Author: Overcoming Adversity | Buteau’s Odyssey

To understand toddlers, three aspects of development in the transition from infant to toddler are particularly important. They arise at about 18 months of age (with a range of roughly 1 to 3 years) and herald the arrival of the toddler: mobility, self-awareness, and language. Self-awareness is a profound developmental advance that shapes how toddlers begin to understand themselves as separate individuals and relate to others. It’s arrival is deeply intertwined with both mobility and language. The Development of Self-Awareness The neurobiological and psychological triggers for self-awareness have not yet been clarified. What we do know is that its development…

How Bristol Myers Squibb Transformed Working Capital to Fund Its Future – SPONSOR CONTENT FROM EY-PARTHENON Skip to content

I think that there’s a head nodding truth that, for most of human history, thinking followed a familiar arc. We began in confusion. Something didn’t quite make sense. That unease or curiosity pushed us to explore by asking questions, testing hypotheses and discarding what failed. Gradually, an early, tentative structure emerged. Only then did confidence arrive, and even then, it was often far from certainty. That sequence was important and defined a process that has sustained human learning and growth. And importantly, this confidence wasn’t a feeling that appeared out of nowhere, but was earned through exposure to uncertainty and…

Another year has come to an end, and another batch of horror movies has been added to the Letterboxd archive. It seems like just yesterday we were disappointed by The Wolf Man but inspired by Sinners.  Rinse and repeat, as 2026 already looks like a bumper crop of horror movies that will make our “most anticipated” lists (there’s always one on their that disappoints). Another Evil Dead? Yes, please. A Silent Hill reboot? We’ll take it. Ghostface returning to Woodsboro? What took them so long? Below is a list of notable 2026 horror movie releases, along with their trailers if…

Emotionally focused therapy for couples (EFT; Johnson 2005) is a respected, well-researched therapy that is remarkably effective for building safe, rewarding marriages. It is especially useful when one or both partners have experienced childhood trauma, and when both partners are committed to strengthening their marriage. EFT is not about blaming or proving who’s right. It is about strengthening the connection. Barriers to Safe Engagement Understandably, trauma survivors often lack resources to deal with the echoes of childhood trauma that contaminate their marriage. They often: Don’t fully appreciate that closeness—attaching to and depending upon a reliable, safe, caring individual—is a vital…

Kingston Flemings scored 23 points, including nine in the final two minutes, and No. 7 Houston rallied in the second half for a 69-65 win over No. 14 Texas Tech on Tuesday night.Flemings had 15 points in the second half and shot 5 of 8 from the field. He finished 9 of 19 from the field for the game.Emanuel Sharp scored 17 points, Chris Cenac Jr. added 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Joseph Tugler had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Houston (14-1, 2-0 Big 12). The Cougars shot 39% but struggled from 3-point range, shooting 4 of 17.Houston…

Author’s Note: Right now a great many people are trying to comply with their New Year’s resolutions. Many of them will rely on rewards of some sort to motivate themselves, never realizing that this is an extremely controversial practice and the subject of heated debate among psychologists. Should it be? Here’s my personal take: After a recent auto accident, my doctor ordered me to have an MRI of my dystonic cervical spine (fancy term for my stiff, aching neck). I’ve had MRIs before, and I’m not a fan. I wouldn’t say I’m pathologically claustrophobic, but I don’t especially like enclosed…

Stranger Things is like an entertainment Hydra. Just when you think it’s dead, a new project jumps in to terrify the masses. One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 just dropped a new trailer and will be released on January 12th via Netflix at 12 am PT/3 am ET. Stranger Things may be over, but there is still plenty to learn about the heroes of Hawkins. One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 was created by MakeMake Productions and is directed by Martina Radwan. The project is produced by Agnus Wall, Terry Leonard, and Kent Kubena.…

If you’ve been feeling disconnected, lonely, and anxious, you’re not alone. Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy (2023) warned of an epidemic of loneliness and isolation that can undermine our emotional and physical health, and the World Health Organization (2025) reported a worldwide rise in anxiety and depression. As educator Kim Samuel has found, we need community, a sense of belonging, in order to feel safe and secure (2022). Throughout history, people have lived in small groups, as hunter-gatherers, then in small towns and communities. And the Harvard study of longevity (Waldinger & Schulz, 2023) has found that a sense…

Psychoanalyst Nancy McWilliams wrote, “Some people feel so bereft of clear family standards, so unsupervised and ignored by the adults around them, that in order to push themselves to grow up, they hold themselves to idealized criteria of behavior and feeling that they derive from the larger culture. These standards, because they’re abstract and not modeled by people known personally to the child, tend to be harsh and unbuffered by the humane sense of proportion.” This tendency is often associated with hypermasculinity, or calcified standards of manhood. So, boys often look to the heroic men of their surrounding culture to…