflexibility, dogmatism.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) Strong: against self, other or nature (A) Opposition, or (B) Seduction (laziness, addictions).  (2) Flexible: to see and seize the better, instantly.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  (1) Tough as resistance or ability to withstand illness (physical and psychological).  Weakness as susceptibility to illness.  (2) Weakness as weak-willed.  Strength as willful.  ---  11/20/2001


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Endurance through passive obstacles, active opposition, temptation, trouble, and forces of environment and experience.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Endurance.  The concept of wind, endurance, staying power, is important.  Especially against opponents, both unchanging opponents and active opponents.  ---  05/10/1997


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Psychological strength to withstand stresses (types, frequency, duration, and intensity) without breaking down or changing for worse in mental state, or in behavior.  How to acquire or develop it?  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Sensitive vs. insensitive.  Sensitivity without strength can drive you crazy.  Ex. glass menagerie.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Sensitive vs. tough.  (1) Sensitive.  Sensitive in positive sense, meaning emotionally perceptive.  Sensitive in the negative sense, meaning touchy or fragile.  (B) Toughness.  Toughness in the positive sense meaning resilient.  Toughness in the negative sense meaning callous.  ---  04/23/1994


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Sensitivity.  (1) For people who are too sensitive, how to decrease sensitivity without the use of drugs?  (2) For people who are too insensitive, how to increase sensitivity without drugs?  Through sensitivity training?  ---  8/13/2006


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Stability vs. instability.  How much something throws you (i.e. affects of changes for better vs. worse) depends on how new it is to you, how well you've figured it out, how firmly you are grounded, how set you are, and how open or closed minded you are.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Stay strong.  A lot of the bull shit will flow right past you, and you will not fall prey to it.  ---  02/09/1997


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Strength = power * endurance.  (1) Physical strength.  (2) Psychological strength: intellectual strength, emotional strength, and memory strength.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Strength and weakness.  Not being easily swayed by bad arguments, or distracted by experiences, or moved by unjustified emotions.  Vs. being narrow minded, stubborn, and pig headed.  The former is good strength, the latter is not really strength at all.  ---  06/01/1994


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Strength to stand up for your principles.  Even in the face of opposition by others.  Even in the face of isolation and non-recognition.  ---  3/10/2007


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Tough and sensitive. (1) Tough.  (A) Tough: withstand high degree of many types of acute and chronic stress, problems, and opposition.  Endurance, stick-to-it-ive-ness.  (B) Tough: callous or insensitive.  (C) Tough: sadistic.  (2) Sensitive.  (A) Sensitive: ability to recognize.  (B) Sensitive: inability to tolerate or stand or put up with something.  (C) Sensitive: function of emotions and awareness.  ---  12/30/1992


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Toughness.  (1) Define toughness (as opposed to what)?  (A) Toughness as mean and nasty.  (B) Toughness as callous and unfeeling.  (C) Toughness as resilient.  (D) Toughness as defense or justice seeking.  (2) Can optimism replace toughness by providing resilience ("C").  (3) Is a certain degree of toughness needed for mental health?  (4) Can toughness and sensitivity coexist?  That is, when you become tough do you give up other things?  (5) How tough do I need to be?  At least as tough as the situation and the people in the situation?  (6) When am I too tough?  (7) Can you get tough, or is it just that at any moment you are some level of tough and there is nothing you can do about it?  (8)  How tough to get?  ---  8/31/2000


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Two definitions.  (1) Strength as power and endurance, depends on energy.  (2) Strength as able to take opposition and punishment, and chaos.  ---  5/30/1998


Psychology, general, strength and weakness.  ---  Two definitions.  (1) Strength as unmoved by adversity or opposition.  (2) Strength as unmoved by pity.  Callous?  ---  5/30/1998




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Paul Nervy Notes. Copyright 1988-2007 by Paul Nervy.