On the eve of the shortest day of the year, when darkness envelopes the earth, we await the coming light and affirm that within the womb of darkness, light emerges, and growth occurs, often when we least expect it. Sometimes, in the midst of grief, when we are in the depths of loss and depression, the light seems faraway, impossible to find again. Out of the depths, we cry and sometimes all we hear is our own voice. And yet, in the darkness the eye begins to see, so wrote American poet Theodore Roethke. At first, when darkness descends, we feel lost, as if walking through the woods a on moonless night. But, then we discover little lights in the dark wood and our eyes adjusting to the dark, and glimmers of something in the distance. In the darkness, we discover light enough to find our way home.

As a grandparent, I am gaining insights into my own childhood. When I was a small boy, I was afraid of the dark. Shadows loomed large and threatening, and in the darkness, I felt alone and when my imagination got the best of me, I ran to my parents room seeking comfort under their covers. So, it was with my own son and grandchildren.

Darkness often brings confusion, and in the confusion of our grief, we often think the pain will never end, yet like the Solstice the light will gradually grow brighter, though we will always grieve our losses.

Yet, in the darkness, there is hope. As a parent and grandparent, like my parents, Ive learned to provide night lights around the house. Night lights dont always take away the loneliness or the need for a reassuring touch, but they help us orient ourselves and find our way.

The scriptures tell us darkness has a light of its own, and that darkness isnt always negative. In dark soil, seeds germinate and push toward the light. In the darkness of the womb, a baby grows, and on the darkest night, the eye begins to see. We may discover new hope amid grief; new life despite the reality of death.

On the darkest and longest night of the year, Jesus birth is celebrated. In the ancient world, people feared the winter nights: they worried that darkness would swallow the light, and the sun would be no more. What joy they felt when the days grew longer!

A star guides the magi from the East, and this year we need to let Gods light guide us as well: we need to rise up despite the heaviness of grief and the challenges of our time, when leaders have lost their reason and traumatize the nation with their rants, and be ready for adventure, for Gods light has come; despite our grief and anxiety, we are ultimately safe and give thanks for those we have loved; and a child is born to us and in us inviting us to affirm On the longest night, the light of the world shines in us. In the midst of confusion, the light of the world guides our path. In uncertainty , the light of the world gives us direction and bring us joy. +++ Bruce Epperly is a Cape Cod Pastor, professor, and author of over fifty books including his Christmas Trilogy: The Work of Christmas: The Twelve Days of Christmas with Howard Thurman, I Wonder as Wander: The Twelve Days of Christmas with Madeleine LEngle, and Thin Places Everywhere: The Twelve Days of Christmas with Celtic Christianity, and Piglets Process: Process Theology for All Gods Children.

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Winter Solstice Meditation: Darkness Has a Light of Its Own - Patheos

This year on Untangle we covered everything from happiness to biohacking to the neuroscience of love with experts on mindfulness, brain health, relationships, performance, and so much more. We culled some of our favorite books from those interviews to help you kickstart your 2020 mindfulness practice and have the best year yet. Here they are:

Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm and Confidence by Dr. Rick Hanson Rick shares how we can hardwire our brains for happiness using practices that help us cultivate and experience the good in our lives while reducing our natural negativity bias.

Untangle Podcast: Top Five Ways to Be Happier in 2019

From Suffering to Peace: The True Promise of Mindfulness by Mark Coleman Mark gets to the heart of what mindfulness really is and introduces practices that you can use in your everyday life to bring you more peace.

Untangle Podcast: Quiet the Ruminations, Story Spinning, and Judgments for Good

Undo It:How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases by Dr. Dean Ornish Lifestyle medicine pioneer Dr. Dean Ornish shares what it takes to be the best version of yourself, including how you can reverse heart disease by optimizing fourimportant areas of your life: stress less, love more, eat well, and exercise.

Untangle Podcast: How to Be the Best Version of Yourself

Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression by Dr. Alex Korb Alex explains how to take control of your wellbeing with the power of neuroscience. He discusses the neural nature of happiness and provides practical tips to increase your happiness levels.

Untangle Podcast: Wired for Joy: The Neuroscience of Happiness

The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully by Frank Ostaseski A leading voice in the end-of-life care movement, Frank shares comforting and inspiring truths on how we live and die, and on what matters most. When we get to the end of our lives, the two questions most often asked are: Did I love well? and Am I loved? His teachings show us that we can live with joy and sorrow, and live a rich life filled with love.

Untangle Podcast: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Love and Living Fully

The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life by Todd Herman This elite performance coach discusses how top performers create alter egos that allow them to unlock characteristics of success that they otherwise might not be able to access. He shows us how we can use these techniques to increase our own productivity and success.

Untangle Podcast: How Identity Traps Us and How Alter Egos Can Help You Excel

Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeons Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart by James Doty An accomplished neurosurgeon and entrepreneur tells the story of how a magic shopkeeper transformed his life by teaching him the magic of meditation! He attributes much of his success to this early event in his life.

Untangle Podcast: A Neuroscientist Walks into a Magic Shop

Unstoppable: A 90-Day Plan to Biohack Your Mind and Body for Success by Ben Angel Ben shares how his early depression and lack of energy led him to find solutions he never imagined would make him feel better, making it his mission to explore alternatives beyond medicine and self-help. The book shows us how to get fired up and focused with tools that may have the power to change our lives forever.

Untangle Podcast: Find Your Way to Peak Productivity

Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love by Dr. Helen Fisher Anthropologist Helen Fisher shares whats actually happening in our brains when we fall in love. She and a team of scientists scan the brains of people in love to see where different areas of the brain get a boost of blood flow, building the case that romantic passion is hardwired into our brains.

Untangle Podcast: Wired for Love: The Neuroscience of Sex, Lust, Affection and Lasting Love

Stress Less, Accomplish More: Meditation for Extraordinary Performance by Emily Fletcher This book covers three main topics: mindfulness,meditation, and manifesting. Emily shares why this system helps optimize performance at work and at home. She includes practical, easy practices to support each main topic and builds a case for how her system improves your health and sleep as well.

Untangle Podcast: Stress Less, Accomplish More for Extraordinary Performance

About Untangle

Untangle is the podcast from 5-star app Meditation Studio and Muse, the brain sensing headband that gives you biofeedback on your meditation practice. Hosts Patricia Karpas and Ariel Garten interview thought leaders, authors and experts in areas related to mindfulness, neuroscience, brain practices, happiness, relationships, resilience and much more. https://meditationstudioapp.com/podcasts

About Patricia Karpas

Patricia Karpas is the co-founder of Meditation Studio, head of content for Muse, the brain sensing headband and co-host of the Untangle Podcast, where she has interviewed over 200 experts, thought leaders and authors on how mindfulness, contemplative and brain-focused practices change us.

Follow ushereand subscribeherefor all the latest news on how you can keep Thriving.

Stay up to date or catch-up on all our podcasts with Arianna Huffingtonhere.

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10 Books to Make 2020 Your Most Amazing Year Yet - Thrive Global

Ashley Tisdale has been a role model for young girls since she played Maddie Fitzpatrick in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and, later, Sharpay Evans in the mega popular High School Musical trilogy. Those fans can see a lot more of Tisdale with all her current projects, including starring roles in CBSs hit drama Carols Second Act as well as the new Netflix series Merry Happy Whatever. On top of that, in May 2019, she released her third studio album, Symptoms.

Tisdale sat down with Thrive to talk about how she prioritizes her very busy schedule, the microsteps she uses to calm her anxiety, and how she will be spending her holidays this year. As Sharpay Evans would say, I need a little fabulous, is that so wrong?! And we think Ashley Tisdale is certainly a little fabulous.

Thrive Global: Whats your morning routine?

Ashley Tisdale: I like to make coffee in the morning, and its a specific kind of coffee. I grind up the beans, and while coffee is being made, I actually do a meditation. I meditate every single morning.

TG: How do you incorporate movement into your day?

AT: When Im busy, its hard to motivate myself to work out, but I do have to say it really does help with my stress. When I was younger I was not very motivated to do stuff like that; I just hated working out. But then as I got older, I realized it really helps with my mental health. I love the feeling after youre done and that makes me go back and do it again. I am happier. I feel like I really did something for myself. I love hiking breathing in the natural air helps me a lot. I also get a clear perspective when Im hiking, and Ive also written a lot of lyrics for songs when I hike. So I tend to get really creative in that space. I think working out is just something that saves me all the time from just not getting too stressed.

TG: What are the microsteps you use for a healthier life?

AT: I really enjoy being alone. Im often surrounded by a lot of people and Im a pretty independent person. So, if I want to go get a massage, I go get a massage, and dont feel guilty about it. If I want to hang out by myself, Ill hang out and watch Real Housewives by myself. I just really like to have that time where I have my own little space and it helps me to be centered.

TG: How do you prioritize when you have an overwhelming amount to do?

AT: Its knowing your priorities, and being present in the moment. I really like to be present and not worry too much about stuff thats happening in the future. Also, its important to just know your priorities. No matter what, my husband is always going to be a priority of mine, and Im one for him. Thats ultimately what matters.

TG: What motivates you to achieve your goals?

AT: I have always been very driven. Even as a child, Id get very inspired by things. I like to manifest things, and I feel like Im really good at it. So, its really about having a positive attitude, and knowing that if you really want to do something, just go for it.

Go step by step. If you think its too far out of reach, then you might not get it. But if you are more positive and you believe that you have it, build your plan and go for it.

TG: What do you do for self-care?

AT: I take moments for myself. On Sundays I like to do facials, and take a bath, and if Im feeling overwhelmed during the day or during a work week, I will take a moment to do a meditation. I also just read a lot of books. Theres a really great book called Your Power to Heal. Its really helped me when Im stressed.

TG: You have spoken about how you and your husband prioritize each other. How do you divide the workload so one person isnt taking everything on?

AT: We dont have kids, so its a little bit easier. Im very good at a lot of things and Chris is really good at a lot of things. He works long hours because hes a composer. I dont really look at tasks as being like, you do this, I do this. We both contribute. We are very in sync with each other. He can tell when I need help with something, and then he knows that Im there if he needs something. So its just all about communication. I think communication is the biggest thing in any relationship. We both have heavy work schedules. So we dont put any expectations on each other.

TG: What are your holiday traditions?

AT: We bake cookies that are recipes for my great-grandma, and we also go to midnight mass. We also do Candy Cane Lane, which is something in LA, where you just drive around, have hot chocolate, and you get to see all these crazy, insane, lit-up houses.

TG: What causes you stress, and how do you cope with that stress?

AT: I would say my anxiety causes me stress. I have a healthy balance of stress at all times. My husband is so good at being in the moment, and taking moments in. I used to just kind of rush through and be like, Why, why, why are we taking this moment in? This is so weird. And now Im like, Ah, its okay, you can enjoy this moment, and let it sink in.

I also do a lot of meditation for anxiety, because I think that really helps you breathe. When youre experiencing anxiety you tend to kind of stop breathing in a way. A lot of the symptoms that scared me in the past I thought there was something was wrong with me, health-wise. So, now I am able to realize and say, okay, thats a symptom of anxiety. I recognize it and move on. I think a lot of people try not to acknowledge it and try to push it down being like, Oh my gosh, here it comes again. Theyre scared of it. Im not scared of it anymore.

TG: How do you sleep?

AT: I get eight hours of sleep. I am someone who, if I have a call time in the morning, I will go to bed at 10 oclock. So I actually get really good sleep. I do have a whole little routine I always wash my face, brush my teeth, I have a humidifier. I have a whole routine. My husband is like, Okay, so get ready for bed, because its going to take 30 minutes.

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Ashley Tisdale: Her Go-To Trick To Achieve Her Goals - Thrive Global

Meditation Singing Bowl Market Insights 2018, is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Meditation Singing Bowl industry with a focus on the Global market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Meditation Singing Bowl manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2018-2025 global Meditation Singing Bowl market covering all important parameters.

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Future of Meditation Singing Bowl Market Analyzed in a New Study - Market Reports Observer

Global Meditation Cushion industry market professional research 2014-2024, is a report which provides the details about industry overview, industry chain, market size (sales, revenue, and growth rate), gross margin, major manufacturers, development trends and forecast. Key companies covered in this report are Satori Wholesale, Trevida, Peace Yoga, Seat Of Your Soul, Waterglider International, Bean Productsand more in terms of company profile, product pictures, specification, capacity, sales, price, cost, gross revenue details and contact information.

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Global Meditation Cushion Market Forecasts to 2024 by Types, Applications & by Region Shared in a Latest Research - Internet Shots

Sourced from the Detroit Free Press

You might imagine a Buddhist monastery in the mountains of Korea, surrounded by nature and silence.

But located near the heart of Hamtramck, a working-class neighborhood home to more than 30 ethnic groups, an east-meets-west Buddhist monastery stands proudly as an essential piece of the city.

The Detroit Zen Center was founded in 1990 as a spiritual organization with a mission to teach meditation and sustainability, according to vice-Abbot and director Myungju. The center's motto is to shine one corner of the world.

After 29 years of operation and serving thousands of visitors and residents in the art of Buddhist meditation and manual work, the Detroit Zen Center has taken the next step in sustainability and installed a green roof on top of the meditation hall, which will open in Spring 2020.

"We have in Hamtramck a serious issue with storm water management," said Myungju. "As a result of flooding, these buildings were abandoned for years."

Due to this issue, when the Detroit Zen Center took over the buildings it's priority was to figure out a way to solve the storm water management problem.

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Detroit Zen Center Hopes to Make Hamtramck the Green Roof Capital of Michigan - Living Architecture Monitor magazine

Executive Summary

Work stress is inevitable, but it doesnt have to get in the way of a good nights sleep. To avoid thinking about work in the middle of the night, the author offers five strategies: 1) Make a to-do list.The act of writing down uncompleted tasks decreases cognitive arousal, rumination, and worry. 2) Keep a journal. Writing down your thoughts and feelings, rather than just thinking about them, has been shown to help process emotions and reduce stress and anxiety 3) Exercise self-compassion.Practicing self-compassion allows you to break the cycle of negative thoughts that come with rumination, which is linked to insomnia. 4) Engage in physical activity.Research shows that a single instance of moderately intense exercise can decrease rumination 5) Practice meditation. Researchers in the Netherlands found that even small amounts of mindful meditation (10 minutes before and after work for two work weeks) helped calm racing minds, improve sleep quality, and sleep duration.

Many of us think about work outside of the office thats where some of our best ideas emerge. However, thinking about work often means stressing about work, which can keep us up at night or have us waking up feeling anxious, hours before the alarm clock sounds. According to a Korn Ferry study, stress caused sleep deprivation for 66% of American workers in 2018. Moreover, sleep deprivation can exacerbate our work stress, by negatively impacting cognitive functions such as judgment, critical thinking, problem solving, planning, and organization.

To avoid thinking about work in the middle of the night, try the following strategies:

Make a to-do list. There is always more work to be done. Research by Baylor University and Emory University shows that making a to-do list for the following day before bed helps you to fall asleep faster by virtually as much as taking a sleep aid as well as helps you to wake up fewer times during the night. Unfinished tasks cycling through your mind stay at a heightened level of cognitive activation, explains Michael Scullin, the lead author of the study. This isessentially what is causing you to stay up at night. The act of writing down these uncompleted tasks decreases cognitive arousal, rumination, and worry. And if you do wake up in the middle of the night, suddenly remembering a pressing task, keep a piece of paper and pen on your nightstand to capture it so you can let it go from your mind and go back to sleep.

Keep a journal. Toby, a client of mine at a professional services firm, was experiencing significant work stress due to friction with a difficult colleague. After a particularly distressing incident, he wrote an email to me describing what had happened and what made him so upset about it. While his initial purpose was to update me and to give me a heads up of what he wanted to talk about in our next meeting, he shared that by writing about his experience and how it made him feel, he was able to offload it and sleep peacefully that evening. Journaling or writing down your thoughts and feelings, rather than just thinking about them, has been shown to help process emotions and reduce stress and anxiety, as it requires a greater level of psychological processing. Also including more positive events and what you are grateful for in your writing can help in getting longer, more refreshing sleep. In a study of college students who suffered from worrying at bedtime, the group of students who were randomly assigned to journal every night for a week before bed, experienced reduced bedtime stress and worry, in addition to improved sleep duration and quality.

Exercise self-compassion. Sara was head of strategy at a tech company whose stock was struggling. She presented their M&A strategy to the board and got pummeled with tough questions that she didnt anticipate or answer as well as she could have. She choked. Instead of looking at this as a learning experience, albeit a painful one, for future board meetings, she played it back in her mind over and over again, beating herself up, and lost sleep over it for weeks. Kristin Neff, author of Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, describes self-compassion as showing yourself the same kindness, care and concern you would show a good friend. Practicing self-compassion and recognizing that we are all imperfect human beings allows you to break the cycle of negative thoughts and self-judgment that come with rumination, which is linked to several negative effects, including insomnia. Additional research from Texas State University and Sun-yat Sen University reinforced findings that self-compassion reduces stress-related poor sleep.

Engage in physical activity. Research shows that a single instance of moderately intense exercise can decrease the rumination that keeps us up at night. There is also strong evidence that, in general, as little as 30 minutes of aerobic exercise can help us fall asleep faster, and improves sleep quality. Not only does exercise increase the amount of deep sleep we get, it decompresses the mind, which Charlene Gamaldo, Medical Director for the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep, calls a cognitive process that is important for naturally transitioning to sleep. For some people, however, exercising too close to bedtime can interfere with sleep. If you are one of these people, it is recommended to exercise at least one to two hours before bedtime.

Practice meditation. Similar to self-compassion, mindfulness the practice of being fully present and focusing your attention on thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations without judgment is also an antidote to the rumination that can keep you up at night. By being fully present in the moment, you are not rehashing past events or worrying about future events. There is ample research on the positive effects of meditation on anxiety and stress. Further, researchers in the Netherlands found that even small amounts of mindful meditation (10 minutes before and after work for two work weeks) helped calm racing minds, improve sleep quality, and sleep duration.

Work stress is inevitable, but it doesnt have to get in the way of a good nights sleep. By employing the strategies above, you can increase your ability to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the workday.

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How to Stop Thinking About Work at 3am - Harvard Business Review

It was an early Christmas present for the plummily-named Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (henceforth Nepo) and a lump of coal for some of the biggest names in the game.

Defeating Chinese GM Wei Yi in the finals of the just-concluded Jerusalem FIDE Grand Prix knockout event Sunday, the 29-year-old Nepo secured one of the last two slots in the eight-player 2020 candidates tournament in March for the right to challenge world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway

The tournaments host country, Russia, gets to fill the final slot and all indications are that Russian GM Kirill Alekseenko, rated 37th in the world, will get the coveted final golden ticket.

Carlsens 2018 challenger, GM Fabiano Caruana, gets an automatic bid, but two other American stars GMs Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura are on the outside looking in, as are such stalwarts as former world champ Vishy Anand of India, Armenian star Levon Aronian and Russias own longtime champion Peter Svidler.

Perhaps the most painful omission for chess fans will be the absence of French super-GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the worlds No. 4 player by rating, who also missed out on the last candidates cycle. MVL has some sterling results this year, but just missed out in the qualifying events and fell short on FIDEs complex point system.

With Nepo and fellow Russian Alexander Grischuk already in the field, theres a movement afoot to lobby the Russian Chess Federation to reconsider Alekseenkos automatic entry and give the Frenchman the slot. We shall see.

Nepomniachtchis worthiness as a candidate isnt in question. A former Russian and European individual champion, hes ranked ninth in the world and eliminated both Vachier-Lagrave and So in Jerusalem before defeating Wei.

Nepo all but punched his ticket to Yekaterinburg with a grueling, 96-move win over Wei in the first game of the finals. It was a devastating result for the Chinese player, who simply handed the initiative to Black by declining a queen trade on Move 12, and then, in deep time trouble, inexplicably rejected a dead-certain threefold repetition with 29. Qg4+ Kh8 30. Qh5 Kg8 31. Nb5??! (see diagram).

Black doesnt hesitate, sacrificing the exchange to reach an ending only he can realistically win: 31Rxb5! 32. Qxb5 Qxb2 33. Rb1 (and not 33. Qxd7?? Ra2! with unstoppable mate) Qc2 34. Rfc1 Qd2 35. Qxb4 Qxe3+ 36. Kh1 Ra2 the Black knight shuts down all Whites threats, while Weis king is in constant danger and the Black d-pawn is ready to roll.

A lengthy bit of shadow-boxing ends when the black pawn finally advances: 84. Qb2 d4 85. Rd2 Qd5+ 86. Kg1 d3 87. Qe5? (Qa3!?, angling for a queen-and pawn ending, appears to be Whites last best hope) Qe4! 88. Qxe4 fxe4, and the White rook is no match for the Black knight and connected passed pawns. In the final position, Black now has three connected passers and cant be held back much longer; Wei resigned.

Heres a warm holiday greeting to chess lovers everywhere and to all this columns faithful readers. Hope to see many of you at the 46th annual Eastern Open Chess Congress, the regions traditional four-day, year-end blowout, being held this year at the Westin Hotel in Tysons Corner starting Dec. 27.

Spectating is free and there will be chess books, equipment and other swag for sale. Check out the schedule at EasternOpenChess.com.

May you have victories aplenty in 2020!

Wei-Nepomniachtchi, FIDE Grand Prix, Jerusalem, December 2019

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e6 6. g3 Qb6 7. Ndb5 Ne5 8. Bg2 a6 9. Qa4 Rb8 10. Na3 Bc5 11. O-O O-O 12. Rb1 Qb4 13. Qd1 d6 14. Na4 b5 15. Nxc5 Qxc5 16. cxb5 axb5 17. Bg5 Ba6 18. Nc2 b4 19. Nd4 Bb7 20. Rc1 Qa5 21. Bxb7 Rxb7 22. Bxf6 gxf6 23. Qb3 Ra8 24. f4 Qa7 25. e3 Nd7 26. Qd1 Qxa2 27. Qg4+ Kh8 28. Qh5 Kg8 29. Qg4+ Kh8 30. Qh5 Kg8 31. Nb5 Rxb5 32. Qxb5 Qxb2 33. Rb1 Qc2 34. Rfc1 Qd2 35. Qxb4 Qxe3+ 36. Kh1 Ra2 37. Rc8+ Kg7 38. Rb2 Qf3+ 39. Kg1 Qd1+ 40. Kg2 Ra1 41. Qb5 f5 42. Qe2 Qd5+ 43. Kh3 Nf6 44. Rbb8 Ra2 45. Rc2 Rxc2 46. Qxc2 f3 47. Rb3 Qf1+ 48. Qg2 Qe1 49. Qb2 Kg6 50. Kg2 d5 51. Rb8 Qe4+ 52. Kh3 Qf3 53. Rb3 Qf1+ 54. Qg2 Qe1 55. Qc2 Qf1+ 56. Qg2 Qc4 57. Rb8 h6 58. Kh4 Qd3 59. Rb2 Ng4 60. Qe2 Qd4 61. Kh3 Qg1 62. Qg2 Qd4 63. Qe2 Qc5 64. Qc2 Qg1 65. Qg2 Qe3 66. Qe2 Qd4 67. Qc2 Ne3 68. Qb3 Nd1 69. Re2 Nf2+ 70. Kg2 Ng4 71. Qb8 Nf6 72. Qb2 Qc5 73. Rc2 Qe3 74. Re2 Qa7 75. Qa2 Qc5 76. Qc2 Qd6 77. Qb2 Ne4 78. Qd4 Qa6 79. Rc2 Nf6 80. Rd2 Qa5 81. Re2 Qa3 82. Qb2 Qa7 83. Qa2 Qd7 84. Qb2 d4 85. Rd2 Qd5+ 86. Kg1 d3 87. Qe5 Qe4 88. Qxe4 fxe4 89. Kf2 Nd5 90. Ke1 Kf5 91. Rd1 e5 92. Kd2 exf4 93. gxf4 Nxf4 94. Ra1 Ke5 95. Ra6 h5 96. Ra8 f5 White resigns.

David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email [emailprotected].

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Big names off the board as 2020 chess title cycle takes shape - Washington Times

Legal battles require the same skills seen at the highest levels of chess.

Paul Morphy was a 19th-century New Orleans chess prodigy who was the de facto world chess champion during much of his short life. He rarely lost when he played throughout Europe and the United States. He was also a lawyer who graduated from what is now Tulane Law School. As a student, he was said to have memorized the Louisiana Civil Code in English and French.

His father was a prominent Louisiana judge.

There are other talented chess-playing lawyers, though none, in my view, as brilliant at chess as Morphy. Three 20th century champions all agree that Morphy was among the greatest chess players of any era.

The general view is that he would have the chess grandmaster title, the highest title in the world of chess, if he were alive today.

As a law professor and high-level amateur player, I believe that playing chess is great training to be a successful law student and lawyer. Here are five reasons why.

1. Intellectually rigorous

Much like law school, chess is intellectually rigorous. Playing chess at the highest level is so hard that Microsoft founder Bill Gates lost after only nine moves in an exhibition blitz game with the current world champion, Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. One might have expected Gates to last longer given his genius.

A chess player must concentrate for as many as five or six hours in serious tournaments, and a single lapse can cause a loss. Learning to concentrate is also invaluable for law school.

Aspiring law students often take undergraduate classes that are part of a pre-law program. Government or criminal justice majors are typical since they involve some focus on the legal system. These are important intellectual fields.

Yet, informal studies suggest that students who major in especially difficult areas, such as philosophy or mathematics, perform better on the LSAT the exam required for entrance into law school. Just as math and logic serve lawyers well in the courtroom as they fashion their arguments, so, too, is it with chess players on the chessboard as they make their moves.

2. Requires identifying issues

Students who perform well on law school exams and the bar exam must succeed at issue spotting. That is to say, unlike undergraduate exams, which may require the student to summarize what they have learned, law school exams require students to figure out what legal issues are buried within the facts of a given case. Then the student should apply the right legal principles to the facts. The student often must draw analogies and see patterns. Lawyers must also spot issues and draw analogies when their clients present problems.

Similarly, good chess players survey the chess board, with a clock ticking, and must find a strong move among many possible candidate moves. They will look for patterns, such as typical methods of attacking a king. Sometimes, the move will be a tactical strike, such as the bold sacrifice of a queen leading to checkmate. Those players who cannot see many possibilities will not win many games. Both the chess player and lawyer must discover the key aspects of a situation.

3. Strategies essential

Strong performance in law and chess involves strategizing effectively. Chess may therefore be laws most common metaphor.

Success requires the ability to plan, envision how ones opponent will respond, and then figure out how to reply. As a former litigator, I not only had to think about what to do, but I also had to assess whether my adversary would have an effective contrary plan. I also had to know the weaknesses in my case. Similarly, a strong chess player will know the problems in their position.

4. Principles and rules apply

Both law and chess have rules, general principles, and exceptions or loopholes. The law is often codified as a statute. Likewise, chess has rules, though they often lack the ambiguity of statutes. Beginning chess players then learn accepted principles. For instance, they are taught that during the opening part of the game, they should get certain pieces into play, use those pieces and pawns to control the center of the board, place their prized king in a safe position by making a special move known as castling, and keep moves by their valuable queen in reserve. Yet strong chess players may violate these principles, for surprise or other purposes.

Prosecutors also have common approaches. In criminal cases with multiple defendants, prosecutors are trained to go after the small fish first, and then use those successes to land the big fish. This is like capturing the pawns before checkmating the king in chess. The press even uses these chess terms in describing criminal cases.

5. Takes competitive zeal

Success in both law and chess requires competitive instincts. Indeed, chess has a rating system for players and law school has class rank for students. Chess requires a will to win strong enough to maintain concentration.

Chess players often experience ups and downs during single games, as well as tournaments. They must cope with adversity, including losing. Similarly, a single law school exam can be the only basis for the students class grade, so everything is at stake at once, though the student has likely worked all semester. Lawsuits can also take years and require persistence. My cases and trials were always roller coasters with good and bad days.

Another similarity is that the chess player and lawyer must be well prepared. In chess, one can often find an opponents games online and see their playing style. In law, one can learn about the judge who will be hearing a case and alter ones approach accordingly.

Admittedly chess is just a game so most people play it for fun, whereas practicing law is a profession. Few chess players will reach the heights of Paul Morphy. Nevertheless, as one who has played chess at high levels and litigated federal and state court cases, I believe that chess develops important intellectual, emotional and competitive skills that are very useful in the legal field.

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Mark Kende, Professor of Law, Drake University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image: Reuters

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Chess Can Turn You Into a Better Law Student and Lawyer - The National Interest Online

It sounds like a great idea. To solve your financial woes, you temporarily change your habits and hope that will result in more cash and better habits.

Problem is, it may backfire. At best, the key word is "temporary." Just like with food or health diets, whatever you do to make some kind of change has to be sustainable and permanent.

If you merely cut calories for a month, the weight will come back when you resume your old eating habits.

If you ramp down spending for a month, your financial picture is going to return to its former dim view when you go back to dinners out and shopping sprees.

Whether or not any diet works is up for grabs.

Monica Sipes, a certified financial planner and senior wealth advisor at Exencial Wealth Advisors in Frisco, Texas, never recommends this strategy.

"It usually follows an overspend or a bad financial situation," Sipes said. "It's a restriction, often temporary, and I haven't ever seen it work well."

You're better off with a budget and some financial goals, which you support with some type of savings and perhaps a sacrifice. "Ultimately, it comes down to why you are making the decisions around your money, not a temporary restriction to undo bad spending habits," Sipes said.

Alicia McElhaney, founder of She Spends, a personal finance website aimed at women, says there's nothing wrong with comparing saving with healthy eating. "It's described as an investment in your future, which is great," McElhaney said.

What McElhaney doesn't like is when people equate not saving money with being overweight or lazy. "I've seen quite a bit more talk about dieting, body hate and discomfort with fatness on social media in personal finance circles than I expected when I first got into this," McElhaney said.

Weight is a fraught subject in our culture, McElhaney said, "so, of course, it seeps into everything, including personal finance."

The standard diet advice do it sensibly holds true for your finances.

A budget doesn't have to be restrictive. It just means you create a plan for your money. Your goal is to become more aware of how you spend, says Lauren Anastasio, a CFP at New York personal finance company SoFi.

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The best time to restrict your spending in a determined, short-term way is when you have a specific financial goal. Whether you'd like to pay off credit card debt or save for a vacation, reducing your discretionary spending frees some income to allocate toward those goals, Anastasio says.

Her firm encourages members to divide their income into three parts commonly known as the 50/30/20 rule of budgeting: 50% should go to fixed, essential expenses such as rent, utilities and insurance; 20% goes into savings; and 30% is for discretionary spending.

As can happen with food dieting, being too restrictive financially can end in a binge. Whether it's money or calories, the goal should be something practical and sustainable.

"Reevaluate your plan and make adjustments," Anastasio said. You can taper off regular check-ins after you've established some good habits.

Definitely tweak your plan as you go along. "Sometimes we like to think we can make it to the gym every morning before work but find that we're more likely to go to the group exercise classes offered in the evening," Anastasio said.

Spending diets, no-buys and no-spends aren't on Pauline Yan's radar. "The brain doesn't process the negative part that well," said Yan, a portfolio manager in Toronto who has a personal finance blog. Instead, all your brain is likely to hear is "spending," "buy" and "spend."

Pauline Yan, 42, says managing your money starts with scouting your feelings.

Source: Pauline Yan

And your brain will then notice all the opportunities to buy and spend.

That's why people boomerang after a diet. "They used up a lot of willpower to make it through," Yan said. "But I find the yo-yoing back and forth to be worse for my overall budget."

It helps to dig into the "why" of a purchase. After all, most of us have pretty much everything we already need. New lipstick? Yan says she's got plenty. "I don't need a new one," Yan said. "Same with clothes. No one needs another little black dress."

Purchases often come on the heels of a feeling. "People are not in touch with what they're feeling," Yan said. "We don't want to admit we feel bad. If we do, we're trained to buy our way out of it."

The solution is to get in touch with your feelings. Why do you want to make a certain purchase?

Yan does two things when she wants to buy something. First, she scouts whether she already owns a similar item. If she does, she writes it down, which sparks her to ask why she'd like to buy it again.

She found herself eyeing a makeup palette that she might use on a trip and had a light-bulb moment. "The reason I liked it is, I really enjoy traveling," she said. "That's going to be perfect when I go somewhere.I was trying to buy the feeling I have when I go on vacation."

Her solution was to plan a trip and find a picture of a destination. Yan kept it in her wallet as a reminder of her true goal. "I feel like a lot of the buying [we do] has to do with a value that we want in our lives," she said. "We're just going about it in a very consumeristic fashion."

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Going on a so-called cash diet may not be the best way to fatten your wallet - CNBC