My life is full of cats, science, and love. If that's a Hallmark movie, then I gladly accept. February, the signal that Vancouver's perpetual darkness is ending, cherry blossoms are around the corner, and oh yes, my anniversary has arrived too. You see, 7 years ago, I made a promise to be kinder to myself. Dan Harris eloquently describes this mindset as "not being a jerk to yourself"(1). Last week we talked about chatter, which consists of the negative thoughts bouncing around in our heads....

Action (left) vs. thinking (right) Imagine being poolside on a hot summer's day. Ready to cool off, how do you approach the pool? Do you dive right in? Do you dip a toe in first? Or do you not get to the part where you go swimming in this make-believe scenario because you are stuck wondering how anyone could "approach" a pool when there are so many unknowns in this thought experiment? What is the temperature of the pool? Who are you there with? Why are you there? Meanwhile, everyone is having...

The best peer reviewer I know. I am an avid movie watcher. I love them. I quote them. I get lost in them. Finding Nemo is one of my favourites. As a kid, I fell in love with the story, the characters, and the world Pixar created. What does this have to do with science? Pixar has an internal process called Braintrust that reflects a foundational building block of science - peer review (cue scary movie music - Jaws might be appropriate). Getting others to critique the work that I poured my...