These three girls, adorable are

This drawing of the girls is simply darling.
It's a great time of life to capture them.
Each is remarkably life-like.

Is it really THAT amazing?

If you've ever seen exhibitions by Grand-Masters who play against scores of opponents simultaneously while blind-folded, it is easy to dismiss such people as talented freaks of nature with computer-like powers of analysis and photographic memories rather than view them as merely experts in their field who have trained themselves through long and intense study.

However, recent studies show that chess masters have only average abilities when it comes to memory and visual-spatial analysis. For example, despite having almost perfect recall for board positions related to actual games, the recall of grand masters turned out to be no better than average players when the pieces were arranged randomly on the board in unrealistic scenarios.

Based on evidence like this, the authors conclude that experts rely not so much on an intrinsically stronger power of analysis as on a store of structured knowledge, which takes an enormous amount of time and effort to attain. What appears to make much more difference than experience or talent is what the authors call "effortful study", which entails continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond one's competence.

It turns out that what differentiates an expert from a novice isn't that experts alone know how to engage in effortful study, but it is that experts continue to utilize this technique long after a novice stops.

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Wrapping up Disney World

It was magical and it was exhausting.
Now, we're back.

Handling Criticism

Here's the deal with people. They don't matter.

It's common to get upset when people attack you; especially, when they attack your integrity. However, you cannot defend your integrity, you can only build it. It has to defend itself. But still…

How, you might ask, can you stand and listen to insinuative things? There's a trick to not letting people get under your skin. And, the secret is, you simply can't care.

Now, I don't mean to not care about people. God gave everyone inherent value. He placed them subjectively above you, by the way, and gave us individual purposes.

But, really, whose opinions matter? Criticism comes from everyone. Have people who have not earned your respect, earned the right to critique you? My answer is no.

See, the people I respect matter to me. I don't hand out respect freely; so, most people don't just matter. I value them spiritually, but insofar as their opinion? They can pound sand.

But those I respect matter. When they speak I listen. When they criticize I reflect on it. I ponder, worry, and struggle to reconcile disagreements with them. I do.

So, as a result, most people just don't bother me. Their opinions come and go. They are transient and meaningless to me. I see them, I help them, but they don't drag me down. How can they? Why should they?

Trust me, friends, learn the art of about whom to care. Your argumentation style will change, your defensiveness will decrease, and your personal wellbeing will increase. Their criticism is meaningless background chatter.

Now, never forget how important people are to God; and, never forget how meaningless people's opinions of you are either.

Represent God well, but turn away criticism from those who have yet to earn your respect. Consider it, but don't give it a seat to position in your heart.

I hope you can.

On the flip side, carefully volunteer criticism to anyone whose respect you are yet to earn. Why should they listen to you?